Dead Man Walking

I couldn't sleep after that. I couldn't help thinking about it. Even now I can hear their voices and their laughs while we were playing with each other. It seems their faces drag on forever in my mind, in my soul. Their laughs make me weep now, and I hate it. It just needs a flick to be remembered. Just like the discussion we had in our speaking and listening class, about death sentence. As you may remember, almost all the boys agreed on death sentence. Some of us told why we agreed and I must say that all of them were true in my humble opinion. Execution is a part of our law, not only pf our country, but also of many other countries. Maybe it's fair, maybe not. It's easy to take one's life; as easy as ABC. Believe me! Now, here I am, with a story about the past. About some people who are just memories now.
About 2 years ago, in our high school, we chose handball as our major sport and we were trying hard to qualify for Tehran's championship. At last our team was qualified. They told us the host field is "The Rehabilitation Center for young offenders" which was located in Shahre Ziba district. We were told that the Rehabilitation Center had a team that always was the winner of the competition. We went there. a dismal, gray prison with high walls. But when we headed there we thought that it was a school or something because there were some gay children there, playing loudly. It was pretty strange for all of us. Then we went into the field. There was a bunch of young people waiting for us. They were all bald, and they had ungracious appearances in first glance (later on, I found them so sensitive). I felt something. There was something missing. Something in their eyes. I can't describe it. Maybe it was envy or regret. Afterwards I figured out why they were there. They had committed crimes and they had to be there, counting days, until they could celebrate their 18 year-old birthday. Until government could take some serious actions about them. For some of them it meant salvation, for some, not. Meysam was an addict. He didn't want to be; they (drug trafficker) made him a junkie because they didn't want their little carrier to leave and never come back again. Even drug traffickers know some lines of the book of the law by heart. They know that government doesn't execute children. Meysam told us that his father abandoned them. He was an addict too. Meysam had to quit school and work hard to make a living for his family. Drug smugglers are waiting for such cases. They abuse innocent children by making them do some perilous work. If the child is arrested, no need to worry! There is always a new one! And Meysam was one of the victims. Except two of them (Kanoon's children), they were all there because of carrying drugs.
Jaber was one of them who was sentenced to death. He killed his friend in a street fight accidentally. Don't mistake manslaughter with murder. But the Judge considered it as a willful killing. I don't want to discuss the judge's verdict. Jaber did something wrong and there must be a punishment for him. The victim's family wanted only one thing: Nemesis. Things are so complicated to me even now. I can't understand why they wanted Jaber to be executed. What about forgiveness and mercy? Jaber was young and…he didn't mean it. He didn't mean to kill his friend. It was all an accident. Maybe revenge is sweet for them. I spent most of my time with Jaber over there. He didn't deserve that sentence. To be executed. He had great wishes and he wanted to be a professional handball player. He had a great talent for it and I was sure he would be.
We won all of the matches except the final match that we lost over to Kanoon's team. They were always the winners. Jaber was the top scorer.
One day, about 1 year ago, one of my friends sent me an SMS; they executed Jaber. "It was such cold water on my head." I couldn't breathe for a few moments.
He is dead now.