The sixth day came.
The sun rose, but no one felt its warmth.
It just brought another day of pain and fear. The loud clang of the bell woke everyone up. The sad, slow walk to the town square for their single loaf of bread began again. The long and hard day of work in the mines, fields, and factories started once again.
But today, there was something new.
Today was a "special" day.
As the tired people stood in their lines for the bread, the puppet officers made an announcement.
"Citizens of the revolution" the officers shouted in every town square in every kingdom. "Today is a day of great day. Today we celebrate the birthday of our glorious Supreme Leader, Monkey D. Dragon.
"To honor him, we will all show our unbreakable spirits. Today we will not stop working when the sun goes down. We will work all day and all night without rest to show our love and devotion to the revolution!"
After hearing this a low and sad moan went through the crowds.
Work all day and all night? They were already so tired, so hungry. Many felt like they couldn't even work for one more hour, let alone a whole day and night. But they knew they had no choice. To complain was to die.
After they got their bread, they were given another new and terrible task. The soldiers handed out small, cheap piece of pen and paper to every single person.
"To celebrate this great day," the officers continued, "every one of you will write a personal letter to our Supreme Leader. You will wish him a happy birthday. You will thank him for the wonderful new world he has given you. You will promise to be a better revolutionary. The letters will be collected after you done your writing."
The people looked down at the blank paper in their hands. It felt like a heavy stone. They had to write a happy birthday letter to the man who was the face of their nightmare.
______
Fresta Kingdom
The blacksmith sat on his chair. The piece of paper looked very white and clean in his dark house. He stared at it for a very very long time. The pen felt strange and clumsy in his big rough hands, which were made for holding a heavy hammer not for writing pretty words.
'Happy birthday,' he thought and the words in his head were full of poison and hate. 'I hope you will have a terrible life. I hope your father and child will have to go through the same suffering that we are suffer from it. You devil, you monster,you demon, you pathetic son of b*****'
"I wish I could write that. I wish I could write about my son, who you killed. I wish I could write about my granddaughter who you stole from me. I wish I could tell you about the hunger that feels like a rat is chewing in my stomach."
He wanted to write the truth. He wanted to fill the paper with all the angry and screaming words that were trapped in his heart.
But he couldn't.
He knew the letters would be read by the soldiers. If he wrote the truth, they would come to his house and he and his wife would be dragged outside and get shot.
So with a heavy heart, he had no choice but to write lies. He had to pretend to be happy. He had to pretend to be grateful.
He looked at his wife. She was sitting across from him, staring at her own piece of paper. She hadn't written anything yet. She was just looking at the picture of Dragon on the wall, and her eyes were full of a deep sadness.
The blacksmith took a deep breath. His hand trembled as he started to write. The words he wrote were not his own. They were the empty words that he heard from the soldiers say every day.
"To our great and wonderful Supreme Leader Monkey D. Dragon,
I am writing to wish you a very happy birthday.
This is the best life I have ever had. I am so happy to work hard for our cause. I promise I will work even harder today and tonight to show you my love to you.
Thank you for saving us. Thank you for the revolution."
Every word he wrote felt like a betrayal. He felt like he was betraying his son's memory. He felt like he was betraying his stolen granddaughter. He felt like he was betraying himself. The letter was finished.
It was the saddest and most dishonest thing he had ever written in his entire life.
______________
Balsamico kingdom ,
Same as other people the old farmer hopium was also forced to write.
He sat on the dirt floor of his small house and the paper was on his lap.
He remembered the two day before, when he had watched his friend get killed with the very potatoes they had grown.
Now, he had to thank the man who was responsible for it.
'Thank you for what?' he thought, his mind slow and dizzy from hunger. 'Thank you for taking all our food? Thank you for making us starve while we are surrounded by fruits and vegetables? Thank you for showing us that our own grown food can be used to kill us?'
He looked at his wife. She was so thin now. He could see the bones in her face. She was the one who taught him how to read and write so many years ago. She used to love reading stories and poems.
Now their eyes were too tired to read and the all the stories in the world felt like lies.
He thought about what to write. He couldn't write about his anger. He couldn't write about his hunger.
So he wrote about the only thing he knew: the land which he have been working in for the decades.
"Dear Supreme Leader,
Happy birthday.
The sun is shining today on the fields. The crops are growing strong for the revolution. It is an honor to work on this land for you and your revolution.
We are all very happy to work all day and all night to celebrate your special day.
Thank you for everything."
when he wrote this words his heart felt like a dead stone. The sun did not feel warm or happy anymore. It just felt like a hot, bright light that showed them how sad and hopeless their lives had become.
_____________
Sortis kingdom
The miner Mark sat in the crowded bunkhouse.
The air of this bunkhouse smelled like sweat and sadness of the people. He had to write his letter before being going down into the dark dangerous mines for his extra-long shift.
'What a joke,' he thought, looking at the other miners around him.
Yesterday they were all looking at each other like enemies and scared that someone would report them for a piece of bread.
Today they were all supposed to pretend to be a big and happy family and writing birthday letters. 'I am supposed to thank him for turning us against each other? For breaking our brotherhood? For making me scared of my own friends and family?'
He remembered the man who had reported his own brother. He saw that man this morning, standing in the line for bread. No one would stand near him. No one would look at him. He was all alone. He had his extra bread but he had lost every people around him.
Mark knew he had to write something. He had to sound happy. He had to sound grateful.
"Dear Supreme Leader Monkey D. Dragon,
Happy birthday from the miners of Sortis!
We are strong! We are happy to use our strength for you!
We will dig more ore today and tonight than ever before and It is our gift to you on your special day.
We are proud to be part of the this glorious revolution."
He felt sick when he wrote this words. He was not proud. He was scared. He was not strong. He felt getting weaker and weaker every single day.
But there was nothing that he can do.
________
At an hour, the soldiers came around and collected all the letters. They stuffed the thousands of fake happy letters into big sacks.
Then the people went back to their work.
The rest of the day was a long slow torture. As the sun set they were not allowed to go home.
They had to keep working. The forges glowed even brighter in the darkness. The sound of the hammers in the mines never stopped. The lamps were lit in the big factories and the sewing machines kept on stitching.
The night was the worst. Their bodies were screaming with tiredness. Their minds were fuzzy. Their stomachs ached with a deep painful hunger. But they were forced to keep going. If someone fainted from exhaustion, they were dragged away and no one ever saw them again.
They were all just working and moving without thought and without any hope.
They were living through the longest, saddest and most hateful birthday party in the history of the world.
And a silent watching god was pleased. His lesson was almost completed at this moment.