Identical Strangers: Once Upon An Empire

“Boom!!” The collision of the three cars sent flames going up the sky, with a few more cars running into them, the black Bugatti went flying over the bridge, following it was a BMW and screams could be heard going up in a crescendo. It wasn’t a lovely scene at all, alarms blaring, people running around in panic.

The birds who found comfort by the bridge rails all took off for their dear lives, people who were lucky to not get knocked over the rails jumped out of their cars and took to their heels.

Parents running off with their children, let’s just say it was yet another dramatic morning in Las Vegas.

** ** ** ** **

“Do you know that our ancestors could move their ears front or back just like cats?” Aria asked while gently stroking the silky hairs of her brown furry friend.

Rebecca furrowed her eyebrows; disbelief written all over her face. “That is a lie, I know where this is heading to and I want you to know ahead of time that I do not believe in human evolution,” she replied immediately and rolled her eyes from the opposite couch where she sat.

Aria chuckled as she had expected the reaction. Knowing Rebecca too well, she expected the doubt. Rebecca was very dubious; she needed proof for everything new that she heard. She was a very obstinate and inflexible person but however, Aria was in the mood for an argument today, if not for anything, just to keep her lonely-self busy.

“You have to believe it. Human evolution is real, our ancestors were much more like animals and many of the traits they possessed have been lost in evolution except for a few lucky genes. Humans used to be very hairy with longer nails and stronger Palmaris Longus Muscle that aided them in surviving in the wild. Pointy elf-like ears that are very movable,” she elaborated in persistence.

Rebecca groaned and shook her head adamantly in refusal, “Oh great, so now we didn’t evolve from apes but elves? I am not going to accept that my roots can be traced back to a damn monkey. As for the ears, what makes you think that the ears can move, how is that even possible? I haven’t seen someone move their ears since I was born and that was a very long time ago,” she argued.

Aria couldn’t help but chuckle, Rebecca was just twenty-five but she made it sound like she was fifty or something. Her exaggerations and unwavering stands in arguments were among the qualities Aria found intriguing about her.

“Well, around the human ears, there are Auricularis ear muscles that nowadays are mostly too weak to use. Our ancestors used those muscles to move ears back and forth in order to respond to the sounds in their surroundings, just like the cat does,” Rebecca said and kissed Silver on its forehead.

The cat mewed and jumped down from her body, probably bored by their conversation. It walked away from the sitting room and climbed up the stairs.

“Look sister in law, I know that your father is a Doctor and I respect that. I have no idea what these organs you mention are because I have never heard of them before, but I refuse to believe that I evolved from an animal and that is final.” Rebecca stated with her mind made up.

Aria burst into laughter and decided not to push any further. She was two years younger than Rebecca but they still hung around like they were age mates. Even at that, Aria knew when not to stop; her future sister in law had a very short fuse that could cut and unleash hell at any moment.

Just then there was a knock on the door and Rebecca, who had been eager to get up from the goddamn couch, stood up immediately. “I will get it,” she said and before Aria could object, she was already heading for the front door.

For some weird reason, she had Yoga pants on today, with a cardigan on top. Now this was just one of her crazy combinations, she could do worse on her good days. For a twenty-five years old lady, she had weird taste in cloth combos.

The Queen Empire which belonged to the Queen family had one of the largest and most glittering sitting rooms in the city. The chandelier hanging high above the ceiling illuminated blue and yellow lights in strong watts.

The well-polished floor was attractive to the eyes and the walls were painted in bright white color all through. The picture frames of the family ancestry hanging on the walls contributed to the creative décor and complimented the magnificent sitting room.

Rebecca got to the door and opened it, she wasn’t too surprised to see Policemen standing out there; it was nothing new for the Queen Empire as there was always a reason for the police to come over.

She believed that her elder brother Jimmy had probably messed up again as usual; he was always getting in trouble and the more the family got his ass out of trouble, the more he got into them; advising that young man was like chasing rainbows. Jimmy had only left the house just two hours ago and he was already in trouble, well he would just have to face the music.

“He is not around, but if you insist on searching the place, then you can as well do yourselves a favor.” Rebecca blurted out and pointed into the house while standing away from the door.

“Mr. James Queen is not around? Well, can we speak to any of his family members?” one of the two cops asked. His breath smelled of cigarettes and Rebecca was quick to notice, nothing went past her unnoticed.

The one who spoke was short and chubby with beards like one of the ancestors Aria would mention in her tales, or maybe a dwarf if that wasn’t too much of a compliment.

The other guy was much taller but it seemed like he was new to the job, probably an assistant or something. Rebecca thought he was cute but looked nervous like a fish out of water. Nah, a cat in a new environment sounds like a better reference; scared little cat!

Forget the silly descriptions Rebecca had come up with for them; she however seemed surprised to know that they were not here for her brother. If they wanted to see her father or any other family member, then it meant that something had gone wrong.

“My father? You want to see my father? Why? Is there a problem?” she asked curiously, her forehead creased.

The short cop sighed and pulled off his hat, “We are sorry to inform you that your brother had just been in a terrible road accident. There was a major accident at the city bridge and about two cars were knocked off the bridge into the river. Before we could get to the scene, all of the victims had been rushed to a nearby hospital and admitted without identification. 

But we had finally been able to pull out the cars from the river and one of the plate numbers, I believe, was registered under your brother’s name, and so we believe that he is one of the victims of the accident.” He announced in a rush of words.

Rebecca was left standing with jaws dropped and mouth agape; it was like she didn’t get them and she was still trying to understand what they just said.

“Um… are you alright, ma’am? You are Jimmy Queen’s sister, right?” The tall guy finally spoke.

That was when it hit her; they were talking about her brother. Jimmy had just been in an accident.

“Dad!! Mom!!” she screamed and ran into the sitting room, leaving the police men at the door with a confused reaction.

Rebecca’s scream had startled both Aria sitting on the couch and her brown cat sleeping on the stairs; they both jumped up and the cat fled to the first floor in panic.

“Becca,” Aria called as she fondly does. “What is wrong? Who was at the door?” she asked anxiously while staring towards the entrance of the sitting room. There was a small corridor that separated the sitting room from the main door; a sort of hallway that made it impossible to see the main door.

“Triple J has been in an accident!!” she announced immediately.

Aria’s phone dropped from her hand and her brows snapped together, she might not be fond of her fiancé and even though they had fought over something this morning, she would never wish something so horrible for him.

“What? An accident?” Susan stole the words right out of Aria’s mouth as she walked out from the corridor that led from the sitting room to her bedroom. She had rushed out after hearing her daughter scream and was just in time to hear Rebecca make the announcement.

“Yes, mother. The cops at the door just informed me of it, they said his car jumped off a bridge,” Rebecca replied.

Fear flashed through the old lady’s eyes as she heard that. “Oh my good lord, is my son okay? Is he injured?” she asked immediately in panic as she rushed towards the door to meet the cops who had not even been invited inside. Tears were already shimmering in her eyes.

Triple J was the only male child and heir of the Queen Empire, it would be a huge blow to the family if anything happens to him, and Susan hoped not. She would have nothing to live for if her twenty-eight years old son had been taken away from her!!

To be continued!!