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CHAPTER 4 A LIFE ENDS…

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”

― Robert Frost

That night, Tabitha could not sleep. She would be doing that in the morning forever. She laid in her cot looking up at the concrete ceiling in a cell no bigger than a broom closet. Tabitha did not weep for her fate. She did not curse or made any furious denunciations. I always knew I would die young. It was only a matter of time. I did have a nice run of it though, maybe I will have a better afterlife on the other side. This was a pleasant thought for Tabitha, believing that there would be something better on the other side. If not, if she ends up suffering for all eternity. Punished by their god Romanto. Well, that would suck big time. She chuckled at that, trying to find a bit of humor in her final hours.

Tabitha must have fallen asleep some time ago because she was woken up with a kick to her leg. Starting awake there was a mean looking man standing over her.

“Get up sinner. Your time of judgment has arrived.”

The man growled the words out, he looked like he was waiting for her to resist or protest. Tabitha did none of those things, she just got up. Before heading to the gallows in the large basement area underneath the Morality Corps building. She got to shower for the last time, they took away her T-shirt and pants and gave her a gray frock to wear for her execution. Tabitha had one final meal of bread and water. The water was fine but the bread she would not give to a starving person. Noon was fast approaching when Tabitha was led to a large underground room by four Morality Corps officers. High Priest Michael Ray was there along with another priest who was not a Morality Corps officer. I guess the priest is here to hear my confession and repent my sins. Tabitha would have laughed at the thought if she had not seen the pile of stacked wood and the long black wooden stake in the middle of the stack on a staged platform.

Five or so feet above the stack was the air vents, while the condemned burned to death. The vents would be activated to suck the smoke outside. The executioner a man in a black hood that covered his entire face was standing next to the stake with a blow torch. Across the room was the camera crew with the camera trained on the stake. Yes, of course, it must be televised. I am an example, after all, you can’t teach people to fear you if you don’t show them what will happen if they defy you. It was all bravado. Tabitha was really scared but she did not want to show it. If she is to die today, then she will try to die with some dignity.

The morality corps officers led Tabitha to the platform and tied her to the stake with nylon rope. After making certain that Tabitha was secured the men left her to stand two on either side of the platform. Suddenly, a man from one of the camera crews said.

“Alright, people we are on in ten…five, four, three, two.”

He pointed a finger at Michael for his cue to speak to the camera.

“Blessed is Romanto the God of Order and Justice. May his light shine forever upon the earth and throughout the universe. Amen.”

Everyone else in the room except for Tabitha echoed the sentiment.

“We are gathered here today to perform the saddest of duties. It breaks Lord Romanto’s heart when one of his flock strays off the proper path. We must punish when it is necessary for the sake of both the sinner and those who may follow the sinner’s path. In hopes that all learn a valuable lesson this day. Yet, there is still hope for even the vilest of sinners. Romanto will forgive those that have sinned if their repentance is true of heart.”

High Priest Ray then motioned for the priest to begin, the priest nodded and then walked up the stairs of the platform. Moving towards Tabitha who eyed him like a snake. When the old priest with the gray hairs and Hitler like mustache stood just five feet away, he said in a loud and carrying voice.

“Tabitha Elaine Pearson, you have been found guilty by a special tribunal for crimes against the Holy Church of Romanto. Your guilt is undeniable, but Romanto is ever merciful.”

At this, the priest smiled. If he was trying to look comforting or trying to offer Tabitha a glimmer of hope. He failed, to Tabitha his smile looked more like a leer.

“Repent Tabitha, repent with all of your heart and all of your spirit. If Lord Romanto judges your sincerity to be true, then even you a vile sinner may live with our Lord in paradise. You may speak now child, speak so that Romanto my judge your words, and measure your heart.”

Tabitha did not say anything right away, not because she did not know what to say. No, she wanted to put her words in order. These would be her final words, and she wanted to make them count. Tabitha lifted her head and stared straight into the camera.

“My name is Tabitha. I am 17 years old. I was orphaned at the age of 10, my parents were murdered by the church for the simple crime of giving an old family friend a place to stay for the night not knowing that he was one of the leaders of the resistance. I ran away from the orphanage at the age of 12 because the sisters there liked to beat me a little too much. I learned how to survive on the streets by using my head instead of my body. I’m not some violent criminal or a terrorist, I’m a girl who tried to survive in a world that is not kind, nor shows any remorse for the lives that have been taken. I sold everyday essential items over the internet so I could have some money to buy food. They call me a sinner. They say I have broken the laws of Romanto. I’m just a human being who tried to live her life the best way she could. Nothing more and nothing less. They say they are executing me so that all of you will learn a valuable lesson. Well, here is the lesson. The Romantians will kill anyone who challenges their power, they will do anything to maintain their authority. They do not care about saving anyone, they will kill those who threaten their power. Man, woman, or child, it does not matter. That is all they care about, power and maintaining it. The Romantians have covered the world in blood and pain, and I am just another victim they will add to their list of atrocities. If the Holy Church of Romanto ever covers the globe, it will be the darkest of days.”

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When Tabitha was finally finished, the room stayed silent. Many thought since she was still a child that the fear of burning to death would force her to beg for mercy. To plea to be spared the flames, to cry and moan and deny her fate. The girl did none of that, Michael the High Priest of the Morality Corps was shocked. The girl Tabitha simply looked at the camera straight ahead, and calmly spoke her defiance of the church and Romanto. He and the others were so stunned, that no one thought to silence her until after she had finished her speech. Now, she waited. Ready for the end and Michael gritted his teeth in rage.

The stupid girl was supposed to be scared out of her mind. This is not how it should have gone down. The mistake that many tyrannical organizations have made time and time again is believing the fear they induce will always gain them the results that they desire. In some cases that can be true, but in other cases. When someone knows that they are about to die, that person may decide to give in to their fear in the hopes of gaining a reprieve. But sometimes a person may forget all about the fear and make a stand for something they believe to be right and true. Even if it means they will die a slow and horrible death. Tabitha decided to make a stand, to spit into the eye of the Holy Church of Romanto. To die not as a frightened little girl, but as a young woman who tried to live the best way, she could.

“BLASPHEMY!”

Shouted the priest, his old kindly face was not that anymore. He was flushed with fury.

“Blasphemy! You have spoken heresy against the will of Romanto and against his servants. You have proven yourself to be an ally of the dark forces in this world. You shall burn! Burn today and suffer the consequences of your evil. But the pain you so rightly deserve is but a foretaste of what is to come. You will be cast down to the darkest pit of hell, to be punished for all eternity. We cast you out from among the children of Romanto and strike you from our hearts forever.”

Tabitha heard the condemning words but for some reason, she did not fear them. She was resigned to whatever might come. The old priest nodded towards the hooded executioner with the blow torch. Immediately, the executioner activated his blow torch and the stack of wood covered in black pitch erupted with fire. Tabitha closed her eyes and waited for the pain she knew was coming. She imagined the fire climbing, imagine it licking her bare feet and clinking to her flesh. The fire would burn her skin and muscle and then the nerves, it would be painful.

The flames of her pyre now licked her feet, climbing up to her ankles and all the way up her legs. Tabitha felt the fire, but she did not feel any pain. Maybe my body is in shock, trying to protect itself from what it knows must come. The flames continued to climb her body, burning away the gray frock which she was given. Tabitha kept her eyes closed, waiting to scream, to cry, but nothing. By the time Tabitha decided to open her eyes to see what the hell was going on. Her entire body was covered in flames, and still, she did not utter a sound.

Michael and everyone in the room were looking at the girl in shocked disbelief. She was standing in a flaming inferno, her entire body covered in burning hot fire. And yet, she was not screaming in pain and agony. The rope she was tied with had already burned away. The girl lifted her flaming hands before her equally flaming face. Michael could still see her eyes, one amber the other gray. But each gave off flames of gold and silver. Michael shook his head unconsciously at what he saw, the girl was naked now. But her hair was on fire, and it whipped up and down like the flames themselves. The room was lit with the glow of the flames, Tabitha Elaine Pearson looked like the spirit of fire come to life.

“Dear god Romanto.”

Michael had no idea whether it was he or someone else that uttered the prayer. How could this be? What does this mean? Michael had no more time to think of any other questions when the girl, no, the fire being looked at them with eyes of gold and silver. The look was not threatening in the least. When asked what had happened, he would say the girl who was once Tabitha Elaine Pearson was looking at him with a mixture of confusion and wonder. But at that moment when she looked upon the men in the room. One of the morality corps officers must have panicked. Because the next thing Michael knew, he heard a gunshot. The bullet never reached Tabitha. Whether it was because of the heat from the fires, or the bullet struck some kind of invisible force field. The bullet was vaporized, it did not melt, and it did not stop in mid-air. It was gone in a flash of tiny sparks.

Then, a pillar of flames rose from the pyre and engulfed Tabitha. The fire rose like a tower striking the ceiling, the flames trailing on the ceiling and floor washing the room in fires of orange and red. The flames licked outward from the tower of fire, it reached every corner and pillar in the room. And the fire bit at the men. The executioner who was closer to the tower was hit first. He went down screaming in agony. His uniform burnt away in a matter of seconds. Then the priest was hit, he went down the same way. Then it was the morality corps officers turn and the camera crew. All in all, 19 people were burnt alive on that day. It would have been 20 if High Priest Michael Ray did not act so quickly.

Michael was quick enough to cast a spell of water magic to form a force field which surrounded his entire body. When the flames struck the water barrier, it took all of Michael’s strength and then some just to keep the barrier up. It may have been minutes or seconds, but when the fires finally died. The entire room was charred black, bodies of men were burned down to either charred bones or blackened ashes. But Michael did not see any of that, he was looking at the spot where Tabitha once stood. Tied to a stake for her execution. Tabitha Elaine Pearson was no longer to be seen. She was gone.