Salem Witch Trials

I’m struggling. I’m losing. I’m dying. My friends have turned against me. People I’ve known all my life testified against me, telling lies, so many lies. They say they’ve seen me drink blood, fly away, shape-shift, and even dine with the Devil himself. I grew up with these people. How can they do this to me? When I’m brought forth they rise up and curse me or worse, shrink away in disgust. I feel empty and alone. No one is there to help me. When the court is done presenting evidence, it comes. “Are you guilty?” a deep voice booms out. How can I lie? The truth is the way to salvation, says the Lord. I would rather die than lose my soul. I reply with all the strength I have, “No!”

They drag me away. I’m locked away in a small cramped cell. The filth chokes me. The other girls look pitifully at me. They know. They know the court said I was guilty. I cry. I cry for them. I cry for me. Worst of all, I cry for the girls that will come after me. More innocent lives lost to this abomination to humanity. Tomorrow I will hang.

I’m awoken brutally with a yank on my hair. I’m thrown onto a cart and hauled into the square. I’m shoved down into the grit and rocks. My head slams into a rock, but before I can recover I’m dragged up. Shackles that are far too tight are squeezed onto my wrists. I walk, head held high, to the rope. I look around at the townsfolk who I once called friends. They damned me, but I harbor no hatred. My suffering is at an end.

I walk up to the noose. I shove away the hangman and wiggle my head into the noose. The crowd gasps as I scream, “You all have condemned me to a death for a crime I am not guilty of. You are the guilty and I am the accused. You will pay for this. Not by your death but with your soul. May this crime eat away at it until you grovel at the feet of the Lord for forgiveness. I will not be forgotten. Your children will hate you for what you have done. You will pay when you go before God. You will pay!”

The platform drops from beneath me. I drop too. My neck snaps and I am dead. My words, however, will live on forever. No one will ever forget the Salem Witch Trials. I was but one of the many who died. So many innocent lives snuffed out in vain. The Trials will always be in our history books. The crime was of the people, not of those accused.