Denise is Justly Punished – part fourteen
Maria 0517’s older brother is shouting, his face red with anger, veins popping in his neck, fist raised in pure hatred... but not at the executioners of his younger sister. Instead, the object of his anger is his own father, who he is now punching in the face, attacking him like a wild animal. “YOU FUCKING SICK BASTARD…!!! YOU DID THIS…!!! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT…!!! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU BEFORE THEY KILL HER!!!”
Judge Williams is forced to stop his count as the growing melee between father and son captures everyone’s attention. Additional guards rush in to stop the fight and separate the two combatants. Quickly, the son is subdued and dragged away screaming at the top of his lungs “YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!! YOU KILLED HER!!! YOU!!! YOU!!! YOU….!!! FUCKING DIRTY COWARD…...!!!! WHY DON’T YOU DO SOMETHING TO STOP IT??? WHY….? FUCKING COWARD, ROT IN HELL… MAY YOU ROT IN FUCKING HELL”
Maria 0517 is now screaming, “STOP! STOP!! STOP…!!!” with her hands on her head pushing up her hair in a state of shock. The television crew abandons their original position to better capture the melee in the gallery, yet another unexpected deviation from Officer Eileen’s intricate plan. She quickly takes charge: rushing about, barking orders at everyone available, trying to regain control of the situation. For nearly a minute, an eternity in television time, chaos rules the scene. Gradually, due to the intense effort by Officer Eileen and the removal of the elder brother, order is now restored, Maria 0517’s execution can continue.
Judge Williams re-composes himself, finds his spot again, gets the ok from the television crew, and resumes his count: “Let’s see… where did I leave off? Oh, yes. 3,2,1…” Maria 0517 just stands there, hands covering her ears overwhelmed by the family drama on display… Judge Williams is unmoved… ordering: “Guards, strip the condemned now!”
Maria 0517 is quickly stripped, laid out, and bound to her cross. Firmly secured to the cross, her muscles strain desperately in vain against the ropes that bind her; but they are unyielding, unforgiving, implacable. Her head is shaking back and forth, hips twisting, leg and calf muscles visibly expanding and contracting in a desperate attempt to escape the inevitable. She’s crying out for her father to help her, to save her before it’s too late. He simply bows his head in silence, eyes scanning back and forth in their sockets to see if anyone is approaching him. No one approaches.
The oversize spikes have been removed from her necklace and are now in the executioner’s hands as he kneels next to her. These horrible spikes are about to replace the ropes as her attachment to the wood. As the executioner bends down, searching for the proper spot to drive the first spike home, Maria 0517’s gyrations suddenly stop. She stares in disbelief as the hammer is raised high, her mouth frozen open in a silent scream. The hammer descends, striking the nail head perfectly in the center, tearing through her flesh, separating the bones of her wrist, and rendering her left hand forever useless…
Maria 0517’s entire body convulses as the flash of pain strikes like a lightning bolt: white-hot, searing, and blotting nearly all conscious thought or reason. The spike hurts more than just her body, it also engulfs her soul… As her world comes crashing around her, and in between her screams of agony and pleas for mercy, she weeps openly, deeply, seemingly to, at last, grasp the implacability of the justice system and how no mercy will be afforded her, or any of the other condemned women.
Jennifer 0317 has been watching the proceedings the entire time, staring in disbelief at the sight of Maria 0517 being bound to the cross. Still in denial, Jennifer 0317 mutters: “This can’t be happening… this can’t be happening….” She repeats ‘This can’t be happening’ over and over, as a mantra of sorts, deeply breathing, trying to steady herself and fall into a trance-like state.
The clanging sound of the first hammer strike on the nail, and Maria 0517’s full-throated scream, abruptly awakens her, bringing her to the present moment fully. Now fully lucid, her mind focuses on only one thought: “This is really happening; I will be crucified. With nails. I will die crucified, naked, as slaves of Ancient Rome died thousands of years ago. I will suffer for days and die in an excruciating manner. This is no threat, it is real, and it has begun. It is not just a nightmare… I will soon be experiencing everything that poor girl is now experiencing and will have to watch the same done to the other woman. My God… My God… My God…”
The terror of this realization is overwhelming, too much to bear. As the hammer continues to pound Maria 0517’s wrist, Jennifer 0317’s mind temporarily snaps and completely disassociates her from reality. Oddly, and completely out of nowhere, a song she sang as a child with her mother comes to her now-crumbling mind; she sings it in a tearful, sobbing voice… “Raindrops keep falling on my head, but that doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turning red, da-da-da-da- dah, dah….”
Officer Eileen has left Judge Williams’ side, allowing him to observe the final administration of Maria 0517’s death sentence. She now stands by Jennifer 0317, making small talk with one of Jennifer 0317’s guards while Maria 0517’s nailing continues; Jennifer 0317 continues to softly sing, utterly oblivious to the presence of her main tormentor.
Officer Eileen shakes her head in half anger and half embarrassment and says to the guard: “What a cluster fuck that was… I should’ve seen it coming… DAMNIT!!!... How could I have been so careless…?” She pounds a fist into her other hand, emphasizing her frustration… The guard gives her a half bored/half interested “uh-huh.” Ignoring his blasé response and making sure she is within earshot of Jennifer 0317, she continues: “We thought that might have been the case; there were rumors her father allegedly raped her on her eighteenth birthday. The baby was probably his, it was likely his decision to terminate the pregnancy. That would explain the brother’s reaction when she was about to be stripped… FUCK…!!! I should’ve been more prepared for that...”
As hoped for, Jennifer 0317 overhears the conversation and breaks from her trance-like singing. She looks at Officer Eileen with a clear expression of incredulity at the unfairness of this revelation. “You… You knew… Yet she’s the one sentenced to die? What? Why…?”
Without missing a beat Officer Eileen looks at the condemned woman, shrugs her shoulders and replies, “I would’ve thought you learned this by now… We always pay, we always pay… women always pay… Haven’t you learned yet? Women always pay for men’s messes; especially now…” Her voice trails off, lacking some of the assuredness it typically possesses.
Maria 0517’s nailing proceeds as expected; her right hand and feet are now pierced, and she is forever attached to the wooden cross. Though her will and desire to live are strong, the hammer, nails, and dedication to duty on the part of the executioner are stronger. Her cries for mercy, pleas for help from her predatory father and now-disappeared brother, all fall on deaf ears. The horror of the intrusion of the metal into her body overwhelms her as she lies there, gasping for air, searching for words yet unable to form them, so great is the pain of the nailing.
The nailing now complete, she is slowly raised, the cross tipping slightly from side-to-side as the guards lift her by hand. As the pressure on her nailed wrists and feet grows exponentially more horrific, her screams escalate to a fever-pitch, and her remaining family members all wail in gut-wrenching anguish. When the cross bottoms out, her body bounces uncontrollably, seeming to threaten the integrity of the nails, but they hold. The guttural sound she makes as her body twists on the nails is not human…
Officer Eileen turns to Jennifer 0317 and says: “Listen to her scream… I knew she’d be a screamer, the young one’s always are, so strong…, so full of vitality, full of life… My guess is she’ll outlast the two of you by at least a day, perhaps two!”
Jennifer 0317 winces at the remark and stops her singing… there is no escape from this reality that is about to smack her head-on.
Maria 0517 is now fully and completely crucified; now, and for the rest of her miserable life. She passes out for a brief time, the pain literally short-circuiting her brain from sensory overload. She hangs nearly motionless for a few minutes, then gradually becomes more and more aware of her predicament. Another fifteen seconds pass and her consciousness returns, along with the unimaginable pain.
It is not just the physical pain that returns full-on; it is the final, and sudden, realization she is indeed crucified and being executed by the state. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO……….!!!!!!!!!!! GOD, O GOD… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO……….!!!” Maria 01517 fights the cruel spikes pinning her to the wood with all her might, her body billowing out from her cross, as if a sail on a boat catching a great wind. At the apex of her extension, she seems to be offering her body to the gods; perhaps they will show her a mercy and end her suffering quickly…? They do not.
Mixed in with her incoherent screams of agony Maria 0517 can be heard saying “Papi! Daddy! Mi Papa! Porque no me ayudes? Porque no me ayudes…??? AHHHHHH!!!! Dios…!!! No Mas… Te pido no… AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Daddy! Daddy…!!! You Promis.. AHHHHHHHH!!! Papi – me di tu prometo… AHHHHHH….!!! You said it was OK… AHHHHHHHHHHHHH… please, make them stop! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE…!!! PLEASEEEEEE……...!!!”
Maria 0517’s father simply stands there, gazing at his feet, a blank expression on his face. Finally, he turns to his wife and says “I always told her ‘mi amor preciosa… cada vida es importante… my precious love, all life is sacred, all life…” His wife spits at him in disgust, and resumes watching her beloved daughter fight for breath, slowly dying before her very eyes, naked, in utter agony….