December 9th '84
He holds his girlfriend's hand to defy the winter
The night leaves to be beautiful
But it quickly turns into a sad news item
They think they are alone in the world in the alleys
But obviously they are not anymore
Two Skinheads in need of trouble and adrenaline come upon them
A slap to push the girl away
The guys beat him up two against one
His face against the icy asphalt, seeing death coming he feels compelled
To pull out his weapon because he is anything but a soft-hearted child
One of the Skins dies on the spot and the other still screams his pain

Everything happened so fast but why did these guys cross his path?
Physical pain is nothing when he compares it to the fear of tomorrow
He turned himself in in the morning pleading self-defense
He is judged in a few months and gets 10 years of criminal confinement
He often thinks of them, he always dreams of her
No matter how far he looks, he can't see the end of the tunnel
He discovers the nightmare, the humiliation, the dirty mattresses,
The chained feet during transfers, and the fights during walks,
And while he has been enduring the prison system for more than a year,
A terrible news adds its voice to the sad choir,
He carries a strange virus that the world discovers fearfully,
1985 New sentence, he is HIV positive
No treatment exists, with nothing left to lose he feels condemned to death
So he's going to be the craziest in a world where it's the survival of the fittest
He falls into all the traps where the spiral of violence gets worse,
And since they treat him like a dog, then he will be the most ferocious dog
He finally gets out after eight years, the future as sad as his baggage
Empty pockets but blood full of rage so he goes on a robbery
He gets caught a year later and it's back to the nightmare square
To the square where everything is dark and where the night lasts for weeks isolated in solitary confinement
He no longer thinks of them he no longer dreams of her
He doesn't even dare to look ahead, the end of the tunnel is too far
Or this end of the tunnel, he will have to build it
He knows that if he doesn't try anything, it's within these walls that he will die

October 9th '94, anniversary date of the abolition of the death penalty
He succeeds in his escape and abolishes his own sad fate
Only a few months on the run before returning to the gray walls
A few months of hectic freedom before repainting the walls of oblivion
He is then placed directly in the high security quarters
In isolation for 5 years, they tell him that's all he deserved
When he looks at himself in the mirror, he is afraid of what the reflection shows him
It's true he's never been a softie but prison has made him a monster
Misfortune never comes alone, AIDS declares itself, the disease sets in
He dies little by little without assistance and in total indifference
1995 On the verge of leaving prison for the cemetery
Triple therapy makes its appearance and slowly puts him back on his feet
Pushed back towards life and trying to see beyond the iron bars
He marries the woman he loves, his feelings finally warm the atmosphere
But his judgment still pending ends up falling on a dirty day
For escape and robbery he gets 30 years, the end of the tunnel has faded
Yet he keeps hope in him, he has so often brushed with death
He feels invincible for sure he knows that one day he will go outside
In 2000 he starts writing, his new weapon to survive against the system
He scratches day and night, it's not him anymore but it's his pen that bleeds
He writes his first book and runs the first blog of a prisoner,
His works pierce the armored doors and now no one can deny
That he is alive, that he exists, that he reinvents the word future,
In 2008 his daughter is born and love and life are no longer memories
He has his hands on his pens, no more hands in the air
"Before I escaped with a gun,
Today I escape with the written word"
He gets out in January 2010 with projects and landmarks
After 25 years spent in a tunnel,
Laurent has joined the light.

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