The Crazy Tyrant Wants To Kill Me

3

I didn't stop to think. To consider my options. I just broke away from the loosening grip of the guard and bolted down the stage.

I knew it was a bad idea straight away. I  knew it. It was ridiculous that I thought I would even succeed for a moment. 

The weight of the shackles weighed me down and my balance wavered, my body tumbling and crashing down onto the hard pavement floor, my skin scraping against the chipped cobblestones. 

Heat scorched my cheeks as I heard gasps of horror echoing from the crowd. I felt a burning sensation in my knees as blood smeared against the cool cement. Crimson liquid dribbled from my nose. I would have wiped it away if it weren't for the handcuffs.

Instantly, two soldiers wrenched me from the ground, furious.

What did I do to deserve this? I woke up from a coma, alone and confused. Just a few minutes ago I was wandering around the streets, struggling to find my residence, and now..

The guard grasped my shoulders from behind me, his grip firm and unrelenting. Another guard stepped up front, clearing his throat as a gesture to silence the raucous crowd. 

"Good afternoon," he anmounced, his expression composed and nonchalant, but I spotted a flicker of unwillingness in his eyes. "Unfortunately, the last day of the month has arrived and we are here with our sixth sacrifice of the year, Amanda de Bourbon Agnes."

Blood trickled from my nose and down my chin. How did they know my name? I wasn't the first sacrifice?

"Unfortunately, the empress hasn't yet shown-"

"No!" A woman suddenly shouted, emerging from the sea of people. She cradled a baby in her arms, wrapped in a crocheted blanket, a worn brown shawl draping over her shoulders. "This innocent girl, she doesn't deserve to get beheaded! The empress is dead! The emperor has gone mad, ordering to slaughter a villager every month until the empress returns. It's insane! Is he trying to blackmail a dead person?"

"Silence!" The guard commanded. "Are you going against the emperor?"

"This girl," the woman sputtered, "doesn't deserve to lose her life. The five girls before her don't either." 

"Nonsense! What the emperor wants, the emperor will have! Take her away!"

Two soldiers who had been standing in the shadows until now stepped out, approaching the woman who had been pleading for my life. I watched in horror as they reached out to snatch the sleeping baby from her arms.

"No!" she shrieked. "Don't touch my child!" A guard snapped a pair of metal handcuffs over her wrists, dragging her away from the crowd as she screamed in protest. The baby in the arms of a soldier began wailing, screeching for her mother. 

The crowd shrunk back in fear, not wanting to end up like the poor woman who paid the price of wanting to seek justice. I didn't want to know what they would do to her, what they would do to her baby.

"Continuing on," the guard gestured towards the tall, upright frame of the guillotine, its angled blade ready to cut flesh, "let's begin." 

What? No, no, no, no.

I was shoved onto the charred wooden cutting board, the glinting blade positioned above me, thirsty for blood. I wanted to throw up. Maybe this was a dream. A horrifying nightmare. 

Was I going to die like this? With no memory of my past life? Had I ever fallen in love? Cupped someone's face and pressed a passionate kiss to their lips? Did I ever like school? What was my job? Did I have friends? 

I imagined the blade coming down, deattaching my head from my neck. Blood splattering everywhere. The crowd screaming. My poor head rolling off from my neck, dropping to the ground.

"Three!" The guard bellowed. "Two!"

My body was trembling, my hands cold. I couldn't feel my numb, shaking legs.