The hill seemed larger than it actually was as Majid climbed it, hands behind his back. Townsfolk had gathered to watch the boy being hanged for his mischievous, evil deeds. A few kids ran in front of him, teasing him, reminding him with their gleeful little faces that he was about to die.1
The sky over Iran was mostly clear, with the exception of the black thunder cloud that hung over Majid. To him, the day was cloudy and dark. The day was frightening and terrifying. The day would be Majid's last.2
Two guards guided the boy towards the place where he'd be executed. The tall, slim guard with a straight posture stood in the lead, while the shorter, stockier guard followed, in case the prisoner decided to make a break for it.3
Guards were also hidden among the crowd of people, just in case Majid decided he'd run away. This definitely wasn't an option for him though. Iran was the only place he'd ever known. It was home to all the people he had ever trusted. He couldn't trust them anymore, after they'd sold him out, but at one point he'd been able to confide in them. Espeially Emad.4
Emad had been Majid's closest friend for the past three years, ever since he'd been twelve. Majid had become quite attached to the boy, and told him his deepest, darkest secret. Emad had kept the secret for a while, but after an argument between the friends, the boy ran straight to his parents, telling them everything. They'd never liked their son's friend anyway, constantly saying he'd end up in a world of trouble. God, were they right.5
It had obviously been them who'd told the guards about the secret, and because Majid's secret was against the law, he was sentenced to be hanged.6
Majid was approaching the top of the hill, trying his hardest to think of a way to escape. He looked around desperately, but knew that half of this crowd were guards. The rest of them hated him too, so there would be no way getting past them.7
Just when he had about a quarter of the hill left to climb, a tall dark-skinned man with an unshaven face jumped out of the crowd. The guards stopped, allowing him to approach the boy, and for a split-second, Majid thought he wasn't going to die. He thought this man might be his savior. But as quickly as the man had appeared, he spit in the boy's face.8
"Scum," he hissed, and disappeared into the crowd.9
The guards continued moving upwards, the rear one giving Majid a kick in the behind. Finally they reached the very top of the hill, where there were a set of stairs leading to a wooden platform. Hanging off the stage was a rope made of tough, wiry strings, all sewn together.10
Majid stopped, seeing the rope, not wanting to continue. The guard behind gave him a forceful push, and the boy fell hard onto the ground in front of the stairs. He frowned, looked through his ripped pants at his scraped and bloody knees, and began to cry. One might have thought he'd simply fallen and reacted like a three year old, but this was more than that. Majid wasn't only crying because he was hurt.11
He remembered only too clearly the guard bursting into his small house, grabbing hold of him and dragging him outside. He remembered his mothers screams, wanting her only son to be free from the tight, deadly grasp of the unfair law. He remembered his father, staring silently after him, unsure of what to do. And he remembered Emad, looking as if he'd just made a big mistake.12
Majid was lifted by the guard, carrying him up the stairs, arms outstretched as far as possible as if the kid was contagious. The guard's footsteps echoed and Majid counted them in his head, trying to keep his mind off of the fate that was about to be his.13
Thrown onto the stage, he landed next to the rope. The slanky guard that had been in front of Majid struggled to wrap the rope around the squirming teen's neck. "There's no turning back now," thought Majid as the second guard pushed him off the stage.14
The boy's neck snapped. He hung. Dead, because he was gay.
Author notes
Justice Square is the name of a small place in Iran.
The name Majid means Strong and the name Emad means trustworthy.
The characters in this story are fictional, but these events do occur. There are several places where you can be hanged simply because you're gay. Mauritania, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, Nigeria and Iran are places where the slaughtering of homosexuals is legal.
Bad stuff, eh?
For the contest: The story is about a secret which was made public. His friend let people know that he was a homosexual.
A contest entry
- It's a Secret by Silver Heart.
160 points, ended June 26, 8 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
Be honest...
Comments
1 - 14 of 14
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Whoa
The end threw me off. You ended it so perfectly--simple yet breath taking in a way. I love your writing... I would most definitely say you're my favorite writer. :-)
Amazing.
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I am not lying this is a great story with a strong meaning. I felt bad for this character, who you nicely described.
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Well written. Have read it over and again and showed family. A real good read.
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THis is a good story. The idea is very strong, and it does make you want to do something about it. Good job. Good luck in my contest!
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This made me really angry... I have friends who are gay and I love them to death, so this really affected me very strongly. This had a nice story and was pretty well-written. Thanks for entering! I really enjoyed it.
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That is really unfair! Someone shouldn't be hung just for being gay! It's not something that anyone chooses.
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That was amazing. Not only did you write a great story, you brought up an important message and point. I think I might have teared up a little when the man spit in his face... I know, I'm cheesy. But you do a really nice job of packing a lot of power in a few lines. The man spitting at him, the description of Emad's face when he realized he might have made a mistake. I loved it all, and I'm adding it as a bookmark.
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A few typos, but throughout the story you really made me want to know the secret...but then at the end all I wanted was not to know the secret anymore. Makes you think about life... good story!
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(2)'bee' should be 'be'
(3) instead of 'less skinny' try 'stockier'
(14)'slanky guard' try 'slim guard'
Apart from these, this is quite a good piece. Good atmosphere, emotive and descriptive. Nice styled, especially keeping the reason for the boy's death to the end - the reader is more inclined to believe that the boy is something 'conventionally' criminal. Unfortunately human rights abuses don't just include discriminating against women, or using slave labour, but other things such as homosexuality.beginning: 3, language: 3, plot: 3, ending: 3, dialog: 3, characters: 3.
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Amazing story. I think the ending makes sense and i can't believe they do that even though im straight also. You a very talendted and well-vocabularied writer. This made a lot of sense and it made you feel like you were there. Good descriptions.
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Aw. That's so sad.
I can't believe it. In this day-and-age (always wanted to say that
) they still hang people for being gay? That's just stupid. I mean, gay people are the same is everyone else. I really don't get the whole against-gays thing. (I'm straight myself, but I still don't get it.)
This was amazing.
You did an excellent job on this and you're obviously a very talented writer.
erica[♥]xoxo
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How sad
You may want to re-read it just to fix the couple grammatical errors I found. But if your purpose was to get a point across, you did it well.beginning: 4, language: 3, plot: 3, ending: 3, dialog: 2, characters: 3.
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so true =/
I did a video featuring this.
Just the hanging not the snapping, so to speak. -
I hate the law soo damn much.
It was me who pointed all these things out to Key-Van a few days ago while doing my Sociology paper and what I found out was quite sickening. Please go to youtube.com and watch the video "Under the Pale Blue Sky." If you're an emotional person you may want to mute your speakers.. the song is a little depressing.
Great job Key-van! The story was short but it got the point across!
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