A talk before Death

word count: 395

"I have come at your request, would you like me to read your last rights to you?"

"No, father, I wished only someone to speak with before I face my fate.
I wanted to make sure that someone knew why, even if it was only one person."

"I see, would you like to confess anything to clear your spirit, for a final enlightenment?"

"I have come to peace. I killed a monster, someone above the law, who had killed and would kill again."

"If you knew of a crime why did you not go to the authorities?"

"I tried, no one believed or even looked at the evidence I had gathered."

"I am here to listen."


"I’m guilty of taking the life of a well-respected man. A man that had lost seemingly everything and had made a tremendous comeback. His new wife their child was all signs that he was a winner, despite his loss. "

"I am aware, of who he was. Would you like to repent?"

"No, I never have. I did not feel the need. Today, I just need to talk. Make sure that someone knows what happened that couldn’t divulge it beyond the ears of God. His new wife was like a part of my family; their child was timid and hid all the time. Something was not right. When I asked her if something was amiss she would coyly change the subject, casting her eyes down or looking away. So I started digging into the cause of his original misfortune. I found evidence that the accident that took his family was not an accident."

"I see, yet you did not take it to the authorities?"

"You are naive. They knew. I would have left it alone if I had not seen the red welts on the child or the bruise on my friend’s frail frame when her hair blew in the breeze as we talked that last time. The abusive cycle would continue, and she would die, unless I stopped it."

"Vengeance is the Lords my son. "

"It wasn’t vengeance it was justice. Anyone else in the world would have, had to face the same fate as I. Thank you father for listening. If you decide to go to an authority, the evidence is buried just above his casket. His sins weigh him down even as mine condemn me to die."