Anna

Just uploaded a new short story on Smashwords and you can read it here

I walk down the aisle this Saturday. I am finally getting married and it feels as though the world has opened a can of ugly worms and thrown them in my face. I dated two brothers. I picked one over the other, but a part of me knows that something will never be the same between them. Now that I am going to be part of their family- it seems as though one is doomed to stay away from the other. I chose Robert over Richard. I chose him because he asked to be chosen. I think the truth doesn't matter, not to anyone else but me. My brother, Maxwell, thinks I am evil. He believes that I could have married anyone but Robert. He says it is like dumping the Prince only to marry his Father- it is an abomination. I believe Maxwell talks because his vocal chords function. He does not listen or believe in love. My name is Anna and this is my side of the story.

Richard

I met Richard one evening when I went to visit a friend. He did not say anything during the time I was around him. It was rather odd because his friend kept teasing him but Richard never flinched. I did not think much of him till the next time we met. He asked me out to lunch and I declined. It felt sleazy for a guy to ask "would you have lunch with me at my place?" He asked me out again three weeks later- and this time he said he would prepare me something delicious. I was broke, tired and looking at a fail in my exams, so I said "yes." He made me spaghetti and meat-balls and vegetable curry. It was divine. We started spending more time together after that. Richard was like my rock. He listened when I talked. He often asked me "what do you feel about this?"  He would visit me at times without flowers or chocolate but shopping and food. Every few months he would select some of his favorite dishes, prepare and pack them in my fridge. For a university student, this was the best thing a boyfriend could do. He was enrolled too but he never told me what his major was. I tried so many times and he would simply laugh and say "the things they teach here could lock someone up." I never understood what he meant, but I did not want to come off as the nagging type and so I let him be. With time it became my mission to discover more about him. He never had friends. He never attended classes. He would leave his room at four in the evening and return the next morning at six. I had my friends look him up but everything they told me about him depressed me. It was as though there were many sides to him but only one that was known to me. Richard was like a rubric. I would flip him over trying to discover him but I would only complicate things. I remember asking him one time why he was so mysterious and he walked away. It was very stupid of me, but years later, it would become the one thing that was really honest about him. It is a pity that I discovered this too late. I heard from Richard when he felt he needed to say anything. My room mates would laugh saying I was the mistress, the one to be contacted when the master wanted a fix, and it hurt. It hurt because I knew Richard was loyal-but at the same time I could never really get past it. Our relationship worked on his terms. He would call or text or visit when he needed to. So I had this amazing boyfriend who showed up once every semester or worse off once every six months. It was a long distance relationship. He determined the distance and time- and with time I found myself despising him. In my third year of study things got worse. When he came I would ask him to leave. I remember when he came to visit on my birthday; Maxwell and a couple of friends were shocked at my behavior. I opened the door and he was standing there looking handsome and sweet with his flowers and wrapped gift. I asked him "what are you doing here?" He stepped back, then looked down and said "I came to wish you a happy birthday." I looked at him and something came over me "you have said it Richard, go."

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How can one change the world if one identifies oneself with everybody?