Tyranny

I had been sitting on my usual spot on the 09h00 train heading to the other side of town. I was drowsy and wanted to sleep because of the exhaustion from working a double shift as a receptionist for a small law firm. Gail had not shown for some or other family problem.

Sometimes, I wish I had family to worry about, to stress over and be with. When I was younger I constantly moved from foster home to foster home and I never really had a family. Even with people around I felt so lonely.

All I wanted to do was sleep and as I began to become drowsy, I noted several men who boarded at our last intersection. They were wearing heavy trench coats and hats that obscured their faces. The men began to come closer. This did not feel right. Now I was wide awake. Suddenly I heard a loud bang and I was thrust to the middle of the carriage. Everyone was down and the train came to a standstill. I stole a glance at the carriage door. As it fell to the floor, a cloud of smoke formed behind it but then a loud cackle filled the air around me. The laughter was so infectious I could feel myself begin to smile.

The men looked horrified as they stared at the cloud of smoke taking out weapons ranging from guns to shivs. They stood up and charged through the door firing guns and hacking away at everything as well as screaming at the top of their lungs but as time went on I heard less and less from beyond the door. Then the cloud cleared and a man walked towards me. Tears ran down my face as he approached me. I tried to speak but words would not come out. He stopped, offered me his hand and said “please don’t cry. Mackenzie Carter, I presume? Sorry, you had to see that but I am not here to bring harm to you. I am simply here to escort you. Now please follow me.”

I grabbed his hand as he pulled me up and lead me out the train. As we emerged from the train wreck, I could not believe what I had witnessed. I looked at this strange man with a sparkle in his eye and a grin on this face, walking out unscathed wearing an expensive suit. “What just happened in there?” I asked. “Something that’ll never happen again,” he answered.

“That answer is not good enough. I want real answers, I want to know who you are, who those men were, how you know me and where on God’s green earth you’re taking me? And I will not move any further until I know understand the situation.” I replied. “If you hadn’t noticed, you are in danger, Mackenzie. Those men wanted to kill you because someone out there thinks you have information you don’t possess. You asked me how I know you, frankly I don’t but what I do know is that a friend of mine really cares about you and I wasn’t going to just let you die. And as for me, I am the bona-fide King of Chaos, bringing a trail of bodies wherever I tread, people say that I am borderline psychotic. I am quite literally the most dangerous man in the world. I am The Tyrant.”

“Now why would I accompany you after hearing all that?” I said. “I make no point to say that I am a good person because I am not but this person that wants something from you will do just about everything to get information out of you. To put it eloquently, the safest place for you is with me,” he said. “So am I supposed leave my life behind and run off with you?” I replied. “Mackenzie, you never see the bigger picture, do you? Your whole life you’ve lived in a town that is one small corner of a city that is a corner of a country that is a corner of a continent that is the corner of a world that is so big and ridiculous that it is ever changing with infinite possibilities. The world with all its sights to behold, tastes to feast upon. I could show you the world and all its majesty if you just take my hand right now. Mackenzie you are not running away from something, you are running to something, Something extraordinary,” he stated with a certain charm that you couldn’t say no to.

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