The first thing they did was come to my house. They knocked down the door, making a huge commotion that woke up the entire neighborhood. They immediately went to my parents’ house, dragged them out by force, and searched the place. Several vans cordoned off the area.

Then they went on to visit every single inhabitant of the country whose records showed they had been in contact with me. After that, they visited every place I had been in the last 20 years.

Each and every person I know or have ever known was punished.

The television talked a lot about my case, but only to remind everyone what happens to dissidents, to their families, children, friends, and to anyone who has ever known them. Any attempt to not be controlled is not a matter of the individual but of everyone who knows them.

When I came back two days later, I was imprisoned. Everyone wanted to know how I had disappeared, but no one dared to ask.

Never before, as far as anyone could remember, had someone been gone for so long without the government knowing where they were and what they were doing.

It was a national issue; it could mean chaos if people realized it was possible to disappear without leaving a trace. The idea that they might not know where you are, with whom, what you talk about, what you think… could mean that people might speak freely, and everything could fall apart.

But the curious thing is that no one asked me where I had been, or how I had done it, because if they asked, they might learn how to do it themselves and then be accused of sedition, with the risk that their families and friends would be punished.

In the end, they decided that someone who has the ability to disappear from government control could not be allowed to exist — not in the street, not in prison.

That’s why they decided to end my life.

And no one ever found out how I had managed to go two days without reporting my location, my conversations, who I was with, my health status, videos of what I was doing at every moment, texts I read, things I ate, my mood, interpersonal relationships, things I bought, used or moved, what I typed, wrote or thought during those 48 hours…

As advice… never even think of turning off your phone and leaving it at home.