Written By: Mia Fernandez

Preface

As a small boy, Ukasas Beddings was hated by his twin brother, Yuricho. Yuricho thought he was better and would grow up to be more successful than Ukasas. Ukasas has grown to hate him back, but wishes they would not fight as they do. It is hard for him as a boy because of Yuricho. But his father helps him. That is, his step father Chris. His father left when he heard his wife was pregnant with twins. Ukasas believes that Chris is his real father because his mother has never told him that Chris was not his father. Now that he has a baby brother, Arochieyy, he must try to keep the fact that Yuricho and himself have very strong hatred for one another. Ukasas doesn't know that Arochieyy knows about their hatred. So now that there is another newborn baby brother coming along, Arochieyy must try his hardest to keep it away from his baby brother Lighe.

Chapter One

Ukasas

As I ran to my house from gathering fire wood for warmth, I heard a screech so I ran faster and made my legs work harder and when I arrived I had realized that it was time. We knew it was soon but not this soon. Lighe was now scheduled to arrive into our beloved planet, Earth. "Is it time?" I asked. "Yes. Your mother is in labor now," said my uncle Rhichisk. " Ukasas? Is that you?" asked Chris. "Yes," I answered. "Your mother wants you."

I ran to the bedroom my mother was in. When she saw me I could see that she calmed down and the pain of birth melted away by the expression on her face. " Son. I need to ask a favor of you," she tried to say in a calm manner. "Yes. No problem." "Okay. I need you to swear if you say you will do this. If I don't make it I need you to do something. And I am saying if, I don't make it. I need you to raise Arochieyy, Lighe, and yourself if something may happen to your father. Can you do that?" she asked. "Mom, I have faith that you will make it. But if you don't I promise to you I will." "Thank you," and then he had arrived in that moment she said "you". A new baby boy had arrived and a wonderful woman had left us. Our new Lighe's birthday was September 23, 2003. Our beloved woman death anniversary was set at September 23, 2003 as well.

The village was now filled with excitement and mourning at the same time. The people of the village were planning a gathering for the newborn Lighe, but a funeral for the beloved mother of Yuricho, Ukasas, Arochieyy, and the newborn Lighe and a very loving and loved woman named Lulu Beddings. The date was set for both only a short amount of days later. They were to be on the same day.

The day of both gatherings…

First everyone got together for the funeral. The priest of the village was setting up as we saw something we thought we wouldn't see in a million years. After two years when Ukasas and Yuricho were both 15, Yuricho had come to his mother's funeral. "Dad, look who came," I told him. He looked and he saw something he didn't expect. Yuricho had ran away to find a life he wanted without me in it. "Well, nice of you to stop by," he said sarcastically. "Look. I just came back because I heard about her. You'd be surprised how fast news travels in the forest," he replied. "How do you think you are welcome here after two years? Two years your mother wanted you to be home safe with us. Two years that you broke the heart of the one who gave birth to. Tell me how you think you are welcome," he said angrily. "I know how much I hurt her but I didn't want Arochieyy to be grown into the hatred that Ukasas and I had for each other." And then I stopped and thought to myself. He said "had for each other". "Are you saying that you don't hate me anymore?" I asked calmly. "Well. I think there was no reason for us to have a relationship based on hate. Why waste years fighting and just being hated as well," he told me,"and I know you wished I didn't hate you. So, will you forgive me for my foolish behavior?" "Well. Sure," I answered. So as we finished our conversation the funeral started. Yuricho sat next to me, I sat next to my father, my father was holding Lighe in his arms, and Arochieyy was beside him, staring so deeply at Lighe. My aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and grandparents had come to the gathering. They were happy to see us after the time from there last visit during my birthday in March. But, only my uncle Rhichisk stayed. He stayed here to live with us since he never saw us. But now he has a small cottage of his own in the village. The priest started us of with a normal gathering announcement. "We are gathered here today to honor our beloved Lulu Beddings. Through harsh and rough times, she was able to raise and support her family and herself with her faithful husband Chris Beddings." Then Chris rose from his seat like any respectful person to be acknowledged for his faith. "Would anyone like to say a few words about our Lulu?" the priest asked all. And of course I rose from my seat and said, "I would like to say a few things, sir." I walked to the podium on the stage where we have all of our gatherings here in the village and started to speak of the wonderful things she had done for me and my brothers. "As I stood there watching my mother die and my baby brother Lighe be brought to this planet we call Earth, I thought to myself, please god, please let my mother have my baby brother and be as healthy as ever afterwards. As I stood there, I thought of the way she had cared for me through the time Yuricho and I would fight, she would work as hard as possible just so she could provide for us the things we need, food, shelter, and clothing. So let us say this:

Mother and faithful friend, we stand here to honor you and your faith in us all and to make sure you know how much we, the people you cared for, love and respect you. May you rest in peace," I said to the crowd and my mother." Thank you for sharing those amazing words of wisdom," The priest said," Would anyone else like to say something?" My aunt Garathenia had rose in silence. She always moved in such a quite manner. I never got it. Oh well. She walked up to the podium just as I did, but more gracefully. As she started to speak something caught my eye. When she was walking up to the podium I caught a glimpse of her stomach. It look a little like a bubble or perfect half of a blown up inflatable, rubber ball. Wow! I can't believe it. She's either bloated or pregnant. I doubt it's bloated so I have to settle for pregnant. Or maybe she just had a giant meal and is still digesting. Or maybe she's just fat. When I realized just how rude I was being by trying to decide if she's pregnant or not, I snapped out of it and realized that Garathenia was still reading her long scroll of words. I decided to think about some important things. When I started thinking my dad started to realize I was pretty much daydreaming and tried to awake me and realized I was asleep but not daydreaming. It took me a minute to realize I was asleep. After a minute or two I awoke myself. We were now able to get up and walk by my mother in her casket. They left the top half open so we could see her face in person one last time. Now that some people have said some things about my mother and we all have seen her face, we will watch the men of the village put her down in her hole peacefully and put her tombstone in place at the cemetery.

Now that they have set up for the party for Lighe, everyone has given there gifts to Chris and have blessed the newborn. We have scheduled a formal dinner with, turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, corn on the cob, rice, and many more. At the beginning, my father asked if anyone would like to make a toast. And as a big brother I rose and said,"I would like to speak proudly of my baby brother Lighe." I stood and held my wine glass up above my head, although it wasn't filled with wine unless people consider grape pop wine, and started to speak," Although I lost my one and only mother to Lighe, he is a very handsome and amazing young fellow whom I will always love and cherish. So join me in a prayer for this young son of Chris and Lulu Beddings:

Dear God,

Please bless this son. He deserves a life ahead of him, experience, and mystery. So take this as a favor. We love him and will love him for ever. Bless his soul.

Amen

And here I say bless you Lighe Blake Beddings." I sat down and gave my father the floor again. "Thank you for those blessing words going towards Lighe. Would anyone like to say something more? I think Ukasas covered most of it but did anyone find something else to say from the heart to Lighe Blake?" My father asked once more. "I do have much to say," my brother Arochieyy said in a soft voice, "May I speak of these words I have to say?" "Of course my son," my father replied. My brother started to speak, "As a big brother I swear to you Lighe Blake Beddings, that I will always be there by your side no matter where or when. You have given me a gift I can never even match up to. You made me a big brother to you. And for that I will treasure this moment forever. Bless your soul." There was a pause for a long period of time. And then I heard someone clap. I looked around the table and saw everyone else looking too. I looked at the door and saw a man. He was ratty and had holes in his shoes, shirt, and the knees of his pants. Chris's face got an angry expression on his face he started to yell, "What the hill are you doing here?! You don't have any right to be here!" the man started to speak, "I know I have every right to be here Chris. But you're just mad that I left her when they were coming. It was eighteen years ago. Can't you get past anything?" There was a long silence. And then the man came up to me and Yuricho. "Well are they these the fine young boys? I think I have a right to know," the man said. "I'm not telling you anything! I think that they don't need you! They have me and I know I'm man enough to stick around! Unlike you Joseph!" my dad yelled back. As they were fighting the man left our side so me and Yuricho fled the room and locked ourselves in my room. We could still here the yelling. We had taken baby Lighe with us so he doesn't start crying. Lighe had eventually fallen asleep. After a while it calmed down. And we could tell because there was complete and total silence. We put Lighe in his new crib he got as a gift. He would sleep in our room because our room is meant as a four person bedroom. So we put him away and continued to the door. We tried to open the door silently but the door squealed as we opened it slowly. We closed it quickly. We walked to Chris and asked him who that man was. He said it was just an old acquaintance of our mother. "Excuse us sir, but would you tell us who you are?" we asked the man. "I am your father," he answered. No. He is," we said pointing to Chris. "He's your stepfather Ukasas Hina Beddings and Yuricho Yieghh Beddings," he told us. Yuricho and I stared at each other in awe.

Later that evening, we went up to talk to Chris. "Dad. We need to talk! Or should I call you STEP-DAD?" we said to him. "Boys, where is this coming from? Why did you just yell at me?" he asked us. "We know everything. And we mean everything. We know that guy is our father and we know that you are our stepdad."

"What! You're listening to him."

"Yes we are."

"Then you got plenty of lies from him. I have your birth certificate! It says I am your father! Biological father."

"Oh. Sorry Dad. We've never had even a peek at our birth certificates." We went to the man and told him that our birth certificates have proof that he's not our father.

"Oh, yeah. You're gonna believe a piece of paper? I'm your father. I left your mother when i found out that she was pregnant. I knew it would be best. Look how you boys have turned out. You look great!" he said to us.

"How do we kn-" I started to say something but the man cut me off.

"Why would Chris burst like that in the middle of young Lighe's baby shower. He would need quite an excuse to do that in the middle of such an important day," he said to Yuricho and I.

"We'll be right back," I said. I walked back over to Chris with Yuricho following me, "Chris! That man over there just made a point. You wouldn't burst out like that in the middle of Lighe's babby shower unless it was something major. The only thing you would do something like that was for something as big as that man leaving our mother when she was pregnant with us!"

"Damn," I heard him whisper in a low voice.

"What was that for? Is that man our father or not, Chris! We have the right to know! We're practically adults!" we both said.

"Okay. Boys, yes he is your father but not more of a father then me. I've raised you. He never even held you boys in his arms. He has no rights to you boys! He's just a screw up! He could never take care of you. He made a big mistake letting you and you mother away."

"Thank you," we said as we started to walk towards our 'father'.

"We know that you're our father but you didn't have the guts to stay around and take care ok you own 'children'. To us that's crime. You have no right to us and I don't know about Yuricho, but I'm not letting you in my life because I know 17 years ago, you didn't want me in yours," I said calmly.

"Ukasas is right. If you didn't want us then, why would you want us know. There is no reason for you here. You can leave now," Yuricho said as we started to walk away with pride.