Phenomenally Changing Man

Maximizing the simple is igniting the complexity, it’s minimizing the simplest approach to absorb the unbearable. When we believe in something, it becomes the string that connects people and gathers them around a perfectly balanced life. These were the thoughts Hassan was having, when he suddenly started to cling to his pillow, and started to drop tears. He felt suffocated, he barely could breathe. Hassan leaped out of his bed and checked his phone, it was Half past two in the morning, he thought it was a perfect time, “it’s either now or never, I can’t wait anymore,” Hassan said with an irritably whimpering voice. 

Sometimes, passion becomes the spiritual call that reflects pure intention, and in some others, it’s just the dark future that can happen. Hassan wasn’t sure what was going to be destined, but he was certain about what’s adaptable from what’s not. Doing what’s perspectively reasonable for him, was the only real choice he had. 

Hassan kept pacing his room, calculating his moves, planning impatiently how he would do it. He would rig the hardness, to clarify the vision he believed he saw before he could act on it. Finally, there it was, the path was green, the fog faded away from what seemed to be a steamy, gloomy cloud around Hassan’s head, making the hesitation disappear all at once, as he began to prepare. Hassan brought his black leather coat, grabbed his keys and phone, his textbooks and writings, and of course, his black fountain pen, and off he went to his car. shuffling his way through the garage. “This is it, there is no going back,” he muttered decisively.

When he finally was in the car, he felt the calmness, hearing his soft slow breathes, and for once, since everything started - five years ago. It was the most peaceful moment he ever had. The dream became closer, he felt his heart dipped into wild honey, giving him the strength he needed to finish what he started. Hassan knew that feeling won’t last for the next few minutes, though he straightened every possible obstacle out. He was hoping for the best, when he was expecting the worst.

As Hassan went to pull the clutch of his car, his phone rang. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, and slanted a bit towards the window of his car, hitting his head against the window very gently. Calmly maintaining his nerves, as he was thinking who would call at this time in the early morning. “Of course, who else, it’s Ghassan!”. Hassan had always been thankful to God for having a twin brother, but in that instant, he wished Ghassan would vanish for the day. Not for hate, but for love. That’s what Hassan was trying to convince himself. 

Now Hassan must answer his phone, it was the third call he receives from his brother. Otherwise, his brother’s instinct would turn a simple inkling, into a massive suspicion. Hassan picked up the phone with a quivery hand, trying to practice his sleepy, angry voice. 

“What?... You know, normal human beings get some rest at this time of the day, don’t you think?” Hassan answered angrily. 

“You don’t seem sleepy at all, is everything alright?”

“Ohhh... sometimes you burn my nerves, seriously? What do you want?” 

“Yeah..ahhh...I was thinking...I guess...” Ghassan hesitated to speak.

“What?” Hassan said impatiently.

“Whatever you think you're doing, is wrong!” Ghassan screeched down the phone.

There was a long pause after that. Hassan was completely shocked. His heart started to beat, sounding like dozens of popping balloons. He saw his work in the past five years could be nearly subverted. “What if he knows everything?” “What if anything from what I have prepared has been strangled during the last years?”. Many questions flooded Hassan’s brain. He was confused. Everything was perfect, no one ever noticed a sign from what Hassan was doing. He kept everything silent and professionally executed. In addition, Ghassan lived far away from his brother’s home, so it would be hard to imagine if he could see what his brother had been planing during the last five years.

Finally, Hassan pulled himself together and decided to know what his brother already knows. When Hassan was going to kill the silence, Ghassan rushed him, “what, Surprised? Don’t bother, it was a long time ago”.

Hassan could imagine his brother’s smirky smile, but he tried to keep it calm as much as he could, though he couldn’t. “Surprised that my brother is the world’s weirdest psycho? No, not at all. And what was a long time ago?! I don’t follow”. Hassan pretended though he knows exactly what his brother is referring to.

All that Hassan was trying to do next, was stalling. He kept talking while he moved the car out the carport and begun to drive through the direction of his final destination, his final move, into the place that will end the begging - his grandfather's palace. He was sure that his brother somehow managed to know a few of his plans, though he didn’t know how it was possible. But he felt relieved that most of his important work was written down on his textbooks. The thing that remained to capture Hassan’s senses and thoughts, was how much does his brother know, and if there was anything he knows, what was he going to do about it? 

Despite the strained relationship Hassan has with his brother, ever since they moved out from their grandfather’s palace, He always felt a big brother’s responsibility towards their little brothers, even though he is only nine minutes older. He was concerned about the kind of life his brother was leading, making friends very easily without knowing their deepest intentions, or realizing their contradictory habits, that interjects with who they really were.

The twins lived the past seven years hunted by the worst memory. That last dinner in their grandfather’s palace. They remember their grandfather walking towards the chair at the head of the dinner table, staring at both Hassan and Ghassan, with his glistening eyes that usually made the twins feel secured. But not that time, the look he gave them showed spite in the eyes of a raging bull. When he sat, the twins peered at each other with a slight snigger on their faces. They couldn’t tell whether their beloved grandpa was serious or he just wanted to change his entering style into the dining room. Poor twins, they were kicked out from their only home, left by the only family they ever have gotten. Without having the faintest idea about their grandpa’s sudden attitude. Hassan was trying to understand why their grandpa chose that particular night. It was the dinner after their graduation, the night that was supposed to cheer them all. He never forgot the last words their grandpa said when they were standing near the massive fence of the palace, carrying their belongings in enormous bags upon their backs, almost making them seem like they were bowing for him. “Your parents!.. your parents!... Ohh boys get out of my property!!”. These words kept molding Hassan’s behavior during the past years, even though it remained a mystery to him until this living day.

Hassan was about to confront the past, he will meet that old man. He was only a few minutes far from the palace, wishing if he just could hang up the phone. He felt his brother had never spoken for that long, that phone call went on forever. When suddenly Ghassan interjected on Hassan’s thoughts.

“Then, tell me, what is it you want from that old man anyway?” 

“Nothing more than meeting him, face to face,” Hassan said, and quickly hung off the phone. Without hearing his brother’s response, that could distract him.

The only thing Hassan hadn’t thought through, was how he would get inside the palace. Going back to that place, wouldn’t be wise, he thought. He was humiliated, abandoned, he was nothing, but a young man, lost in life’s puzzled maze. Hassan couldn’t believe he missed planning the tactics of his entrance, the only part he would do that night by himself. Perhaps the reason he forgot, was because the physical pressure of the situation disrupted what he had planned during his contemplated thinking. Nothing mattered now, Hassan was distracted enough, that he didn’t want to blame himself and lose what was left of his confidence.

The palace was strangely structured on top of a peculiar, ginormous, rough mountain, on the verge of the outskirts, of the same small city Hassan lived in. Hassan stopped his car on the smoothest surface he found on that mountain, and walked upward, making his way through the surreal paths that lead to the palace. His scrawny body didn’t help much. He was carrying the three huge textbooks he brought with him, inscribed in each one, the letters (C T W). His legs were tottering, making him stumble on his knees every now and then. Hassan stopped to catch his breathes, looking high up to the apparition of the sunlight, smudging the night sky with the natural celestial color. Hassan’s soul regained its desire to end everything.

When Hassan finally approached near the massive iron gates, he saw a black van parked inside the front garden of the palace. “It seems that someone is already inside,” Hassan thought. The gates were already opened. Hassan was worried now more than ever when he heard a voice coming from behind him. “You must be hungry”. Hassan recognized the voice. He turned over to see a skinny man as he was, wearing the same black leather coat Hassan was wearing. His hair was long enough, covering his eyes. The man was holding a small pink box. It was Ghassan.

Ghassan stepped rapidly, moving to his brother. Opening his arms widely to hug him. Hassan didn’t bat an eyelid, he was speechless. He kept staring at the pink box his brother was raising up with his left hand, with an astonished face. Ghassan hugged his brother and remained silent as if he was refilling his heart with tenderness. But Hassan was still stunned, he kept his arms down, while his brother was hugging him, like if he hadn’t seen his father since a long time ago. Ghassan let go of his brother, and held the pink donut box with both of his hands, to open it. “Oh, you won’t resist a bite that will engage you with the beautiful past we share,” Ghassan said softly, passing a donut to Hassan.

Hassan held the mini chocolate donut and had a bite. Rarely senses drove Hassan’s memory to think about the good times. Especially at that moment, at that place. The place that should have flamed bad feelings, but it didn’t. Something changed, Hassan felt the mayhem inside his brain. “Why are you here? When you’ve come? How?” Hassan asked, confusedly.

“No, why are we both here? Faith gathered us. Don’t you see?” Ghassan said sarcastically, playing with his brother’s nerves. “You said you wanted to see the old man face to face. Well, so do I” Ghassan said sternly, killing the sense of humor he had, to adapt to his brother’s seriousness.

It was already morning, the sun squirted its light on the palace’s walls. any second their grandpa would go out in the balcony, wearing his robes on, holding his black morning tea. Hassan couldn’t hold his curiosity and amazement, from immersing his brother with a bunch of his questions. “What about that van? The gate is opened! What is going on?” Hassan seemed bewildered by all the chaos around him.

“I don’t know, it could be a gang coming to rob the place. Seriously, I don’t know. I just came here, I stopped my car near yours”. Ghassan said. Putting his arms around Hassan’s nick and walked him through the iron gates.

The twins were passing by the black van, surrounded by the front garden’s marvelous trees when they saw the gigantic front door of the palace opened widely. “Ok, Ok. Stay still. Wait for me, I will check the van, and follow you through the front door”. Ghassan said to Hassan, who was feeling giddy and nervous. Hassan was touching his sweaty forehead, while he was wobbling towards the front door, moving unsteady steps. He knew there was something wrong, he couldn’t walk, his legs weren’t carrying him. Hassan bent over on the front door’s steps, and threw the textbooks out of his hands. He felt his consciousness is no longer with him. He saw Ghassan rushing towards him, tucking something behind his back, “I was needy, but never greedy. Silent, but not quite. Treats are no longer pleasant” Hassan said, looking at his brother hopelessly. He knew it was the donut he had, it made him feel sleepy. Ghassan took a textbook from beside his brother, and held it tightly to his chest, watching his brother closing his innocent eyes. “Sleep deeply, sleep, sleep. Now the torch is lighting in the ferocious Dark” he said, and took out his gun, and stepped into the palace.