1—10-й тесты, английский язык, ЕГЭ, 2024. На базе материалов ФИПИ - стр. 11

There were no further comments from anyone. It wasn’t a death sentence. They let him him live. Everyone in the court room looked round in surprise, not daring to express any emotions. William even looked up at the judge, trying to understand what had just happened, but he didn’t succeed. His head was empty and he couldn’t think straight; William’s mind was already dead and a life sentence was no different for him than death, so all the way back to prison he rolled in the back of the van in a complete daze.

In the cell, its narrow walls seemed to shrink even more, as William’s eyes reacted to changes in lighting and in the darkness, his mind wandered to a darker place as he thought the depths of a grave probably looked the same.

William stood inside the cell, hearing the door lock, and he couldn’t take any step forward. He forced himself to look around at the walls and think carefully. He had to talk to his friend Tom again. He approached the door and called a guard over, telling him the request. The guard didn’t answer, leaving William alone with the silence, and the waiting game began. The next morning, he was informed about his impending transfer to another prison, and in the afternoon, the door to William’s cell suddenly opened, and he was informed of a visitor.

«Thomas?», William asked, sitting up.

«What?» the guard asked.

«Is it Thomas Wilson, the detective officer?»

«No,» the guard responded coldly.

«The lawyer?» asked William, less enthusiastic than before.

«No. Turn around and face the wall with your arms stretched out,» it was an order, not a question.

The walk down from the third floor felt like an eternity for William. When he finally reached the glass screen in the visitation room, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The small reporter, Linda Wu, sat in front of him on a wooden chair, holding her purse.

«Hold it,» a voice was heard from behind William and the guard handed him a book. William saw that this book wasn’t in the best condition and had many torn pages and looked crumpled.

«I was asked to give this to you,» Linda said from behind the glass, weakly.

«What? Who gave it you?» William was at a loss as to who’d sent him the book. It had an unassuming and uninteresting cover – it was some kind of romance.

«There, take a look inside,» Linda replied. «I was told that you were looking forward to seeing this photo,» she said, trying to smile, but her face instead showed sadness and sympathy for William’s situation.

«A photograph?» William muttered, taking an envelope from the middle of the book. Surely, this must’ve been scanned before it had got to him to make sure it wasn’t contraband. He opened the envelope to find a Polaroid photograph of a little girl wearing a white raincoat and beret. She stood on the embankment near a large bridge and squinted in the sun, very much like his own daughter. «This looks like Sofia!» he thought, before realizing what had actually happened in the courthouse. It was worse than the life sentences he’d been ordered to serve – William had to live with the thought that Sofia had a daughter and that she lived with someone else.

William clenched his fists and looked up at Linda behind the glass.

«Are you alright? What’s wrong?» she asked.