President Freeman was born during Hitler’s invasion of our country. The Nazi occupation marked the first four years of his life. His parents divorced after the war and both committed suicide a couple a years from each other. His father was a priest and his mother was an ardent supporter of the Communist party, a party that promoted atheism and suppressed religions. Freeman eventually joined the party too and his father was left as the lone member of the family that believed in God.

Freeman stopped talking to his father entirely after he graduated from high school. His father felt shame that he believed when most of the country didn’t, that his wife and son didn’t believe when he so passionately did. Freeman’s mother took her life less than a year later. She felt ashamed that she was married to a priest who was so religious that he sacrificed himself to make a political statement about the lack of freedom of faith in his country.

He wanted attention when his parents abandoned him and nothing grants more attention than being an undisputed ruler of a country. He needed infamy, power, and money because of his insecurities but why didn’t he instead become depressed after his parents suicides and committed one himself? He could’ve saved us all a lot of trouble.

President Freeman started his career as a banker but got into the political world with the help of his long time friend, Comrade Stam, who pulled strings and called in favours to get him a diplomatic position in the Communist Party. Stam eventually became the leader of the Party while Freeman made headway and began gaining popularity due to his aggressive and argumentative attitude towards the internal issues the country was facing. His tough stand on separatists started gaining popularity. He gave a historic speech where he promised that there would be “no more infighting and that nobody is going anywhere, we are all staying together”.

Freeman gradually gained many supporters in the party and was able to mobilize them to exert pressure on Stam to step down and relinquish his position to his apprentice. Stam summoned Freeman to his office to have an eye to eye discussion.

“Sit down my friend,” Stam said. “Would you like a drink?”

“No thank you,” Freeman responded.

“So what is happening friend? Why are party officials harassing me daily about calling an early election for the position I hold, a position I worked hard for, waited years to get to.”

“It is the will of the party members. If they want it then you should respect their wishes and call the elections for you post.”

“And you have nothing to do with it? Because the only name I hear about is yours as my potential rival. This makes me think that you are asking them to pressure me daily because you promised them god knows what once you become the president of the party.”

“A significant number of party members like my approach and where I stand on the important issues that our country faces,” Freeman leaned back and looked straight at his mentor’s eyes. “They feel that you are out of touch and too old school. You are not prepared to face the challenges that will soon arise.”

“I doubt that number is even close to a quarter of the party members. There is no significant reason to call the election now,” he swung the whiskey down this throat. “They will have to wait until my term expires to cast their votes against me.”

“You should call the election if you are so confident about those numbers,” Freeman smirked.

“It’s not going to happen,” Stam shook his head. “You’re going to wait for you turn just like I did. You’re getting ahead of yourself Freeman.”

“Three senior officials need to cast a vote of no confidence in your presidency and force an election. I’ve talked to five who are willing to do it. Spare yourself the embarrassment and call the election. The best man will win this dispute, fair and square.”

Stam stared at Freeman’s face in bewilderment. He got up and poured himself another glass of whiskey.

“I groomed you to become my successor but I never thought that you would be in such a hurry to succeed me,” Stam said while looking at the liquid in his crystal glass. “Your stance is different too.  You are confrontational and uncompromising. That’s why they want you as a leader because you act like a leader.”

“The main reason is because you are too soft,” Freeman stood up also. “Our enemies are gathering inside and outside of the country while you want to sit down and negotiate with everybody.”

“Of course I do,” Stam raised his voice. “I’m trying to keep the country together by talking to those you call internal enemies. They’re not enemies yet and I’m trying to keep it that way while you’re pumping your chest out and claiming how nobody can defeat us!”

“I sent a clear message that any armed uprising will be crushed. People have to be aware of this undisputable fact.”

“What you are doing is threatening and people don’t like to be threatened. That’s what you fail to realize.”

“I didn’t come here to argue with you Stam,” Freeman turned and walked over to the door. “Our differences can be settled by the election. Just call it my old friend.”

The day when Comrade Stam lost his position was the day that Freeman’s autocratic rule started to take shape.

Stam stayed out of politics for over a decade after that betrayal. He finally spoke up against Freeman’s policies as the threat of bombing was fast approaching. He criticized the way Freeman was handling the conflict against the terrorists and warned that the consequences would be dire if the Military Alliance got involved to solve the clash. His words carried weight with many citizens since Stam was associated with better times, a period of relative stability. He suggested that he might run in the next presidential elections. He would be a perfect symbol to represent the period before Freeman, the period that would be brought back with Stam’s election victory. Stam went for a jog the morning before the bombing and disappeared without a trace.

If Stam never got Freeman involved in politics then he would have saved everybody the trouble of Freeman’s fanatical thirst for power and its consequences. Maybe Freeman would have stayed a banker, a typical annoying bureaucrat that would have gave people headaches instead of getting them killed. Maybe he would’ve got into a dead end job and would’ve hung himself from the existential nausea.

Is Stam to blame for Freemans actions? Stam is dead because he could not allow himself to stay quiet any longer. He felt guilty and responsible for the rise of a man who was now holding the entire country as hostage. He tried to repent but ended up paying more than his fair share.

Freeman had betrayed, backstabbed, imprisoned, and killed anybody that challenged his march towards absolute power. President Freeman has always had a ruthless side to him but often tried to parade himself as reasonable negotiator. He was a key instigator in the civil war that erupted but once it became apparent that there would be no conclusive winner in it, he switched into a peacemaker role as he started to negotiate with the UN to draft a peace accord.

*

A political demonstration against President Freeman was held in my town a few months before the bombing. I decided to attend my first political protest. During the protest walk, I felt a liquid falling on my head. At first, I thought it was rain and then I noticed that other people around me started to react to it too. I looked up and saw a hand stretched out through a window holding a bottle while shaking its contents out. I hoped it was just water but the liquid in the bottle was not see-through. It was dark yellow. In shock and rage, I started yelling, along with other people, for the culprit to come down and confront us face to face. The hand didn’t reappear again and the walk continued.

 I couldn’t believe that in my own town there was a person that supported President Freeman to such a degree that he was willing to urinate in a bottle and later spill its contents on to the heads of people who were protesting against a dictatorship. He was defending a President who used the secret service to kill his political opponents and journalists who expressed disagreeable views. He was defending a President who would fix the elections in his favour until the end of his life. That was the man he believed in and was willing to defend his honour by spilling piss on his opponents.

If there is a hell, I hope the punishment for him would be that Satan himself pisses on his head for an eternity. As for President Freeman, I hope he gets to live as an ordinary citizen under his own dictatorship for an eternity.

*

Freeman is one of the biggest reasons the bombs are falling out of the skies tonight. He carries the bulk of the responsibility. The possibility of Hell existing is slim to none so I hope one of the bombs finds him tonight and falls on his head, just like that piss fell on mine. I hope I survive long enough to hear about his demise. I hope that the angel of death doesn't come for me before it takes him. In the end he is just one man, it’s not just him. His actions can explain why the country is being bombed but I had no part of that, I didn’t participate in anything to be deemed punishable by death. Why I am I here tonight, why should I be killed tonight? Could I have done something different during my short life? Was there a crossroad where I took the wrong turn? The memories of my life surround me from all sides. I look at them in awe. I float towards one of the screens and sink through to the other side.

Where do I begin?