Setting Sun

 "That's amazing Sica. You're only getting better at playing the cello." said Ms.Luna, my cello teacher. "Thank You Ms.Luna." I said as brightly as possible.

"So we are going to end today's lesson here. Practice what you learnt today and come. Okay?"

"Yes." I said, leaving the room with my cello. Well was it mine? I guess. I don't know. What is mine anyway?

I walked into the car waiting for me, and let the cello rest beside me.

"We have to get ready for the charity gala today miss." said the chauffeur, looking at me through the rearview mirror.

"I see..." I replied, looking out of the window, greeted by the beautiful sun, and stating the fact that I'm obviously uninterested. I plugged in my earphones and started listening to random songs. They were not classical, they were up-beat and hip-hop, nothing related to me playing the cello.

The car stopped in front of the mansion, and I got down, and took the cello, and walked through the hallways.

Echoing Hallways. Empty Hallways. I thought at times that these hallways reflected me. My soul.

Empty. Void.

I placed the cello in the music room, and went to my room. Well again, was it mine?

I threw myself on the bed and stared at the photo on the bed stand. It was of me and my twin sister. My beautiful, perfect twin sister. She's amazi-. My thoughts were cut off by someone knocking on my door. I answered with a 'come in' and it was one of the maids who helped me dress up. She brought in a dress,wine red dress which I didn't bother scanning, cause I already knew it was going to be suffocating as hell. I mean, my whole closet, okay the whole closet was filled with the color wine-red.

I removed what I was wearing and went into the shower. I turned on the shower, and out came freezing water. Cold, oh how good it felt against my skin. Cold. I came out and dried myself, and let the maid dry my hair.

"Miss, you had a bath with cold water again?"

"Yes, any problem?"

"No miss... but it is dead winter outside. It is snowing, and you're having a bath with cold water. Why miss?"

"Am I obliged to answer you?" I said, in a cold, demanding voice, looking at her with sharp eyes through the mirror.

"No miss..." she said, looking down.

I looked at myself in the mirror. Me and my sister are the spitting image of each other. Long wavy jet black hair, with sapphire blue eyes, and slightly tanned skin. If it weren't for the birthmark I had below my eye, no one would be able to differentiate us. At least, at first sight. But as I looked at the mirror, my birthmark was no longer there. And I was sitting there, straight, looking elegant and pretty, without any defects, 'PERFECT' to the eyes of the others, but struggling, and being an empty, emotionless vessel, Doll, owned by my family, meant to show off. 

After about 15 minutes, I left the room and went into the Living room, where my dad and mom were waiting for me.

Dad was just... on phone like always. As soon as Mom saw me, she ran and hugged me.

"Oh my baby, you look so beautiful. Sica, you're so beautiful. Like always." she said, smiling at me fondly and gently rubbing my cheek with her thumb.

"Thank you mother, you look pretty, as always too." I said, forcing a smile, and slowly reaching out to her and letting it go by her side.

"Ah really? Well, I am beautiful, I know that." she whispered, and turned towards the entrance of the living room, where the chauffeur had come to inform that we were ready to depart.

I raced to the limo, and sat on the single seat so that mother couldn't sit beside me. Throughout the ride I kept gliding over and ignoring her constant stares towards me, and occasionally when my sight met hers, I smiled and quickly looked away. To say that it wasn't uncomfortable, I would be lying. Father didn't pay any attention to me or mother, like always. Not always, since... that incident. We soon came to a halt, and father got down first, and helped mother get down. I got down in the end, and walked into the huge party hall, which was actually something which seemed like centuries old ballroom. 

As soon as we entered the hall, as usual, all gazes were directed towards us. Well, not like they can't look, since I was the daughter of one of the most richest and influential men in the world. Whatever I do, I will always be in the spotlight. Good or bad, it'll be in the spotlight. And I can't stop that. The screen called privacy between them and me, is transparent. At the beginning, I used to hate it. How whatever I do, people always used to badmouth that. Then I realized, no matter what I do, these people won't be satisfied. No matter what I do, these people will talk, therefore, I should ignore them. Don't take what they say into even tiny consideration. If you do, they'll hold your strings and control your life, like a puppeteer putting on his best puppet, and making a play. Shaking away my thoughts, I went ahead and greeted the guests and hosts. I was going to the drinks and snacks table, when my father called me. 

Judging the way he looked, he wanted me to meet some of our relatives. I followed him with a glass of champagne in hand. I took about 2 sips before reaching an old lady. Dad introduced her as his Great Aunt. As soon as she saw me she smiled. It was a beautiful toothless smile against her face. She looked genuinely happy. Genuity, something I hardly receive in the fake and Phony world of the apparent 'Upper-Class'. I immediately returned her a smile, full of happiness. Something I hadn't felt in a while. She started speaking.

"I haven't seen your kids in at least 15 years, Laurence. She's grown so much. Into a beautiful young lady." she said, smiling at me. I, on the other hand abandoned drinking my champagne, and was listening to her.

"Well yes, it has been a while. But I don't think Sica remembers you, Aunt." Dad said.

"Haha yes that is a bit of a gam- Wait, Larry, Sica?" she asked, eyeing me carefully.

"Yes, what do you meant Aunt? This is Sica, the other twin's no more." my dad said,his eyes wavering and his voice barely above a whisper.

"No dear. This girl here, is Mica, your child. Sica....." she told my dad, very seriously.

How did she know? I don't even have my birthmark anymore. No way- Crack . I realized that I had let go of my glass and it shattered on the floor.

"Oh god, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I said, and dashed out of the hall after giving a quick good bye to the Great-great Aunt. I sat in the limo, and soon mom and dad also followed. I straightened up my posture, and sat as though nothing happened. What I had forgotten to do was, to sit on the single seat. So mom came and sat next to me. She took my head into her chest and started brushing my hair.

"Sica, don't pay any attention to what that lady said. She's really old and can't see properly.It's alright, My dear child Sica."

I just lay there as quiet as possible, not responding to what she just said.

"Sica, my dear Sica. Darling Sica. You're perfect. You are my Sica." She chanted the name like a hymn throughout the ride.

As soon as we arrived our mansion, I got down, and started heading towards my room.

"Sica, my girl. Wait a minute." she shouted.

I stopped and looked back.

"Don't worry Sica, don't worry about what that old hag, said. Just sleep. Okay? My lovely Sic-"

"Don't you call me with that name again. I am not Sica. We all well know that. I AM NOT SICA." I shouted, losing my cool.

"Oh my, Si-"

"Are you freaking deaf? I just said, I AM NOT SICA. My name is Mica. Sica is dead for god's sake."

"What happened to you dear? Why are you acting like this Sic-"

"I just said not to call me that. She was tired of you. She jumped into the fire right in front of me, thinking that I would be saved from being neglected, and she would be saved from your crazy love."

"Sica. You will not speak to me like that. I am your mother and I know you very well-"

" 'Know me?' You know me? What do you know about me? You don't know even as much as grain of salt about me. You know nothing about me. You don't even know my name to begin with." I said scoffing, and folding my hands against my chest. Dad was just standing at the far end, and watching the 'show'.

" I know everything about you. You're the one who doesn't know."

"How can I not know? YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW. You don't know that I like Violin, and not Cello. Sica liked Cello, not me. Why? Because I'm Mica. Sica liked the color wine red not me. She was the one you loved, not me."

"How can you speak like that Sic-"

"Don't call me Sica. I am not Sica. I am your neglected child, Mica. I was never Sica to begin with.You only loved Sica, not me. So just go back to neglecting me. I don't need this attention."

"But Mica has a birthmark below her eye..."

"Oh? You actually remember that? Wow, I'm honored." I said sarcastically and continued," Don't you remember? You had me taken to the dermatologist, and removed the birthmark for good. I still have the scar here, where my birthmark once was." I blurted, caressing my upper cheek.

"You will not bring up what happened on that day. I already lost one of my children."

"No you didn't lose one of your children. You lost your one and only child that day. The child whom you knew and loved. She was sick of you. She hated you. I know her better than you do. She was losing her mind because of you."

"Mother knows the bes-"

"For god's sake don't call yourself a mother. It's not like you gave birth to us anyway. You were just attracted to 2 beautiful and cute kids you saw on the streets, since you had no children for yourself. And even after adopting them, you only gave attention to one of them. That shows your incapability as a 'Mother'. Father treated both of us equally. Whenever he went on trips, he got presents for both of us. He is the only reason I'm still alive and fed. Whereas you, you only had eyes for Sica. And once she's gone, you couldn't take it. You still needed to show that, your daughter is still alive. Your 'perfect' doll is still alive. I think I understand Sica now, since I've first-hand went through that pain. And YOU were, are and will be the reason Sica's no more. You killed my sister."

"How can you say that? It was the arsoni-"

"Are you even human? Do you have something called emotions inside you? Is there the word 'GUILT' in you dictionary. Arsonist you say. Well, I think I'll go and thank the arsonist. Though he's the reason I'm like this right now, he's also the reason my sister's out of this hellhole. "

"You are mistaking me Sic- Mica. All the things I did were out of Love."

I scoffed. Love?

" 'Love'? What you had with Sica was not Love. It was 'Obsession'. Crazy obsession. Do you even want to know what happened that day? You and dad were out. Sica and I were sitting on my bed, and she was telling me how much she hated you. Your over-observation. And I too, was telling her my troubles. She just smiled sadly at me, and told that if I were in her place I would not like it. And that's when we heard screaming. From the other end of the hallway. We rushed over after about 2 min, and we saw blazing fire. Maids and helpers were running about, and had cleared the fire after a few minutes. We went back to my bedroom and as soon as we entered it, the door was locked behind us. We didn't realize that until I saw a spark at the end of the room. Soon the curtains caught the fire too. and room was ablaze. Sica found that the bathroom would most likely be our best escape route, and as we were going, a huge chunk of wood fell on my leg. I couldn't move, so Sica, who had a very big chance of living, if she ignored me, came and helped me up. My leg had already been burnt pretty well and deep. She helped me up and started directing me towards the washroom, when the idea struck her. " Mica.

You know how tired I am. You know how neglected you feel. So... if I just jump into the fire now... won't both our problems be solved? You will be noticed, and I will be devoid of feeling anything." is what she said. I wanted to stop her, I needed to. So I started scolding her for having such thoughts and pulling her towards the bathroom. But, she pushed me into the bathroom, and gave me a long, sad smile, before bidding me farewell. I saw her burn to crisp, right there. Her screams in agony, her body losing it's shape. Her skin losing it's color, and finally her eyes losing their shine. You don't know how much I suffered. Her death, Father's nonchalant attitude because of your mental state, and your obsession. You know what? I'm done with you from now on. I'm done with this family for good. Da- no, Mr. Price, why don't you give up your parental rights over me now? I'm an adult. I graduated. I'm interning in the company now, I can just withdraw, and try at a different place. Please sir? This is my last request towards you, as a person whom you raised till now. I'm thankful to you, in ways more than one. But it isn't enough for me to stay here."

"Yes Mica. I will do that. I'm very sorry that I couldn't do much during your stay here, but I've enjoyed your company until now. You can pack your things and leave now. I'll call you over to the office in a week or so. Your card, you can still keep it. Think of it as a thank you gift for staying here so long, and fulfilling you timely duty as the daughter of Laurence. Thank You." dad said.

I was over-delighted at how easily he got convinced and agreed with me. I was leaving when a painful jolt held me back. It was that lady, holding me by my hair.

"You can't leave Sica. No my daughter can't leave. Please Sica, don't leave mother. No, no you can't leave mother. I'd rather kill you than have you leave me. Yes... yes, I'll do that. I'll kill you. No one can have you then. No one." she murmured, her eyes unclear, but unwavering. I tried to shake her off, but her grip was too tight.

She reached for the nearest vase and shattered it against the wall. Dad came running from behind, and held her back. 

"You've gone mad, Val. You can't do this. Mica you leave. Now. I'll hold her back." he said.

I ran out of the room and went to my room, and started shoving all the necessary things. I held my backpack and the 2 suitcases and ran out of the mansion.

While going to the nearest taxi booth, I saw that the sun was setting. The same size, I saw, when Sica was dying. She fell on the ground, and the sun went down too. Dusk. I sat in the taxi, and directed him a random hotel address, and plugged in my earphones. I went through all the events in the past 12 years, when Sica was still there, which were as beautiful as shards of broken glass, but just as painful. I glanced out of the, to be greeted by the soothing, majestic and beyond beautiful

Setting Sun

-END-