He stood there… Motionless…Taken aback at the ferocity of the boos which resonated from the crowd below… Were these the same people who had installed him in his place 30 years ago?…. He looked down, trying to find one pair of eyes that would look sympathetically at him… One face that would reassure him that he had done no wrong… Instead, All he saw was eyes blazing with anger, faces flushed red with nothing but hatred and malice…
In a moment, he was transported back into time… 30 years ago… It was the same crowd, at least in terms of the numbers… That crowd was wild too… It was egging him on… It excited him, It cheered him…. It made him feel like the leader of a country of 25 million people, challenging the might of the mightiest empire on the face of this planet… From his podium, he had looked straight into the eyes of the masses and denounced the evil regime that had suppressed the free voice of a peaceful neighbor…. He had not felt an ounce of fear or worry that he might be next on its list…. He announced that he was prepared to lay down his life for the freedom of his brethren across the border… That he would gladly be a martyr and that the soil drenched by his blood would produce thousands of warriors and demolish the empire of evil….At the end of each sentence, the crowds below swayed wildly…. They screamed, they shouted, they could not have expressed their agreement more clearly… He had their support… He could see it in their eyes…. He was their hope, a symbol of their aspirations… He swore that day to never let them down…
30 years later however, much water had flowed under the bridge…. New faces had replaced the old… People had died and the crowd had been replaced… This crowd remembered nothing of his past glories… They seemed disgusted at his sight… He looked at his wife standing by his side… She was the Mother of the nation…30 years ago, she had stood as had the nation, proud and confident…. Today, she was a pale shadow of herself… Her face was drained of all color… In her white gown, she looked more ghost than human… Her heretical lips had not said any prayers for the last 30 years but today seemed to be mouthing praises to the almighty… She did not seem to realize it, but she was shivering and her eyes averted the sight of the crowd, flitting from the Minister to her right and her husband to her left….
The army stood ready in the shadows of the corners, ready to pounce upon the helpless yet vociferous crowd…. They awaited a signal from their superiors to hurl themselves into the crowd and break up this rowdy demonstration of traitors and imperialists… In their hearts, they wanted him to go… They felt that his game was up and that it was only a matter of time before he would be forced from office, disgraced like his predecessor… Yet, for them, the State came first and they were prepared to lay down their lives in its service…
A huge cry suddenly came from the crowd… Someone had torn apart the national flag and unfurled it from one of the pillars of the Presidential Palace… Suddenly, all hell broke loose. As the army walked in behind the protestors, the crowd started spilling onto the Presidential Palace compounds… His deputy broke the news that the crowd had now taken control of the Ground floor and that it would be best for him and his wife to flee…. In a matter of seconds, a Helicopter appeared at the terrace. The fact that the nation's first couple were fleeing, spurred the crowd on… The intensity of their jeering increased….Someone in the crowd aimed a shot at the minister, but missed by an inch…
In the meanwhile, the helicopter took off, carrying the first couple to the relative safety of the country's north, where his loyalists still held the reins of power…Unfortunately though, the Gods chose to intervene at that very moment. Adverse weather conditions forced the chopper to land in a hostile area, where the inhabitants were celebrating his fleeing the country with impromptu street parties. No sooner did the chopper land that they were apprehended… The irate mob would have delivered the punishment there and then had it not been for his valiant bodyguards… From the corner of his eye, he could see the fate that was being meted out to his brave supporters . One bodyguards had been clubbed to death, while the other was lying on the ground, motionless, staring in his direction…. The fate of his bodyguards foretold him his own fate. He would die at the hands of these ungrateful traitors….He decided that he would not let his execution be a punishment… It would go down in the eyes of the world as a cold blooded murder.
Presently, he was produced before a man who claimed to represent the executive of the new national authority. He leveled the charges against him. He chose to answer no questions that were directed at him. At times, his wife would get carried away and start screaming at the interrogators, but he would calm her down. He refused to recognize even a shred of the court's authority. The Court reached its pre-decided verdict. He was a threat to the nation, he was a traitor who had sapped the nation of its vitality and had committed the gravest crimes against its people… He deserved nothing but death and so did his wife.
Calm, composed and almost statesman like, he delivered a speech denouncing the court, refuting the existence of a new order and vehemently protesting the fact that the people had lost faith in him. As he was being led to the execution grounds, he warned the court that they would meet the same end at the hands of the people and that on that day, he would be avenged….
His execution took 2 minutes. 2 bullets to his chest silenced him. His wife was finished by a lone bullet. The next day, his body was displayed at the town square, where the people spat at his dead body.
.Where millions had turned up to celebrate his ascent to power, not one came to mourn his death... He lived the life of a hero, but died the death of a tyrannous villain..
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