The End

The Prompt

Write a crime fiction story.

I chose Nico's take on "The End" by The Doors as I feel it is more Gothic and threatening than the original. Play it as you read this.

The End

How had it come to this?

He was the criminal.

Well according to the laws now passed he was.

He had done nothing wrong but he stood at the gallows, rope placed around his neck by the executioner and he stood on the trapdoor, knowing that when the hangman got the instruction, he would pull the lever, and he, a morally innocent man would be swinging at the end of the rope with a broken neck, guilty of a fabricated crime.

There was no escape from this.

There would be no reprieve for him.

The true criminals held all the aces and the power.

How Had It Come To This?

He was a successful businessman with a beautiful wife and child and lived in a big house in an expensive part of town

His business was profitable, he paid his employees well and was loved by his workforce and all who knew him.

He supported local charities and made sure that charitable institutions in the town were well provided for at Christmas and throughout the year. He did not believe in being charitable just at Christmas, he preached that one should be charitable every day.

Some local politicians looked at his success and decided it would be a good idea to line their own pockets rather than let him live in luxury and support those in need.

In their offices they plotted together and came up with a spiteful plan, to smear him and take all he had for themselves.

They had the ear of the local newspapers and got them to spread lies about him.

His business was built on child slavery they said. It was a fabrication, but the papers printed it and though there was no evidence people started to believe what appeared in the tabloids and broadsheets.

They then passed a new law that stated that anyone accused of profiting from child labour or slavery would forfeit their possessions and any business interests to the state.

The law was passed through and part of it stated that anyone accused would be found guilty and not allowed to defend themselves.

When he was arrested, because of the lies that had appeared in the media the consensus was that "There's no smoke without fire" so people did not complain when his company went under state management. When their wages were slashed there were rumblings but the state said that there had been severe mismanagement and they were lucky to still have a job.

The reality was that the wage cuts went directly into the pockets of the corrupt politicians.

To make sure that he could not possibly threaten their new wealth the final part of the law stated the sentence was death by hanging.

His wife and child were not allowed to see him and were sent to the new workhouse set up for paupers, which they now were.

The politicians had executed a perfect plan.

They were not criminals because what they had done was perfectly legal. Admittedly they had created the law, but once it was passed it was all legal.

Now the businessman was the criminal and all his possessions and business were now the property of the state, the state being the politicians who had created this situation.

The End

They sent a message to the hangman, he pulled the lever and the designated criminal went through the trapdoor and died hanging on the end of a rope with a broken neck.

The politicians were significantly richer and celebrated with champagne.