There is no turning back. I am going to die and there is nothing I can do about it. To be honest, I'm scared; terrified even. But I know that I have to stay strong. For mum, for Jude and for Sephy. And our child.
Sephy would've put up a good fight for my life. She would have stood in front of police, courtrooms and all other kinds of people and defended me. She would have had to stand up to her father. And standing up to Kamal Hadley took a bunch load of guts.
I know I didn't rape her. She knows I didn't rape her. I would never ever do that to anybody, especially Sephy. I feel guilty for getting her pregnant. Perhaps if there was no baby in the whole situation then I wouldn't be in this mess. But I couldn't think like that. I don't regret what happened between me and Sephy that night. I hope she doesn't either. After I'm gone, I hope she'll look back on the time that we spent together and be happy. I want her to tell our child about me, all the good stuff and hope he or she never hears about the bad things, thought I know they will. My final wish would be for Sephy to live to a ripe old age, along with our child. I hope she finds somebody else that she feels the same way she does about me, maybe even loves them more and has lots more children with them. I want her to have a chance, but I fear that will never happen because of the baby. What will people think of her because of the child? He or she will be mixed race, half nought, half Cross. I hope he or she will look more like their mum than me. If they look like me, every time they look in a mirror they will be reminded of me.
My cell door opens. Jack the kind warden who helped me out during the few weeks I was in here entered the room.
"It's time Callum," he said grimly.
I square my shoulders and put on a brave face, even though I feel like a frightened little boy. He puts a friendly hand on my shoulder.
"Stay strong Cal," he said. "For your Sephy."
I smile and look him directly in the face. Tears were forming in his dark eyes.
"Don't cry for me Jack," I said. "I'm no different to any other man on death row. Don't waste your tears on me."
"But you are different Cal," he said. "The other men on death row had a reason to be sent there. They were guilty. I look into your face and see that you are innocent. You made love to a woman who is your soul mate. Whether nought or Cross, in love we are equal."
"You're right," I said.
We continued to walk along the corridors that were going to lead me to my death. At the end there is a large, metal door and five Cross security guards wait there. One has a sack in his hand.
"I'm sorry Cal," Jack repeated. "You need to wear this from now on."
They put the sack over my head.
"Forgive me," Jack said.
"They're nothing to forgive," I answered.
I heard the door open and the crowd, which I presumed was a large one, fell silent immediately. Jack still had his hand on my shoulder as he led me towards the gallows. I wondered if she was there, in the crowd. I would bet all my measly savings that her dagger father would be there. It wouldn't surprise me if he was eating popcorn and filming it so he could watch it back in his spare time.
I hoped Mum wasn't there. Witnessing my death would break her into millions of tiny pieces, that is, if she wasn't already broken. Naturally, she would be there. Standing alone, in the nought viewing area. She would stay there until the last minute in hope of them letting me go.
Jude wouldn't be there. He would be in hiding somewhere. Jude and I had agreed on that earlier. If one of use was to be captured, the other would hide. Not for their own sake, but for Mum's.
My thoughts were interrupted as a hand shoved Jack's out of the way and played mine onto a wooden rail and I had to find my own way up to the platform.
"Stop!" A male voice ordered, breaking through the silence like a knife.
"What?" Said the guard nearest to me.
"You heard me, stop this instant!" The man said.
I panicked. Why was somebody ordering them to stop?
"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Said the guard. "A halfer like you."
A halfer? Surely he understood the situation better than others. He was mixed race, like mine and Sephy's baby. He would understand persecution better than any nought.
"Call me what you wish sir, it doesn't bother me," said the man. "I am not here to fight. All I am here for is to instruct you to let this man walk free today!"
"Walk free? You lost your mind halfer? Is there something between your ears?"
"Like I said, I did not come here to fight with you, sir. Callum McGregor deserves freedom!"
At that moment the crowd erupted into loud cheers. I couldn't believe my ears. Who would play such a trick on me before my death?
"When you hang people like Callum, you could be out catching the real criminals. Murderers, rapists and terrorists. All of which come in all colours," cried the man and the crowd cheered even louder. "You see sir? They all agree with me! And I bet you do too! So if there is a pinch of kindness inside you, I beg you let this man go free!"
The crowed fell silent, waiting for the guard's verdict. "Alright then!" He grunted, resigning under the pressure that the spectators forced upon him.
The sack was taken from my head and I walked off the scaffold. My saviour came to greet me.
"Callum McGregor," he said, holding out a hand for me to shake. "It's an honour to have finally met you."
I hadn't realised that tears had been streaming down my face and I probably looked like a frightened little boy in front of this powerful man.
"Thank you, sir," I said, through my tears.
"You are very welcome Callum," he said. "And please, my name is Erik Axford."
"Thank you Erik," I said.
"You are a brave man Callum," he said. "And need to stay like that. It's not going to be easy for you, Sephy and your child in the years to come, but you need to stay strong. If not for yourself, do it for them."
"I will," I promised.
"CALLUM!"
I turned around, to see Sephy running towards me. She ran straight into my arms and kissed me.
"Sephy," I whispered, burying my face in her hair. "You're here."
"Of course I am Callum. I would never have left you," she said."
"I leave you now Callum," said Erik. "Remember what I told you, and what you promised."
And we both watched as Erik Axford walked away into the distance.
We caught the train to the airport, the following week. Sephy's mum had brought us some plane tickets and we were going to live abroad in their villa. It was secluded, so we wouldn't be so much in the public eye. Jasmine and my mum came to join us the next month, once they had tied off all the loose ends. The four of us plan to stay in the exotic countryside and raise the child there. Once he or is of school age, Jasmine and Sephy plan on being teacher to them.
"Callum," Sephy said on the plane and passed me a newspaper. "Look at this"
"The death announcements?" I asked puzzled. "Sephy, I thought we'd had enough of the depressing stuff for a lifetime."
"No Callum look at the anniversaries of people's deaths."
I looked to where she pointed and the saliva ran dry in my mouth.
"Erik Axford." I said once I recognised the photo. "Oh God."
Erik Axford, the man who had saved me from death little over a week ago, had been dead himself for ten years.