Vengeance

She shouldn’t have been on the platform

On that fateful day in June,

The train she needed to catch would leave

Later that afternoon,

But I would never have met her then

If I hadn’t heard her cough,

And was offering her a cold flu pill

Just as the bomb went off.

I don’t think we actually heard it,

It came as a sort of ‘whoosh’,

The air was suddenly filled with nails

And bits of flesh, in a hush,

I felt her calf as it hit my leg,

Was blown clean off at the knee,

As she collapsed with a sort of gasp

And lay there, looking at me.

I think I must have been stupefied

For hours after the blast,

I only came to my senses, down

At the hospital, at last,

The girl lay flat on a trolley there

In the hospital corridor,

While I just sat and I held her hand,

My feet on the bloodstained floor.

I had some cuts and contusions but

She’d sheltered me from the blast,

And bodies lay in confusion as

They prayed, while breathing their last,

The surgeons tried to attach her leg

But too much damage was done,

The leg was dropped in a basket where

It never would walk, or run.

I found her name was Andromeda

After some distant star,

I told her that mine was Tim, she said,

‘I was wondering who you are.’

It was then I knew I’d look after her,

Would be at her beck and call,

For fate had pushed us together when

Disaster had come to call.

She didn’t take much persuading when

It came to me moving in,

For everyone else had backed right off

To see the state she was in,

‘They’ll never be tied to a cripple,’

She said with a bitter smile,

I stroked her hair as I pushed her chair,

‘I’ll be around for a while.’

I don’t know whether she loved me back,

But I had fallen for her,

And thanked the lord for her missing leg

When I carried her up the stair,

She acquiesced with my every need

She knew I had to be fed,

And paid me back for each caring deed

By leading me to her bed.

She tried to cover her bitterness

To those who planted the bomb,

But still she seemed to be curious

Like who, and where were they from?

‘What would you do?’ I’d say to her,

‘If I stood them here in a line?’

Her brow grew black, as the words she spat,

‘Vengeance would be mine.’

And then the police had arrested them,

Two men from an evil cell,

Andromeda said she’d see them when

I’d take her to court, as well,

We took our place in the gallery

And could see them, looking down,

An evil pair, a defiant stare,

She pulled the gun from her gown.

I didn’t know that she’d got a gun,

She must have hidden it well,

With just one thought, and a loud retort,

She blew them away to hell.

She didn’t care what they did to her,

She said, ‘I’m not going to beg!’

Then pulling her dress up round her waist

She showed the judge her leg.

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Tony Jordan]

Who could blame her?
Bombs like these - indiscriminate terror weapons with no respect for the sanctity of Life.
An eye for an eye or turn the other cheek - an often be a hair's breadth apart.
A pity he would now be sentenced with her to prison time (visits).
Another departure for you DLP and testament to your versatility Sir.
Thank you for the RR.

[A Soap Mess Stories]

A great tale of revenge...great read as always......

[Maxwell Ryder]

Justice waits for no man (or woman). Thanks for this write, David. It left me concussed from the blast it gave off.

[Coyote Poetry]

I did enjoy this tale. You made the situation come alive and I did like the woman. Thank you David for sharing the outstanding poetry.
Coyote

[Avinash]

Not everyone is patient for the justice delivered by the law and it is seldom satisfactory to the victim.

[Einstein Noodle]

wow! an unexpected story from you sir ...i saw you posted and was all prepared for a laugh and a lifting up .. how you surprised me sir ...such tragedy ..not sure yet what i will do with the closing .. i wanted her to stay in love and do well you know :}
E. (eternal optimist) ;(