My Tyrant
Chapter 1 (Introduction/Preface)
The chains clink together as I struggle. More and more I feel the chafe of the cuffs digging marks into my innocent wrists. How I manage to convey this ordeal to you, dear reader, is beyond my mental comprehension. Just know that in dire situations you tend to become very, very resourceful. My mouth aches as it clamps on, the ink black and thick, spilling onto my tongue and dripping off of my skin. It tastes terrible. I can’t help but feel proud as to have accomplished such a feat. But for now I can only hang here, the blood further draining as I think of him. He’s the one who did this to me. That pompous, manipulative and all too clever bastard. Yet stuck here ranting out my heart and soul will achieve nothing. My, nobody cares nor will they ever. This parchment will rot and die, as will this wasted body next to me. Well, I take it back. Step one it’s already achieved. The maggots will have it soon. Eventually I will be that corpse.
Know, dear reader, that when I speak of him, I speak of myself. I am not so delusional so as to think he is separate. He inhabits my head, haunting me yet also annoying me like an insect; persistent and repulsive. Why he is, I do not know. In fact, I don’t really care why he is. I just want to rid myself of him, no matter what the cost. And exactly this I will do, despite any level of disbelief from anyone or anywhere. Things will fall into place, even if I have to push them there. For now, I finally have the time to take a break and express it all. I can scribble my whole story now. I can describe the beast that plagues me. I can describe everything… from the beginning to the present. I will delve back into my past and let it all out. Listen, dear reader, for I will now tell you my story. It all started when…
And then I awaken. Very funny, I think. If only you could always act on opposite impulse you fickle son of a bitch. And of course he refuses to reply. Next to my already aching head the clock transitions up from six fifty-nine. “RING! RING! RING!” Off it goes; bracing me for the equivalent, and possibly more torturous sounds soon to be made by parents, teachers, cars, people, students, anything, everything and more. All will fill up space with deafening pitches. Nonsensical, useless trash all crammed up into a life-defying concoction. Every single person who inhabits this earth suffers from such an illness. The cure is impossible, as every object and being surrounding us is infected. So the cycle continues, ravishing simple and complex minds alike. Destroying the old and forging the new; abolishing millennia of evolution and work. Now we step back. Now we crawl back into the egg from which we hatched, or into the chicken from which it came. Now we slowly walk back into mark zero. We’re walking back into the cave and forming a new brutal club.
How I wish I could remain curled up in this warmth. My cheek nuzzles into the deliciously soft pillow and my breathing finally reaches regularity and peace. These few minutes after my awakening are always the most satisfying. My conscious mind is consumed by the bliss of no complication. I am merely enveloped in the haven of my thoughts… ever so silently with the soft trickling tick of the clock… one…two…three… “GET UP! NOW!” Oh boy, here it comes. Well, rest is for the weak. And I need strength, in my own way of course, to defy him. He can’t break me! My will is iron, enforced with the bestial mule, embroidered with the armor of eternal stubbornness. Sadly, in comparison, the poor animal seems to be collapsing not only from the weight of the amour, but also from the bulk of the burden. I already imagine the skeletal, wimpy, beaten pack animal letting out a sigh as her knees crack inward and she tumbles to the floor, abused and helpless.
I need to lead my life within these brief moments. It’s ironic that my waking moments used to be the dreadful ones. I was sulking and wallowing in self pity and dread. Now it’s my pleasant hiding spot. He has no full control in this state. In any case, the dreamland fantasy refuge had been turned into a horror zone. My vapid routine could no longer be evaded through my colorful escape way. I started my epic quest to get rid of him by trying to stay awake. But after a few days my mind’s resistance didn’t quite cut it to ward out the sleep my body so desperately sought.
The injuries received during the internal battle never show. But my body still aches as I endeavor to push back the tempting, warm cover and sit upright. The trickle of blood can still be felt. My hand feels wet. The taste of ink still lingers. I, however, refuse to wince. It’s nothing particular. My body breaks into a shiver as my feet brush against the cold floor beneath. Ever so gingerly I hoist myself upright, using my night table as a crutch. Although it’s excruciating, again it is just part of the morning ritual. I reach for the sky; the ever mighty heaven that I sure as hell hope exists. Chances are death is just death, but there’s always room for hope, right? That’s the foundation of which Christianity was built upon. Hope. Blind hope or delusional hope if you like, but hope nonetheless. Mind you, if God really is like the Christians make him out to be, I much prefer my current life to direct contact with him in a supposed afterlife. So… in the end, who needs heaven? Well, at least stretching towards it straightened out my back. It gave me that much.
I stride across the room, trying to keep balance as I pull on my clothes. I stop for a quick rest at my desk; throwing myself into the seat and dropping my head back. Idly my feet push off of the wood, twirling me around until I feel ill. The ceiling I gaze at so intently all becomes a large blur, molten together by my spinning mind. With a sigh, I prop myself up onto the table, my elbows supporting my throbbing jaw. My eyes scan the surface of the table, pausing on things which seem mildly interesting; old pictures of my bird-brain “friends”, the laptop which owns my heart and soul, little doodles and sketches. Out of all of these “precious” items, none of them makes me smile. None of them have the nostalgic effect I have so often heard of. This just raises the idea to me… that I have not been living a worthwhile life. If anything could cause such a riveting plummet in my mood, this would be it. Unfortunately I am far too detached for such an emotion. The shock passes momentarily. My eyes continue to wander, and the most unpredictable thing ensnares my view.
An economics book? Yes, an economics book. My eyes narrow, my mouth lets out a nervous chuckle and my hands caress the sides of the random inanimate object. I flash back to how excited I was the previous year when I discovered economics was a possible subject. I’d conjured up images of fantastic understanding of politics and such systems. Insight on human behavior and interaction has always been enticing, but the curriculum involved none of those factors. So once I figured out what the class really entailed, my stomach burned with boredom. “Deregulation… exchange rate… rate… graph… chart… elasticity… efficiency”, I murmur. Term after term begins to whiz back and forth. Each one has no meaning. Each one only has associations; associations with no meaning. How completely useless, I think.
Originally, I never bothered to change classes since it was an easy course. It was one of the breaks of the day. The minute the teacher began to lecture my mind would wander off into a state of hyper reality. Everything would become slow and spacey. The voices would mingle into one solid beam of monotony. This, of course, was not the problem. I wasn’t particularly enthused by the idea, but I could deal with taking notes like a drone or sketching a few ridiculous scenes in my tattered notebook. The dilemma was very simply the sleep. Especially due to the fact that I persuaded myself to endure the minimum amount of sleep possible during the night, keeping my lead-filled eyelids open in such an environment was quite frankly impossible.
So after taking my nice class-time nap, I would wake up on the floor sobbing and clutching my knees to my chest. Obviously this was both unwanted and unexpected to teacher and students alike, so after many looks from under stiff noses, I was sent to the school psychiatrist. And of course, being the little genius she was, I was given sleeping pills. Unluckily people caught on to the fact that I refused to take the drug, and so therefore it wound up in dinner, my mug of tea or wherever possible. When I began to starve myself or not drink what was given by my mother, it was shoved down my throat… literally.
I still fight against it whenever I can; occasionally taking it in front of my mother and vomiting it back out. Either that or I manage to hide the pill under my tongue and spit it out later. I refuse to give up my fighting. I know what’s best for me. And here I am, still drowsy from the 1.5 mg of Lorazepam. It’s a disgusting treatment; a nonconsensual treatment. Slipped into whatever seems handy. Although none of this has been lovely to cope with, it’s been enlightening to say the least. Through all of these muddled thoughts the light shone through. It took long enough for it to come, but now it’s here. The accumulation of my pondering had built itself up onto a breaking point. And here it is; that ever-so-needed epiphany. That smack-in-the-middle explosion of realization: “I am wasting away. I am doing nothing of worth. I must reincarnate. I must resurrect myself. I must be reborn.”
I know exactly what one would think: what a cliché. The whole overused metaphor of the born-again butterfly majestically hatching from the oppressive cocoon. But the point is, when you realize something, that transition is impossible. You don’t turn into a beauty within a matter of days. No, no. You may possibly go from a maggot to a fly, and that’s only if you’ve really got guts. I need to emerge into the fly status, however disgusting it may seem. It’s something that I can achieve, but not on my own. I need to create vulnerability and blindness beyond all. I need the most inexplicable openness known to man. Funnily enough I already am sure of what this will entail. What a smart little cookie I am. What a sarcastic little cookie I am.
I need to meet people; people who can at least attempt to change me. I need people who can create that cocoon with me. I vaguely remember a shady place in the centre of town which could aid me. To me, it’s the doorway for the exceptions. Everyone who entered into that dark alley was shrouded in an aura of mystery and mischief, yet they always had books and glints of at least a sense of cleverness sheeting their glossy eyes. They are my unknown idols. They are the ones whom I have no knowledge of, yet so desperately ponder about. And I admire them. Don’t tell me you don’t have people like that. You have the same, don’t you? It could be that brainless, popular jock you long after, despite the fact that he in all truth will chew you up and spit you out. It could be the picture on your magazine cover, her digitally edited face and her silicone breasts beckoning to you from the plastic sheeting.
It could be anyone or everything which you in all honestly can only assume about. They are what drive you, what move you on to improve or degrade yourself. They are your modern gods. They are your Socrates and your Plato, your Mozart and your Beethoven, your Shakespeare and your Ibsen, except nowhere near as cultured. Yeah, it is pathetic. I agree. I won’t exclude myself from that line. This society is pathetic. I undoubtedly have been pulled into that trend of anxious, hasty and outright ridiculous behavior. I simply look into the mirror and see that effect; twitchy eyebrows, nervous eyes, a constant shrouding of confusion.
And it constantly is such a temptation to blame it on you… all of you. Because that’s the easy way, isn’t it? It’s not my fault I changed, you changed me. It’s not my fault I dress this way, you forced me to. It’s not my fault I shot him, he provoked me. There’s a constant nagging sensation to be able to do that, if even just once. Responsibility is not an unchallenging thing to accept. With the values we’re spoon-fed today, it’s no wonder the common trait is to dismiss it.
I need to rid myself of all of these flaws and more. I want to emerge perfected, because that’s the only way to defeat him. I will tower above him and crush him like a cowering ant. The tables must be turned, and the golden goblet of blood will be on my side. Images of grandeur explode into my mind. My heart swells with the excitement of such implications. I will give up life as it has been and alter myself drastically. I will live the extremes so I can escape. I’m tired of being the underdog; always groveling around and procrastinating about change, but in the end not lifting a finger. To force myself out of that scheme I will jump into the freezing water instead of meekly testing it with my toes. Instead of following like a sheep I will push away. I will join those masked faces with the clever eyes. I will venture into the world of social rejects and learn exactly that which I have excluded myself from. I will abandon everything about my current life to abandon him.
Maybe this was a step from grubbing around in decomposing flesh. Maybe concluding that this “education” is a stab in the dark could lead to greater things. But first, I needed to break away. First, I needed to establish a new hidey hole. However this time, it would be a hidey hole that was vulnerable. My cocoon should have countless flaws. It will have countless areas to be pierced, scarred over and toughened. And when I emerge from that sheath, I will be a phoenix.
----------------------------------------------------
It's a book already. I'm just giving you guys a taste.
|
|
Bookmarks