Today's #flashfiction Playing Hangman

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

Christopher Walken* #quote

Today I went to my gamin' club. Was quite fun. Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Playing Hangman

           “A!” David guessed, the executioner then used a paintbrush covered in red paint to make a large X on the prisoner's head. A crowd gathered as they did every week for the Hangman game. One guesser, one criminal. The charges could be minor or major, but the more major the crime the more tickets placed with your name placed in the lotto for the Hangman game.

            “I!” David guessed again. Go through the vowels. No x placed this time.

            “U!” An X painted on the prisoner's stomach. He'd only littered and been drawn for the game. David tried to play the best he could. The guessers were random from people who had no criminal record. The game was propoganized as fair retribution, with people being able to “save” those if they were worthy of saving, or purposely lose if they shouldn't be.

             “T!” David was not good at the game. An X was drawn on the man's arm. “O!” An X placed on the other arm. “W!” Another X placed, this time on the leg. The prisoner was covered with sweat. One last guess and David only managed to get one letter right. “R!” No X placed. The prisoner breathed a sigh of relief but if the prisoner got one more X, he would be hung. “G!” No X placed. “E”              No X placed. “B!” The execution then took his brush and painted an X on the prisoner's leg. The numbing effect of the poison from the paint in the X at his head managed to make nearly pass out and he almost fell over. No ability to escape and his limbs, also painted with the poison, put up no resistance as they hung them.

            David would not be blamed for his failure. The people of the kingdom considered the criminals at fault for any outcome, as if fate determined it. David did blame himself, and hated himself for it considering the minor crime of littering the prisoner committed, but he forgot about it when he watched the exciting events of the next Hangman game the following week where another played the role of guesser.