Hale tossed and turned in his sleep as the faces of the dead and dying tortured him relentlessly.
"We were innocent, Hale. "They whispered as they clawed at him and dragged his sobbing tear stained form to the platform. "You were wrong. We were innocent. You're naïve faith in the good in people was misplaced. You were wrong, Hale. "Upon the platform lay a single noose, ready for its next victim. "No! No, oh please just no! No, no, please! Nonooooo!" His pleas of mercy dragged off into screams as the scratches became deeper, and the litany of the dead became more persistent as a man dressed all in black slowly, but surely walked over to where Hale sat on his knees next to the noose. The black cloaked man pulled his hood back, to reveal the face of the late John Proctor.
Hale's sobbing stopped as he looked at the face of the man who wouldn't confess. "Confess, Reverend." Proctor told him mockingly as he pulled the noose down around the shaking man's neck. "Confess that you were wrong and that these people were not witches." Tears were streaming down Hale's face, "I have! I have confessed; to God, to myself, please man, have mercy! I tried! God as my witness, I tried to stop those cursed trials but I could not. I could not! Oh, please, John! Just stop this madness!" But the figure that was John Proctor merely grinned manically as he walked over to the lever and said "God damns all liars Reverend." The lever was pulled and Hale felt himself falling... Falling... Falling...
Something struck his head, and he realized that he had hit the floor of his room, next to his bed. "Safe!" He cried, "Oh, thank The Lord, it was only a dream!"
Author's note: Hi! I've admired the works of the other stories for the Crucible, and was inspired to write this after seeing the play. This will eventually become a multi chapter fic (I've written out quite a bit and so far its 20 chapters long! How did that happen... :)
Reviews are welcome, even if you just say 'hi, I liked it.' or 'hi, needs work.' This is only my second story, and my first really long one, so any criticism at all would be really nice!