"The Third Premier," by George Saunders
Briefly

The premier’s protocols ushered in an era of fear and suspicion, with citizens caught between wanting to engage in life and staying clear of the dangers that lurked everywhere.
The river, now a symbol of the city's lost warmth, would periodically reveal bodies that bore the imprint of a brutal regime, transforming victims into relics of past guilt.
In a city marked by mistrust, the everyday lives of people boiled down to mere survival—focusing on small things like balcony flowers rather than the ominous threats outside.
The sense of community that once thrived had been replaced by a heavy suffocation, as families faced the abduction of their loved ones and the cruel whims of those in power.
Read at The New Yorker
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