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The Via Crucis of
Camille - Crux 1 - Page 26
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I stepped back slowly to capture as much of Camille's image,
she was now leaning to the side, her body arched in a way
that was truly mesmerizing. I was sure the stress on her arms
and feet was very strong and that she was resisting with all
the power she could muster.
Her body was perfect, her form flawless.
I could make a thousand paintings out this video.
Each frame one extraordinary moment.
I had seen this image many times but never so
clearly and so detailed. I was accumulating images,
I had now a good quantity of videos, evidence of moments
like this.
I felt fortunate to have her. More than
that. We were both quiet, Camille breathing
with difficulty, me trying not to breath. Trying not
to be intrusive. This was her moment. |
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The slave woman was hanged again,
her arms chained to the timber and her feet tied to the post.
She was returning slowly, regaining awareness of her situation.
She was not sure what had happened to her. The last thing
she remembered was the shearing pain as the liquid fired entered
her body. Then it was a void. She had a memory of forcing
herself to return to her pain. The
soldiers were sure she had died, there was no sign of life
in her for a long time. When they saw her return they were
sure she was sent back for a reason. They stopped torturing
her and placed her on her cross to wait.
From her hanging place she saw
how her mistress was brought to the hill, how she was flogged
and nailed. She still didn't know what was she supposed
to do.
The soldiers walked to her and
she felt them loosening the binds the held her feet and
then she was lowered once again.
The timber was removed from her
arms and shoulders and now she was free, laying on the dirt
ground, free to move. She had one need, she wanted to go
close to her mistress. |
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Leticia saw as the soldiers lowered
her servant from her cross. She saw how the poor wretched
woman began to move like a snake, pushing herself with her
legs and arms. The soldiers didn't stop her, they were either
amused or indifferent.
The woman moved slowly, her naked body like a blob, dark
with burns and wounds drying. She looked more like an animal
than a person. Her movements were very slow, inching her
way to the cross where her mistress hanged.
Everyone was watching in silence,
not trying to understand the motivations of a woman who
was nearly dead.
The slave woman felt a surge
of adrenaline helping her move along. Her broken hands were
painfully reaching out as she moved with the help of her
elbows and knees.
She reached her mistress cross
and laid there for some time, exhausted. After a short paused
she turned her body to look at the hanging woman. |
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I focused the lens on Camille's hand, her wrist
was twisted, as if broken, her fingers were not moving.
The binds on her wrists were holding her up. I
was sure the pressure was great and I could not imagine what
she was feeling. I was surprised that she was lasting
so long. She hadn't given me any sign that she was
done.
"Leticia looks down on her servant".
I told her.
She sees the woman struggling
to raise herself up, her eyes wide open, showing her pain
and her sorrow.
The slave woman pushes herself
nearer to the cross, wraps her arms around the post to pull
herself up. She finally manages to stand on her knees, holding
the post with her arms, reaching up with her head, looking
at her mistress.
Leticia sees how her slave,
her companion in suffering reaches up and manages, with
great effort, to stand on her feet, the pain she feels is
obvious on her burnt face. WIth her broken hands she touches
her mistress body, she has managed to get up to face the
woman's nailed feet. With a last effort she reaches Leticia's
feet and kisses them and then looks up to the woman and
smiles. Leticia, in the middle of her pain, is moved. She
opens her mouth and her words roll down. "I love you my
faithful friend."
The servant smiles relieved and
looses her strength, falling back. The soldiers approach
her. |
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I reached Camille's face, she's beyond me at that
moment, her eyes focused somewhere else. I don't dare
to ask anything, I want her to give me the signs.
I assume she's not ready.
Leticia sees the soldiers drag
her servant back to her cross, the poor woman keeps her
look on her as she taken away.
The soldiers turn her around
to face up and place the timber near her head, then take
her arms and placed them across the log. The slave woman
knows that they wont cut off her head as she wished they
would. She sees the soldier with the hammer and the nails.
"Not like my mistress, please...."
she manages to beg.
The soldier nods in approval
and proceeds to nail her wrists to the timber. The woman
screams in pain, a pain she has not felt until then.
The hammering goes on for some
time, until both wrists are securely spiked to the wood.
Her body continues shaking in
pain as another soldier chains her feet together and she's
pulled up, hanging upside down. |
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