Far off on the roof of a building, stood a man, sharply dressed in a suit. He was not participating in the chaos. But he had these strange hand movements. Almost as if he was guiding something, he moved his arms swiftly in the air, with rapid yet smooth movements. A certain distance behind him, an old man lied unconscious, tied to the chimney of the building. Wearing an oversized lab coat, the old man slowly regained his consciousness. The first thing he noticed was the smell of smoke in the air. When his vision became clear, he saw the glow of the fire below, and smoke that was rising up from all around. Then his vision focused on the man in the suit.
"You! Who are you?! What's happening here?"
The other man did not stop his hand movements, but merely turned his head around to address the old man.
"Aah, doctor! You're finally awake! So glad you could join us!"
"You...you're...Joseph? What's going on here? What's happening?"
"Hush now. I'm conducting."
"Conducting? Conducting...what? Why are there screams in the air? Why is there so much smoke?"
"It's a requiem, doctor. A requiem that I'm conducting for these poor souls."
The doctor could not bear it anymore. Struggling against the rope, he inched towards the side of the building to see what was going on. When he saw how people was acting, he was utterly shocked.
"What's going on here?! Why are these people fighting against each other?! And what do you mean you're conducting? You....you did this?"
As the doctor spoke, the man did some final gestures with his hands, and as he finished, there was an explosion in the horizon, as if he planned everything right down to the exact detail. He turned around, and walked slowly towards the professor.
"Doctor...I told you. I'm conducting a requiem."
"What...what do you mean?"
"These people...they have lost so much. They were so stressed. They were overwhelmed, by work, by their relationships, by their finances. Then they came to you. After all, you're renowned for your studies on stress, aren't you?" Joseph smiled innocently when he said there. The doctor, however, felt a shiver down his spine from that smile. There was a certain...malice to it.
"But you couldn't help them. You couldn't solve their stress. Of course, how could you? Their lives were messed up beyond measure."
Joseph walked towards the edge of the building, looking down at the chaos below.
"Affairs! Bribery! Corruption! Cronyism! There was no way you could have solved these problems. But they didn't care, did they? All they wanted was a way to be rid of all that nasty stress pent up in their lives. So I gave it to them, doctor. What you couldn't give them, I could!"
He gestured animatedly as he spoke. The doctor looked a Joseph, first with eyes of hatred, but then it turned into pity. He remembered Joseph. He was one of the doctor's first patients in regards to stress. But he could never solve it. Why it happened, what caused it. He could never figure it out. And now it was too late for him. Joseph turned back towards the doctor.
"Aw, come now doctor. I can see it in your eyes, you know. There's no need to pity me. I know perfectly well what I'm doing. I am a sufferer of chronic stress myself. I never knew what I was doing in my life. All my pessimism, worry, negativity about life, caused me much more pain than anyone could ever imagine. But now I'm free. I know what I have to do in life. I must guide these poor lost souls so that they don't end up like I did.
I gave them a way out, you know. A way to get rid of those stress. I told them, 'let it out! There's no need for you to hold back on this world, this world that has mistreated you for so long. This world that has caused you so much stress'. And look at what is happening now."
Joseph had a certain look of glee in his face as he watched the chaos down below.
"That's why I played the requiem, doctor. It was a farewell to their stressed up lives. Now, they will live free of stress, forever!"
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