For Jet-Poop's The Blood is the Life: A Frightful Halloween Quest. Vive l'Halloween!
Numbers
2002.05.25 | 00.04
It is dusk.
Three men are led up seven wooden steps. The men are wearing once-white jumpsuits, now blood- and dirt- and sweat-stained from scores of years of use. All three are one-size-fits-all, and hang loosely off the undernourished bodies they clothe. The jumpsuits are in fact overgrown straightjackets, and each man's two arms are strapped to each man's back with a weave of worn belts and buckles.
Three men have black canvas hoods over their heads. They too are one-size-fits-all, but are tight enough to distinguish the bump of a nose under each one.
Three men are tied together at the neck. One thick rope encircles each neck, with three or four feet separating the men. One frayed end bounces against the small of the third man's back; the other is held tightly in one hand of one man dressed in black, leading the first man up the seven wooden steps.
One man clothed in black also wears one black hood—thick cheesecloth—he views the dim world around him through a translucent mesh. He pulls the first man towards the middle of the raised wooden platform.
One raised wooden platform sits seven feet above the pounded dirt ground. An infinite crowd surrounds the raised wooden platform on all sides. The crowd mills, vying for a better view, trying to get closer. Children pop out of the crowd, hoisted onto the shoulders of eager parents.
Three men in off-white stand in a line on one raised wooden platform, tied together at the necks, facing the same direction; one man in black stands behind them. The three men are framed by ancient wooden stakes, rising ten feet above the tallest man's hooded head. Three thick ropes dangle above each head, each knotted securely to the stake above and each with a strong noose knotted two feet above each head.
Four wooden crates are thrown onto the raised wooden platform. Each crate is three feet in height, a foot or two square. One man in black places a crate at the two feet of each man. He mumbles in one ear of each man, and each man sends a feeble foot out exploring, touching the crate in front of his two feet. Each man steps slowly, cautiously onto the unusually tall crate.
One three-foot tall crate is placed next to the first man. One man in black steps resolutely upon the fourth crate, clutches in one hand the noose hanging near to the first man's hooded head, and places the noose roughly about the first man's only neck. The man in black dismounts, places the fourth crate next to the second man, and repeats the action. The man in black dismounts, places the fourth crate next to the third man, and repeats the action. The man in black dismounts and hurls the fourth crate into the infinite crowd.
Twenty bright spotlights are lit, all trained upon one raised wooden platform. Three off-white jumpsuits glow in the darkening night as the crowd grows louder. Three men close to death hear distinct words from the infinite crowd, but none of the words are understood. One man begins to shake slightly.
One man in black, seeing some unseen signal, approaches the first man—the crowd quiets instantly. The man in black swings a steel-toed foot at the bottom of the first three-foot tall crate. One man in an off-white jumpsuit drops one foot to his death—the infinite crowd erupts in noise—a powerful spotlight casts the image of a flag of a foreign country on the off-white jumpsuit of the swinging man. One leg of the man twitches once, twice, and lies still.
One man in black takes three steps towards the second man, and the infinite crowd quiets instantly. He swings the same steel-toed foot at the bottom of the second three-foot crate—the second man drops a foot—the crowd explodes in noise—a spotlight casts an image of the same foreign country's flag on the dead man's body.
One man in black takes three steps towards the third man—silence—swing—drop—sound—light. The third man twitches uncontrollably as the third noose failed to separate two vertebræ in his only neck. The man's twitching slowly, imperceptibly decreases in consistency as the man asphyxiates. After twenty seconds, the man hangs completely still.
One infinite crowd continues clamoring as one man in black hurls three tall crates into the crowd and descends the seven wooden steps. The crowd parts without hesitation as the man in black walks in unmarked line away from one raised wooden platform.