I Cannot Forgive

One-Shot
Peter Redmond was inside his prison cell, awaiting his execution.

Janice McCormick, the mother of the late eighteen-year old Patrick McCormick, who was murdered by Peter Redmond.

"You took away my son." Janice said to him.

She held the limited edition plush of the Winter Soldier, which belonged to Annie in her arms.

Janice was almost 56 years old, she wore a black funeral dress and her greying hair was tied back.

"I cannot forgive you for this." Janice said, in a strangely gentle tone.

Peter looked at her.

"Pat, he was my whole world, My beautiful child, we were in America for six years, my husband helped him with the cosplay, the last photos I took of him, he was beautiful in the cosplay he wore, he was a very sweet and funny lad, when he went to that comic convention here, he was so excited, he kissed me goodbye, that was the last time I saw him." She said.

Tears streaked down the woman's face.

"Do you remember this item?" She asked.

She showed Peter the plush doll.

"This was given to Annie by Patrick as a gift, she absolutely loved it to bits and was always seen with it, they loved Marvel films and Patrick was planning to see Spiderman: Homecoming when he and ehr got married." She said.

She then put the doll in the bag.

"He was just going to a comic convention dressed as Loki, you told me he was rioting, I still have Annie's promotional Winter Soldier plush that he gave her, and I cannot let go of it, it reminds me of them." She said.

Her look turned to small hints of anger.

"You told me my son was rioting, he didn't support the KKK, they hated Catholics, he was terrified of the KKK and Neo-Nazi groups, you made Alex, the man my son saw as his older brother, commit suicide, This does not help and added to the grief that Patrick was dead." She said.

She then looked at Peter's remorseless face, who said nothing.

"You ripped a photo of my child infront of me, infront of the people who you considered "activists", MLK would hate you, You turned tolerance into a method for evil, my son is dead, I'll miss his laugh, his smile, everything I knew." She said.

Before she left, she went inside the cell.

"You compared my Patrick and his Annie to Ian Brady and Myra Hindley to justify your killing."

She went towards him and kneeled down.

"You shot my lovely and sweet 18-year old in the back, he was just going to a comic convention, He wasn't a black-hating KKK supporter, he was a very sweet and nice lad, and you shot him, I acnnot forgive you for it, he was a very sweet boy, he loved life, and you ripped my family and Livingstone's apart." She said.

She then showed a photo of her in secondary school, the girl pictured had shoulder length brown hair, wore a white blouse, green tie, frilly socks and a green skirt, The Free Derry memorial was behind her.

"This was a young girl in the 1970's, growing up in Derry, she had seen terrible things, she saw riots when I went out to get the chippy for her family with her older brother, who was 14, she saw 13 people get shot when she was walking across, people running, soldiers shooting, That wee girl, was me, I saw shootings, rioting, I heard the Claudy bombing, all those innocent lives, dead, in the 1985, me and my new lover decided to escape Northern Ireland and settled in Leitrim, I saw sectarianism, I have been called Fenian, T**g, Mick, Provie." She said.

She then crossed her arms.

"I absolutely HATED living in Derry, When the police invaded your home, they found IRA memorabillia, and many other things, I always hated it, People died, The Troubles is nothing to be proud about, It brought unfolded misery to everyone and everything living there, My husband grew up in the Twinbrook estate and he heard a little girl being shot while setting drinks, what is wrong with you?" She said.

She then touched the bars.

"My people in Derry were treated terribly, Bloody Sunday was awful and it doesn't make Claudy right, What happened to those people in Charleston was awful, but you murdering my boy doesn't justify it, the violence in Derry costed a part of my childhood, I collected riot souvineers, rubber bullets and most things,

She walked out of the jail, then gave a small frown.

"Your bigotry led you to his, blame yourself, don't blame Mick." She said.

She closed the door.