He knew they were forbidden from being here. His heart beat so loud he was sure the older man would hear it and some how find him. He pressed his back hard against the rough wooden wall, praying it would swallow him up. He could see the girl through a small hole in the wood of the old animal stall. She was lying on the dirt floor whimpering, blood ran from her face and head. Her skin so filthy, you could barely see that she was naked. The older man smiled at her and gently drew his hand over her head and down her long red hair, matted with blood and dirt and straw. “Don’t cry, child, it’s time.” His tone was gentle. Almost soothing. He rolled her on to her back, with one knee on her chest. He placed his giant hands around her throat and began to squeeze. The boy gasped, frozen to the spot he pushed harder against the barn wall. Squeezing his eyes closed tight. But he could still hear the gasping, the weak thrashing as the already half dead girl dug her heels into the dirt floor in a futile attempt to escape.
