PART ONE
A mighty Tyrant existed, exists, and will exist until the End of Time.
In order to survive, the Tyrant feeds on mocking, cruel and horrifying laughter.
In order for his laughter to be fed, the Tyrant occupies his time by mocking his subjects, spitting them, condemning them to his misdeeds.
The Tyrant craves power. He imposes himself with an authoritarian attitude.
The Tyrant explodes in mass, fed every day by the most substantial foods.
The Tyrant does not speak. He screams. He uses ungrammatical terms. He spits. He laughs. He inflames and strikes with his icy gaze.
The Tyrant comes from the slums but exists surrounded by comforts. He knows how to get to the top. He tramples on the innocent bodies of those who have tried before. If there are any survivors trailing behind him, he sets traps for them, pushes them off the cliffs.
The strategy
The Tyrant carefully chooses allies and victims. He analyzes behaviors, he categorizes people. In his eyes, there are four types of individuals to deal with.
The coveted category gathers the Rich and Powerful. His goal is to win their trust and to do so he needs the second group: the Subjects.
The Subjects are His sustenance. In these lies the key to reaching the Rich and Powerful.
The third class unites the Useless: characters completely without purpose, without reason to exist, since they do not bring any benefit to the Tyrant himself. He would eliminate them all. He doesn’t have the full powers to do it and so he tries to slip them into the Subjects.
The last rank identifies the Enemies. And it is with these that he will show off the most ruthless brutality. Who are the Enemies? The Enemies are former Subjects, in rebellion against the Oppressor.
The Subjects
The Subjects survive alongside the Tyrant in constant alarm. Among the Subjects there are people who tend to be of medium rank, not so rich and powerful as to fall into the excellent category, but not even of a class so ignored as to be considered Useless.
In the Subjects we find people with average education. A large majority still counts individuals just above the critical literacy threshold, but there are also exceptions with prestigious qualifications. It is therefore possible, among the Subjects, to meet graceful and cultured people, who however are invariably obscured by the great flock made up of all the others. The Tyrant keeps an even more vigilant eye on these specific individuals because it is precisely those who can transform themselves from Subjects into Enemies.
This dangerous passage can also happen for an Unaware Rebellion. And this is what happened to Anna, which we will return to shortly. But what does an Unaware Rebellion consist of? How does it happen? This type of insurrection develops over time from small clues that the Subject inadvertently lets slip. It can be one word more or one less. It can be a certain action. It can also be a simple look; an eloquent expression; a frown; a set of lips. Elusive signs of opposition, of desire for a different reality, not succubus.
An Unaware Rebellion is as dangerous as a Planned one.
The Rebellion
During the Tyrant’s long rise, one hopes not to be in his field of vision. The great plan of the Tyrant (a rough, disjointed, primitive yet … effective plan) records data in bursts. Names and addresses of residence; possessions, specifically cataloged; families; main occupations and lead times. And again: clinical history; interpersonal relationships; knowledge; sympathies. All valuable and essential information to achieve the great purpose.
In the course of everyday work, social and family life, the Tyrant sentences impositions and orders to the Subjects and records the development of their actions and behaviors in detail. Do they perform or not? Are they protesting or not? Do they smile or not? Depending on the actions taken, the Tyrant develops the next commands.
Let’s talk now about Anna. Anna is a Subject. Anna participates in the working life of the Tyrant. Anna also lives very close to the Tyrant. Anna is among those Subjects in possession of a high degree of education. In her close circle she is one of the few of her. And she arouses envy. Sometimes she even realizes it. But she has no evidence to prove it.
The Rebellion did not start from Anna though. It was her colleagues who laid the foundations and hoisted the supporting columns. Anna, on the contrary, immediately intercepted the danger of what was happening. She quickly calculated the probability of success and soon realized that, by their means, it was entirely non-existent.
But it happened one day that Anna found herself being furious, like her colleagues. At one of the periodic meetings, many blurted out against the Tyrant and Anna missed a fateful sign of adhesion.
She ruled her sentence that day.
Without having a precise idea of the Tyrant’s methods, she sensed his plans and she soon realized that she had become Enemy by her. She certainly had no idea of the existence of such categories, but she didn’t need to know to understand that she was trapped…
PART TWO
A series of misdeeds
One day like any other Anna got into her gig. Everything I am about to describe took place within a matter of seconds. Shortly after leaving, the cab began to vibrate dangerously and after a few meters the oscillation was so strong that she found herself upside down, yet she somehow managed to stop it. Gingerly got out of the carriage, she made a quick turn around it, and she noticed quite quickly the large screws that fastened the wheels, drastically loosened.
Furthermore, the spokes of the wheels also appeared to have been damaged in some way, perhaps with a small knife. The fact is that she couldn’t move. Anna was the owner of a dignified house, not very large and in fact her gig was usually fumbled under an unfenced canopy, therefore exposed to the public domain.
Some rowdy had amused himself with this wrongdoing. Time was running out and so quickly she contacted the trusted carpenter to repair the damage. It cost her quite dearly because one wheel was tilted dangerously. Anna paid the sum due indignantly.
On another day like any other, Anna got into her gig and the scene just described was repeated.
Another day like any other, Anna didn’t even have to get into the gig to discover the villainy. This other time she found herself forced to replace two wheels. Yes, even if new.
From one event to another only a few weeks had passed. From the second time she was sure of the guilty but the reality did not simplify things: how to denounce the Tyrant himself? To who?
The invitation
So Anna found herself forced into his silence. Dominated, forcibly forced to pretend she has no suspicion, as if she were just a temporary victim of the stunts of a group of kids.
Months passed. Meanwhile, Anna also had to invest time and money in a fence that would prevent unwanted intrusions.
Meanwhile, there was no lack of tensions at work. The Tyrant gained power in the eyes of his superiors, gradually turning into a fundamental character in achieving success. This was what foolish Rich and Powerful were becoming convinced of because, after all, an authoritarian and unscrupulous subject like the Tyrant was very useful to them.
Anna strongly committed herself to remain as indifferent and taciturn as possible.
No one who grasped her discomfort. No one who understood the abuses taking place. How much lust for power she read in the Oppressor’s inflamed eyes of ice… How many fat, deep and cruel laughter she heard him explode from his jaws.
Summer and autumn followed and finally winter came. During a cold and dark day, Anna received an unexpected summons: the Tyrant invited her to have a coffee in his house. He had to talk about a matter.
She accepted. She had no choice.
PART THREE
The Lair
Anna had a dear friend and to her and she alone had confided her troubles. The latter, having heard the news of the invitation, offered to escort Anna to the appointment and also to wait for the meeting to end.
“I invite myself, yes”
Came that day, full of tension.
The Tyrant’s plan to Anna was already known and in fact her conjectures turned out to be correct.
The Tyrant demanded of Anna close support in his affairs. It was clear: in his climb a “right arm” was needed, a prostrate Subject who carried out each order on command.
But why this new need of the Tyrant? Why not before that time? And why was he actually addressing Anna?
As it happened, the Tyrant had received a coveted promotion. To meet the growing needs of the Rich and Powerful, however, Anna’s skills were essential. In addition, Anna lived nearby, so the Oppressor could ideally monopolize all of her time.
And again: the Tyrant was now forcing the Subject to make an essential choice and her adhesion would have ruled her future. And finally: the Tyrant (magnanimous!) offered Anna the only chance not to convert into the Enemy she was becoming.
Anna however, with courage, having just guessed the intentions, was already shaking her head, denying her availability.
The Tyrant was dumbfounded. He laughed. “And why can’t you?”
Anna allowed herself to observe the surroundings, sideways. The Tyrant’s abode was adorned with numerous exquisite pieces of furniture which, however, overflowed with junk, stacked at random, without any surface being left without. It could be said that the Tyrant possessed everything and everything too much. It was already dark outside, the lighting was dim and therefore the dust did not shine and yet she knew it was there.
In that house you could see dozens of presences. Yet, the Tyrant lived alone, Anna was aware. The sensation, however, did not diminish in the least. Was it the abundance of objects and the lack of space that gave that false impression? As if, hidden in the dark corners, there were really bright eyes and megalithic ears ready to pick up each signal.
Anna’s refusal was justified by some health problems, which were also true. She was adamant even though she quietly guaranteed support in cases of strict emergency. She regretted, but it was done.
Order
The Tyrant already demanded immediate support the next day. And Anna, alerted by cryptic senses, did not consent. She was sadly aware, however, that something could have changed for the worse since then. She had shown strength of spirit up to that moment, but his insistence, she was sure, would soon suffocate her.
Yet a shred of hope remained and this was because she, she understood, the Tyrant was indeed in a difficult position. Was it possible that his rise was coming to a halt?
Having witnessed His successes in person, Anna could hardly believe it, yet something in Providence suggested that a limit existed and perhaps was about to be reached.
Was she heartened? No, not quite. Ruthless tricks were the Oppressor’s specialty and it was only a matter of time before something swerved dangerously into the dark.
Would she be strong enough to endure malignant psychiatric torture?
In the not too distant future, a gray and cold day came, and Anna collapsed, desolate, afflicted. A victim of the Tyrant and of the oppression exerted by her own mind.
The hope placed on better days did not come true in time.
Epilogue
Mighty Tyrants existed, exist, and will exist until the End of Times.
Tyrants crave power. They impose themselves with an authoritarian attitude.
In order to survive, the Tyrants feed on the souls of the Oppressed.
Tyrants scrupulously choose allies and victims. They analyze behaviors, categorize people. In their eyes, there are four types of individuals to deal with.
Some Tyrants have become Rich and Powerful. Other Rich and Powerful are manipulated by Tyrants. A minority of the Rich and Powerful do not have enough possessions and power to ward off injustice.
Some Subjects aspire to the status of Rich and Powerful. To achieve the goal, they try to prevail over the Tyrants, imitating them. The smartest of them could do it.
A large majority of Subjects do not understand that they are such. They survive placid, dejected, at times completely helpless. When this is the case, some of these figures could get confused. It only takes a moment to transform them into Useless existences.
Other Subjects, aware of their position, are indignant, with that faint voice that is granted to them. They are the most daring, the most fighters, the most resolute. But they can also be… the most fearful, the most pacifist, the most hesitant, those who boil inside but on the surface only let a few snorts escape.
The Subjects, in Rebellion against the Oppressor, turn into Enemies.
Meditative, analytical souls.
Lonely.
Unsuitable for the system that oppresses them.
They can be harsh and cynical people.
Or sweet and caring.
Or everything.
Or nothing.
They can be nothing if a terrible Tyrant decides to annihilate them.
To the Subjects the strength to resist.
To the Tyrants humanity to desist.