I stared at the crowd and told the biggest lie of my life.

I couldn’t keep my hands from trembling as I walked up the weathered wooden steps to the stage. My breath came quick, and my every instinct was to run, scream, or hide. The men beside me reminded me that I had no choice in my fate as they dug into my arms with their rough fingers. As the guards forced me to the top of the stairs, I kept my head down. I was afraid of what I’d see.

Rage.

I knew what it was like to be in the crowds. I’d been here three times before, and I knew the elation felt only by a beast, eyes trained on prey, ready to pounce. The criminals brought to the stage were abhorrent beings - human only in body. Their minds were of another kind, stained and corrupted by forces of evil. Therefore, when the trapdoor built into the stage opened and the accused fell through, it was only natural to claw, and bite, and rip. The destruction of evil was a cause for celebration, and it was a community’s job to purge itself.

The first two times I came, I considered myself unlucky. Too far to participate, too close to have a good view. Stuck, I simply let the crowd push me until it was time to leave. The third time, however, I was lucky. The woman on the stand was accused of infanticide. She had invited the devil into her mind, poisoning the baby inside of her. The baby was stillborn, and within the hour of its birth she was imprisoned. When the trapdoor opened, I felt the pulsating fury of my community overtake me. I was not one person, not anymore. I was a claw, a fang, an eye. I was only my rage, my determination to protect and rid the world of evil like hers. It didn’t matter anymore, that aching feeling that something was wrong. The woman’s despair faded away as the blood rushing through my head pounded. Afterwards, I considered briefly if her despair had been genuine, if her pleas had been true. If the baby’s death was not her fault. It was evil thoughts like those that got me here in the first place.

“Attention!” The Announcer spoke clearly, booming over the crowd. Its voice commanded attention, and I was surprised I hadn’t noticed its arrival. Then again, I had been trying quite determinedly to block the world out, to wake from the nightmare. “Assuredly, you have all come a long way to participate in today’s justice. The Emperor thanks you deeply for your efforts.”

As the Announcer began its speech, I looked desperately around for some way to escape. The stairs were blocked by two guards, and there was no way off the platform - not without falling into the crowd. Even if I was able to get through, somehow, I couldn’t run far. They had taken my clothes, including my shoes, when I was imprisoned. Now, I wore nothing but a white cotton gown.

They had given me time enough to escape, had I truly wished to. The last two days of my life had been filled with stones cold to the touch, cruel insults spat through the iron bars separating keeper and captive. Had I told the truth then, I likely could have escaped and returned home safely. It is law, under the Emperor’s rule, that an accused person who gives testimony against two or more women involved with a crime may be let free.

The crowd roared, and I was brought back to the moment. Chanting now, their shouts combined and melted into the singular voice I had heard only once before. The voice of the beast. I could hear their excitement, their fury, their insults. Still, I kept myself from looking up. Still, I was scared. As I felt the moments flying by, my heart began to race. My vision blurred, and I tried desperately to cling on to reality. The grain of the wood, the look of my feet, the feel of air against my skin. I tried to memorize every detail before they were taken away from me. The guards came again, pulling me and forcing me to my knees in front of the Announcer. It looked down at me, its cold eyes unfeeling. It spoke, “Today, you are accused of evil of the highest kind: Murder of a city official. How do you plead?”

There was nothing to say.

It came back to me now, what I had seen just two days before. A man, a knife embedded in his chest, the color red. The scent of copper. My daughter on the floor weeping. He had liked the look of her, had come to take her, and she was scared. It was late at night, and she swore no one had seen her. Still, I knew that a missing official would never be looked over. I didn’t blame her, but there wasn’t much to do. We took her clothes and buried them deep in the forest, and I helped her wash the blood away from her skin. I gave her instructions to find her aunt’s house and held her one last time. I went to his body and, with a sickening noise, pulled the knife out from his chest. As I sat there, I remember the dread I felt as the world went silent around me. Crickets, cicadas, wind and the simple noise of life fell away, leaving me with nothing but the terrible silence of the night.

Looking over my shoulder, I stared at the crowd.

I remembered my daughter’s face.

“Guilty.”

The Announcer smiled, and with that I was pulled to my feet and made to stand over the trapdoor. Finally, I raised my eyes to the crowd. They looked hungry. I heard the trapdoor open.

I fell.

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Thank you for this unique writing experience! I have wanted to start writing for a while now, and I thought this contest was a great way to get rid of first-time nerves! I’d love some criticism or advice from the community :)