A month had passed, and I decided to visit Kia at the District C hospital, at that moment, he was undergoing his "re-education" process. I found Kia laying down on his hospital bed with a big bruise covering the right side of his face, his eyes seemed empty and lost, unable to grasp reality, his body was weak, and twitched each time he tried to move. Strings of saliva and vomit were connected to his mouth, and the whole room smelled like rotten fruit.

Art by YKBX

"This country has gone to waste... This is torture and shouln’t be tolerated..."

His eyes lacked the will he had back at the concert stage that day, they were almost dead, like the ones of a snake grabbed by the neck.

"It looks like your rehabilitation still has a long way to go."

After I said that, he stared at me with his narrowed eyes, filled with disgust, revealing his injured eyelids. His pain appeared to worsen with this effort.

"You think you can steal words from people using violence..."

I sighed, and my voice echoed in the pure, white walls of the hospital room.

"Why do you use such ugly words?"

"And why do you hate them? Why do you wanna kill them?"

Art by YKBX

I took a seat, and once my body fully rested on the chair, it cracked, killing the ephemeral silence.

"I have been a target of mockery and insults all my life, that is why I am the way I am, it was words themselves that made me hate them."

"If words can cause hate in people, that proves they can make them change, there are words that hurt people, but also words that can make them feel better."

"You think words can save people? Do you really think those ugly, vulgar and obscene words scribbled on walls can save people? Do not be such a fool."

"Words can change people, killing them means killing their chances to change, words must be free, the only thing you do by killing them is killing your own future."

"You think so? Then I should’ve died a long time ago..."

"...Wasn’t that a Template Deviation? Your mind is filled with words, and it’s obvious that they want to be free."