Visual Trigger

 

“I hate you!” Royston shouted at his twin elder brother, Raven.

Ever since his parents passed away, Royston turned into a rebellious kid. It is tough for him to accept the fact that he lost his beloved parents for life. Before his parents’ deaths, they were a happy family. Royston and Raven were really the happiest twin brothers.

However, since the incident, Royston’s grandmother always took care of him, and provided whatever he wanted. Among all her grandchildren, Royston’s the one whom she dotes on most. A grandmother who used to feed him his favourite ice cream and buys him his favourite toys. Their close bond outcasts Raven, although he shows the same unconditional love for his brother. Raven never bullies his brother and dotes on him as much as his grandmother. However, no matter what he does, Royston can never stand the sight of him.

“Stop trying to make up for what you have done wrong! You are no brother of mine. You are the one who caused daddy and mummy’s death!” Royston threw the photos of them at Raven.

Raven never talks back, staring at the photo-strewn floor the whole time. Royston then dashes out of the room in tears, leaving his brother standing alone. The next day, Raven would smile like nothing had happened the night before, only to have Royston snub him the usual way. This goes on every now and then for three years.

Royston’s grandmother made it known to him that his brother was the one who caused his parents’ death. Raven never bothers to deny anything, as he sees no point in explaining.

“Your brother was a notorious boy then. He ran away from your parents. While searching for your brother, your parents met in an accident.” Those words lay forever etched in Royston’s mind, thus never forgiving Raven. It was his fault, after all.

Royston, Raven and their grandmother are out together to get dinner. As usual, Royston and his grandmother walk in front while Raven tails behind. Suddenly, a car comes speeding towards Royston. Royston gasps in shock, but thankfully, the quick-witted Raven pulls Royston towards him immediately to prevent the car accident.

“Thanks,” Royston mumbles coldly to his brother. Raven smiles.

“If only daddy and mummy could’ve been saved, too.” Royston mutters under his breath. The bright smile on Raven’s face fades quickly.

“Oh, thank God you are safe!” Grandmother hugs Royston, her eyes watering up. “Your brother seems to protect you well.” His grandmother says with a smile. Royston’s eye twitches and feels that that sentence did not sound right. There was something odd, possibly even sinister about it. He continues watching television and tells himself not to think so much.

“You’re really the caring brother, aren’t you?” His grandmother says with the same smile to Raven, whom was  in the room.

“Thanks to you that I have been doing this for the past three years. Thanks to you that this misunderstanding has never been cleared. Thank you so much, old granny.” Raven said sarcastically.

“You know how much I love the both of you. I would be so sad to lay my pretty fingers on your little brother. ” His grandmother retorted in an evil tone and punctuated her line with a sinister laughter.

Royston stands outside the room they are in and overhears their conversation. He stands there in horror, his heart beating harder and faster by the second. He is completely confused. He bursts into the room, livid.

“What are you talking about?” Royston asks impatiently. “Oh, nothing much, my dear. I was just kidding with your brother.” Grandmother tries covering up for herself.

“No! You weren’t kidding. What are you going to do to me?” Royston gets more and more frustrated. “No worries, we were not talking about you, or anything in particular. Go to sleep, it’s late.” His grandmother tries her best to stay calm while coming up with a plan.

The old lady thinks to herself. “No, Royston must not know the truth. My beloved grandson cannot hate me. It’s time, it really is time. ”At the same time, Raven is thinking to himself. “I need to protect him. It is time that vicious old lady will finally take action.”

Raven tries to look out at each and every action his grandmother is taking. The next morning, he saw his grandmother putting in a few white tablets in Royston’s cup of milk.

“Royston! Finish up your milk. I need to use the cup.” His grandmother called to him from another room.

The quick-thinking Raven pretends to spill the cup of milk accidentally when passing it to his brother to drink.

Later, his grandmother asked Royston to hang the laundry out to dry. Raven anticipates something is going to happen again. His grandmother stretches out her arms and is going to push Royston off. Just in time, Raven calls out to Royston, catching his attention. Instinctively, Grandmother keeps her arms to herself immediately. She curses mentally. This was the second time Raven had interfered with her plans. There was the poisoned milk and now this. She grits her teeth, determined to finish the job the next time.

Royston, at this point, feels that his grandmother is up to no good and his brother is trying his best to rescue him.

Eager to find out the truth, Royston questions his grandmother again. However, this time, Grandmother takes out a knife. Suddenly feeling guilty as she sees Royston’s horrified expression and the fear behind his widened eyes, she starts revealing the truth about plotting the deaths of his parents while her tears fill up the brim of her eyes, dimming her vision and then flows down her wrinkled eyes.

“Royston, I’m sorry. Three years ago, I was the one who caused your parents’ death. Your mother was an evil woman. She stole my son away from me. I only intended to kill her. But knowing your dad would hate me for life and neglect me, I had to kill him too. Nobody was there to love me anymore. I made use of Raven to take the blame. Being afraid that your brother would reveal the truth to you, I threatened him with your safety. Knowing that you’ve felt sensed something amiss, I wanted to kill you. Your brother’s really great. I…”

As she speaks, Grandmother realises who the true villain is, and tears streaming down her wrinkled, sagging face, she whispers,

“I’m sorry.”

Grandmother stabs the knife into her own chest. Blood squirts out and she falls onto the ground. The twins are stupefied.

Swallowing, Royston lifts his head to face his brother, unsure what to say. He inhaled.

“I’m sorry, Raven. I never knew that you were in such a difficult position. If only I knew the truth earlier. It must have been tough for you.” Royston apologizes. Raven gave him a heart-warming smile and placing a comforting arm over his shoulder. Royston smiles back.

1. 

   theredpants Said:

   on 20/11/2009 at 07:02

   This story is a tragedy but doesn’t follow the Greek tragedy convention. What would’ve followed the convention was if Royston went through life thinking Raven had killed their parents because he had went missing and his parents had gone to find him. Then eventually, he kills Raven. However, before Raven dies, Royston realizes that Raven had gone missing that night to search for something Royston had lost and because Royston was a spoilt child and was crying over losing his thing, Raven wanted to pacify him. In this way, Royston has a flaw he doesn’t realize, and Raven is a classic Greek tragic hero.

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