No Name
I never really knew what to make of the death penalty. It was always while out for ice cream, or a glass of wine at my local bar, that I would open my phone to some article about it. Do people deserve to die for what they've done? I have no idea. Honestly, picking an ice cream flavor or kind of wine seems daunting enough. Picking out someone's death date seems almost unfair, until the article I'm reading mentions rape and murder, and then I have to put my phone down and savor instead Mint Chocolate Chip (just kidding, gross) or Chardonnay.
I don't have enemies. In the TV show The Walking Dead, protagonist Rick asks everyone he meets for the first time how many zombies they've killed, and then, how many people. I think the importance of this is to see if people are willing to kill others in order to save themselves - or better yet, for the greater good. Having enemies is necessary as a part of development. I felt like an amateur for having no enemies. There must be someone I hate.
But. There is someone.
My worst enemy is someone I will not name, nor do they deserve the death penalty. They don't deserve to be killed.
But. Then something happened.
I was scrolling through my phone one night. Somehow, something popped up on my screen and projected, weirdly enough, onto the wall of my room. It was otherworldly: how could this be happening?? But there it was. A killer was out to get my enemy.
My enemy slept peacefully in their bed, unaware of what was about to happen. The perp came up with a knife. Slowly, they raised it to my enemy's throat.
I lay in bed, stunned. It was like watching a movie. Perhaps Rick was around the corner, ready to pull out his handgun and shoot the place up, save the day. But in this case, what was saving the day?
Did my enemy deserve to die?
It is in moments of extreme anxiety and confusion that I often freeze. I make the wrong choice, almost every time. But in this moment I acted. I went up to the projection on my wall. And I moved my hand up and down near the perp's knife, which made it disappear.
I acted. I acted!
And it worked. The perp looked confused, and then terrified. He looked wildly around him. And then he disappeared.
I have decided, in this life, to forgive. When I acted on removing the knife from the perp, I remembered what my friend once told me: I love you.
Love wins, I suppose. I hope they sleep peacefully, unaware of what I have saved them from.