The War In His Mind

Chapter 30

The three soldiers, now prisoners of Abraham's forces, were kept in a make shift prison on the second floor of the old library. Steel walls barricaded them in and forced them to stay inside. They had hardly said anything in the hours that they had been imprisoned. Abraham stood before them and watched as the stared out at the gallows being constructed especially for them. He felt pity for them. They didn't deserve them. Their actions were not their own. They were cruel puppets of Thomas O'Neil, much like Israel was a cruel puppet of Abraham.

He bowed his head in what he felt was a per-memorial service for them. "There are so many things I want to tell you...so many regrets I have..." Abraham wiped a tear from his eye and puckered his lower lip. "...yet I know that it would fall on deaf ears."

The men didn't move their heads. They didn't even acknowledge Abraham's existence. It was to be expected. Nothing out of the ordinary. "But I have to say it...at least for myself."

He placed his hand on the crude prison bars that barricaded them in. "We live in a young world. It's full of pain. Full of hurt. But also full of possibility."

Abraham looked for any sign that they were listening. "I've caused you all so much pain and suffering. I wish I could take it back. I wish I wouldn't have sent you to this death...but there was no choice. So many lives have already been lost because of what I've set in motion."

A familiar book caught Abraham's eye. It was 1984, by George Orwell. A title that O'Neil must have read in the past. Abraham hadn't read it himself, yet knew of the events inside of. "Have I become big brother? Have I tried so hard to create my own Utopia only to see myself become a tyrant?"

He moved his head from side to side in a response to his own question. "I...I..." words that were once easy to say were now impossible. "...am not some hero. I'm what I'm needed to be."

He stared out the window in the cell and watched as workers built the gallows. "And today this world needs a leader that can act. I've been appointed as the judge that precedes over your hearing."

"Salazar...Kane...Iman..." Abraham found himself unable to speak by the tears that consumed him "...forgive me. I never wanted this for you."

***

It was strange being on the other side of the court. Unlike before, there was a formal chair and a nice oak desk instead of a thrown over bookcase. Abraham sat higher than the three defendants, who were dragged in with their chains and orange jumpsuits. The crowd was also more civilized than when he was put on trial. How strange it was being put on trial for frivolous accusations, watching a close ally being banished to his death, and then being championed as the chief defender of Justice. He recognized that his patterns of thinking must be the influence of O'Neil inside of him. The frustrations with the wrong doings of society tugged at his heart. It would be so easy, so simple to flip a switch inside of his head and condemn the society and start from scratch. Yet that ideology was a sin against the fabric of the world he was creating. Much like he had told the three prisoners, he had to remember that though society was a flawed, deeply twisted place to exist in, it was worth protecting the right to be unique. He had seen the extremes of both realities. He was forced to choose a side, and this was the result he chose. It was him who was responsible for it. The good, bad, and everything else was a direct result of his actions.

He stared into the eyes of the three men brought before him. There was no life in them. He saw no soul looking back at him. Just the empty, shallow corpse of men wallowing through life. He considered what he was about to do mercy rather than justice.

"The three prisoners brought before me..." Abraham swallowed and allowed him self to process what he was about to say "...have brought destruction upon our world."

Both of his hands were resting upon the desk. He noticed he was tapping his index finger in a steady pattern. On a particular beat a glitch appeared and showed him a vision of the three prisoners. They were in their military suits and were playing with children on a basketball court. They were happy, full of life, and brought joy to the community. It was how Abraham remembered them being before they were captured. He felt sorrow in his heart. This was who they were- not the dead men dragged before him now. As he closed his eyes, the glitch disappeared and gave back reality.

"These were men who were cold..." Abraham was interrupted by another glitch of them kissing their wives who were worried about them going to war.

"Men who devoted their lives to Thomas O'Neil's tyranny." Another glitch showed Abraham a vision of Thomas O'Neil torturing them with unnecessary surgery and jabbing them with scalpels and drilling holes into their skulls.

The glitch evaporated and left Abraham struggling to keep composed. He had to keep himself disconnected from them. It was a show, a play, and he must be a masterful actor in control of his craft. He had to be a leader for the city, even though he mourned for the three prisoners before him.

"It is because of all these..." Abraham paused. He couldn't say what he needed to. He looked again at the prisoners to remind himself that they weren't there. He had to believe what he was about to say was just. "...these truths that we are gathered..."

"For all of their crimes, how do the defendants plead?"

A familiar silence came from below. Israel suspected that they wouldn't say anything but gave them a chance to anyways. Salazar blinked- it was the first time any type of suspected communication came out of him. It shocked Abraham, who worried that his own facial expression would give away his feelings. Salazar's lips moved in what felt like slow motion. "Guilty."

***

One by one, the men and women inside the courtroom were lead to the park in the center of Uptown where most of the battle had taken place. Countless men and women had died in that spot. Abraham imagined that there would be a memorial to those brave soldiers who defended against the attack. As the procession carried on, a group of guards escorted the the prisoners by the arm to the gallows. It was well constructed. The materials and labor was generously donated by Isaiah, the weapons tycoon who had expanded into real estate to help rebuild Wonder City. Abraham couldn't help but wonder why such a man would donate some of his resources, but he always did suspect that there was some compassion within him. It was warming to see he wasn't wrong.

One guard escorted each prisoner, one at a time, to his gallow. The nose was tightened around each of their necks. It had been agreed on ahead of time that there would be no black hood for any of the men. The citizens wanted to see them suffer. It wasn't Abraham's choice, but rather the voice of the people. It was encouraging to see them use it, even if he didn't approve of the outcome. The process should always triumph over the results, he thought.

The three men remained stoic. There was no semblance of emotion on their faces. They were cold. Aloof. Abraham was right in his speech. These were cold men. But they weren't always this way.

The executioner stood by the lever that would drop them into eternity. He faced them, and asked them for final words. Each of the three men stayed silent. The crowd waited diligently for them to say anything at all.

"In accordance with the punishment prescribed by Justice Abraham of Wonder City..." the executioner tightened his grasp on the lever. "I hereby fulfill the law and the duty presented to me to hang you until you are pronounced dead."

In the final seconds of his life, Abraham watched as Salazar seemingly woke up from the daze O'Neil placed him in. At first it was like watching him wake up from his nap. His eyes were half open and his mouth drooped down. Less than a second later Abraham assumed that he realized what was happening. His forehead creased and his eyes, full of tears, had a haunted look as he inhaled his last breath. What was left of Abraham's heart shattered at the sight of his demise. Rarely in his life had he seen a grown man cry. He felt as if Salazar and the rest of the men were his children. To watch them go through such pain and suffering made him wish as if were him on the gallows instead. The other two men followed suit, each matching an expression of sorrow and horror.

As the floor gave out and the men dropped to their deaths, Abraham felt dizziness come over him. He collapsed onto the ground and passed out, fading away.