Eden

57

The crowd look at each other. A few shrug, and some others shake their heads. They seem to have calmed down, now. The breathless excitement, the sense of a terrible anticipation of killing and bloodshed, that seems to be gone. Instead, they seem amused by me, and happy to watch, to see what happens next. And as well, some are talking to one another, talking about the tied-up woman I think, and I hear snatches of what they say, just a few words now and then. Words like hero and famous.

I look at the people saying this, particularly, not understanding what they mean. "What is it?" I say to those people. "Why don't you mind me sparing her?"

There's a silence, there's no response for a moment, then someone says to me, "Not everyone here wants this to happen."

"Oh," I say. "Really?"

"Some do, but not all. If you speak for her, then many will be pleased."

"They will?" I say.

That person nods, and I hear hero again a few more times, from the crowd.

"If people want her saved so much," I say. "Why does no-one else speak for her?"

"Each person can only speak once, for one person, ever," the same person says. "Many already have done so."

"Oh." I say. "Oh I see." Suddenly everything makes a lot more sense. "So it helps that I just arrived here?"

That person nods, "It does."

"And also," someone else says loudly. "She kills people. We all know she kills people. We like her, but not everyone wants to take the blame if she does it again."

I nod slowly, thinking.