Part Three: Section I

I didn't know where I was for certain, but I thought it was the Ministry of Love. Since I had been arrested, I had not been fed and I was craving food. Before I was brought here, I was taken to another place. It must have been an ordinary prison or a temporary lock-up used by the patrols. For some reason, the ordinary criminals usually ignored the Party prisoners. They called us "the Polits."

I hardly thought of Julia for the first few days that I was there. I didn't know where I was or what time of day it was. But I did realize that this was the place O'Brien was referring to. It was the place where there was no darkness. There was no difference between night and day in this place.

While I was there, I met Ampleforh and even Parsons. Ampleforth stayed there for a while and was then sent away, but Parsons was released. More prisoners came and went mysteriously. No one knew why.

Whenever my physical sensations were a little under control, my terror returned. I thought of Julia for the first time. Somewhere, she was suffering, probably far worse than I was. But in this place, you couldn't feel anything except for pain and the foreknowledge of pain.

O'Brien approached me. And that was when he told me, "You knew this, Winston. Don't deceive yourself. You did know it -- you have always known it."

Maybe I had always known it, but I was definitely not admitting it. Especially to O'Brien.

- Winston Smith