The stage is a surreal scene. The black tarps that shielded Siss, Barb, and Roxie from the crowd have translucent sponsor ads sewn into them that at night lights from the stage will shine on and light up for the crowd but are backwards from inside the stage with the sun shining through them. The stage is littered with audio-visual electronics and three crosses. Tree walks toward the trio and before he could say to Siss it was time she kissed Barb and Roxie and said “I’ll tell you what the view is like!”
She turns and walks towards her cross with a bravado that masks her nearly overwhelming fear. As she strides up to Tree she says “Thank you for the moment. You better treasure that kiss I gave you. It was the most passionate one I’ve given a man.”
Her voice is strong but tears well in her eyes. When she arrives her cross she steps over the stipe. She looks down at the wood between her legs. Tree tells Bull and Gunner to lay her on it. She shoots Tree an angry look and yells “NO! I will do this on my terms!”
She bends her knees and lowers her bottom to the wood. She sits on the beam a moment and wipes her eyes. Gunner and Bull move to stretch her out but Tree waves his hand and shakes his head. Quietly he says “Siss, slide back a foot, lie back, and put your wrists over the cross.”
She nods and does as she is told.
My feet are still on the ground, or stage, or whatever. Already I feel the edges of the stipe dig into my ass and shoulders. Oh, damn, this is going to be bad. I raise my arms over the cross realizing the next time I am vertical I will be nailed to this damn thing. Bull and Gunner grab my wrists and I scream that I do not need to be held. Tree says to me he’ll meet me halfway. Gunner will hold my other wrist and Bull my legs while Tree puts the first spike through me.
I am in no position to negotiate but offer my consent. Tree tells me to slide my arm up and in a bit. I do and he places the tip of a massive rusty square shanked spike against my skin. I ask him if he was laying rail tracks or crucifying me. He tells he swiped them from the old stable at the Cruxton Abbey. Then he asks “Are you ready?”
I look at the sky and say “Does it…”
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Siss doesn’t hear the hammer hit the spike. With one blow Siss’ wrist is one with the wood. Her howls of pain would have silenced the crowd even without being amplified on the PA speakers. As her left wrist and feet are joined to the cross Barb and Roxie grab each other, torn between the horror of what is happening to Siss and that they are witnessing what they are about to experience…
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Tree
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