Sunlight...
How long had it been since he'd seen the sun?
Not the bleak sunlight that beat down on the prison yard every day; that was light, but not true sunlight. Real sunlight carried freedom; he knew this now. Even as he stood buffeted by the icy November winds, he stood in the sun as if there was no place he would rather be.
It had been almost seven months since the last rays of true sunlight caught his eyes. He had played a rugby game that day. Rugby was his favorite sport to play, and at 6'5" and a lean 235 pounds, he had both the size and skill for it. As the light of freedom glistened off his bald head and cast a shadow behind a body that was not much lighter, he took a deep breath as he remembered the events of that day, and more importantly that night.
He had gotten a call from his married lover later on that evening, asking if he could spare some time away for her. Of course he could, he always could. He loved her as much as he would allow himself to, always remembering that she was a married woman and could not fall in love *with* her.
"Dammit, Lynette," he whispered, "why the fuck did you do it?" A small tear fell, caught by his dark glasses as he walked through the exit gate.
He knew who her husband was; he worked at a local hospital near his house as an EMT. They didn't know each other personally, but she had volunteered the information one night when he had asked how she managed so much free time.