April 5th, 1753

forbidden...is it forbidden to love the ones you know are only going to bring you heartbreak?

Is it worth the pain just to know that you were loved and you loved someone else?

Is the risk worth it?

My thoughts drifted as I walked down the dark cobblestoned floors of the jail. The water dripping from the cracks in the ceilings brought the smell of rain into the underground jail.

I saw the lilac fabric of her dress before I saw her...

Sitting with another woman in the cell she focused all of her attention on the small window that gave the people inside just the smallest of views of the world they were being barred from.

I designed this place. I knew every nook and cranny of this place. Every placement of every stone and bar. It was a place I designed to slowly break down someone's spirit. The spirits of those who had broken down others.

Unlocking the door I called for her. Her name on my lips felt like a blow to my heart.

"Delilah Thomas, please stand." Formality stiffened my words and stilled my face to stone. Even as she jumped to her feet and hope pushed past the despair and fear that clouded her hazel eyes. As she pushed back her knotted and messy hair from her face, the shackles on her wrist clinking together as she moved towards me to talk my hand, when all I wanted to do was take her and pull her into my arms...all I could do was step out of the doorway and motion for her to step in front of me.

"Theo...?"

"Please make your way out of the cell and down the hallway." I saw her step back from the cell's doorway. "If you don't come willingly I will be forced to remove you."

"Please, Delilah..don't make this any harder than it needs to be."

The sound of her shoes against the cobblestone grated against my ears like someone dragging metal on metal.

*******

Sunlight hit her face and lit up her hair giving her a halo. Every strand of her hair visible in the light and every slow movement she made visible.

My superior took her arm and led her towards the platform.

Unable to move as I stood guard next to it my heartbeat filled my ears and sweat slid down the sides of my torso.

Trumpets sounded.

Turning my head up I saw her staring at me as they tightened the noose around her neck.

"Delilah Thomas, you have been sentenced to hang until dead for the murder of your fiance Frederick Jackson. Do you have any last words?"

Her eyes pierced into me and cut through my stoic fear like a knife. "I am innocent.......I...Je t'aime."

The lever went down.

She dropped from my sight and the bright sunny sky filled my vision.

A muffled voice broke through the focused haze that clouded my head.

"...you remebered where you stand."

No, it's not