Unturned Pages

Our story begins with a typical teenager, William or Will as he preferred to be called, who is trying to figure out his place in this world. William was the son of the city’s mayor, he and his brother were pretty much inseparable well for one reason that they were twins and the other being even though having different personalities they seemed to complement each other very well just like two peas in a pod literally. Despite having everything he could ever ask for Will lacked his father’s love and approval and that’s what made him feel hollow from inside. 

Will and James were of two different poles. While James was the popular kid and the star player and captain of the school football team, Will preferred to stay in the shadows, away from the spotlight, despite being a straight-A student of his class. The only person who could get Will through this gladiator called Highschool and who knew him inside out, other than his brother of course was his best friend Alex. Alex was a geeky kid always in his world. He was friends with the twins since they were in their diapers, they were called the “Three Musketeers”. As time passed and they grew up, the third musketeer that is James drifted apart from them into his new world, but still kept in touch with the other two when they walked by him in school halls. 

Alex always wished that Will would come out of his shell and strive for something more than his father’s love and acceptance. He wanted other people to see and know his best friend the way he did- the goofy charming way, but Will was too submerged in his waters to even come up to the surface. One day in the cafeteria Alex made his mission to crack open William’s shell when he saw the poster of the talent day in the hall and was going to force him to participate in it. Only those people who knew William knew that he was an excellent guitarist and a songwriter and wanted to one day open his music studio, but since his father always wanted him into politics, he never accepted his kid’s dreams, and hence Will never wrote a song after that. 

 Alex said, “Dude did you hear about that science club had a chemistry failure in the lab, it was epic!”, as he walked with his best friend in the cafeteria. "Where are you going on with this?” Will asked skeptically “Oh nowhere, just trying to make a conversation. Hey look they have pizza your favorite, you know what you can have my share of slice too.”, replied Alex, to which Will said, “Seriously dude what is wrong with you why are you suddenly being so nice with me? You are even giving me you share of pizza; you never do that. You rather steal my slice!”. “Pfft! Can't I just be nice to my best friend for one day and talk about nice things like the weather, pizza, and maybe you taking part in the talent day?”, Alex said trying to as casual in his sound as he could. “Oh, now I see why you're being nice to me and nope I'm not taking part in the talent day.”, William said. “Come on dude seriously you are the most talented guy I know and you are saying no to this!”, Alex said trying his best to persuade him. James heard this banter as he was walking by asked them what was wrong with this Alex replied that Will was making the worst mistake of his life by not taking part in the talent day. To which the worst mistake was maybe befriending Alex in the first place, which he was joking about. James just stared at them weirdly and after grasping the conversation and siding with Alex they were finally able to convince Will to take part in the talent day. Well, they made a bet that if Will took part and won Alex will buy him pizza and James will do his chores for a month and if he didn’t participate then it would be the other way round. 

Day went by and Will submerged himself in writing a song, but he couldn’t do it. Whenever he tried to pen down the lyrics his father’s words and face came to his mind telling him that he wouldn’t ever be successful in his life, which made his mind go completely blank. A day before talent day Alex and James came by to see what was going on. “I can't do it!”, was the first thing Will told them when they walked into his room. “Dude what are you talking about, you can do it!”, said Alex. “No seriously I can't, I give up, I quit”, said Will. Alex couldn’t take his best friend demeaning himself anymore and he finally burst out and said, “Yeah right you can't do it. You can't do anything right, you weren't able to stand up to your father to pursue your dreams, your twin brother who looks exactly like you is doing better in his life and you can't even write a single song. You are useless and I feel shameful to have any hope in you!” saying that Alex stormed out of the house in anger and James just stood there not knowing how to make the situation any better also left the room, leaving a flabbergasted Will in his thoughts and he decided that he had to make it up to his best friend on the way or another. 

On the day of the talent day, Alex and James were present in the audience but there was no sign of Will anywhere. Finally, when his name was announced he was nowhere to be found, but after a while, they heard the strumming of the guitar and saw Will on the stage. Both Alex and James couldn’t contain their surprise. “I never wanted to take part in this talent show,” Will said and then he continued, “But my twin brother and my best friend finally convinced me, if it weren't for their support I don’t know where I would have ever been in my life, so this song’s for them, it's called “Three Musketeers”. Will ended up winning the talent show and later also convincing his father to pursue music as a career and became one of the famous musicians. 

..........And that’s how the story goes”, said James as he opened his hopeful eyes filled with sorrow and remorse while narrating the story of his dead brother’s life- the one he wished he had lived. William “Will” Edwards had perished in a car crash at the tender age of 11 leaving the pages of his life’s book blank. His twin brother James always had wondered about how Will’s life would have been if he had survived the crash. So, every day he narrates this story to his 4-year-old son William, the one version which he created in his mind. He wanted Will’s last memories to be filled with adventures that would fill the “Unturned Pages” of the book that he never completed.