Delilah

I woke up in a dark room. I couldn't feel anything except myself and the sheets under me. I heard a rustling in my vicinity. "Good morning, ma'am." said a voice. I was so startled that I felt like I had jumped out of my own skin. The lights flashed on before I could collect my thoughts. I must be stupid. All the memories hit me like a truck doing 100 MPH. I flew here. Well, I flew into town. I had to walk 2 miles through the woods and barely made it to this place. A clearing in the woods. No  vehicles. About 20 houses. This place I was in, it's like a motel but  more like a cabin. All these people here, they looked like teenagers but they were walking with men and almost all had rings on.

It's Later now. The ticking is driving me crazy, I'm sitting alone, at a grungy little table, eating something that is like cereal but like a cheaper, no box, version. All I can think about is that clock. My brain is on vacation. I thought I would be on vacation as well. I am suddenly overwhelmed with thoughts. I remember what the towns people were saying. People only lived to around 30 here. They had no remedy for diseases. Tonight was also the sharing night. I'll rest until then.

My butt is sore. I am sitting on this pathetic little stool with about 50 people around me. After it seemed like hours of talking, I went up. "I'm Delilah, I have a boyfriend, I'm not married yet though." Gasps arose from the crowd. " You mean, you defy mother Earth? You should be married by the day you turn 16, 12 if you are lucky." Said a dirty old man form the back of the crowd. " No, marriage just isn't important to me." Everybody was too quiet. I heard a mumble come from behind me. "Punish her." said a raspy voice.

My head hurts. Screaming people are everywhere. But the pain of my head is nothing compared to the stones. So many rocks and pebbles being thrown at me very aggressively. It finally stopped and they put me in a concrete room. I never got dinner. I lay on the cold ground during a very sleepless night.

The next day an old woman came in and got me. "You are to be seen in the town hall." she said with an attitude. I walked through the town with everyone's eyes on me. I decided to turn around and take a jog around the town real quick. Once I got to the town hall, I walked in.     "WHERE WERE YOU?" A booming voice came from across the room. "I was getting some exercise real quick." I mumbled. "I am 29 after all. I need exercise." I said with more attitude than I should have. The man's eyes changed and became very frightened. He started screaming for the town's people and in a snap I was being grabbed and dragged out to the middle of town. " A witch deserves no life." Said a younger woman and then I was being tied up. " I'm no witch." I said which seemed to pass through everyone's ears without any comprehension. Everything got blurry from my fear and before I knew it my skin got hot. It was slowly getting burned and then all of a sudden it was unbearable. The screams were so loud it almost distracted from the excruciating pain. It was a long and torturous wait. I was begging to just die. I have never felt more intense pain and all I could think was that I should just close my eyes and wait. I slowly started drifting an my body became numb. Then I felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing. Then everything stopped. I didn't think. I was dead