I was afraid.

Then I felt the eyes; and there was a voice.

"-------and so it must end. The detritus of a thousand misunderstandings and a million petty falsehoods, has sunk to the bottom of the polluted well that is his life. With infinite compromise he has compacted the layers of his guilt so that now, he has become entrapped in his own silt. The quicksands of jealousy and boredom are eagerly sucking at his ankles and yet, he makes no move to escape. Why?"

The walls of the room hardened until they glittered like diamonds. Reflected in the facets, I saw the serried ranks of my accusers.

The Seraph turned and stared at me. He stood still as rock, his face in shadow. His hands, held as in prayer, gleamed like silver and his fingers, thin and clean as daggers, quivered with tension.

          Why? There were a myriad reasons and yet there were none.

His voice was distant thunder, eager to spill it’s lightening seed.

"My Lords, Archangels and Seraphim, he denies us an answer as he denies himself. This creature no longer has the energy to peel back the coagulated layers of his petty history nor the courage to face the bitter truths that hide there.  Indeed - does he even have the desire for that essential virtue he once held so dear? I think not. 

         So I say to you, that without prejudice, we must condemn him; and that, without pity, he must be sentenced now."

Worms of fear squirmed round my bowels and laid terror in my stomach. The screams that hatched, ripped through my chest only to be still born as they left my mouth.