Now, it is briefly quiet. Certainly it’s only a pause before the sentence is pronounced, I think to myself. Then I hear something about “to death!” and with that, I collapse into unconsciousness.
The cold of the familiar cell awakens me. It’s clear to me that soon they will come and get me to be executed.
A glance through the window causes me to stiffen. The gallows has been labeled with my name!
Despairing, I sit down.
Suddenly, I hear steps, not before my door, but outside, in the courtyard.
I peer out and see a man being led to the gallows. I watch as he allows himself to be led up without argument. I watch as he is executed in my place. I hear as he shouts something upward toward the heavens and then goes limp, dead.