I’m Sorry for Your Loss by Denis Vinnik

 It was a cold and misty morning,

the atmosphere so tense that you could feel it. The convict was led by the hangman to an old wooden structure, his mind filled with thoughts. As the rope was tied around his neck, the priest stepped up to him.

- “You’ve caused me so much trouble,” he said with a look of disgust on his face. “And look where it got you.”

As he finished his sentence, the bells rang. It was time. Swiftly, the priest turned toward the crowd to deliver his address.

- “Listen, people, for your priest is talking. The day of justice has finally come for this lost soul. I’ve set many on the path of truth, but with a heavy heart, I must declare that one heart couldn’t be saved, for it was rotten to its core.”

Demonstratively, he slowly scanned the crowd from left to right and presented his audience with a rhetorical question.

- “And what do you, all those who work day and night in the dirty fields, do with your spoiled crops?” he said calmly.

- “We throw them away!” the people cried out in unison.

- “If only I could have found him sooner to cleanse his spirit. This rot has no place in our great province! He took a lot from us: your money, our supplies, the house of my family, and worst of all, he took away the life—life so dear to me. This murderer killed my daughter, oh people!”

Hearing the last part, the convict understood why the priest had pursued him for all these years. He tried to shout that he hadn’t killed the girl and that he had actually tried to save her, but before he could do so, a bag was placed over his head, muffling his speech.

- “I’ve met with many killers and wrongdoers in my life, and even though I’d like them to repent for their sins and be spared, their sins are too heavy to be washed away, and so only the endless lake of fire awaits them in their afterlife!”

This opportunity was too great to pass up, and so the convict started to resist the hangman. By a stroke of luck, he managed to remove the bag from his head.

- “I didn’t kill her!” he cried.

Not a moment later, the hangman put the bag back over his head. Everyone went mute. A minute of silence was broken by the priest.

- “How dare you try to cleanse yourself with lies, blasphemy! Let him speak. I’d like to hear what he has to say for himself!”

Finally, the convict was freed once again from the confinement of the bag.

- “I’m sorry for your loss, priest. I cannot deny that she died, may her soul find peace in heaven. But if only you could take my shirt off, I’d show you evidence that I tried to save her!”

- “Take off his shirt,” the priest said peacefully, even though his face was red with hate.

As the shirt was removed, the audience gasped in surprise. His hands were covered in burn wounds up to his elbows.

- “Yes, I did a lot of bad to you all, but I didn’t take another person’s life! The house was set ablaze by something or someone, but I’d never commit arson in my life! When I saw his daughter in a burning house, I jumped right in and tried to save her, but the fire was too strong. If today is my day of judgment, then I’d like to be prosecuted for my crimes, people, but not for those I didn’t commit!”