Jess stood in line with the other women. Like many of them, she was wearing a brown trench coat and slip on shoes. One by one, each of the women was ushered through a pair of metal sliding doors at the front of the room. Jess anxiously waited her turn, shifting nervously and trying to focus on breathing deeply. It took nearly an hour for Jess to reach the front of the line. "Next" an older woman in a dull grey uniform called. Jess gingerly stepped through the door, into a small cinder block room. Ahead of her was another door, which she stared at intently as the metal doors behind her slid closed. "Have you been processed?" the woman asked with a thick southern accent. Jess nodded nodded. "Alright, my name's Ruth and I'll be conducting your procedure today. Take off any clothing or jewelry you're wearing and toss it down that chute, then we'll go over the rules." the woman instructed. Jess took off her trench coat, revealing that she was wearing nothing underneath, and tossed it down the chute. Then, she kicked off her slippers, and tossed them as well. She then returned to her original position, staring at the door ahead of her, completely naked.

"Alright, here are the rules. Once you step through that door you can talk, you can cry quietly, but there is no screaming, and no whimpering. Most importantly, there is no touching yourself, and absolutely no touching the other girls. Are we clear?" the woman asked, raising an eyebrow. Jess gulped, and nervously nodded. "Good, cause if you brake any of those rules, I have to hit you with this" the woman said, then tapping a cattle prod against the metal door, making a loud electrical sparking noise. Jess jumped a little, startled by the loud noise. "Alright, follow me" said Ruth, then pressing a button to open the door in front of Jess, and walking into the next room.

Jess walked gingerly on her bare feet into the next room. The next room was a long, grey, cinder block hallway with a grey linoleum floor and a tile ceiling. As she entered the room, Jess saw it. Along the left wall were the bodies of all the women in line before Jess, hanging motionless, feet just a few inches off the ground. Jess froze for a moment. "Well, follow me" Ruth said, motioning for Jess to come with her. Jess took a deep breath, and slowly followed after the woman. Jess was so transfixed on the faces of each woman she passed that she barely noticed the line of video cameras on tripods opposite them. Jess passed a line of about a dozen women before she got to the end, staring at each of their faces. The last woman, who was put up just before Jess came in, was still squirming at the end of her rope. The woman before her was also still alive, wheezing heavily but not moving. She was clearly nearing the end. Jess stopped and stared at the two of them for a moment. The last woman, next to Jess' place, struck her in particular. She was a very attractive, pale red-head. Jess watched intently as she rotated slowly, mouth open trying to suck in air. "Alright, stand right there, facing the wall behind me" Ruth ordered, facing the line of hanging women. It was only then that Jess looked passed the last hanging woman to see a line of at least another twenty nooses, all still unoccupied. Jess stood behind the next open noose, next to the last girl to be strung up, who was still squirming, but much more slowly now.

It was then that Jess noticed the line of cameras, each pointed at one of the nooses.

"Would you like your final moments to be captured on video and sent to your next of kin?" Ruth asked.

"Yes please" Jess answered meekly. Ruth pressed a button on the camera in front of Jess, and a red light came on. Something about knowing she was now on camera naked made Jess more self conscious, even though she had known this would happen in advance. "Alright, put the noose on, tighten it, and turn around" Ruth instructed. Jess slipped the rope over her head and down around her neck. She then tugged it tight and the thick fiber rope clenched in on her neck. The feeling made Jess jump a little, then smile. Jess turned to face the wall behind her, and Ruth approached. "Alright, put your hands behind your back" Ruth said. Jess did as she was told, and Ruth clipped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. It was obvious by her procedural nature that Ruth had been doing this a long time. She stepped back and instructed Jess to turn around again. Ruth then grabbed a walkie talkie off her belt. "Next one's up and ready" she said.

Jess stood there awkwardly for a moment, "now what?" she asked.

"Well," Ruth began, "my boss now knows you're ready, but before we can begin he has to do one final check of your paperwork. Everything's usually fine, but one missing signature on your forms and people go to jail, or worse, so he has to check everything again. Once he's done with that and everything's in order, we'll get started. It'll be a few minutes so just sit tight." Jess nodded to show her understanding. She then looked to her right at the last two woman to be put up. The one directly to Jess' right was still squirming feebly, but the one to her right had now clearly died. Then, the woman to Jess' right fell limp, and Jess jumped at the sickening sound of urine splattering on linoleum. "Yeah, that happens some times" Ruth said, matter of factually.

"I hope that doesn't happen to me" Jess said, nervously looking at the red light on the video camera.

"You shouldn't feel embarrassed if it does, it's just nature taking its coarse" Ruth explained.

"How many of these do you do in a day?" Jess asked, realizing how much experience Ruth clearly had with the subject.

"It varies a lot. Today we had quite a few as you could see, we already have all these ones up and there were at least ten more after you. Usually we do two or three a day, but things really pick up around the holidays for some reason" Ruth explained.

"That's still a lot. How do they usually react?" Jess asked, hoping her quiet nervousness wasn't too out of the ordinary.

"Oh you'd be shocked, everyone's a little different. Some are laughing and having a good time. Hell, that one right there couldn't stop giggling till she got lifted" Ruth said, gesturing to a the young brunette on the other side of the red-head who'd just expired. "Of course, others are very quiet and nervous about it, sort of like you, and some are very matter of fact, you'd think it was just any other day for em'. And then there's a few who find it very exciting, I had to use the cattle prod twice to stop girls from touching themselves just today."

"Does anyone ever cry?" Jess asked.

"Oh all the time" Ruth began, rolling her eyes, "three of em' earlier today were balling the whole time. They kept quiet but boy did they sob"

"Does anyone ever try to back out?" Jess asked.

"Sometimes. Every once in a while there're one or two who start begging to be let go saying they've changed their minds, she did" Ruth said, gesturing to the red head to Jess' right. Jess shuddered at the thought that just moment's ago, the beautiful, young woman next to her was terrified and begging for her life.

"Do you ever let them go?"

"I don't. Some of my coworkers let anyone who asks leave, some will or won't depending on how they feel that day. I never let anyone go cause I learned pretty quick that if you let someone go, most of the time they'll just be back in here a few days later, and that makes way more paperwork for us." Jess again nodded in understanding.

"Yup, everyone assigned to me goes up and stays up for the full three hours" Ruth said.

"Three hours?" Jess asked nervously, hoping the procedure wouldn't really take that long.

"Oh don't worry, you'll be unconscious in less than twenty minutes. They just make us leave you up that long to make sure you're gone. Rules are really strict about that, once you're up the machines won't let us lower you down for at least three hours" Ruth said.

The conversation was making Jess feel a little more comfortable. She moved around a little bit more as she waited. Of course, she couldn't sit down or even bend over with the noose on, and small quills in the rope were itching her neck. "Are we getting close?" Jess asked expectantly.

"I don't know, probably" Ruth said, glancing at her watch, "why, you in a hurry?"

"No just...wondering, I guess" Jess replied.

"Well don't you worry hun, we'll get ya a swingin' real soon" Ruth reassured her, smiling.

"Oh I'm sure you will" Jess replied with a nervous smile. Suddenly she felt wet between her legs.

The two women stood there in silence another moment. Jess was starting to get nervous again. It had been at least ten minutes since the review of her paperwork began and standing there with the noose around her neck, just waiting, was beginning to take its toll. She again had to focus on taking deep breaths, and decided that more conversation would help. "So, I noticed I only saw other women here, does this facility do men?" Jess asked.

"Oh yeah," Ruth replied, "men, women, all legal ages, some volunteers, some sentenced, we do em' all. It's just that since the procedure is done naked we're legally required to separate the genders. The men get hanged in another wing with a male hangman"

"Oh. Were any of the women in here right now sentenced?" Jess asked, more out of a desire to talk than genuine curiosity.

"The first one as you walked in was sentenced," Ruth answered, "the rest are
volunteers."

"Oh," Jess said, "what was she sentenced for?"

"Well," Ruth sighed, "her name was Alex, and she actually used to work here. Then one day, a bunch of girls came in together, sometimes the younger ones do that, all come in a group. Alex was on duty that day and performed all their hangings. Well, come to find out those girls who all claimed to be twenty-one, were actually only eighteen or nineteen, and they'd used fake ID's to get in here. Right or wrong, that means their suicides weren't legal, and poor Alex was technically guilty on six counts of murder."

"Oh my god," Jess shuddered, "so you knew her?"

"Yeah, we weren't real close or nuthin', but we talked occasionally" Ruth replied.

"And you had to perform her execution?" Jess asked.

"Yeah. I won't lie, it was tough, especially knowin' the circumstances, but she'd be dead now no matter what I did." Ruth said.

"Did she beg for her life?" Jess asked, horrified.

"Nope, she cried a little, but she went very dignified. In fact, before I hit the button she even thanked me" Ruth said.

Just then there was a crackling on Ruth's radio. She took it off her belt and brought it to her mouth. "Say again?" Ruth asked. There was more crackling that Jess found inaudible. "okay...yeah...great, thanks" Ruth said into the radio. She then clipped it back on her belt and looked at Jess. "Well, the boss says all your paperwork is good to go, do you understand?"

Jess nodded silently, then looked up at the rope, to where it disappeared into the ceiling. Her chest became flushed and the wetness between her legs grew, then she looked down at Ruth. "Now I'm going to push this button," Ruth explained, pointing to a red button on the wall behind her, "you'll here a humming sound, and within a few seconds the rope will get snug, okay?" Jess again nodded silently. "Is there anything you'd like to say to your next of kin before we begin?" Ruth asked. Jess nodded, and looked into the camera. "merry Christmas honey, I hope you enjoy the show" she said nervously, feigning a smile.

"Ready?" Ruth asked. Again, Jess nodded silently. "It was nice talking with you, good luck with the end of your journey" Ruth said.

"Thanks," Jess replied, "nice to meet you."

Ruth pushed the button, and a mechanical hum emanated from the ceiling. Jess looked to the face of the young woman hanging next to her. She sighed, and then the rope became tight around her throat. As she was lifted off the floor, Jess began to kick and squirm, only slightly at first, then with all her might. Once she was satisfied Jess couldn't reach the ground, Ruth took her finger off the button. She watched for a moment as Jess kicked and thrashed violently, then she went to get the next woman from the waiting room. Jess watched Ruth walk away as the rope dug deeper into her neck. She choked and gagged loudly, trying desperately to get some air. She wanted nothing more than to simply hold still and let death come, but she couldn't fight the reflex of trying to breathe. "Besides, I told John I'd give him a good show" Jess thought, as her arms tried desperately to wrench of the cuffs that stopped her from reaching the noose.

After a moment, Ruth returned from the waiting room with the next woman in line. Jess continued to kick and flail helplessly as Ruth set up the next woman for her hanging. She watched as Ruth turned on the next camera in the line, then stepped out of view for a moment to handcuff the woman. For some reason, watching this gave Jess a feelign of comfort as her limbs began to feel heavy, and her kicking and thrashing began to slow. "Next one's up and ready" Jess could barely hear Ruth say into her radio over the ringing in her ears. The edges of Jess' vision began to darken, and she knew the end was near, but this didn't scare her as much as it had before. As Jess' frantic flailing and kicking began to slow, her nervousness and fear melted away, and she began to enjoy it.

Finally, Jess was hanging completely still, but still barely conscious. An intense, icy cold began to spread inward from her extremities, but to her surprise, this thrilled her. Finally, as her eyes slowly closed, Jess groaned as she was overcome by the pleasure of an intense orgasm. Then her leg twitched, and her bladder released on the floor. Ruth saying "Yeah, that happens sometimes" was the last thing Jess heard before finally passing away.