Morning all. Still sniffily but feel about 90% better than I did Friday so that is a win in my book. Let’s set those timers and see what we get from today’s prompt.
A bit bleak, but I kinda dig it. And if you start bleak, you have ample opportunities to get brighter. So there is that. And sometimes, you need to embrace the bleak in order to banish it.
Monday, February 9th: I had two weeks left.
I had two weeks left. I had already completed the rest of the six month rehabilitation program, I could do the last two weeks. I repeated my morning mantra before I opened my eyes. Each day, I thought of the number of days I had left before I went to bed and repeated them again in the morning.
‘Fourteen days left,’ I told myself. I let the words settle into my brain. ‘You can do this.’ I told myself.
Then I opened my eyes. It was not inspiring. The dormitory was a long, narrow room with bunk beds bolted to the walls on either side and a narrow corridor between. At one end was the door, at the other end, a blank wall with a motivational poster plastered to the center of it. The poster changed each week.
They all had the same start to the message, The Emperor Says… It was then followed by the message of the week. Today’s was, Obedience is the highest form of respect. I glanced at it. The imagery was a generic street scene from the capitol but artistically fuzzed out so no details could be picked out.
It was standard since the destruction of the capitol building fifty years ago. The seat of government was destroyed by Emperor Farat when he took power and abolished elections. In the Capitol city it was left as a ruin so no one would think of rebuilding it or the former government. It was a strong visual but not terribly motivating.
‘And they can’t use the emperor’s picture.’ I thought. I locked my face down, showing no amusement at the thought. Amusement was not tolerated here. It showed too much independent thought and all of us were here to have our independent thought stamped out of us.
Emperor Farat didn’t last long. After five years he was deposed by his second in command. Emperors as a rule didn’t last long. At five years, Ferat had been the longest serving Emperor. The current Emperor Thesar had only been in power two years. He was older than the rest and there were bets being taken as to whether he would be deposed or if he would be the first emperor to actually die in office.
I saw the betting pools and I think most of those betting on him dying in office were more hopeful than playing the odds. He was easily the least popular emperor of the lot, the new laws he implemented an affront even to the beaten people. My guess was that if he died in office, someone managed to push him down the stairs.
‘Fourteen more days,’ I reminded myself as I got dressed.
Ten til Midnight 