Writing Challenge, 75 Words, March 2011 -- THE JUDGE WINS!

[TheEndIsNigh]

Reflections.

I always wondered; why in the morning? Is there reason, or is it society’s last sadistic twist?

To see the hope of a new sunrise and the realisation this is the day you never see end.

Yes, I deserve to die; but not like this.

Done for an audience: a cold sterile procedure: B follows A, then C then death.

So: here they come; soon it will be over and so will I.

 

[mygoditsraining]

The Marksman

My nerve had failed me. It was the only way, he said.


“Cheating” wasn’t the word. It was beyond that, something else entirely.


Samuel helped me cast the bullets. Seven of them, the ash ground fine and poured into each cast.


The first six stayed the course, found their mark.


I should’ve known she’d be there, in the crowd, watching nervously.


The seventh bullet was his.

 

[Chel]

Justified Science


I am E-dolf, and I have never seen another human being. My clone-father killed 6 million, and I'm serving his time. I know the other -dolfs are too, I sometimes hear their screams; as they hear mine.

We were taught to read by a computer. We are fed and washed by robots. Once a week for ten minutes we get to walk outside, alone.

How many clones will it take to atone for his crimes?

 

[mosaix]

Haunted


I’m sure I killed her. I was drunk behind the wheel. She stepped out.

I thought I’d left her for dead but she talks to me. All the time.

“Isn’t a life of self-loathing sentence enough?” I ask her.

“No.”

“I’ll give myself up.”

“A drunk and a liar,” she says.

“Please forgive me.”

“Never.”

I’m standing by the road, a fast car approaching. “This one will do nicely,” she says.

 

[Boneman]

Reflections​

I admitted it, when they caught me.

I did the crime, I'm doing the time.

I didn't kill anyone. What's more sacrosant than life?

They told me I ruined lives. That's subjective - if I'd shot off a leg, blinded someone - that might ruin a life. But stealing their money? Be serious. They can always make more.

They thought I'd never make bail. But those bankers pension funds were huge.

Exile in Nassau can be tough.

 

[mad_iguana]

It's been a while, but I wanted to get back into this... Just rustled it up relatively quickly.


The Guilt of Man
Everyone is a criminal.
My job is to work out their crime.

Anger, greed, lust; violence, theft, rape: some are crimes of thought and some are crimes of deed.

And what of punishment? The sentence is decreed the moment the crime is committed.
It is not for me to mete out death or anguish.

I am the deliverer; I take you from guilt to punishment and, perhaps, redemption.

Which of those is my crime?

 

[The Judge]

Nemesis... and the Death of Matthew Hopkins


She watched as women were stripped and tortured.
She watched as women were bound and flung into water, to float or drown.
She watched as women were dragged, weeping, to improvised gallows.
She watched.
She waited.

One condemned woman cursed the witch-finder. Another spat at him. The last coughed blood into his stone-hard, unrelenting face.

The disease was slow. Agonising. Fatal.
As Hopkins writhed and coughed, blood splattering, She watched, and waited.
And smiled.

 

[J-WO]

Diary of a citizen who can still hold a pen.


Everyone thought China would conquer the world some day. No one thought they'd be this poetic.

In Britain we've been smackheads for nineteen years now. Punishment for the Opium wars, you see.

Opium from cradle to grave, addiction at gunpoint. The docks of Newcastle and Belfast heave with crates once more. Import only.

News came from Beijing tonight. Tommorrow the punishment begins.

They've stopped our supply!

 

[The Imp]

My first effort. Be gentle, kind judges

The Icy Gutter

Death by impalement was......fitting.

It should have been the perfect crime. He was a paraplegic, and the murder weapon had melted. His wife lay on their bed, dead of one stab wound. It MUST have been an intruder, unheard by him or their sleeping servants. How could he know the detective would be a dwarf, his eyes at the perfect level to see the window was open a crack. And notice the missing icicle.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

The Writing Challenge is closed. As usual: Excellent job everyone!

Culhwch will soon be along with a link to the poll.

 

[Culhwch]

And the poll is here: http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/531018-march-writing-challenge-crime-and-punishment-poll.html

As you can see, thanks to some magic from Brian this month we've been able to host the poll here on the Chrons. Just be mindful to keep discussion out of the poll thread and in the discussion thread, where it belongs.