• Bang! And the body slumps to the ground. I can never see the faces, just a blurred image with a blindfold. This is what I see every night now, a side effect of this job that wasn’t in the description. The next person walks up to the wall and starts to take off their blindfold, just as I’m pulling the trigger. Next thing I know, the alarm is ringing for us to get up. I’m laying in the barracks now while the other four guards get ready; we always have to stay the night when we have an execution. Now I do my daily routine of checking the on the prisoners, suicide is a common thing in execution grounds, just hoping that my kids have a better job than I do.

    The prison seems so hollow and empty now, with almost all the prisoners dead or gone. There are supposed to be more prisoners coming tomorrow, but this place won’t change. If this job didn’t pay so well, I wouldn’t be here and I’m wishing that I had gotten out when I still had my humanity. I realize that I’ve stopped walking with all of this thinking and start my rounds again, and it’s now that I see Kezia; our last prisoner. She’s the only prisoner whose been fearful for their life; most realize what will happen to them when the come in here. She tried to escape two days ago, so the warden decided to keep her chained up. I haven’t walked directly in front of her cell yet, but she can tell it is me; it must be the sound of my step. She starts to breath, shallow and fast, then the other guards show up.





    As we open the cell door with our sullen faces, she tries to squirm free of her chains. One of the newer guards hits her with his rifle and she stops struggling, so I put the blindfold on her. I noticed that she walked with fear, all clumsily-like, but her step started to change. We all figured that she knew it was the end and she clamed down. We get outside and place her by a wall; there’s no place for her to run. We grab our rifles in a drone-like fashion, another side effect of this job, and start to talk amongst ourselves. We have a cigarette to try and calm ourselves, but it doesn’t work. We start to load our rifles with a metallic click and Kezia cringes at the sound.

    Due to our new rules, we have to give each prisoner a chance to say their last words and Kezia just says,

    ”Do what you want to me, I can die peacefully knowing that I fought for a just cause.”

    Now our hands are shaking, since she seems so brave and defiant. We raise our rifles and I give the command,

    ”Ready, aim, FIRE!”


    Just as I said fire, Kezia takes off her blindfold and it was like time stopped. Time starts again and we see the bullet hit Kezia, her face going pale. Another new ruling that was given to us was that we have to reload our rifles after a shot, incase the prisoner is still alive. We all do so and something inside me snaps and I put the rifle under my chin. The last thing that went through my head was: I hope my children are better off than me. A bang echoes with my last thought