Trapped

XI

Elias stared in horror Finley, as her body dropped, a moment of struggling passed, and then her soul left. His eyes filled with tears. This certainly wasn't the first hanging he had witnessed, and he assumed it wouldn't be the last, but this one hit him much harder than any other had before. It felt like a horse had just feared back and kicked him hard in the chest. He took a staggering step in reverse.

"No. This is wrong. It can not be," he said, but no one seemed to be listening. The crowd started dispersing, but Elias was stuck there, frozen. He shook his head. "No."

A guard cut her body down, and Elias raced towards her. He knelt before Finley, his hands hovering over her.

Ebenezer approached from behind him. He clapped a hand onto his shoulder. "It was for the best."

"Did you really see her using magic with your own eyes?" Elias asked, his voice right and strained, tears clogging up his throat.

"Well, no. But she did nearly break them out of jail. How else could she have done that?"

"The guard always falls asleep. Whenever I️ walk past him, he is asleep. It would not have been that hard to get to them." A revelation dawned on Elias. "You killed her for nothing. You were not certain she was a witch, but you pretended she was and lied to me! How dare you!"

He turned back to Finley, gathering her up in his arms. Tears leaked out of his eyes, falling onto her, onto her cheeks, onto her chest. "I️ should have believed her. Why didn't I️ believe her? Finley, I️ am sorry. I️ am so sorry. This can never be forgiven. I am so sorry." He pushed a stay piece of hair out of her face, stroking her cheek softly in the process.

"Get over it, you hardly knew her at all. You had just met less than a week ago," Ebenezer said, turning to walk away.

"No!" Elias got up and whipped around to face him. "You are wrong. I️ knew her well. And she knew me more than anyone else in this town. With her, I️ felt something. Something I️ had never felt before. And now she's gone. And it is all of our faults. This whole town is at fault. You, me, everyone that just watched this beautiful and kind girl get hanged publicly, as if she were an animal ready for slaughter. If she was innocent, how many others were innocent? How many more innocent people have to die, before the madness ends, Ebenezer?" He kicked the dirt. "How many more?"