Sam paced back and forth in her cell and nervously wrung her hands as the hour approached. Then, the door opened with a metallic thunk, and a tall man dressed in black stepped in, holding a clipboard. "Prisoner 24576?" the man asked. Sam nervously shook her head. "And what's your name?"

"Samantha, but you can call me Sam" she replied almost by reflex. Suddenly, she realized this man was probably the last person she would ever introduce herself to.

"Alright Sam. You are sentenced to die by garrote for the crime of sedition. Do you have any questions?" the executioner asked. Sam stared nervously at the floor for a moment, before asking her one and only question.

"Will it hurt?"

"Yes," the executioner replied after a moment of consideration, "it will almost certainly be the most painful experience of your life."

Sam gulped nervously. "Thank you for telling me the truth"

"I can't think of a reason to lie to you" the executioner replied.

"So...should we go?" Sam asked.

"First you have to strip"

"What? Why?" Sam asked, incredulous. Her executioner nervously rubbed his hands.

"It's a new rule, all prisoner's convicted of sedition must die in the nude. I'm sorry, I don't make the rules."

"Oh" Sam said, then unbuttoning her shirt and dropping it to the floor. As she undressed further, she considered asking the executioner to turn around or leave the room, but she realized he'd see her naked eventually regardless, so there was no point.

"Turn around and put your hands behind your back" the executioner instructed once Sam was fully nude. She cooperated, seeing nothing to gain by resisting and possibly angering her executioner. The executioner handcuffed Sam's hands behind her back, and lead her out of her cell. He lead her down the cell block, past all the other death row inmates, who simply stared as she was being lead to her doom. Sam wanted desperately to maintain her composure, but the transfixed eyes of the other inmates was almost too much to bare, and she nearly broke down crying. "Just take deep breaths, it'll help" the executioner offered. She did as she was told, and found that she did in fact feel better. The tears receded from her eyes, and she was able to walk confidently to the execution chamber, despite the stares of the other inmates.

Finally, the executioner lead Sam into a small room with rusted metal walls. Try as she might, Sam couldn't keep from shuddering as she entered the room, and saw the garroting post at its center. "It's okay, just remember what I said and take deep breaths" the executioner instructed. Sam was embarrassed at how visibly upset she clearly was, and again took his advice. The executioner then locked the door to the chamber, and removed Sam's handcuffs. "Sit there, and put your hands behind your back, behind the post please" the executioner instructed, gesturing to the seat against the garroting post. Sam focused very hard on deep breaths as she slowly lowered herself onto the seat. She shivered as her skin made contact with the cold metal. She then put her hands behind her back as she had been instructed. The executioner then handcuffed Sam again, leaving her secured to the garroting post. He then secured Sam's ankles to the legs of the chair with thick, leather restraints.

"There, that isn't so bad, is it?" he asked. Sam shook her head no.

"This part isn't"

"Fair enough," the executioner sighed, "wait right here."

"As if I have a choice" Sam thought as the executioner walked to a closet in the corner of the room. He returned a moment later with a video camera on a tripod, which he set up in front of her. "What is that for?" Sam asked nervously.

"It's another new rule. Anyone convicted of sedition will have their execution taped and put online so the people can see the fate of a traitor" the executioner answered. Sam gulped nervously and began to hyperventilate. "I'm sorry," the executioner said, "I'll give you a moment to compose yourself before I begin recording." Sam was grateful for that moment. She closed her eyes and began to take slow, deep breaths again. "Alright, turning it on now" the executioner said once Sam seemed more calm, then flipping a switch on the side of the camera. He then walked over to the garroting post, and snapped the metal collar around Sam's neck. he took care to brush her long blonde hair out of the collar, so it wouldn't get caught in the mechanism. Sam had to focus even harder on breathing deeply as she felt the cold metal against her throat.

The executioner stood behind Sam, and put his hands on the large crank he would soon turn to crush her windpipe. He looked at the camera. "Prisoner 24576, you have been sentenced to die by garrote for the crime of sedition. Do you have any last words?" he asked. Sam tried to muster the courage to speak, but the camera pointing at her was to intimidating. She took a deep breath, and shook her head no. "Then your sentence will now be carried out," he began, "in three...two...one"

"Oh god, this is it" Sam thought, as the executioner rotated the crank one-hundred and eighty degrees. Suddenly, the screw behind Sam's neck pushed into her spinal cord, and pressed her throat against the metal collar. Her eyes shot wide open, and every muscle in her body tensed as she felt her throat being crushed. To her surprise however, Sam found that she could still breath, although it was painful and significantly harder. Sam suddenly realized that at this setting, the garrote would take a very long time to kill her. Not wanting to endure this agony for hours, Sam tried desperately to speak.

"Tighter!" she was barely able to rasp through her partially crushed windpipe.

"What was that?" the executioner asked, leaning down closer to her. Sam could see his face out of the corner of her eye, he was clearly surprised that she was still trying to speak to him.

"Tighter...please!" she choked. Shocked by her bravery, the executioner stood up, put his hands on the crank again, and turned it another one-hundred and eighty degrees. Every muscle in Sam's body spasm-ed again as she felt the pain in her neck triple, and her lungs began burning for air. Sam found she could now only get a small trickle of air into her lungs. Wanting to cut this off completely, she tried desperately to yell to the executioner again, but found it impossible through her compressed throat.

Satisfied that the garrote was tight enough, the executioner walked past Sam, and stood next to the camera, watching her. As Sam squirmed and writhed desperately against her restraints, she never took his eyes off of his. She thought in this moment, that she should hate this man who was taking her life, but she didn't. For some reason, she was grateful he was there, that he watched her so intently.

Sam continued to writhe against her restraints, skinning her wrists against her handcuffs and shifting her butt across the seat she sat on. This gave her no relief. As Sam had predicted, the small trickle of air still reaching her lungs kept her alive far longer than was intended. It had been nearly a half hour of shear agony before her vision began to blur, and her limbs began to feel cold. "Please, tighten it more" Sam thought, continuing to stare into her executioners eyes, "I just want to die already." Unfortunately, the executioner didn't receive Sam's telepathic message, and he simply continued to stare.

Sam continued to convulse and writhe in her seat for another fifteen minutes, as her vision narrowed and her body went cold and numb. Then, she felt urine pooling on the chair beneath her before, finally, she fell limp, her eyes closed, and she was gone.