Synopsis: Raj is a highly skilled mathematician and has always overshadowed his younger twin brother. As the first born son and the token of his father’s affection, Raj has everything his younger brother wishes he could have. Once the beautiful Princess Sanjana is promised to be Raj’s wife, the younger brother decides he’s finished with Raj. He hatches a plan that will put an end to his isolation and jealousy for good.
The glowing light shined into the fragile glass windows and reflected off of the triangular shaped mirrors within the palace. The sun beaming bright brought an illuminating presence through my open bedroom windows. Slumbering in the late hours of the morning, I felt the familiar comforting feeling of the sun, each morning waking me up peacefully. I rolled to my right side, and gazed out of my window. The Yamuna river, flowing around the palace just before the outermost gates, echoed the brightness from above. These gates, slightly beyond the furthest edge of the river, towered above the palace. It was made of individually handcrafted figurines of gold with elongated jagged tips. The luxurious, almost heavenly looking gates, harshly contrasted against the land beyond them. The landscape from my bedroom window was beautiful to look at, inspired by the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi.
The entire Kingdom of Agra, an administrative Hindu district with majority rule, was securely gated from the rest of the city. My father, King Shah, was the King of Agra. Ruling for almost his entire life, he would pass the throne along his bloodline to either of his two sons; myself or my identical twin brother Raj. My brother, Raj, was the first born son of my father’s, qualified with extensive skills of archery, mathematics, and most importantly, in the center of my father’s heart. He was given the most attention by my extremely busy father while I was left in isolation. My twin Raj had always excelled in his academics as a child, learning complex mathematics at a young age. My father gave him constant validation and praise for his accomplishments, while I had received none. This bothered me as a child, and created a constant feeling of insignificance and inadequacy within me. In school, archery, social events, and even family life, I felt the imposed pressure upon me to compete with my brother’s accomplishments. My brother had created a psychotic monster within me. Competing against my brother for my father’s praise became my obsession. It was all I could think about. Even though we looked exactly the same, we were very apparently different. Throughout my teenage years, I aggressively worked hard to achieve the high marks of my twin brother. Plotting my way to success, I always seemed to come short of his accomplishments. I always came second. Today, I decided, I would make a drastic change.
I rose from bed, performed my morning rituals, and quietly walked through the narrow passage from my bedroom. I placed my hand on the sides of the passage, brushing them along the wall. It was antique and traditional, with terracotta colored hues. Aged, with cracks and distressing over the years, resembling my royal ancestors who had lived in the palace long before me. Continuing into the narrow passage, keeping my hands grazing at the walls for balance, I guided my body carefully along the aged tile floor with my feet. The pathway suddenly widened to the mouth of a vast room decorated with past king’s swords, armor, and cavalry. My eyes immediately darted to the right. To the right hand side of the wall, swords were hung from hooks bolted securely into the walls. Raj and my father would often examine the swords’ blades and handles. My father said that the sword bearer could always see his reflection within the blade, which I found very interesting. He commented that whenever he used it, it drove him to make moral decisions because he could always see own emotions. I had wanted to see what he meant by this, but I was always given an excuse to why I could not participate.
On the left hand side of the room, my eyes darted to the three elongated couches made of luxurious velvet. On the furthest edge of the couch, my father lay relaxed, with his arms surpassing the boundaries of the couch. A large satin royal purple throw veiled him, and left only a minimal amount of skin seen to the naked eye. Just above his natural hairline, a golden oversized crown sat comfortably upon his head. The light from the windows above them reflected off of the breathtakingly arranged diamonds that lined the crown. Angelic like, hues of silver, gold, and auburn gleamed from the crown. Raj, sitting attentively close to the king, possessed a look of admiration towards him. After observing for a couple of brief moments, I cautiously walked forward in small steps, making sure not to disturb their conversation and waiting for them to acknowledge my presence. My father sweeped his eyes to the right and placed them upon me, pausing a moment to focus his eyes to recognize me. He quickly lowered his brow and looked back at Raj to continue conversation. I observed the tone of their conversation immediately; relaxed and filled with a type of love I had never received. I continued to wait. After a couple seconds I hesitated and said, “Father, I have entered”. They abruptly stopped their conversation and my father’s warm smile ceased from each corner. I felt as if I had intruded in dialogue that I did not belong to. I felt that I had intruded on a life that I did not belong to. I solemnly stepped onto the blood red traditional Indian carpet laid in perfect proportion on the floor and walked forward towards the couch. I sat at the opposite edge of the couch and at reasonable distance from my father and Raj. I felt the emotional isolation within the relatively small space between us. How could they not see the dome of my own loneliness? I felt their eyes prowl upon me, peering on me like an outcast, like an intruder. The silence continued and I could not bring myself to make eye contact with them. My father didn’t seem to recognize the empty silence of my presence. Softly, I looked into my father’s eyes and muttered,“Good morning father. Good morning Raj”. My father responded with a smile, but it was not given with the same love and warmth as he would to my twin brother.
He pondered for a moment and said, “Tonight, the princess of Sindh, Sanjana, will visit the palace. She has come to visit my eligible son Raj.” The king gazed at Raj with a sense of pride that I had always been jealous of. Raj, with a slight smile appearing from the corner of his face, looked back at my father with a goofy smile across his face.“If he approves,” he continued, “they will be married at the sunset of tomorrow. I have arranged for the Maharaj (indian priest), to marry them in the Agoura of the palace. I told Sanjana’s father she will be blessed with the most eligible suitor, my exceptional son.” Raj blushed and smiled from the kind words of my father. As the words left my father’s mouth, jealousy came upon me like a flood within my brain. I felt like I desperately needed to cringe to allow my fury began to develop within my eye. I could feel my skin beginning to tingle at the surface as my eyes dilated in resentment. I had never met Sanjana, but I already could not bear the possibility of their marriage. Why was it that Raj was chosen before me for me? How could my own father and brother be so oblivious to my labyrinth of rejection and inadequacy?
I felt my right hand clench unconsciously into a fist and my arm suddenly tense. I felt my teeth clamp together as my jaw clenched. I had never experienced such intense feelings towards my father and brother before. I was accustomed to the suppression of these feelings. I had reached my breaking point. I came back to my consciousness and quickly realized what was happening to me. I had lost control for a couple of moments. I lowered my harsh eyes, released my clenched fist, and took a few breaths. My father and Raj continued in conversation while I numbly kept my rage to myself. Suddenly and very clearly, I had resolved the matter in my mind. I knew what I would have to do. By placing my hands close to my sides, I lifted myself off of the couch. I forced myself to maintain a false sense of composure and swiftly walked in the direction of the passage to my room. Scurrying down into the narrow passageway, I entered into the archway of my bedroom and secretly twisted the clean golden lock of my door. My mind spinning with plans for the evening to come. I crept into the sheets of my bed and awaited the arrival Sanjana.
Horns from guards outside of the golden gates of the palace screamed out as I instantaneously leaped out of my chambers to peer outside of the triangular shaped windows. Glowing lights in shades of crimson, blood orange, and orchid reflected off of the Yamuna river. These deep toned lights peered into the palace and illuminated it with dark shadows I had never seen before. Every corner of the palace was flaming with garnet shades. I knew sunset was approaching. The guards just outside the golden gates of the palace opened the double doors of the massive gate. I could hear hooves of the many stallions that barged their way through the guards and towards the direction of the palace. Each stallion was a replica of the next; with identical coloring and calvary. The massive stallions, each with a warrior sitting upon it, surrounded a grand white carriage with a silver embellishment. The carriage was dainty and almost difficult to visualize because of the heavy military protection. Like a swarm of bees around a hive, the warriors on their horses swiftly moved towards the main doors of the palace. I burst out of my room filled with fury and resentment towards this princess of Sindh.
With my heart beating rapidly, I thought of nasty words to scare her away from my Raj. I entered into the narrow passage just outside my room. I guided myself through the passage with my feet. It was more difficult to navigate my route because of the lack of lighting throughout the passage. I extended my hands to the sides of the passage for balance, but I could not see past a couple of feet. I used the cracks and distressing along the sides of the wall that I had memorized as a child to help guide me forward. The crimson lighting was eventually illuminated at the end of the passage and I scurried as quickly as I could towards it. I could finally see the mouth of the passage ahead and crouched through it. I let go of the the sides of the walls I used for balance and briskly ran forward. There was a white object directly in front of me. My eyes were unfocused because of the lack of lighting from the passage. My sight began to become clearer. This was the first time I laid eyes on her.
She was turned around, and I could only see her silhouette. The soft curve of her back met her elongated legs. She had silky chocolate brown hair with soft curls that ran throughout it. She was tall and slender with graceful elongated legs. Her hips extended beautifully out from her torso and Her hands were petite, with white colored nail polish. She was dressed in all white and looked like a Goddess. She must have heard me emerge from the narrow passage because she tousled her hair and whisked her head over her shoulder. She locked eyes with me, just for an instant, and I was dumbfounded. Her big brown eyes captured me. Her eyelashes batting to the beat of quickening heart. Her medium toned skin, glowing from the lights of the palace, reminded me of porcelain. Her lips were soft toned rose and youthful. She softly looked me directly in the eye, and I thought I was looking into the eyes of Lakshmi herself. I had never seen anyone with so much beauty. All of my feelings of resentment towards her vanished. It was love at first sight. She didn’t speak a word, just a smile emerging from the corner of her lips. She smiled at me. I felt a connection with her. Some sort of connection that I had never felt with a person before.I took my eyes of her for a second to notice that there were many guards surrounding her. My brother and father stood just beyond the guards and were in the back of the room.
Everything stopped for a moment. I began to get very uncomfortable. I started to shake. The rushing feelings of jealousy came back to me. My head got very heavy and my skin began to tingle. I began panting and I couldn’t breathe fluidly. My eyes dilated and I felt my jaw clench. This was so unfair. My eyes darted at Raj intensely. Why couldn’t I be good enough for my father? Raj had received everything that I had ever dreamed of in life. I was frustrated with his accomplishments. I was frustrated with always coming second. My fist clenched into a fist. I couldn’t handle his perfection in my life. I couldn’t live up to him. My arm suddenly tensed. I could never be enough for my father’s expectations. Even though me and Raj looked exactly the same, I could never be compared to him. Even as a child, I couldn’t learn advanced mathematics. I could never compare. I was always second. I released everything all of these feelings and emotions in a split second. It had taken over me. The psychotic obsession had taken over my subconscious. I had hatched a plan subconsciously that I was not aware of. I called out to Raj kindly with a smile and asked him to come into the vast room that we had occupied earlier in the day. He agreed skeptically, and I encouraged him saying that I wanted to congratulate him on his future wife. He led the way to the large room and opened the door for me. I headed inside and insisted he go ahead of me and I would volunteer to close the door. I told him that this would be a very personal conversation that nobody else could hear. He entered into the arch of the room and I slammed the door shut. I planted my feet firmly into the floor and extended myself towards him aggressively. I pushed him onto the floor and he fell onto himself screeching out grabbing his leg. He looked at me with darting and afraid eyes. I wasn’t scared for a moment. Since we looked exactly alike, I was comfortable with him. It felt like a battle with myself. He was yelling now, screaming for help. I didn’t utter one word. I knew that this would be the only way to end my own suffering. I moved towards the right hand wall, reached up and seized one of the swords hung on it. I grasped the sword and smiled to myself. I pulled back the innate designed metal covering with my left arm while I held the sword in my hand with my right arm.
All of a sudden, I was brought to a sudden stream of consciousness when I saw my reflection within the sword’s mirror like texture. I saw myself and remembered what my father had said to Raj as a child. I saw my own emotion and rage within the sword and felt scared. I felt scared of myself. This was my twin brother. We were one at spirit, but my father’s attention and praise had driven us apart. I shifted my gaze from my own reflection onto my brother Raj’s eyes. He was screaming many words, but I was numb to listen to them. I couldn’t hear what he was saying because I was overwhelmed with the thoughts that were flooding my brain. I would not stop myself. I was doing this for me. I was doing this to help myself. This is the only right thing to do. This is how I will save myself. I peered into his eyes. His eyes were filled with desperation. I didn’t care to listen to his last words. His existence caused me too much pain. He was crying as I drew back my sword. I decided to go against all of my families traditions and customs. I would do something so horrible that it would conflict everything that I had ever been taught. I thought about my father when I looked into Raj’s eyes. Pathetic. Labyrinth of loneliness. I extended the sword back with all my might while Raj was screaming for his bloody life on his knees. I pushed through my hind legs and jabbed Raj in the heart. His eyes withered into his skull and it brought me great pleasure. He fell back like a weak animal on the traditional blood red Indian carpets. His body, suddenly filled with so much weight, hit the ground with heavy impact. I couldn’t differentiate his blood against the carpets. It was all a blur. His blood poured out of his chest like thick luxurious velvet.
Velvet! Velvet I thought. I darted towards the velvet couches and grabbed the dark orchid colored satin throw that my father cherished. I snatched it off of the couch and brought it towards my dead brother. I first removed my brothers clothes. I took of his shirt and pants and followed with taking off his expensive boots. I folded his clothes neatly next to his dead body and proceeded with wrapping him in the blanket. I laid the blanket out on the floor and rolled him over and over until his body was rolled into the blanket. I picked him up from his lower back and legs and swooped him over my left shoulder. I picked up his clothes and placed them under my left arm. I silently brought him through the narrow passage on the way to my bedroom. The passage, being too narrow for the both of us, meant that I would have to drag him by his arms to get to my room. I took him off of my shoulder, laid him across the floor in front of me, and grabbed his arms. I pulled him through the narrow passageway. My back faced towards the forward direction as I pulled his dead body across the floor. The satin blanket caught on the sides of the wall and tore off. It annoyed me because I purposely used the blanket to absorb the blood gushing out of his chest. I continued on, but could not use my arms for balance within the narrow passage. The blood trailed through the passageway as I pulled him through the arch of my bedroom. I closed the door behind me threw his body down onto the floor. I crouched down to lock my bedroom door with the golden colored lock. I pressed the lock button and noticed that the lock was now a tarnished red color. The blood off of my hands had imprinted on the lock. It was no longer golden. I turned around and gazed unphased at my twin brother’s dead body. I put on his pants, shirt and shoes. I calmly walked out of the arch of my door and went back into the passageway. I wiped my hands on the antique walls of the passage and I walked through. I tried to hold onto the sides of the passageway for balance, but my hands were very slippery because of the blood. I entered into the room with Princess Sanjana. She placed her gaze upon me and smiled as she looked into my eyes.
I told her she was very beautiful and my name was RAJ.
The entire Kingdom of Agra, an administrative Hindu district with majority rule, was securely gated from the rest of the city. My father, King Shah, was the King of Agra. Ruling for almost his entire life, he would pass the throne along his bloodline to either of his two sons; myself or my identical twin brother Raj. My brother, Raj, was the first born son of my father’s, qualified with extensive skills of archery, mathematics, and most importantly, in the center of my father’s heart. He was given the most attention by my extremely busy father while I was left in isolation. My twin Raj had always excelled in his academics as a child, learning complex mathematics at a young age. My father gave him constant validation and praise for his accomplishments, while I had received none. This bothered me as a child, and created a constant feeling of insignificance and inadequacy within me. In school, archery, social events, and even family life, I felt the imposed pressure upon me to compete with my brother’s accomplishments. My brother had created a psychotic monster within me. Competing against my brother for my father’s praise became my obsession. It was all I could think about. Even though we looked exactly the same, we were very apparently different. Throughout my teenage years, I aggressively worked hard to achieve the high marks of my twin brother. Plotting my way to success, I always seemed to come short of his accomplishments. I always came second. Today, I decided, I would make a drastic change.
I rose from bed, performed my morning rituals, and quietly walked through the narrow passage from my bedroom. I placed my hand on the sides of the passage, brushing them along the wall. It was antique and traditional, with terracotta colored hues. Aged, with cracks and distressing over the years, resembling my royal ancestors who had lived in the palace long before me. Continuing into the narrow passage, keeping my hands grazing at the walls for balance, I guided my body carefully along the aged tile floor with my feet. The pathway suddenly widened to the mouth of a vast room decorated with past king’s swords, armor, and cavalry. My eyes immediately darted to the right. To the right hand side of the wall, swords were hung from hooks bolted securely into the walls. Raj and my father would often examine the swords’ blades and handles. My father said that the sword bearer could always see his reflection within the blade, which I found very interesting. He commented that whenever he used it, it drove him to make moral decisions because he could always see own emotions. I had wanted to see what he meant by this, but I was always given an excuse to why I could not participate.
On the left hand side of the room, my eyes darted to the three elongated couches made of luxurious velvet. On the furthest edge of the couch, my father lay relaxed, with his arms surpassing the boundaries of the couch. A large satin royal purple throw veiled him, and left only a minimal amount of skin seen to the naked eye. Just above his natural hairline, a golden oversized crown sat comfortably upon his head. The light from the windows above them reflected off of the breathtakingly arranged diamonds that lined the crown. Angelic like, hues of silver, gold, and auburn gleamed from the crown. Raj, sitting attentively close to the king, possessed a look of admiration towards him. After observing for a couple of brief moments, I cautiously walked forward in small steps, making sure not to disturb their conversation and waiting for them to acknowledge my presence. My father sweeped his eyes to the right and placed them upon me, pausing a moment to focus his eyes to recognize me. He quickly lowered his brow and looked back at Raj to continue conversation. I observed the tone of their conversation immediately; relaxed and filled with a type of love I had never received. I continued to wait. After a couple seconds I hesitated and said, “Father, I have entered”. They abruptly stopped their conversation and my father’s warm smile ceased from each corner. I felt as if I had intruded in dialogue that I did not belong to. I felt that I had intruded on a life that I did not belong to. I solemnly stepped onto the blood red traditional Indian carpet laid in perfect proportion on the floor and walked forward towards the couch. I sat at the opposite edge of the couch and at reasonable distance from my father and Raj. I felt the emotional isolation within the relatively small space between us. How could they not see the dome of my own loneliness? I felt their eyes prowl upon me, peering on me like an outcast, like an intruder. The silence continued and I could not bring myself to make eye contact with them. My father didn’t seem to recognize the empty silence of my presence. Softly, I looked into my father’s eyes and muttered,“Good morning father. Good morning Raj”. My father responded with a smile, but it was not given with the same love and warmth as he would to my twin brother.
He pondered for a moment and said, “Tonight, the princess of Sindh, Sanjana, will visit the palace. She has come to visit my eligible son Raj.” The king gazed at Raj with a sense of pride that I had always been jealous of. Raj, with a slight smile appearing from the corner of his face, looked back at my father with a goofy smile across his face.“If he approves,” he continued, “they will be married at the sunset of tomorrow. I have arranged for the Maharaj (indian priest), to marry them in the Agoura of the palace. I told Sanjana’s father she will be blessed with the most eligible suitor, my exceptional son.” Raj blushed and smiled from the kind words of my father. As the words left my father’s mouth, jealousy came upon me like a flood within my brain. I felt like I desperately needed to cringe to allow my fury began to develop within my eye. I could feel my skin beginning to tingle at the surface as my eyes dilated in resentment. I had never met Sanjana, but I already could not bear the possibility of their marriage. Why was it that Raj was chosen before me for me? How could my own father and brother be so oblivious to my labyrinth of rejection and inadequacy?
I felt my right hand clench unconsciously into a fist and my arm suddenly tense. I felt my teeth clamp together as my jaw clenched. I had never experienced such intense feelings towards my father and brother before. I was accustomed to the suppression of these feelings. I had reached my breaking point. I came back to my consciousness and quickly realized what was happening to me. I had lost control for a couple of moments. I lowered my harsh eyes, released my clenched fist, and took a few breaths. My father and Raj continued in conversation while I numbly kept my rage to myself. Suddenly and very clearly, I had resolved the matter in my mind. I knew what I would have to do. By placing my hands close to my sides, I lifted myself off of the couch. I forced myself to maintain a false sense of composure and swiftly walked in the direction of the passage to my room. Scurrying down into the narrow passageway, I entered into the archway of my bedroom and secretly twisted the clean golden lock of my door. My mind spinning with plans for the evening to come. I crept into the sheets of my bed and awaited the arrival Sanjana.
Horns from guards outside of the golden gates of the palace screamed out as I instantaneously leaped out of my chambers to peer outside of the triangular shaped windows. Glowing lights in shades of crimson, blood orange, and orchid reflected off of the Yamuna river. These deep toned lights peered into the palace and illuminated it with dark shadows I had never seen before. Every corner of the palace was flaming with garnet shades. I knew sunset was approaching. The guards just outside the golden gates of the palace opened the double doors of the massive gate. I could hear hooves of the many stallions that barged their way through the guards and towards the direction of the palace. Each stallion was a replica of the next; with identical coloring and calvary. The massive stallions, each with a warrior sitting upon it, surrounded a grand white carriage with a silver embellishment. The carriage was dainty and almost difficult to visualize because of the heavy military protection. Like a swarm of bees around a hive, the warriors on their horses swiftly moved towards the main doors of the palace. I burst out of my room filled with fury and resentment towards this princess of Sindh.
With my heart beating rapidly, I thought of nasty words to scare her away from my Raj. I entered into the narrow passage just outside my room. I guided myself through the passage with my feet. It was more difficult to navigate my route because of the lack of lighting throughout the passage. I extended my hands to the sides of the passage for balance, but I could not see past a couple of feet. I used the cracks and distressing along the sides of the wall that I had memorized as a child to help guide me forward. The crimson lighting was eventually illuminated at the end of the passage and I scurried as quickly as I could towards it. I could finally see the mouth of the passage ahead and crouched through it. I let go of the the sides of the walls I used for balance and briskly ran forward. There was a white object directly in front of me. My eyes were unfocused because of the lack of lighting from the passage. My sight began to become clearer. This was the first time I laid eyes on her.
She was turned around, and I could only see her silhouette. The soft curve of her back met her elongated legs. She had silky chocolate brown hair with soft curls that ran throughout it. She was tall and slender with graceful elongated legs. Her hips extended beautifully out from her torso and Her hands were petite, with white colored nail polish. She was dressed in all white and looked like a Goddess. She must have heard me emerge from the narrow passage because she tousled her hair and whisked her head over her shoulder. She locked eyes with me, just for an instant, and I was dumbfounded. Her big brown eyes captured me. Her eyelashes batting to the beat of quickening heart. Her medium toned skin, glowing from the lights of the palace, reminded me of porcelain. Her lips were soft toned rose and youthful. She softly looked me directly in the eye, and I thought I was looking into the eyes of Lakshmi herself. I had never seen anyone with so much beauty. All of my feelings of resentment towards her vanished. It was love at first sight. She didn’t speak a word, just a smile emerging from the corner of her lips. She smiled at me. I felt a connection with her. Some sort of connection that I had never felt with a person before.I took my eyes of her for a second to notice that there were many guards surrounding her. My brother and father stood just beyond the guards and were in the back of the room.
Everything stopped for a moment. I began to get very uncomfortable. I started to shake. The rushing feelings of jealousy came back to me. My head got very heavy and my skin began to tingle. I began panting and I couldn’t breathe fluidly. My eyes dilated and I felt my jaw clench. This was so unfair. My eyes darted at Raj intensely. Why couldn’t I be good enough for my father? Raj had received everything that I had ever dreamed of in life. I was frustrated with his accomplishments. I was frustrated with always coming second. My fist clenched into a fist. I couldn’t handle his perfection in my life. I couldn’t live up to him. My arm suddenly tensed. I could never be enough for my father’s expectations. Even though me and Raj looked exactly the same, I could never be compared to him. Even as a child, I couldn’t learn advanced mathematics. I could never compare. I was always second. I released everything all of these feelings and emotions in a split second. It had taken over me. The psychotic obsession had taken over my subconscious. I had hatched a plan subconsciously that I was not aware of. I called out to Raj kindly with a smile and asked him to come into the vast room that we had occupied earlier in the day. He agreed skeptically, and I encouraged him saying that I wanted to congratulate him on his future wife. He led the way to the large room and opened the door for me. I headed inside and insisted he go ahead of me and I would volunteer to close the door. I told him that this would be a very personal conversation that nobody else could hear. He entered into the arch of the room and I slammed the door shut. I planted my feet firmly into the floor and extended myself towards him aggressively. I pushed him onto the floor and he fell onto himself screeching out grabbing his leg. He looked at me with darting and afraid eyes. I wasn’t scared for a moment. Since we looked exactly alike, I was comfortable with him. It felt like a battle with myself. He was yelling now, screaming for help. I didn’t utter one word. I knew that this would be the only way to end my own suffering. I moved towards the right hand wall, reached up and seized one of the swords hung on it. I grasped the sword and smiled to myself. I pulled back the innate designed metal covering with my left arm while I held the sword in my hand with my right arm.
All of a sudden, I was brought to a sudden stream of consciousness when I saw my reflection within the sword’s mirror like texture. I saw myself and remembered what my father had said to Raj as a child. I saw my own emotion and rage within the sword and felt scared. I felt scared of myself. This was my twin brother. We were one at spirit, but my father’s attention and praise had driven us apart. I shifted my gaze from my own reflection onto my brother Raj’s eyes. He was screaming many words, but I was numb to listen to them. I couldn’t hear what he was saying because I was overwhelmed with the thoughts that were flooding my brain. I would not stop myself. I was doing this for me. I was doing this to help myself. This is the only right thing to do. This is how I will save myself. I peered into his eyes. His eyes were filled with desperation. I didn’t care to listen to his last words. His existence caused me too much pain. He was crying as I drew back my sword. I decided to go against all of my families traditions and customs. I would do something so horrible that it would conflict everything that I had ever been taught. I thought about my father when I looked into Raj’s eyes. Pathetic. Labyrinth of loneliness. I extended the sword back with all my might while Raj was screaming for his bloody life on his knees. I pushed through my hind legs and jabbed Raj in the heart. His eyes withered into his skull and it brought me great pleasure. He fell back like a weak animal on the traditional blood red Indian carpets. His body, suddenly filled with so much weight, hit the ground with heavy impact. I couldn’t differentiate his blood against the carpets. It was all a blur. His blood poured out of his chest like thick luxurious velvet.
Velvet! Velvet I thought. I darted towards the velvet couches and grabbed the dark orchid colored satin throw that my father cherished. I snatched it off of the couch and brought it towards my dead brother. I first removed my brothers clothes. I took of his shirt and pants and followed with taking off his expensive boots. I folded his clothes neatly next to his dead body and proceeded with wrapping him in the blanket. I laid the blanket out on the floor and rolled him over and over until his body was rolled into the blanket. I picked him up from his lower back and legs and swooped him over my left shoulder. I picked up his clothes and placed them under my left arm. I silently brought him through the narrow passage on the way to my bedroom. The passage, being too narrow for the both of us, meant that I would have to drag him by his arms to get to my room. I took him off of my shoulder, laid him across the floor in front of me, and grabbed his arms. I pulled him through the narrow passageway. My back faced towards the forward direction as I pulled his dead body across the floor. The satin blanket caught on the sides of the wall and tore off. It annoyed me because I purposely used the blanket to absorb the blood gushing out of his chest. I continued on, but could not use my arms for balance within the narrow passage. The blood trailed through the passageway as I pulled him through the arch of my bedroom. I closed the door behind me threw his body down onto the floor. I crouched down to lock my bedroom door with the golden colored lock. I pressed the lock button and noticed that the lock was now a tarnished red color. The blood off of my hands had imprinted on the lock. It was no longer golden. I turned around and gazed unphased at my twin brother’s dead body. I put on his pants, shirt and shoes. I calmly walked out of the arch of my door and went back into the passageway. I wiped my hands on the antique walls of the passage and I walked through. I tried to hold onto the sides of the passageway for balance, but my hands were very slippery because of the blood. I entered into the room with Princess Sanjana. She placed her gaze upon me and smiled as she looked into my eyes.
I told her she was very beautiful and my name was RAJ.