She kissed his bald head and rubbed at his newly shorn beard. It was odd to see him so bare and visible. Such horrible
cuts marred his chin and cheeks. His lips were cracked and bleeding despite the fluids being steadily pumped into his body
to hydrate him. His nose was obviously broken and swelled to twice its size. His eyes moved restlessly beneath their lids.
A deep gash lacerated his left eyebrow and missed his eyes by the luck of a blink most likely. Seeing would be hell once he
woke up…assuming he woke up.
The cosmetic damage was easy to see, but the worst came from what couldn’t be seen from the outside. Three broken
ribs that punctured his left lung with ragged edges, a bruised aorta that only by the grace of God remained intact, a lacerated
kidney they’d hardly managed to maintain, and a ruptured spleen that was immediately removed. This ordeal had not been
kind to him.
His pale arms and legs were wrecked with long cuts of daggers and pocketknives alike. There even seemed a point when they’d
tried to skin him alive as was evident from the long stretch of skin absent from his lower back. They’d gagged him to
keep him from screaming out loud. She couldn’t imagine Toby Ziegler screaming in agony; in annoyance certainly, but
not agony. She never wanted to imagine that, but it had happened. What had this world come to?
***
Their world was cruel and dark once they arrived decisively to it. The only link they had to what they knew was each other.
A prayer was sent up silently for some kind of mercy or resolution. There was so much yet to live for, but here they were.
Although, relatively healthy, none of them were in any shape to survive this unscathed.
The President apologized, as did Charlie and Toby, respectively. They all felt they shared some intense blame when there
was no culpability among them. Bad things happened; this was just one more thing that would unite them at the end of the day.
God, how Charlie wished for a Bachelor Party instead.
They were dragged from the truck bed by their bound ankles without due to their heads that knocked into the rusted bumper.
They struggled valiantly, but their binds held strong. When too much of a struggle ensued, their captor didn’t hesitate
to begin the beating early. Tears of frustration and humiliation stung at Toby eyes as one particularly ruthless clansman
felt it warranted to carve a crude swastika into the back of his hand, where he was sure to have to see if for the rest of
his life. All he could conceive of were his children and how they would have to see that this was what it meant to be Jewish.
This was America, and yet, this was what it meant…to be Jewish, to be African-American, to be color blind.
They weren’t without sin, but nothing, nothing they had ever done had equaled this. They’d only gotten out
of bed that morning.
The sun rose quickly in the dank sky, signaling the arrival of the afternoon that would undoubtedly be met with the desperation
of a nation as they searched forlornly for their leader; and for some, their family. They were whisked farther from civilization
to the symphony of snapping twigs and marching steps on fallen leaves. The best thing they could do to insure their survival
was to do nothing and say nothing.
They traversed a dizzying trail for hours, sometimes covering the same ground twice. There was no telling where they’d
end up. As Ra began the sun’s descent towards the horizon, they reached their destination. Rising three stories before
them was a tree of mangled limbs, scarred with ancient buckshot and tattered, bloody ropes that held the ghosts of every man
hanged from them.
For a moment they were held before the monstrous thing as though they were being judged for punishment. Their knees were
knocked from beneath them and their shoulders were yanked back so far it was difficult to breathe.
Charlie was pulled to the tree in the center of the clearing much to the horror of his companions. They both vied to go
first, in the desperate hope that he would survive. He still had Zoey waiting for him at home -- what child would write his
legacy? Their children were living proof, but what would be his? His arms were bound around the tree as Toby and Jed were
to posts, their faces turned towards what was sure to be a harrowing scene.
Through some troubling consensus, brown leather horsewhips materialized out of unseen pockets and made devastating work
of each man. Charlie, his back to the others, refused to make a sound, his lips bleeding in the effort. Drawing courage from
his display, Jed and Toby kept their silence as well. Jed rubbed his wrists roughly against the crudely made ropes to drown
out of the unbearable agony of his ripping flesh. He ground his teeth in utter refusal to bow to their unspoken will.
Toby rubbed his face against the splintered bark of the homemade post. This was his Auschwitz; his Holocaust. Only it wasn’t
just Jews; it was anyone who didn’t belong according to their archaic standards. They came, they saw, they became victims.
What would his children be told, he wondered. At this point, they’d never remember him from memory, but who would
tell him who he’d been…or worse, how he’d died? Would they tell them good things, were there good things
to tell? It frightened him that this ordeal might scare them from their God given faith. Someone had to let them know this
wasn’t all there was. There was good in the world, good never cared whether you were born beneath David’s Star
or the Mary’s right hand. Good was color-blind. Good was the man tied to the makeshift pole across from him. Good was
dying. Only it didn’t have to be that way.
He wanted to apologize, to give penance for this atrocious mess, but there was no room to speak; the air so filled with
dark intent. The stench of a roaring tire fire filled their exerted lungs and they coughed pitifully in their constraints.
Soon, the whipping ended and they came in droves with gleaming blades and eyes. Blood was spilled dramatically, staining of
the pristine costumes of their tormentors and yet they refused the luxury of a single anguished cry. Their composure was all
they had; once they surrendered that, it was irretrievable. Will was irretrievable.
~~~
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