Laughter


As the dust rose, the thoughts running around in my head were not good ones. Thoughts of why? What purpose? For what reason had this man died? Silly thoughts. Stupid thoughts. Unreasonable thoughts. Thoughts that shouldn't be there. Invading my mental privacy. Taking up wasted space.

The heat. The dust. The dead body just laying there... half covered in stones. This whole thing stinks. Stinking. The unpleasant smell of this whole situation burns my nostrils. Well? What could I do? What was done is done! But here I was. Here I was and I couldn't deny that. I looked at my hands. The rock I was going to throw lay at my feet. But... but I had thrown two others. One to the body and another to the...

I wiped my hands on my cloak furiously. I looked up to see if anyone noticed. One had. A small thin man... with eyes... piercing eyes as hard and as cold as metal. He was looking at me. I looked away. Turning back I glanced toward the city gate. I had better be getting home. I should have already started... but I couldn't get those thoughts out of my head. That man that died... His face, His voice. Dear God, the things he said... they were still ringing in my ears! They were so... so...
I shook it from me. I couldn't think here... got to get home, then maybe I could think straight. Confusing... too confusing. I started to leave. Suddenly the man I had seen grabbed me. I turned to face him. I started to ask him what he wanted when... when he started.

He started laughing. A deep laugh. A sick laugh... He laughed...

Dear God!... He was laughing!


Copyright 2003 by pauly hart