Hanging

The pull of the lever was accompanied by the loud cranking sound of gears turning below the platform, then the large snap as the hook holding the latch below him shut flew out of place, opening a gap into which Matthew fell only halfway before the rope around his neck reached its full length, tightening around his throat and snapping his neck. He made no move to struggle - he glared at the audience who had come to watch him die as he was denied oxygen. He knew they had heard the bones in his neck snapping. He knew they knew he was dying. But he would not give them the privilege of enjoying it.

By the five minute mark, Matthew had lost consciousness. His eyes could no longer remain open. After ten minutes, most of the audience had left - they were satisfied that their hanged man was dead. But the guards and officials waited another ten minutes, a total of twenty, before they were satisfied that the man was dead. They had convicted him for the murder of several high ranking government officials, and they had made public his deeds before they had sent him to the rope. They wanted the people to know that this man who threatened their very way of life would no longer be alive.

They sent one guard forward to check his pulse, who reported back that there was none. Satisfied, they resealed the hole through which he had fallen and cut him down, watching his lifeless body collapse to the ground and fold in on itself. But when they approached the body to remove him, he put out his hands and lifted himself back onto his feet.

The men froze as they watched his lifeless corpse move. They were certain that he had died on the rope. There was no way that he could have survived. He had not breath. He had not heartbeat. And yet here he stood before them, standing tall once more, the severed rope still around his neck, which was crocked slightly to one side after the bone supporting his head had snapped.

Matthew stood up as the air rushed back into him. He could feel the rope still tight around his neck, and reached up to loosen it, slipping his fingers knowingly into the knot and tugging on it to pull the rope loose. It had not been the first time he had been hung. It would not be the last.

Though, he supposed, the broken neck may take some time to heal.