• She took off her bonnet - the thin lacey fabric that covered her hair and kept it in place - was now gone and her hair cascaded past her shoulders. It was dry and almost brittle to the touch but she tried to smoothe it anyway with her hands.

    A deep sigh escaped past her lips and she closed her eyes - slowly taking in the breeze from the cold autumn wind that blew into her cell from the courtyard.

    She opened her eyes and decided to look down onto the dreary courtyard. Though she looked down at it every day since she'd been locked up, today was different. And a tear rolled down her cheek.

    Once she tasted the salty essence on the corner of her lips, though, she quickly wiped it away and stood tall before turning her back to the window.

    She walked over to the desk in the corner and grabbed the paper she had laying in front of her. She forced back the tears one more time so she could continue writing to the one child she had left: her daughter.

    Afterwards, when the door creaked open, she folded it and handed it to her lady. Never would she let them see her cry and only her daughter, upon reading her farewell letter, would understand just how terrified she really was. But for that moment, she simply nodded and fallowed the guards down the tower and into the courtyard.

    She was almost happy at the thought of seeing the sun once again after so many years but God almost seemed to mock her hope by clouding the sky - refusing to let the light shine through.

    She returned her gaze forward and saw the enourmous guilliotine imposing down at her. The crowds cheered and some booed but the sound of their mockery faded with each step she took closer to her death sentence.

    Finally, when she reached the top, she bent down and placed her head in the cutout that fit her neck perfectly. And as the sentence was read and the executinor tugged on the rope - the only thing she thought, were the last words that she wrote to her daughter just moments before:

    Adieu