The Horizon Moves Not
By Steve Wardrip

To a chaldron of Chaf-finches, governance of Icarus empowers a mawkishly sentimental round-shouldered Janus. In a fit of fiery passion, she took the life of her lover because he expressed a desire to break up. He was a musician/singer/songwriter whose career was just taking off. She was a troubled woman, drinking, drugging, and very unhappy. Now, twenty-one, up on the witness stand, she said she never heard that choking sound of him dying. She had called 911 after she strangled him and told them he was found dead in her apartment. The dispatcher sent a policeman who came quickly, administered CPR and got an ambulance fast, but it was too late. Too much time without oxygen had taken his life. Then, they played the recording of her talking above the choking sounds. She had hit him on the head with a heavy lamp and then put a plastic bag over his head until she thought he was dead. He wasn’t dead yet and she got caught with the evidence. The verdict was read and the overshot cry rang out. Janus dropped her head into her arms on the desk, weeping and wailing. At the sentencing she sat stoically as family members were allowed to take the stand and speak directly to her and the courtroom. She had been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The victim’s youngest sister took the stand first.
“You are nothing but a rabid fanatic with a raging, uncontrollable temper. You are not concerned with the judgement principles of right and wrong in relation to human character. You have not exhibited goodness in any form or fashion. You do not possess the ability to act correctly in society. You do not conform to standards of what is right and wrong. You do not have a conscious. You are not virtuous. You have no sense of right and wrong. You have been tested and observed. You have been judged fit to stand trial and you have been found guilty. You have a moral obligation to me and my family, whether you appreciate the fact or not. You are not mentally ill. You are mentally evil. Your personal behavior is inexcusable. The judge and jury is righteous and you are not. You are an outcast and we, the people, have cast you out of our society. You will never return to society to harm, abuse, mistreat, strangle or kill anyone else ever. I do pray for your salvation and at the same time, I want you to feel all the terribleness of your actions multiplied so many times, that you feel what my brother felt. Just so you know, when that jail cell door shuts you in for the rest of your life, we will be celebrating victory and justice on the outside, while you will will be damned to hell and deplorable conditions forever! I wish you discomfort. I hope you can’t sleep at night. I hope you fear for your life. I hope you are mistreated, perhaps even tortured, just like you tortured my brother, but that probably won’t happen, because we are better than you. We are above you. In fact you are lower than the dirt on the ground. You are a despicable human being and I hope you are severely punished for it. Think about what you did 24/7 forever, second after second, minute after minute and day after day and month after month and year after year and decade after decade and until you expire in prison for killing my brother. May you never rest on this Earth. I win. You lose. My brother just lost his life, and he wins the victory! Again, you are a loser, always will be. Enjoy your stay in jail for rest of your natural life! Think about what you did… think about all the pain and sorrow you caused with your selfishness. Think about how much pain and sorrow you will now endure. Think every second about the beautiful person’s life that you destroyed. I think God would tell you, never destroy, but you didn’t listen. You are not listening now, you are scheming, you are wanting to escape, but you can’t and you won’t. Execution would have been an escape for you, but that’s too easy. You need to suffer greatly from what you have done to my family… and suffer you will,,, 24 hours a day forever! Suffer, you low life evil murderer! Suffer.”, An emotional girl weeps and then says, “That’s all.” and returns to her seat.
Next up is the victim’s older sister. Taking the stand, she holds up a picture of her brother, “You murdered my brother. He was kind, loving, and had a good heart. He would help anyone. He would give you the shirt off his back. He was even good to you and look what you did to him. In grade school, he saw a starving dog on the street, brought it home and treated it like a little human baby until he nursed it back to health. He kept that dog for twelve years. He treated it like a child and said he was practicing being a good parent. He was, until you decided to end his life. There is no justification and there is nothing you could ever say that will ease my mind and stop my heart from breaking. I hope God deals with you fairly and I know He will. You will stand before Him and He will judge you. You will accept what He has in store for you. You have no choice, just like you have no choice now, no choice at all, except to resign yourself to death in prison. It does not matter what you think, feel or do now. You are being stripped of your freedom forever. You are a despicable, condemned to death, prisoner. A prisoner that can’t run, can’t escape, can’t dodge the fact that you murdered my best friend and brother, and can’t ever be trusted by anyone ever again. Murders are evil and you are evil. I hope that evil comes to visit you and you, too, can experience what you put my brother through. So, what I want to say to you is DIE IN A DITCH BITCH!”, and she returned to her seat.
Next up was his mother. She was a strong woman, a lady, a good wife and mother. She marched right up to the podium, turned and looked the guilty party right in the eye and said, “Rot in Hell with the Devil! You worthless whore!”, smiled and returned to her seat.
Many tears were shed in that courtroom and when the victim had the first chance to speak, she flipped everyone off with her middle fingers and was then silent. The judge warned her about contempt of court and she then she sat shackled the rest of the time. The bailiff attempted to lead her out of the courtroom, but she resisted and had to be carried out while she screamed obscenities, vowing to kill every member of the family and something about having the last word. The judge had the last word. He raised his voice and said, “Get her out of here. She’s going to prison for the rest of her life for what she did! Restrain her, gag her, taz her if you have to, put her in a straight jacket, just do whatever is necessary to restrain the violent criminal, but get her out of here right now. Out!”, and they did.
The months passed and the convict became a social butterfly and a perfect prisoner. She played cards, Scrabble, Life and Monopoly. She sat for long periods of time alone. She always was the first to go to church. Later, she would allude that she got into corruption in the prison with the guards and warden and that many men were trying to have sex with her for special favors. There was some truth to it and some guards were terminated. The warden removed her from the general population and put her in solitary confinement for collusion. She committed suicide by hanging herself with a blanket she fashioned into a noose after serving only eight months. She was pregnant. They saved the baby at the last minute by cesarean section. It was never determined who the father was.
According to the paperwork, it was decided the reason she committed suicide was because of abnormal psychology, depression and anxiety. She was buried in the same small town cemetery as her ex-lover, murder victim. Her family had decided to have etched on her headstone, the epitaph,
“The Horizon Moves Not, As Does The Love of God”
Their love child grew up in a foster home and turned out to be a veterinarian, a philanthropist and a loving father of a little girl. He and his loving wife gave the baby the name, “Angel.” He also took very good care of the aging mother and her daughters. They had annual reunions, birthday parties, pool parties, backyard barbeques and a solid relationship that saw them all through stormy times. Angel was everyone’s special little girl. Love is like the horizon, static, staid, solid and definitive. It is true, the horizon is never moved, and neither is love. It shall not be moved.

