Mandolin hefted the tool, face emotionless, and waited for the men to give him the nod. The prisoner was hiccoughing in panicked, short breaths, choking on his own spit and whining a little. They always got like this, right before. They could be stoic as the stone they were lying on until just before – then they always got like scared squirrels.
The man on the left muttered something harshly and held the prisoner more firmly in place. His head was covered in a stained cloth sack, drawn around the neck; his body was stretched into a shallow groove in a slab of rock, to keep him from rolling out, and his head was set, quivering, on the flat end. The man nodded. Mandolin stepped forward, his body going through the motions with hardly more than a command from his mind. The step, the sweep, the fluid arc of the tool – it was beautiful, choreographed, willowy, powerful.
The head of the tool came down on the head of the prisoner as it always did, in exactly the right spot. The prisoner screamed an instant before the tool hit, but then there was the sound of bones crumbling, the give on the tool's head once he broke through, and the red stain adding to the rest on the sack. The prisoner's scream was cut off. He was taken over in trembles; piteous moans escaped him for a few bare seconds, and then he was still.
The men carried the body out, leaving Mandolin to clean before the next execution. He systematically scrubbed the tool, the stone, and the floor until all was pristine and unblemished, ready for the next prisoner.
And then, Mandolin knelt by the stone and cried.
Inspiration: Reading an argument against capital punishment.
Not bad, Billi - it really got me into the intense mindset of both the prisoner and Mandolin.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff. Glad to see you're still writing - I'll be keeping an eye out for more.
Rather dark. So, are you for or against capital punishment? Personally I am in favor of capital punishment. But I won't go into a long drawn out explanation of why unless you ask for it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Peter Sciacca. (Putting your name out there again. ^-^ Did you notice your Twitter is now the number one item that comes up on Google?) I've been on a bit of a writing slump lately, but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm personally keeping mum for the time being until I can do more research for myself and come to an informed decision. I'd be interested in hearing your reasons, however. Feel free to email me. I believe my email is posted here someplace. If not, it's my FF pen name @gmail