[1] Carrere, a middle-class family man convicted of financial fraud, arrives in prison where he finds himself sharing a cell with three others- Lassalle, an old librarian who murdered his wife; Paquerette, a childlike lunatic who ate his infant sister and Marcus, a muscular young transgender woman (whose crime is not mentioned) who yearns for a sex-change.
The cellmates discover, hidden behind a loose brick of the cell-wall, an old hand-written journal which belonged to a prisoner named Danvers in the 1920s who mysteriously disappeared from his cell.
Paquerette grabs the book and starts to eat its pages only to be over-powered by an unseen force which twists his entire body until his spine and neck snap.
Carrere is furious but Lassalle explains that he finally understands the nature of the book's powers- it was not intended to let them physically escape but to enable them all to realise their deepest desires albeit at a terrible price.
Obsessed with youth, Danvers uttered his final spell and the book transformed him into a young man but the reverse ageing did not stop until he was reduced to an unborn infant, dissolving into nothingness.
Now the only survivor, Carrere states aloud his dearest wish- to see his son again- and his mouth opens in a silent scream as his eyes vanish.