The Execution

Execution story - no happy endings! by Gerry Published on: 8. May 2009

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The sett scraped the toes of her tattered shoes as they dragged her out into the courtyard. An unopened letter lay on the pressed sheets of her bunk. She couldn’t bring herself to read it. It was from her father. The riflemen, boys of nineteen and twenty, awaited instruction. Nervous but prepared. The youngest of the riflemen, a fair haired runt, bit at his thumb nail. They stood to attention when the commandant arrived. They were soldiers and were to conduct themselves accordingly. The commandant unfastened the prisoner’s shackles and straightened her shaking arms to her side. She refused the blind fold. The riflemen filed into line. They took aim, she was an open target, vulnerable but expecting death. She released her last breath into the cold morning air. The shots screamed throughout the quiet countryside. It was the first time that any of them had ended another. Most of the blood had soaked into the pave making the it difficult to clean. The commandant was disinterested in excuses. He ordered them to dilute the dried pools with water and to scrub the mess until every trace of what had happened was removed No stopping until the job was finished. They marched back to the barracks in silence. Some had the beginnings of tears in their eyes, others numbly carried their heads high. All were changed. They burned the letter with the body, the commandant didn’t attend. God deserted him that morning. For the next three days he dared not leave his quarters. His meals were left at the door, they remained there, uneaten. They found his body on the fourth morning, he had written his own letter, pleading that mercy be shown by the ever after. His wrists were bound together with the blindfold. His name is heard no more in heaven.

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