Page 30 of Damnation
Still, I do not turn.
“I understand you are angry with me. I am angry with myself. I…have no excuses. I only wish this to be over and everything to go back as it was.”
“Before you knew the truth?” I spit towards him.
He furrows his brows. “I thought you have spoken you are not a witch.”
“I am not. Not by your definition, or any other. Though if you want to depict me as such, then I may as well be in your eyes.”
“Sarah,” he whispers pleadingly. “I’m frightened for you, the both of you,” he says, reaching around to touch my belly.
“We will face whatever the court decides, without you by my side. You made sure of that.”
He’s quiet for several moments before he continues.
“The town is in full hysteria. Dozens of people are being accused by the minute. The court appointed cannot keep up. I fear they will begin hangings soon.”
“And that bothers you so?” I sneer.
He forces my face to look upon his, Thomas’s hand gripping my cheeks with tight force.
“Watching you hang at the end of a rope plagues my nightmares. I’d rather hang myself than witness such a sight.”
Fear runs through me at his words, mainly because I know them to be true. I am not a dull woman. I know the court would never rule me innocent, no matter how hard I plead, no matter what evidence I provide. Their minds are decided. I am living on borrowed time. I’ll be damned if I allow them to win, allow them to take my life for their evil plot.
Before I fully know what I am doing, I grip the knife Thomas often keeps at his side as I jump off the horse. I am able to steady myself with my hands before running through the meadow to the left. I hear Thomas call for me as the others begin shooting their guns. Still, I run. I run until I come upon a cliff, nowhere to go but down.
“Sarah!” Thomas shouts as he comes running through the bushes, Hutchinson and Lewis on his tail, both weapons drawn.
“Get down!” Lewis shouts.
I turn to face them as I take a step back and then another until my heels feel the ground come to an end.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Thomas shouts, holding out a hand as if that will stop me.
“Come no closer!” I shout as I lift the knife to my throat.
“Do as she says,” Thomas snarls.
Surprisingly, Hutchinson and Lewis do as he such as they watch me.
“What are you doing?” Thomas asks, holding out his hands as if he means no harm.
I do not realize I am crying until I taste the salty taste of my tears.
“The outcome shall be the same, at least this way I shall be a master of my own fate. I will not fall prey to the sick games of these trials.”
“You know not the outcome of your trial, nor the others. Do not make haste decisions for which you can not undo,” Thomas says, taking another step and another towards me.
“Whether my blood be spilled on this cliff or my neck snapped at Gallows Hill, it shall make no difference. Everyone wishes for my death; they wish to bask in it. I shall not give them such satisfaction,” I say as I dig the knife into my neck deeper.
“Please, please,” Thomas says softly, slowly coming closer. “Think of Dorothy, think of the child that grows in your belly by the day. You want them to live, do you not?”
“Live only for their mother to die?” I ask with a menacing laugh.
“Do not make assumptions. The innocent shall not be slain. If you are as you speak, everything shall be right, shall it not?”
“Aye, let her be, Putnam. If she wants to rid herself, saves us rope!” Hutchinson snarls.
