The Legends Of Abidet

Chapter 7 - Cry Of The Tear

A girl resurrects 80 years later, in a divided world. She will now witness the saddest life story of a woman.

The truck moves on the country road. I am now out from the labor camp, but my life will not last long. At least, this will end my suffering. At least. I feel a great joy, that finally, after all these years, I will be free. I will move out from life. The truck comes to the big, large hole, where they throw all dead people. I feel how it stops. The two guards come out and open the back door. They take me out. I see the hole, big and filled with bones, surrounded by forest. I see the dirt road we came on. Now, this is it. finally, my hopeless suffering will come to an end. I know guard dogs come here to eat the prisoners.

"This is it", says one of the guards. "Just throw her in the pit".

"Just look at her", says the other one. "All her body is blood and bones. Dogs will have nothing to eat from her".

"Come on, throw her!" says the first one. "If you start feeling pity for prisoners, you will end-up like them".

"I know, but it is too much for me. I am getting old of this. Well, just let her in".

They throw me in the pit. I fall in a pond of dirt.

"Today is her, tomorrow it could be us", says one of them.

"Let's return, we'll get drunk and forget all this", says the other.

I hear the doors closing and the truck going away. Now, I will wait until dogs will come here. I no longer have feet and my body is almost dead. So, I cannot run. And even if I could, where should I go? Back to the labor camp? All these years, I had enough. I was bitten almost every day, raped and all time suffered from starvation.

One of the guards has dropped his cigarette in the pit. I stretch to get it. At least, one last smoke. This was the only pleasure we had in the camp, when we found second-hand cigarettes. I grab it and take one inhale. Maybe it is my last one. I don't know why the dogs are not here, but they will come and eat me. I take a second drag of smoke.

Suddenly, I see a bright green light near me and something like a girl. She is something like a cloud. Maybe my imagination is doing all this to me. I feel how I am lifted in the air out of the pit. Then, I move away in the forest. I have no idea where. When I find myself on the ground, I lose contact with reality. I think I am dying right now.

**********

I wake-up. I am down on a small bed of dried grass. Around me, I see food. I see milk in a glass, cheese, some fruits and a big piece of bread. Also, I see a few packs of cigarettes. Am I dreaming or am I dead? I don't know. I try to reach the food and it is real. Real milk? After drinking only infected water from ditches, now I am drinking milk. My hands are shaking. Is it real? I drink it. After all this time, I don't even remember how milk tastes. It feels like the nectar of a god. My stomach feels so happy about it. Oh, what a pleasure! Sure I died and now I am in paradise. That green girl must be sent from heaven to pick me.

I eat a piece of cheese. The taste is incredible. And the bread is amazing. How good! It is so pleasant that tears drop from my eyes. I think it is the first time ever that I cry of pleasure. I cry and sing for myself: "I am dead, I am dead, I am free at last!" It takes a few minutes. I eat slowly, savoring every little piece of food. My body is so happy. I feel my stomach satisfied, filled with food. All my skinny body is happy. All of me is happy.

Then I light a cigarette. It feels a thousand times better then what guards smoke. My lungs are so happy with this.

Suddenly, the green light appears again. I see a green girl with wings and surrounded by light, a light or a fire. I don't know. She kindly watches me and smiles at me.

"Relax. You are now out of all pain. Nobody can get to you now", she says.

"I died", I answer.

"No. You are far from dead. But I need to do a lot of work to you", she says. "Relax and try to get some rest. You are too weak to wake now".

I do as she tells me. I lean back and get to sleep.

Then, I wake again. It's dark. I see the green girl doing something with her hands inside my body. When she notices I am awake, she moves a bit away. I find again food near me: cornmeal and cooked rice, with cheese in it. And the glass with milk is filled again. I start eating. My body got some strength now. I don't remember ever in my life to have eaten so much. After I eat, I light a cigarette.

"What is your name?" she asks me.

"I don't remember", I say.

"Sure you don't remember", she says. "You are suffering from pellagra, that is a lack of vitamins. You will recover in a few days. Take those red pills, they will help".

I do as she tells me.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I am The Legend", she says. "But a long time ago, I was a little girl. My name was Abidet. Just try to rest. When you will be ready, you will find the answers".

I finish eating and lean back to sleep. When I wake-up again, it is morning. Now, I am alone in the forest, but food is already placed near me. I eat again. Then, I feel the need to take a piss. So, I move a bit deeper into the forest. For the last weeks or months, nobody knows for how long, it was something very painful. I lost a lot of blood. But now, I piss as I should do, only with a little pain. Did the cancer go away? How could be this possible? Yes, it looks like I am cured.

It started in the labor camp, nobody knows when. I started to have bleedings. The local doctor diagnosed me with cancer at my uterus. They told the guards: "Use her as she still is available, cause she will not last much". Since then, they forced me to work harder then others and they reduced my food ratio. I knew I was going to die. All that time, I just hoped it will happen sooner. I just couldn't take it any more. When I was no longer useful, they took me to the body pit.

My body was a twisted mass of pain and blood. I didn't have any intact piece of skin. All was just full of wounds. They bitten me every day. And not only me, everyone. But now, my skin is healing very fast.

I don't see the green girl for a few days, but I always find food near me. Food, milk and medicine. And new packs of cigarettes. I notice something incredible with my body.

I feel some pain in my former feet. Surprisingly, I see something growing there. Are my feet growing back? I lost them when I was working in the mine. A wagon filled with coal ran away and hit me, cutting my feet. How many people lost their feet this way in the mines? After that, they moved me to other tasks: sorting rice seeds, working with wood, anything that I could do.

My feet are growing, but my hands are healing too. Once, they broke my left arm, for not working as fast as required. At my right hand, they broke my elbow, not because I did anything bad, but to give an example to the others. It was very hard to move my hands after that. Now, I can move them again. It is amazing to see my body healing like this.

My body is healing. All wounds are vanishing like through a miracle. Well, certainly this is a miracle. A surprising one. And my memory is returning. Long ago, I had a name, but I cannot remember it. In the labor camp, I was 11459. That's it, we don't have names, just numbers. I also remember The Legend. She appeared a few times, as a bright green star above the camp. Once, she landed here and the guards emptied their rifles on her, but bullets just ran through her body without hitting anything. Since then, she never came at all.

**********

I don't know how much time it passed. Maybe two weeks. I just don't know. All this time I had an incredible hunger. My feet had grown to my knees and are still growing. My skin is now without scars. Even my teeth have grown back, I don't know how. One morning I wake-up. I find again food near me and I eat all. Then, I light a cigarette. The green woman comes to me and sits near me. Now, I see that she is also smoking a green cigarette that makes a green smoke.

"How do you feel today?" she asks me.

"Incredibly fine", I ask. "Why do you help me?"

"Because I was a girl like you", she says. "Well, I did not suffer as much as you do, but I was also killed and somehow resurrected with this non-material body".

"In this camp?" I ask.

"No. Eighty years ago", she answers. "I've seen how much your people are suffering. I just could not stand and do nothing".

"So you came to us to help us", I say.

"Yes, but I never imagined to see this much suffering".

"What will happen to me?" I ask.

"Only good things. For now, just wait to recover yourself".

"I remember the guards shooting you".

"Yes", she says, laughing. "But I am already dead. What can they do to me?"

"Abidet", I say, remembering her name.

"That was my name, when I was alive", she says. "Now, it is time for you to remember your name".

"I don't know. I am 11459. This is my number in the camp".

"No, not that", she says. "You had a real name, once. Don't you remember it?"

"No. That was a long time ago, when I was a little girl".

"Why were you imprisoned?" she asks.

"Like I could remember", I say. "I guess I was 13 at that time. I didn't do anything. I had an uncle and he was caught not crying when our former supreme leader died. He was accused to be a traitor. You know the law. 3 generations are imprisoned for one's sin. So, all his brothers, parents, grandparents, children and nephews were imprisoned too. This is how I got here. I guess most of us died. I never seen many of them for a long time. Can you save them too?"

She looks at me a bit sad and says:

"I could, but this will not make any good to them. Healed, they will return to the camps and suffer for longer. I saved you for a reason and that reason is that you seem the only one able to open its mind and know the truth".

I look so amazed. In the camp, we are not allowed to speak. In fact we are, but one single word can send you to punishment. There are many others who, for a spoon of rice, will sell you. Once, I just said "I cannot work any longer" and for this I received 100 lashes on my back and 100 punches in my belly. We were always starving. I was so happy when I could find a worm in the ground... but I could get punished for this. Eating worms and grass... this is what kept us alive. So, a spoon of rice was enough for many to send other inmates to public execution.

"The truth is", she says, while smoking, "that you all live in a lie. All you have been told is a lie. What is your reason to exist?"

"To serve our beloved supreme leader", I say, instantly. "He is the one that calls the sun to rise. He is the one that makes the birds to sing. Without him, we are lost. We would die, like the whole rest of the world".

"That is not truth", she says to me. "I've seen the whole world and nobody is suffering more then you do. No other people".

I listen this so surprised. In the camp, each day, after finishing work, we sing for our supreme leader for hours. We listen his recorded speeches and recite them, word by word. Who does not do this perfectly, will not receive any food.

"Does he love you as you love him?" she asks me.

"Yes, he does", I answer instantly. "If he wouldn't love us, he will not call the sun to heat us and the rain so we can grow crops".

"You know, this is not truth. Do you know where I got all this food from? It is your food, grown in your state. He orders only a small ratio to reach you, the rest is thrown away. He wants all of you to starve, so you will never have power for a rebellion. He controls you through starvation".

I look so amazed. But why shouldn't I be amazed? When I was free, I noticed that soldiers marched to each house and took all food they could find. We were not allowed to store anything. This was a big crime and was punished with life imprisonment. We had quotas of all crops. Now, I see.

"If you don't believe me, just go on the other side of the mountain. To West is the labor camp, to North is the valley where they throw excess food".

"I believe you. But it is not our supreme leader. It is that his men are not doing things right".

"I wish you could see him as he really is", she says. "I did. And I seen his soul".

Saying this, she moves away, up in the sky. I see her. She heads to the camp. It doesn't take much and I hear distant gunfire. Then, silence. I am sure she did not die, but still there are many things I don't understand. I am grown to take things as are told to me, not to ask anything. How could our supreme leader not love us? This is something I don't believe. He loves us. All we do is for him. Even as I was suffering, I considered it is a rightful punishment for what my uncle did. How could he not cry when our former supreme leader, his father, died? He deserves his punishment and I deserve mine.

Abidet comes again, later, with more food and another pack of cigarettes. The food is moving in front of her, while she does not touch it at all. I again eat. When I finish eating and light a cigarette, she says:

"Please, tell me how it was when you entered the camp".

"Well, Abidet, it was like this. I was a child at that time. They took me into a small room and bitten me until I fallen down. Then, they hung my hands to the roof and kept me for hours, beating me again. They were accusing me, but I don't know for what, shouting: 'Confess! We know what you've done!' But I didn't do anything. 'How dare you behave like this to our supreme leader?' they said. But you know I love him and I will sacrifice my life for him".

"Have you ever seen his face?" she asks me.

"We have posters of him, his father and grand-father in each room", I say. "We listen his speeches every evening for hours".

"So, you think he is a god", she says, with a little sad in her eyes.

"Gods don't exist", I say. "You know very well. You know about evolution. Humans are evolved apes. So, where are the gods in this?"

"Gods do exist", she answers. "You think your supreme leader has god-like powers, but I tell you he hasn't. He is just a man who controls people through terror and starvation. Nothing else".

I just look and cannot answer.

"Every human has a soul", she continues. "I am dead, but you see, my soul is still alive. If you believe in evolution, if you think humans are evolved apes, where is the soul? How could I exist? Just answer me this question and I will accept that your supreme leader calls the sun and the rain to come".

I just cannot answer, just take another drag of smoke. As smoke gets out through my mouth, I say:

"My grandfather said that in old times people were shamanists and worshipped spirits", I say. "But we were told spirits do not exist. I believed all this, but now I see you".

"So", she says, "if spirits do exist, gods exist too. Gods are more powerful spirits".

I take the cigarettes to my lips again and inhale. So, all we were told is a lie. Our supreme leader told us a lie. How is that possible?

"Buddha exists too?" I ask.

"Yes, like all gods. They all exist and they all can help you if you ask them".

"Have you seen them?" I ask, more amazed.

"My mother worshipped a goddess named Actit", she says. "People say that sometimes they seen Actit moving over the mountains, as a powerful lightning, but without noise. I never seen it. I guess I am too small for this. But I've seen many miracles, most of them made by the Christian god Jesus".

"A few people in this camp were imprisoned because they believed in Jesus", I say. "they were given two choices: die or abandon their worship. Some preferred to die".

"And their souls are now happy, near their god", she says.

I look amazed. It just is too much for me. All that we were told to be a lie, is in fact truth. When I was free and later in the camp, we were forced every week to watch for 8 hours the TV. That was the only information we received and nothing else. We were told this is the truth and that we are doing better then the whole world. And there were shows of priests and popes killing children. We were told that religion is a great evil.

"If the supreme leader loves you, why does he allow people to be tortured like you were?" she says.

I don't answer.

"Does he have children?" she says. "I found a lot of scars on your genitals".

"I have been raped many times in the camp", I say. "Then I got pregnant. When the guards found out, they tied me and started to beat my belly every day for hours, until I lost my baby... but it was their baby, because they abused me. Then, they burned my genitals with a metal rod heated in fire until it became red".

"You see?" she says.

I finish my cigarette and throw it away. In that moment, she opens her wings and flies.

"Abidet?" I say.

She is no longer here. I just sit down and think about all this. About all the food I am eating now... that is thrown away. In the camp, as well as before, when I was free, we ate grass. We used to cook tree bark. How happy I was when I could catch a mouse or a rat. I took away its skin and ate its flesh fast, before anyone could see me. We ate earthworms. In the camp, when the guards found out this, they took us to a stick, tied our hands and left us to hang for days, then flogged us. I ate worms from corpses so many times. I never dared to eat a dead body. And now, I am eating all this food that all this time has been thrown away.

**********

After a few other days, my feet are back. There is only one difference, that I don't have toes. Still, I can walk, a thing I could not do for a long time. My skin has no more scars. It all looks so incredible. It looks like my past is long gone. But I know it isn't. The camp is not far. If one of the guards will spot me, I will be back in prison. I know very well what will happen to me. But is life outside good? I remember what life in the village used to be. Were we free? No. We had to present ourselves many times to show our devotion to our supreme leader. Patrols entered each house and checked out if anything was not as it should be. We held paintings of our supreme leader, his father and his grandfather. Those paintings must be kept clean. A single trail of dust and you are arrested. You were supposed to show your gratitude to the supreme leader. A single bad word and you are imprisoned. Anyone can turn you in, for a slice of bread: your parents, your children, friends, quite anyone. And most of all, is the starvation, that is beyond any possible limit. I know people who took a knife and mutilated their bodies because of the pain. When patrols found out, took them directly to a labor camp.

Abidet comes again to me, with some food. I no longer need to eat that much now. After I eat, I light a cigarette. She says:

"Do you remember your name now?"

"No", I say. "I don't".

"Then I will give you one", she says. "From now on, you will be Samantha".

"Why that name?" I ask. I never heard it before".

"I don't know. It is the first one that came to my mind".

I look at the girl who healed me. All this time I've seen her green body. It looks like she is made of light. She must be a goddess. What else can she be? But still, she talks to me so friendly and accepts me to name her Abidet, like calling another woman of my age.

"I think you are ready", she says. "I helped you for a reason. You have an important job to do".

"What do you want me to do?" I say.

"Samantha, I will take you to the supreme leader. I want to show you, so you will see him with your eyes. You will spend 10 days with him. This way, you will know the truth. Remember, all I am offering you is the truth and nothing else. When you will know the truth, you will be ready to do whatever you want. Ready to go?"

"But how?" I ask very surprised.

"Stand-up! We will merge our bodies. I will get into you and we will fly together. Take the cigarettes with you".

I stand on my new feet. Abidet comes close to me, then moves in the place I am. She moves inside me. I feel her body a bit cold. Well, it is not a problem. How many times we were working in the camp in winter without clothes? I had to walk with bare feet on the snow many times. Then, I feel my body very light. I am rising above the ground. Am I flying? Yes, I am.

I also feel a need to smoke beyond any limit. Wow! I light a cigarette and smoke, with exactly the same moves Abidet is smoking. I feel her soul. What is this? I feel. So much loneliness! I hear her speaking in my mind. It looks like she can also hear me. I see some of her memories, of a mountain village. I see her parents. He had a sister and a brother. I see them eating. Her mother sits near the children as they eat. They grow vegetables in the garden and nobody comes to take it. After eating, they are smoking. I also see her at school. All is like through her eyes. Children are walking on the way to school and back, on a dirt road, but they can talk anything they want. They are not singing to their beloved supreme leaders. No! I see her parents arguing that their president is corrupt and not doing what should be done. But by far, people there live a lot better then here.

Then, I see her trip to Mecca, to the holy city. How many people! And all are dressed in white! All are equal one to the other. All come to worship their god, Allah! So many! So, this is the world outside. All people are bigger, healthier. We, here, are small and skinny, because of the endless famine.

I see her watching cartoons on TV, with her family. She is laughing.

Then, I see how she was kidnapped and raped. She was then sold to a place where people pierced needles in her, through her whole body.

"I was tortured too", she says in my mind. "We both are sfenists. We were abused beyond recovery. But you, you suffered beyond any limit. I've been reading your memories too", she says.

I look around. We are flying. We are above the mountains. It is an incredible view. Her body encircles me, like a green haze. All I see is green. What a beautiful landscape! I see the mountains. Along the valleys, there are a lot of villages. How amazing! How beautiful is this place! How beautiful is our state! I never imagined this.

We fly and then, start going down. "We crossed the border", Abidet says. "Here, we will land. I need to go to recharge. I will let you here. Wait me 10 minutes, then I will return. Just tell them I am The Legend. Don't tell them my real name".

As saying so, we go down. We land in a crowded place. We touch ground. Then, she moves out of my body and flies. As she moves, I feel incredibly cold. Freezing. People come to me and one of them puts his cloak on me.

"Who are you?" he asks.

"Samantha", I say.

"And who was she?"

"She is The Legend. A goddess".

"Where are you from?"

"Land Of The People".

I look around. People are fat here. I see someone eating food while walking. They all have colored clothes, while we are supposed to wear uniforms. They have painted and styled hair, while we are supposed to have only a specified haircut. I see men with mustache and beard, while others are shaved... while from where I come, an unshaved man will be imprisoned for this.

Seeing me freezing, one man comes and gives me a cup of hot tea.

"Take this, it will warm you", he says.

"The goddess took you to freedom", another one says. "Many people from your state cross the border into here every year".

I know. But, when they do, all relatives are imprisoned, as traitors.

I look around. Houses are higher, lighter. The roads are a lot better, not dirt roads. I see posters that don't resemble any glorious leader. On one, I see 'Mickey Mouse' and resembles one of the cartoons Abidet was watching in her childhood.

"You are free here", says an old woman. Nobody will ever harm you!"

One man offers me something to eat. Something I never seen. Memories from Abidet makes me remember it is a stake. Meat? Wow, these people eat meat! What a luxury! I eat. It feels so juicy, unlike the meat of mice and rats that I ate so many times, risking my life to fill my stomach. Then, one man offers me a cigarette. I accept and just when I put it in my mouth, Abidet appears again.

She enters my body, only her wings and her green haze is out. I again feel her cold body.

"Where you take her?" someone asks, as we rise above ground and start flying.

"Don't take her back! They will kill her!" says someone else.

We start flying again. I see the ground down, below our feet. So high! We again travel over mountains. I see it all beneath me. But then, we reach a large city. I remember it from TV. It is our glorious capital city. I see the shiny sky-scrappers all around. In its center, there is a large square, where people are marching in a parade. How many times I seen those parades on TV! I see everything looking just as seen on TV. Our supreme leader is there, watching the parade, surrounded by his generals and his elite. We fly directly towards him.

As we approach, I don't know what will happen. He is the one we love. Without him, the sun will no longer shine. Without him, the rivers will no longer flow, plants will not grow, birds will not sing and the whole world will die.

"Don't kill him", I say to Abidet.

"I never kill anyone", she says. "I just help people. Samantha, it is time for you to know him as he is. You will spend time with him now".

We come directly to him. Yes. I am so scared, that I feel like I will die. Better I should die there, in the pit. We land just in his face.

"Is this part of the show?" he says, looking at us.

Abidet gets partially out of my body, but still holds me. She touches his body. He screams, trying to move away, but is paralyzed. Everyone looks at him, scared and not knowing what to do.

"I am The Legend", she says. "Great leader, you said that gods and spirits do not exist. Now, you see one with your eyes. I brought this girl, Samantha. She is from one of your prison camps. I could kill you in an instant for what you done to her, but I will not. I bound you two together. If you move more then 10 meters away from her, you will fill excruciating pain. If you move more then 20 meters from her, you will die. Hurt her and you will feel the same pain. Kill her and you will die too. I will come back to you in 10 days, to see how you both are".

Then, Abidet opens her wings and flies away. I again feel that cold and I fall down, trembling of cold. Surprisingly, I hear him also screaming... of cold. So, our supreme leader feels cold? How is it possible? We thought he never eats, he never goes to the toilette, he is superior to any human. But now?

"Kill that thing!" he screams, trembling on the ground near me.

"Too late! It is gone", says one of the generals.

"I go inside, it's freezing cold here", our leader says.

As he moves, his generals take me and beat me. The supreme leader screams of pain.

"Stop beating her!" he says. "Take her with me!"

He feels anything I feel. So, I go with him, in the palace. Wow! What a luxury! Everything here is made of the finest materials. So much luxury, so much waste! Now, I must follow him wherever he goes. I feel so proud for this. Me and our supreme leader, walking together for 10 days. What a privilege!

But is it so?

"You were from the working camps", he says, laughing. "I will kill you. I will find out who you are and kill all those related to you".

I feel so scared. Abidet, where are you? But he cannot hurt me. He knows very well this. We return to the parade and watch all people marching. Then, we return to the palace. He is hungry. He eats with all generals. I am at a table behind him and they give me food too. Wow, what a waste! So much food! So much meat! I say nothing, just watch all this waste of food. I hardly eat something. I mean, I never ate stake until Abidet took me beyond the border.

He does not seem to care about me at all. He has a lot of politic talks. I always knew that having a key position is a hard job. Well, I also know not to listen to what other people speak. For this, I got punished many times. But now, I do listen when it comes to certain points:

"The new dam must be completed", he says. "We're building it with slaves, don't we?"

"Yes, as you ordered. But soon, it will be completed".

"Take slaves away, bring the machinery and film it. You know well, how. Actors. So, the world will know we did it with our superior technology".

"Yes, sir".

"Then bring the slaves back in. Make sure they work properly. You know how to do this".

"What should be the quota?"

"Kill one in a hundred, in front of all", he says. "Fear is an important tool, will make them work. And give something to the general supervising the project".

Kill? Fear is an important tool? This is what he thinks about us?

Next, he goes to a working place in the capital. I have to go with him, in the back of his car. All the way, he talks very calm about quotas. 5% of population must be imprisoned in working camps, 1% to be killed, 36% of villages and towns to suffer of starvation, then give them a small break of food... as a gift. 8% of population to be relocated, 22% to change jobs. We are not humans. We are just numbers in his mind.

We go to a luxurious residential place in the capital. There are many blocks here. But who lives here? Marching bands, people that march in demonstrations on the streets. This is their job. And oh mine... in what luxury they live.

*********

During these ten days, I've seen it all. Luxury, food, people worshipping him as a god, orders of torture, artificial starvation, diverting of resources for his new palace to be built... Even more. I've seen him having sex with many women... when he is married. What an abomination! And all this time, I had to go with him. But I also hear that he wants to kill The Legend. Usually, he ignores me, but sometimes he is very angry that I follow him everywhere.

All, until one day, when I am at a military parade, behind him. At that moment, I see Abidet on the sky, as a green light. I see her moving in the sky.

"Kill her!" orders the supreme leader.

I see all marching soldiers shooting to the sky. She is just flying through bullets. Nothing can kill her. All this lasts for nearly an hour, until I light a cigarette. In that moment, I see her coming straight to us. She stops in front of our beloved leader.

"Supreme leader", she says, "spirits and gods cannot be killed. I came as I promised. Now, what should I do with you?"

"Don't kill him", I whisper.

"No", says Abidet, blowing some green smoke towards him. "I never kill anyone. I only exist to help".

As she says this, she puts her cigarette in her mouth. She moves one hand inside my body and the other hand inside his body. I feel her cold fingers. Sometimes, he screams, but I am used with pain. All this lasts for a few minutes.

"You must stay together for an additional 6 days", says Abidet. "Then, the spell is over. You both can go each one in the way you want. My job is done here. Samantha, your job will begin in six days. Just remember all you've seen. No more suffering from now on".

As she says this, she opens her wings and starts flying very fast, letting a green trail of fire behind.

"In six days, kill this woman!" he orders.

Just after she flies away, I feel some pain in my body. Our supreme leader feels incredible pain... Well, I think it is just like mine, but he never felt anything bad in his whole life. He is a human and not a god... and a bad human in fact. I start feeling an incredible hunger, while he starts vomiting. We are sent immediately to the best clinic. He is screaming of pain all the time. In a few days, I feel my breasts are detaching from my body, while my body is growing in height and strength. The breasts just drop off. Well, all this lasts for a few days, I don't know how much. All until one day... I hear him screaming from his bed:

"What is wrong with me? What happened to me?"

He has a female voice. Oh mine! He has my voice. Soldiers and doctors come in a hurry. As I look closer... oh mine! He looks like me! Soldiers turn towards me and look surprised:

"Here he is!"

"What? I say, with a male voice.

Now, this is too much. I have his voice! I have his body! What has happened here?

"Don't look at her! It's me! She stolen my body! The Legend changed our bodies!"

It looks like nobody is listening to him now. They immobilize him (now, her) and come to me.

"How may we serve you?" says one doctor.

"Bring us some clothes", I say.

I get dressed with his clothes and he with mine. Nobody believes that he is me and I am him. Then, one general comes and remembers me (thinking that I am him) that I ordered to kill her (now him) in six day... more exactly today. As I look, I see that he is at more then 20 meters from me and not suffering anything.

"Don't kill him", I say. "Nobody must die any longer". Then, I realize that I said 'him' and add immediately: "Nobody must kill her. We don't want The Legend to be angry on us".

**********

After this, months have passed. I became the supreme leader. The first thing I decided, is to make sure people have food and a shelter. I started to learn about how it is in other places. Here, people are not prepared to live outside a dictatorship, but as much as possible, let's make their lives more happy. Nobody will ever suffer from starvation. People will have the right to walk free, to talk on the streets whatever they want, to dress as they want and camps will be reduced. Prison camps should only exist for thieves, murderers and other bad people like these ones.

One day, one of the generals comes to me and says, when he makes sure that the doors are closed:

"Dear supreme leader, I know that you are Samantha. And some of us also know. But many of us were on the death list. This is why we silently accepted you, to save our lives and our families".

I remain in silence for about two minutes.

"Don't worry, we who know the truth, will never confess to anyone".

"Nobody must die any more", I say. "But where is the other Samantha?"

"We sent him to the camp. He went suicide the second day".

"Because he was injured? Was he sexual abused? Bitten?" I ask.

"No. Because he realized that he lost the power and his palaces".

I remain shocked.

"How did he react when he seen all the suffering in there?"

"Not impressed. He only said that this is what prisoners deserved".

I needed to go and see everything. I entered the camp, now almost empty. Only a few thieves are now inside. His body, looking like my body, was dropped into the body pit, where I once were. I even go there and see... only that the dogs ate nearly all, when I got there. And nobody knew, nobody had any idea who actually died in the pit. I am nearly the only one who knows.

People should no longer be worshipped as gods. But what actually is The Legend? Is she a human? How could she be? How is it possible? I am convinced she is a god. So, I decided to build a large shrine of green marble in the center of our capital city. There will be no more parades and demonstrations. Instead, there will be this large shrine, where people will be free to come and bring gifts to her. No more atheism. Gods really exist.

<.> <.>

Note from the author: This story is based on something real. There is at least one place in the world where people suffer like this. In past, there were also other places. Even where I live, something like this happened, before I was born. Only that, all those who ended-up in prison and labor camps, had only sad endings to say. Most of them died without telling anyone their stories. Such stories existed from antiquity. What they all have in common, is when a leader makes himself a god. At that point, he is no longer a human, but a demon. In fact, only demons wished to make themselves gods.

I decided to write this after I heard about the story of a woman in North Korea, that made me cry for two days. Then, I realized that atrocities like these have been committed in Soviet times and even before... as far as ancient civilizations and almost only when people make themselves gods. It is far better to invent an idol then to think yourself as a god.