And Then There Was One

And Then There Was One
    Faith D'Ambrosio

Six men stood single file, all wearing a pure white blindfold to conceil the shame in their eyes. Against a wall each of them faced, it’s ash grey surface caked and stained in the blood and tears of martyrs of individual causes and the wrongly accused.
     Their backs, scarred across once flawless flesh from the whippings they received for fighting for freedom, faced a man clad in a pure black button down uniform embroidered with bright crimson red. A leather hat sat atop his midnight shade head, the glint of metal reflecting in his eyes.
     Click click BOOM. Five became less and then there was three.
     The few remaining knew not of the next one to be picked off by a cold beaked vulture: they only prayed in silence.
    Click click BOOM. Two fell to the ground, dropping into a pool of their own blood. And then there was one, a single dark-haired youth who had seen his worth of pain.
     A sick grin crawled upon the uniformed being’s pale mocking face to the child who wore his faith his very body: a silver ring, a black and red necklace made by his beloved and a single gold cross dangling from his neck. His hair was thick and tossed about from his struggles, wild like the mane of a great beast.
     The gun was raised up once more, aiming towards the remaining target, dead silence filling the air.
     Click…click…click… BOOM.
     Shattered the weapon became, metal flying into the air like a rain of diamond shards. A yell pierced the silence in pain, another body falling to the floor.
     But it was not the blindfolded child who was unfairly slain.     
     All the while, he prayed and prayed to his King and Lord of his entire being. And He listened to his pleas with loving ears, giving him the protection to free himself from the demon disguised, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
     Click click boom, and then there was one.