📸 Photo

RICARDO

that I hardly had the strength even to stay on my feet. I only had antibiotics for my illness, and the only thing I had eaten were three chocolate bars. The one thing that had changed — in fact, the only thing that was keeping me alive — was the hope that Sylvia had given me and now, added to that, the possibility that Ricardo might be able to help me.

‘Are you hungry?’

‘Starving, man,’ I responded with a smile, trying not to sound too desperate. ‘Where do we go to eat?’

‘Right here in my apartment,’ he pointed upwards. ‘I was expecting you to come earlier for dinner. I've already eaten, but I left you some and we can heat it up in the microwave.’ This confused me a little. I suspected that he was trying to trick me, like before, but I decided to ignore it.

‘But isn't there a dining hall where all the prisoners go for meal times?’

Ricardo burst into peels of laughter. ‘Dining hall? Thomas, this is San Pedro. You have to cook your own food. Or you can go to a restaurant.’

‘Huh?’

‘I know it sounds strange. Come up! You'll see what I mean.’ With that, he started to climb a wooden ladder that at first seemed to lead only to the ceiling.

I followed him hesitantly up this makeshift staircase. As it turned out, the entrance to his cell was a wooden hatch in the roof, secured by a padlock that he opened with a key that was tied to a leather string around his neck. I thought it was strange that he had the key to his own cell, but I said nothing.

‘I must apologise, Thomas. My apartment is a complete mess. Careful of your head!’ he called down to me when I was halfway up the ladder. ‘I tried to clean it up for you, but it's no use. I'm sorry.’

‘That's fine. No problem,’ I assured him. Above me, a light came on and I climbed up the remaining rungs into his cell.

The sight that greeted me was truly amazing. It wasn't at all like a proper prison cell should have been. I was expecting something tiny and bare, with concrete floors and a metal door, or at least metal bars, to stop him from escaping. I had imagined the only furniture would be a regulation, metal-framed bed with a thin mattress, white sheets