An Excerpt From Saving Sanity
“My body is no longer his temple” was scrawled across the graffiti scrawled walls of, seventeen-year-old, Sanity Sinclair’s jail cell in dried blood. The walls were painted gray, the blood was brown and there wasn’t a period after the word ”temple”.
Sanity knew that when blood first spills from an open sore on your body it is red but after the blood dries it leaves dark brown stains on your clothes, bed covers and the bathroom floor. Based on this knowledge Sanity could tell that it had been quite some time since the woman who wrote those words had been in this cell but those words gave Sanity clarity to know that someone else had lied here feeling exactly as she felt. For the first time in a long time Sanity didn’t feel so alone.
Sanity was in a small cell. There was a cot and a sink/toilet combination unit. At the moment Sanity was alone but she wouldn’t be alone for long because she heard foot steps getting louder which meant someone was getting closer to her cell until she heard a voice, “Get up!” commanded the voice of Sheriff Thomas Harding.
Sanity sat up to see Sheriff Harding on the other side of her iron clad doors holding a rope and a skeleton key. He used the skeleton key to unlock the door and he tied her hands together behind her back with the rope.
Sheriff Harding lead Sanity out of the cell, down the hall and out of them back door of the jai. The whole time he kept a very firm grip on her. He walked her toward a crowd of people gathered around gallows.
Sanity kept her head down and avoided making eye contact with anyone gathered here to witness her execution as the Sheriff lead her up the steps of the gallows.
As the sheriff placed the noose around Sanity’s neck, she looked up and for the first time she saw everyone who had gathered here to witness her execution. The one person she recognized was Melinda Birls holding little Leah.
“We are gathered here today to witness the execution of Sanity Sinclair for the murder of Ronald Birls. He was a good man who leaves behind a wife and child. The accused has the right to speak before we execute her,“ says Sheriff Harding in an annoyed voice because he preferred to get this execution over with. “Speak!“ he commanded to Sanity.
Sanity looked at everyone and she started to speak.