The Execution by Stephen J. Golds
from Dystopia: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
A silence finally fell over the crowd as James shuffled out onto the stage.
Almost unrecognizable from the last time I’d seen him. Two Peace Officers led him to the central crate and helped steady his skeletal frame as he stood swaying in front of the microphone.
As his hollow jaundiced eyes swept over the faces of those who’d come to cheer his death, I pulled down my hood and examined the filth swallowing my feet.
I had warned him but the fool had said what was in his heart. What was in his heart was the truth. But the truth had become a crime.
After James finished reading his apology, begging the forgiveness of the crowd, they began to scream at him again, showering his skeletal body with rotten fruit, rocks and garbage.
With tears streaming down my face I joined in with the curses. Pelting my only friend with the rotting tomatoes I had purchased from the vendor at the gates of the town square.
Hours later we watched him swing. The last man to tell the truth in a land of lies.
This story appears as part of Dystopia, a PUNK NOIR Magazine series.
Bio
Stephen J. Golds was born in North London, U.K, but has lived in Japan for most of his life. He speaks the language pretty well and makes great takoyaki.
He writes primarily in the noir and dirty realism genres and is the editor-in-chief of Punk Noir Press. Some of his writing influences are Charles Bukowski, John Fante, James M. Cain, Tobias Wolff, Sarah Kane and Jim Thompson.
He enjoys spending time with his daughters, reading books, traveling the world, boxing and listening to old Soul LPs. His books are Say Goodbye When I’m Gone, I’ll Pray When I’m Dying, Always the Dead, and Shadows Slow Dancing in Derelict Rooms. His poetry collections are Poems for Ghosts in Empty Tenement Windows I Thought I Saw Once, and Half-Empty Doorways and Other Injuries. He also has a short story and poetry collection titled Love Like Bleeding Out With an Empty Gun in Your Hand.
PUNK NOIR, the online literary and arts magazine that looks at the world at its most askew, casting a bloodshot eye over the written word, film, music, television and more.
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