The child swung from the ceiling. His eyes were sewn shut, rope around his neck still holding tight. His flesh was starting to go grey and rotten.
"Looks like it's about time," the guard said. "You can do the honors." He pushed the cold axe into my small hands.
My young mind struggled to process. At only three years old, I didn't know what was going on. All I knew was that I had to swing this heavy axe.
So I did it. I took the axe and chopped the kid's head off, clean through the neck and the rope. The body fell to the ground with a thump, the head a few feet away from the rest of it.
"There you go," the guard said. "There's your killing instinct! Now chop it into bits."
I knew this kid. I knew him as a friend. We played together a few times. Even though he had been named as a weakling for throwing a tantrum, I cried and risked his fate.
And now I had to chop up what remained of his body. But I had to do this. Or otherwise, I would be thrown into the wide sea, named a weakling instead of whatever my name was.
The axe cut through the bloated corpse, fluid splattering everywhere. I keep swinging, trying to turn it into something less than human. All that he was supposed to be-nothing.
I stepped back, done with my work. The guard put his hand on my shoulder, and took the axe.
"You are now a member of the bridge," he said, "William."
YOU ARE READING
Bridge of Secrets
AdventureWay off in the future, the world flooded. Humanity is now living on what remains of the world before, metal structures known as bridges. They divided based on beliefs, creating dangerous communities. William has lived on a bridge all his life. It's...
