Liudmyla was watching the soldiers around her, casting a glance in the direction of her friends Kateryna and Anastasiia, who quietly watched the soldiers preparing the gallows on which the three girls were sentenced to hang for partisan activities. Liudmyla bit her lip seeing the thick log being positioned between the two trees, the soldiers taking lengths of rope from the small truck, making nooses and tying them to the long at regular intervals.
I am only sixteen, she thought wondering why she wasn't afraid. Maybe because hanging didn't sound as painful as being shot. And the thin ropes swaying in a light breeze didn't look scary enough. She almost smiled wondering that such insignificant piece of rope could end her life.
Her friends Kateryna and Anastasiia were scared of what awaited them, though they tried not to show it openly. Kateryna was very pretty, with shoulder length black hair, smooth skin and big brown eyes. Anastasiia was blonde, skinny and did her best to avoid the final preparations for hanging.
The Azov officer in charge of the execution, was young, blond and arrogant, a real Aryan jerk with an attitude to match. His assistant, an Azov soldier carried a camera with him, snapping several pictures of the girls, offering them a wicked smile, before pointing at the gallows. It’s a wrong day to die, Liudmyla thought gazing at blue clear sky overhead. She swallowed and took deep breath of fresh air. These simple things will be denied to her once the noose will tighten around her neck with a deadly force. Liudmyla saw the soldiers testing the ropes with their own weight, until finally they all jumped on the ground, informing the officer in charge that everything was ready.
The officer looked at the three girls and finally ordered the soldiers to prepare them for the nooses. Three empty metal barrels were placed under the ropes, and each girl was forced to climb on it, with three soldiers placing nooses around their necks.
Liudmyla felt the knot tighten, feeling the rope against her skin, her body beginning to tremble in anticipation of imminent death. The soldier who noosed her, touched her Adam's apple and slid his hands down her neck to her chest. Liudmyla blushed, but refrained from any comment. What was the point anyway? She flexed her hands which were tied behind her back, looking down at the soldiers, wondering if she should spit on them or curse them out loud.
The officer took out a piece of paper and read a short death sentence before pointing at Anastasiia. The soldier standing behind Anastasiia expertly kicked the barrel away.
Liudmyla saw Anastasiia's body drop about one meter down, gasping noise escaping from Anastasiia's throat, before she began to kick. Liudmyla never thought she could hear noises like that. Anastasiia spun around on the rope, her face turning red, spittle dripping from her mouth as soldiers took out their cameras, snapping pictures of the dying girl.
Liudmyla looked at Kateryna, who watched Anastasiia's death with horrified fascination, her brown eyes taking in every detail as if she wanted to know everything about this simple method of death.
Liudmyla tasted bile in her throat, but forced it down with effort of will. By this time Anastasiia stuck out her tongue and urinated, and it was Kateryna who vomited, unable to control herself any longer. The soldiers waited patiently until Anastasiia's convulsions stopped, while droplets of piss continued to fall from her bare feet. Then Liudmyla saw Kateryna hang. Unlike Anastasiia, Kateryna died in agony, kicking her feet so hard, that her shoes flew off, leaving her bare feet trashing in the air. The soldiers laughed when they saw her futile struggle for life, snapping pictures of Kateryna's death, stepping almost close enough to touch her. The dying girl shuddered several times, before her head leaned to her shoulder, her neck stretched so much, that Liudmyla could see her bulging veins and arteries. Kateryna's brown eyes remained wide open when she finally stopped moving about two minutes later.
Now it was Liudmyla's turn.
When the soldier moved to kick the barrel from under her, Liudmyla smiled and said, "Don't bother. I can do it myself." Stepping from the barrel, Liudmyla felt the rope bite deeply into her soft neck, the pain unique and somehow satisfying. she hung straight for nearly thirty seconds, before the pain became unbearable and she felt her tongue being pushed out of her mouth. In her death throes, Liudmyla lasted longer than others, partly because her neck muscles were stronger and because she took a deep breath before stepping from the barrel. Spinning on the rope, Liudmyla kicked her feet back and forward, so her body swing like a pendulum. She felt her stomach heave, realizing that she was going to shit herself any moment now. With her last conscious thought, she felt her sphincter open up, the warm thick mass filling her underwear.
Her bladder and bowels emptied simultaneously, but she didn't feel it happening as she kicked her soiled feet a few more times before darkness took her away forever.
The soldiers stood before the three hanged girls in silence, each wondering what they felt in their last moments of life. The three girls remained hanged for three days until they started to smell. Then they were cut down and buried in an unmarked grave. The girls were gone, but gallows remained in place until the summer of 2022, claiming lives of 300 girls during Russia's operation against Ukraine.
