Monica gave Caroline a last frightened look, then lowered her head obediently into the stocks. The smell of blood was strong. The girl with blue braids snapped the stocks shut and slid a metal bolt through. Monica presumed it was to lock the device shut.

Then a metal hook was shoved up her anus, and manacles clamped around her limbs so that her body could be lifted after she died..

She braced herself. It seemed that the pardon wouldn’t be for her after all. All that hope had been false. It would have been better if she’d never had any at all. Then she could have just spent her remaining time properly preparing herself for death. Now she was just scared, and unprepared.

“Ready to die piggy” asked the lady butcher.
Monica wasn’t ready at all.

“Please don’t do this” she blubbered “ I don’t want to die.

She squeezed her tear filled eyes shut and gritted her teeth, waiting for the end.

The woman in blue threw the lever on the guillotine, and Monica heard the shrill of the metal blade falling towards her neck.

She felt herself piss in fear at the last moment.