I have been getting waaaaaaaay too into Chicago lately…ah well! I love the movie! So here's a one-shot story on my favorite Merry Murderess…The Hunyak. Thanks to Vikki Kelley's website, The Onyx, for the translation of the Hunyak's dialogue. You have a wonderful site, Miss Kelley, and fantastic writing! Enjoy!

An Innocent's Tears

The rather plain-looking woman sat there by herself, alone in the darkness of her cell. A slight chill ran up her spine, but it wasn't because of the frosty touch God had used on Chicago, especially the Cook County Jail. After living in Hungary, cold like this was nothing to her. No, it was her memories and frustration that had sent the chill. . .

"What am I doing here?"

She swallowed and closed her eyes tightly at the memory. She had walked in after coming home from the market. Everything was cheerful to her. She had walked home with a song on her lips and a bounce in her step. She had found everything to make her husband's favorite soup for dinner, something that was so sure to please him. But as soon as she walked into the kitchen of their tiny apartment, she screamed. There lay her husband, beheaded, drowning in a crimson pool of wrongfully spilt blood. She knelt down, running her fingers through her husbands blood-soaked locks and screamed again. The neighbors found her, babbling in Hungarian, a wide, frightened look in her eyes. Not knowing what to do, or how to calm her, they called the police, who immediately assumed she had done it.

"Why do they say, the famous police, that I held down my husband and with an axe cut off his head?"

She hadn't done it! They automatically assumed she had, because of the blood on her hands. She had whimpered and pleaded with them, crying and begging the police as they hauled her into the wagon. "Not guilty!" she managed throughout her Hungarian protests. "Ah-ah, not guilty! NOT GUILTY!" she cried over and over through her tears. Her husband had called this the land of liberty and justice, the land of freedom and opportunity, and yet here she was being taken to jail for a crime she did not commit. Why? He was a darling man, handsome, and very good to her. She loved him dearly, she would never think of hurting him, let alone behead him!

"It isn't true! My hands are white! I don't know why they told Uncle Sam that I did this."

She followed the matron into the Cook County Jail, her new "home". The matron was much heavier built than her, and looked much tougher. But at her frightened eyes, the matron's look softened as she put a surprisingly gently hand on her shoulder. "I'm here to take care of you," the matron said. She didn't understand her English, but her words sounded soothing to her frightened ears. Something told her that this woman understood somehow, that her hands were clean, that she was innocent.

"I tried to explain to them, but they did not understand."

She shrieked in terror and sadness as the judge announced the verdict. She fell into a heap on the floor, sobbing as Mama rubbed her back and spoke softly to her. She was to be hung. She regained her composure as numbness took over. Mama escorted her back to her cell, solemnly. The other murderesses stared up in shock at the Hunyak, whispering amongst themselves. Mama whispered softly in her ear, "Don't be sad, you did your best," she said soothingly. "They were blind, they didn't understand you." She understood none of these words, except for her last. "You'll see your husband soon, child." That seemed to make the terror subdue a bit.

"Yeah, but did you do it?"

She stood at the platform, whimpering as the noose was tightened around her neck. The other murderesses peeked from their cell windows, and she cursed them. They weren't going to be hung, of course not. They were all pretty and dynamic, everyone loved them. Especially Velma and Roxie, they would be around longer than anyone else. But she, the plain and quiet girl that never caused a fuss, she would be hung. She cried a final tear as the platform fell beneath her, and her lifeless body swung in the chill Chicago breeze.

"Ah-ah! Not guilty!"

Review please! It would make me very happy!