Here's a short story inspired by reading through
@Lucas Soranus 's post about
how long a victim would try to last after being crucified.
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*One hour,* she promised herself. *Hold back your tears for one hour. Don't give them what they want. Show them your strength. Keep your head high*
She took a deep breath and finally lifted her gaze, which she immediately regretted. Hundreds of jeering faces, all rabid for her blood. She felt so small before them. So exposed. A lump inevitably began to form in her throat, which she tried desperately to swallow down. But in a flash the tattered cloths around her chest and waist were torn away by her captors. The crowd bellowed their catcalls and cheers as they got their first glimpse of her naked body. They laughed at her when she tried to cover vulva with her hands. They chanted in unison for her demise. She broke her promise and let out a pitiful sob as tears dripped from her cheeks to her bare breasts.
*30 minutes,* she promised herself. *Just make it 30 minutes before you begin to panic and beg.*
Deep in the back of her mind she knew panic was inevitable. How could she not? But she would defy these evil men and women yanking her limbs away from her bare body lying on the course wooden beams beneath her.
The weight of a thick, square iron nail tip rested on her left wrist, which made her yelp and jump.
*No!* she willed herself. *Control. Breathe. It will all be okay. It will all be oka-*
CLINK!
The rough ropes around her arms and ankles bit into her skin and gave her friction burns. But that was the least of her pains at the moment. Her mind was a fog of fear and desperation as three more nails were wedged between her flesh and bones. Blood from her pounding heart seeped from her wounds. This was no dream, this was really happening to her! She broke her promise to herself and began to scream for mercy.
"No no! Please! Please wait wait wait!!!" she blubbered as she began to be lifted vertical. Her body pitched forward all of her weight pressed on the nails joining her to the cross. She couldn't stifle the cries for help and rescue that were erupting from her quivering lips.
"Put me down, Please please! I don't want to die!"
*10 minutes*, she promised herself. *Just hang by your wrists for 10 short minutes!*
The thick toned muscles of her legs were already cramping beneath her perspiring skin.
*Control yourself,* she commanded herself in her mind. *Control your body. Stop twitching, it's making it worse! Breathe! Just breathe!*
But the tension on her ribcage from hanging allowed only choking, gasping wimpers of air into and out of her lungs.
*I can't do it. I can't lift myself up again. My feet can't take it!*
Yet her survival instincts dictated that she must.
*10 minutes! Te- oh God I can't take it! I won't make it! 5 minutes! Just 5!*
But the throbbing pain in her outstretched arms was bearable for not a single moment longer. Her shoulders were about to tear from their sockets. Her lungs were screaming on fire for fresh breath.
She broke her promise and screamed as she flexed her legs. An eruption of hot fresh agony flowed from her pierced feet through her entire system. But the pressure was off her diaphragm and she could exhale. Fresh air rushed into her body and out. There was no mental fortitude left in her mind to count the seconds of breathing. Her feet could take the torment no longer and she dropped once more. Her breasts bounced and her knees spread wide for the crowd to gawk at her vagina. Her body was not her own anymore.
*1 minute!* she begged of herself. *Just don't think of the word for 1 minute! Don't give in!*
There was hope as long as she stayed awake. She could be rescued! Someone out there would take pity on her and bring her down!
*Don't think about it. 1 min- Just 30 seconds! Please just 30- just 10 seconds!*
But her mind was filled now only with despair. The word weighed down on her mind like a bag of stones.
Death.
She broke her promise and begged for death in her mind. Her mouth could form no more words. Her body only existed to hurt and be ogled at for their sick entertainment. She pleaded for her suffering, humiliation, and defeat to end.
*Please! End me now. Let me close my eyes and be gone!*
But time would betray her once more.
10 seconds. 30 seconds. 1 minute. 30 minutes. An hour. An evening. A day. A week.
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