I hefted the nail in my hand, fingering it as I hunched down over Heidi’s right hand. The steel was cold. The head was wide enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about smashing her little fingers with the hammer, but not so wide as to cover most of her palm. The point was blessedly sharp, and I hoped it would go through easily enough. I would not crucify her the standard Imperial way. My sister did not deserve that. I placed the point of the nail over her palm rather than between her arm bones at the wrist.
Gently, I tested the point around her palm, pushing aside the different bones, and finding a point between them that the nail might go through.
Heidi whimpered as the point grazed her skin. I glanced over at her mess of brunette curls, at her biting her pink bottom lip, a fresh tear falling from her eye. She was working herself into a frenzy. Sweat was beading on her chest above her breasts, which bobbed ever so gently as she took rapid deep breaths. Her toned legs were bracing against the rocky ground.
She was bracing herself for it. I realized she had fully made up her mind. More than that, she trusted me to do this for her. I realized now that if I said the word, she’d relent. I brought the hammer to the nailhead, hovering over it, gently pressing against the nail. I continued to hesitate…but I knew we could not turn back now. I had already waited too long. He could be here at any moment, and ruin everything.
I took one last look at my sister as she braced herself, ever brave…and looking at her strength, I resolved to be strong for her. I lifted up the hammer with the intent to strike.
Just before I swung…she called out! “I love you”
I felt my heart break anew.
In anger I brought down the hammer, intending to strike hard and through, but too slow! With a startled choking gasp she shrieked in pain! The nail had stopped just at the crossbeam, but her hand was trembling in agony. I could feel the eyes of every passerby on us as Heidi screamed and squealed pitifully, her legs thrashing about. Her screams became more strained from her throat as she pulled against her wounded arm.
But she could not escape the nail. Hoping to ease her suffering, I adjusted the nail in my hand, angling it firmly perpendicular to the crossbeam, and swung again.
To my horror, the nail only just barely penetrate the wood. In terror I swung again and again against the cursed fucking nail, deaf to anything else but Heidi’s screams.
Such a gentle creature she was…but my gods…I never imagined she could ever scream so loud.
I must have swung the hammer thirty times before the nailhead was deep enough, nearly its entire Length buried in the thick wooden beam, but there was still at least an inch of the spike sticking out of her hand.
I stood up, sweating, shaking with adrenaline. Every single merchant and slave on the road was looking at us as they walked by. If they were confused as to why I was here alone, they didn’t mention it.
Gasping for breath, Heidi mumbled and blubbered unintelligibly until I squatted down over her left hand.
“Ohmygodpleasedontnonononodontpleasefucknogodohshit”
Tears flowed freely from her listening face. Her bottom lip was bleeding. Her green eyes were strangely more beautiful than ever before, glossy in agony. Her legs raked the ground seeking escape.
I had a sickening realization that I had crossed over, and that there was now no hope of return for Heidi. Even if I stopped now she would be crippled. The thought both despaired and motivated me. I quickly set the second nail on her left hand, keenly aware of how little time we had left. My heart was racing. I knew we had only moments left. Heidi was begging me frantically again, but I blocked it out. More confident this second time, I eagerly swung my hammer into her naked flesh, but she thrashed like a fish and pissed herself. I had missed! I drove the nail where the meaty part of her thumb joined her wrist, driving bones apart, shattering them!
I cried out in shock at what I’d done, but I couldn’t think to try again. The nail was firmly lodged in the wood! I stood over her for a better angle, swinging again and again and again, my ears deaf from my sisters screams. The angle was wrong! The nail was pointed towards Heidi, rather than straight into the crossbeam.
I could think of nothing else to do but to bury the nail as deeply as I could…cursing my inexperience.