-Break-
In the dark and damp cell, I sat against the wall as all the bugs and pests crawled around me. Whenever they got close, I would move away with fright. Repeatedly I told myself, “I shouldn’t be here, I shouldn’t be here.” My dry throat makes it hard for me to speak, but I must; the remainder of my own status is what is keeping me sane.
But my words were soon stopped by a pain I felt emanating from my stomach. As my stomach growls, I say, “I should have eaten my fifth meal by now, even when hiding with my brother I still got to eat three meals a day.”
“What’s taking them so long?”
Hearing footsteps walking by my cell, I soon see one of the swine in front of my cell. “Time to eat little prince.”
“Do you not know how hungry I was? Next time hurry up you pig. I will also need a change of clothes and a bed.”
The man has an irritated look on his face, and then from a bag he is holding, he takes out a piece of bread. Through the bars of my cell, he throws pieces of bread while saying, “Come and get it little doggy.”
Trying to catch the bread, I say, “What are you doing fool?”
As a piece of bread falls to the ground he says, “Aww looks like you didn’t catch that one.”
“You cretin, I can’t eat that; now go get me some more. Also, where is my water.”
Laughing the man says, “Children really are hilarious.” Walking away the man says, “You better eat that since I won’t be getting any more, and if you're thirsty I see a bunch of water all around the cell.”
“Come back here you imbecilic, how dare you ignore my request. I am talking to you fool, don’t you walk away from me!”
Seeing the man walk out of sight I sit down and devour the bread I was given. But after that, I still feel my stomach growl; my hunger hasn’t subsided.
In that moment I stare at the piece of bread touching the dirty water that runs throughout the cell. I feel my body start moving towards it, but I grab myself and sit back down against the wall. “I am an exalted being, I can’t eat such a thing.”
-Break-
Over the next day, I sit in my cell with my hunger pains getting worst and worst. So, I tell myself, “Just wait a little longer, just wait a little longer. He came yesterday around this time, so he should be here again.”
But he never came that day, it wasn’t until a day and a half later that he arrived.
Seeing him I run up to the cell door and say, “What took you should long you insignificant incompetent waste of life!”
“Could you shut up already!”
“What the hell would you have done if I died, your boss wouldn’t have been happy with you. No, he would have skewered you like the fat pig you are, so make sure to bring me my food on time!!!”
Hitting the bars of my cage, he says, “Get off your high horse you brat. Don’t overestimate your value, we have already made a lot of money off of you, the rest is just a bonus. If you die we would simply drink ourselves to sleep and forget about the money we lost.
I will bring you food at my leisure, if I forget again and you die no one gives two fucks. There will be no fucking change of clothes, I won’t be removing the shit from your room, and you won’t be getting a bed. You’re getting shit from me! If you want water to drink the water around the cell.
Wait, despite me not giving you water for three days you don’t look that dehydrated, you’ve already been licking the cell water haven’t you,” he says with a chuckle.
“HOW DARE YOU LAUGH AT ME!”
“I will laugh all I want, and you're just going to sit there and take it!!! Now eat you stupid bread.” Taking a small piece of bread out of his bag he throws it directly into a puddle of water and says, “Eat up, you should hurry up or the smell of the shit in your room will destroy the taste.”
Looking at it I say, “You bastard.”
“If you don’t like it give us the information we want, then we will sell you to some old women. I am sure life there will be better and more pleasurable for you than life in here. Well, maybe all the pleasure will be for the women alone.”
As he walks away, I walk over slowly to the bread and pick it up. “I am exalted, I am exalted, I am exalted.” As I say this I pull my arm back prepared to throw the bread into my waste.
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But in that moment I realize something, “When is the next time I am going to eat?” He said he will be given me food at his leisure, but that doesn’t mean anything. Will I eat tomorrow the day after or the day after that? Will any of that be enough to sustain me?
Could I die tomorrow?
As these thoughts flow through my brain I bring the piece of bread down and take a bite out of it. It is soggy, dirty, stiff, hard, and tasteless while still being sickening. But as I eat it bit by bite tears fall from my eyes, because I am sure it is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.
-Break-
Within my cell, slowly but surely, I degraded. My nails grew to an ugly height, my skin lost its life and grew dirty, my teeth turned a sicking yellow and my hair was wild and unkept, my legs and back grew weak from my sitting position, my pile of waste to the side gave off a nose rotting stink, which was almost as bad as the stench my clothes and body was giving off, but worst of all was the rash that broke out throughout my entire body. It made me itch and scratch my skin until it cracked and bled.
Though all of this pain and discomfort was completely dominated by my endless hunger. My stomach growled and growled until it grew too weak to do so. I could barely speak as an unending feeling of nausea overtook me.
All I could do was pray as I waited for the am to bring my next meal. But time passed and it didn’t come, and soon the coldness of my room started to make me sick.
Within my cell, I here a squeak, and then looking to the source I see a rat. Instinctively, I grab it as my mouth starts to water with the little fluid left in my body.
Gripping the rat tight I start to bring it to my mouth, but at that moment, I see my reflection in the pool of dirty water in my room, which causes me to throw the rat outside my cell.
Kneeling over the water, I say, “I am an exalted being, I am a prince, I am a KING!”
Grabbing the bars of my cell, I scream, “LET ME OUT OF HERE, RIGHT NOW!!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM, I AM NOTHING LIKE THE REST OF YOU SCUM, I AM A BEING CHOSEN BY HEAVEN. I EXIST TO EAT THE FINEST FOOD, WEAR THE FINEST CLOTHES, AND SLEEP IN THE FINEST BED. ANYTHING LESS THAN THAT FOR MYSELF GOES AGAINST THE RULES OF NATURE.
DO YOU HEAR ME SWINE? LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!! I AM EXALTED I AM BEYOND EVERYTHING YOU REPRESENT. THE SIN YOU COMMIT BY LOCKING ME UP WON’T BE PAID BACK EVEN IF YOU SPEND ETERNITY IN HELL SUFFERING. SO LET ME OUT!!!!”
I continue to shout and scream until all my strength leaves me. But there were no responses no one cared to listen, so after I finished all I could do was sit back down.
-Break-
Soon after that my hatred died down, I lay on the floor with no strength to stand, I lose myself in my mind. I have no food, no clothes, no servants, no bed, no family, no nothing. I don’t even know if I will wake up tomorrow, my life is nothing more than a speck whose fate gets decided by the wimps of a man. Why is this happening to me?
Unable to come to a conclusion, I say, “No one deserves to go through this, from God to insect, not a single person deserves this. The pain I feel isn’t something one should ever have to feel, so why would someone allow anyone to feel such a pain you would have to be nothing more than a dem-.”
It was like a moment of revelation, almost as if the world finally made sense, “All the swine, is this how I made them feel?”
With the weight of my words falling onto my mind I cry. “How could I do this to not just one, but millions? I am a demon.” My heart aches and my soul breaks when I think about what I have done.
And still, they all lived throughout that hell for years, finding ways to live, yet I mocked all of that and even wasted those people's food. “I am no exalted being.”
“It’s been years since I have seen you cry.”
Turning my head, I see behind my cage, my brother. Weakly I say, “Hussain?”
With a sword, he slashes the bar of my cage and picks me up. “Let’s go, Ahmed.”
As we run out of the prison into the forest, I ask Hussain, “Why did you come to find me?”
Pointing upwards he says, “Katk wouldn’t stop pestering me till I found you, and anyways you’re my little brother so of course I will look for you.”
Suddenly we hear a bell ring. “Crap, it seems they figured out we escaped.”
In my brother's arms, I say, “You know that isn’t what I mean, Hussain why would you save a demon like me?”
“Ahmed?”
As loud footsteps approach, I say, “My actions put countless people through hell. On my foolish throne, I sat there and looked down on the people and called them swine. I mocked every aspect of their life, even though they lived that life because of me.
And when faced with the actions they took to survive through all of that I rejected them yet again because of my own hubris. I don’t deserve to be saved.”
From behind us I hear someone shout, “They are over there.”
In front of me, I see my brother laugh then I hear him say, “It seems you finally, grew a brain, but don’t worry since I was just like you.”
As some of the men rush towards us with their swords, my brother takes out his and swiftly cuts them down. “Back when I was younger before a dunderhead like you was born, I behaved the exact same. I followed all the nonsense that mother and father said and behaved like an exalted being, I acted like a little demon.”
More men continue to attack my brother as arrows rain from above. “But one day, I accidentally left the palace during a sandstorm. While I was lost in the middle of the storm, I was shown how pitiful and weak I truly am, but lucky I was saved by some random peasant.
It turns out that a few of them had learned how to read the volatile sandstorm, can you imagine that!? It was after that I started to understand just how great they all were.”
Moving through the forest my brother cuts down more soldiers, but he gets cut on the leg, and in that moment a few arrows hit him in the back.
“Hussain!!”
“So, when you were born I made a promise to myself, that I wouldn’t let you turn out like me and I guess I failed. But it seems you have reached that point by yourself.”
As more men surround him my brother instantly cuts them all down and says, “So from now on let’s both do our best to change for the better and protect our people. Because I want to live in a kingdom where both us and the people live long lives.”
Holding me close my brother cuts down the remaining people, then says, “How about that Ahmed?”
With tears, I say, “Let’s go Hussain.”
With me, in his arms, we walk out of the forest where we are greeted to an entire army of the enemies soldiers. The boss in front says, “You didn’t think you could just escape, did you?”