The Twin Life

A Story by Yash Gokhale

The 'Twin Life' narrates the story of two identical twins who are as different as chalk and cheese. The story puts forth the journey they embark on when their paths finally collide.

I was always alone,in my small world. I was never invited to parties or other social gatherings. Rather, others invited my twin brother, Sean, who was an introvert unlike me, and preferred being to himself. On the contrary, I was a jovial person, fun loving and free-spirited. I wanted to be just like the boys in the movies. Since the age of eleven,the year my Mom died, Dad had never allowed me to make any public appearance, let alone interacting with people. Whenever I asked him the reason, he would either change the topic or give some silly reason like, ‘The world won’t treat you kindly for the person you are’. I never went to school, it was Sean who did. Everyday, he would come back from school and teach me everything so well, so well that it actually felt that I had attended the school that day. Sean was very kind to me, and would always help me. Going by the looks, I was a bit fat as compared to him and my skin was smoother owing to the fact that I had never ventured out in the harsh climate nor played any tough sports. He had scars and injury marks all over his body, apparently because he played Rugby. It had been ten years and not once had I interacted with anyone and this had made me furious.

On the morning of 31st December, I read a text on Sean’s phone. He was invited to a new year’s eve party at Ralph’s house. For, he never talked to anyone freely, nor he enjoyed life like the people in movies or soaps did, still he was always flooded with offers to parties or get-togethers. This situation really gave me a complex and felt disgusted. I made a resolution that I would confront Dad and Sean on the same day, and force them to allow me to go to the party. Convincing Sean was very easy, for he could never say NO to anyone. Convincing Dad was a tedious task. Though it was a Sunday that day, I woke up early. Dad was reading the newspaper with a tea mug in his hand.

“Good morning, dad!” I said in an affectionate tone.

“Morning son! What are you upto today, it’s a Sunday. Where is Sean?” asked Dad.

This was Dad’s regular question whenever he met either me or Sean. If the answer was Sean is right here, Dad would give Sean a hug and if it was me who answered, Dad would kiss me on my forehead.This was a practice he had been doing since our childhood. He loved it, even we both did.

“ I am not Sean.” I replied and as usual he kissed me on my forehead.

“What’s the matter, boy?”

“I want something which only you can give me. Since the last ten years, I have seldom asked you for anything, but today I am very serious about what I want. It is new year’s eve today and I want to go to Ralph’s party, with Sean. Please try to understand, I am cramped in this house where the only source of entertainment I have is this TV or the stereo.”

Dad looked startled. I was never this frank till then. “Let me think over it” was what he said and went to his room, shut the door and locked it. I could hear him talking to someone in a soft voice, and the only words I could hear where, ‘That is Great’ which Dad yelled at the top of his voice. Dad was probably speaking to our family physician, Dr.Stark. Coming out of the room with an expressionless face, “You can go. But, please be careful” were his words.

“Thank You, Dad. I love you. I am really excited today. I might as well start dressing up.”

I rushed to my room, where Sean was sitting on our bed, reading his usual Maths textbook. I hugged him tight and told him the scenario. He looked happy too, and offered me his best shirt for the night. Our size was almost the same.

Finally, it was nine in the night and we were all dressed up. Sean wore a black shirt coupled with a white trouser. I wore his vibrant red shirt and yellow trouser. Wearing this, it felt like all the colours in the world had percolated in my body. Dad called for an Uber and made us comfortable. Sitting in the car was one thing I never experienced in my life, not that I recollected of. Skyscrapers and commercial hubs around me, I had only seen this in movies. That was the best day of my life. Sean was as usual silent and in a world of his own. I tried to make him open up but he was still mum, even more than he usually was. Maybe because he had a lunatic brother accompanying him. Around 9:30, we reached Ralph’s place and Sean handed over the money to the cab driver. Dad had given me strict instructions to follow Sean’s lead and not to stray away from him.

The mood in Ralph’s house was very cheerful. A group of boys were playing pool at a side, while some boys joined the girls at beer pong. As soon as we entered the house, there was a loud cheer all around the house. There was a common roar, “weiches Zeal’ around the house. Guys and girls, both roared, ‘weiches Zeal’ in unison. I heard the house door locked and two people were guarding it from outside.Sean was trembling with fear as two guys walked up to him and held him by his torso. I was standing right besides him, but no one paid attention to me. No one gave a damn about the fact that there was a person who looked identical to Sean. All their interest was concentrated on that one individual. Sean was taken to the center of the room and tied against the chair. The chants of ‘weiches Zeil’ continued as two guys brought some cartons of eggs. I figured out that something was wrong but to no avail. I tried to save Sean but a muscular guy hit me hard on my face and I fell to the ground.

“Stop retaliating or things will be even worse.” The muscular guy said.

The muscular guy was apparently Nathan, who had initiated this. Sean was sitting there helpless on a chair with his limbs tied. After this, something horrible happened. Everyone started hurling eggs at Sean, with many of them targeting me too. Though there was no serious injury on being hit, the smell and the yolk made it worse. The entire crowd was laughing and hurling abuses while me and Sean were recovering from the sudden chain of events. Maybe Sean had a faint idea that this could happen. But this was completely unexpected for me. I had always thought that Sean was well respected, but I was mistaken. I could see tears rolling down Sean’s eyes but I could not do anything.

Things had started falling into picture now. Sean’s silence finally had an explanation. Sean was constantly bullied by his classmates. They always invited him to parties so that they could bully him. Sean’s introvert nature added to their enjoyment. They derived sadistic pleasure from this. I knew a little bit of German as Sean had taught me six years back. ‘Weiches Zeil’ meant a soft target in German. I guess that was the word his classmates picked six years back. This meant that Sean was continuously harassed for six whole years. Sean’s discomfort was a source of enjoyment for others, and that made me really angry. I wanted to act, but couldn’t. There was cheering all around as eggs were still hurled at me and Sean. This stopped after a while. Me and Sean laid there helpless. Nathan came in with a huge cake and a knife.

They untied Sean and made him comfortable. No one seemed to care about me. Ralph came to Sean and handed him some tissues. Sean handed over some to me as we both started to clean ourselves up. Sean was still trembling with fear. I shouted at him,“Are you some kind of an idiot? They are making a mockery out of your life. You need to retaliate or they will eat you alive.” Sean kept mum. He was too bewildered to say anything.

Just when I thought everything was over, Nathan came to Sean and abused him. Nathan said all the awful things in the entire world. “Have a happy new year b*****d” where his final words as he slapped Sean hard on his cheeks and walk towards the cake. I wanted to act but I had a serious cramp in my right leg.

“Happy New Year” was the cheer and the room was filled with love and kisses. It was Nathan and his girlfriend Katie who cut the cake. Nathan fed the first piece to Katie and cut an even larger one. With this large piece, he walked towards Sean. Nathan fed him a particle out of the cake and smudged the rest all over his face. Everyone else laughed.

“Enough. I can’t tolerate more”, I said to myself as I got up. I punched Nathan hard on his face, snatched the knife from his hand and stabbed him six times until there was blood everywhere. There was no question of him being still alive. That felt very relieving, and gave me a sense of achievement. I had avenged all the injustice done to my twin brother Sean.

There were shrieks and shrills all over the crowd. I saw Sean’s startled face from a distance, as I laid in Nathan’s blood. I knew I was going to jail but I knew that was for the better. I had made Sean’s life better. I blacked out after that, but with a smile on my face.

THE AFTERMATH:

I laid unconscious on the hospital bed. I did not remember anything of what had happened last night. My Dad walked in with red eyes. It was clear that Dad was grief stricken. Dad came to my bed and sat beside me.

“Hello Dad”, I said.

“Where is Sean?”, Dad asked me.

This was Dad’s regular question whenever he met either me or my twin brother. If the answer was Sean is right here, Dad would give me a hug and if it was my twin brother who answered, Dad would kiss him on his forehead.This was a practice he had been doing since our childhood. He loved it, even we both did.

“I am Sean here Dad.”

Dad hugged me as expected, but at the very next instant, he kissed me on my forehead. He never kissed me on my forehead after the question.

“You are liberated now Sean. Free from all inhibitions. You are no more an introvert. The only part is we won’t see each other for two years. You will stay here for two more years.”

The banner on top of my hospital bed read, ‘Jonathan Rydberg Asylum’.

“What are you saying, Dad? And you are supposed to hug me and not kiss my forehead. The kiss on the forehead is reserved for my twin brother.”

The last sentence which Dad said made all things clear. My limbs were numb and my head was aching. There were still blood stains on my shirt strategically located as if I had stabbed someone repeatedly.

Dad’s last sentence was, “You have no twin brother, Sean. Get well soon.” and I was lost in oblivion.

© 2016 Yash Gokhale

Author's Note

Please ignore any grammar problems, though I have ensured that there are none.
Please let me know honestly how you feel. This is an earnest attempt at writing.