| Jane
hangs from her second cross for a night. The
new day begins with a drink of water, courtesy
of her torturer, who then proceeds to take
her down and onto her next ordeal.
He strings her up from a tree branch by her
wrists. He flogs her for, what Jane thinks,
is an eternity of pain. Her skin is shredded
to a pulp of bleeding flesh.
She's then taken to where she once was whipped
on her knees. She's left there, free, on her
knees, bleeding, naked, wondering. She doesn't
move, she can't, she doesn't have the strength
to get up and leave.
She waits. Her tormentor returns with a crown
of thorns and barbed wire. He places it on
her head and leaves her again. Jane's blood
trickles down her face as she waits for more
to come.
She's taken to stand by the edge of the well
where she overlooks the valley, holding on,
she doesn't fall. By now she knows she can't
escape. She can only hope for mercy if she
performs each task set forth by the madman.
She's then taken back to the massive tree.
She's tied to it with her arms open in cross.
She's left there to suffer her pain alone.
But that's not the end. Her tormentor returns
with nails.
Jane is nailed to the tree, stripped of the
last strand of cloth still attached to her
body and she's left to die.. |