Set Apart

(Found on Wikimedia Commons, representation of detail at end of story)

"You're so annoying, Ryan!" my brother Barry yelled at me as he stormed out of my room, storming out as dramatically as he possibly could. My other brother Luke walked by and just rolled his eyes. Brothers, right?

"His loss," I thought to myself, going back to reading my mythology textbook. All I asked was if he needed help on beating the level of that video game he'd been stuck on for weeks. Whatever.

My brothers had always been jealous of me, but I couldn't really blame them. My home life was kinda messed up, as my dad found himself as the father for the children of three different women. However, he did his best to love us all the same and treat us equally, making sure we were all a part of each other's lives. This didn't always work out though, and I often felt that I was favorited, but I couldn't help it. My father was very successful in his business of security management, and I was naturally good at the things he needed help with for his job. Who could blame him for liking me so much?

"Ryan, come see me please," my father called from his office.

I went to meet him, and when I walked in he looked at me very seriously.

My father pressed his hands together and looked out the window, obviously being disturbed by something out of his control.

"I'm getting old, son. It's no secret that the business is going down as I age. I need someone to take over for me before I pass," he shared.

He looked at me for a while before finally saying, "Ryan, even though you are young, you are my only son that I know is capable of taking the business farther than it's ever gone. I need you to be my successor."

"Are you sure, Dad? I mean, I would be honored, but aren't you going to get backlash for naming me as successor?"

Looking at me intently, he stated, "You are my only hope. And you have already proven yourself to be worthy. Remember when you saved our neighbor Vicky from that burglar? It's clear that you have strength and leadership, and that is a great foundation for what this business needs."

He was right. A month ago I was taking out the trash at night and saw our neighbor, Vicky, being attacked by some man as she got out of her car. I grabbed my old wooden baseball bat from the garage and immediately ran to help her. I charged after the attacker and knocked him out cold with one clean swing of my bat. I even hit him so hard it chipped my bat down the middle. That night changed everything for me.

"Okay, Dad, you're right," I agreed. "When do I start?"

"Tomorrow afternoon, so enjoy your last night of freedom." And with that, my dad shooed me out of his office and I went back to my room.

I couldn't stop thinking about that night he talked about - when I helped Vicky. That was also the night I met Sarah, who genuinely was the love of my life. After I saved Vicky, I saw Sarah across the street, as she was on the phone with the police to report the attack. She approached me after the police came and finished all the reports, saying that I performed the most heroic act she had ever seen.

From that moment on, we connected on anything and everything, and she became my girlfriend. Ever since we got together, our love for each other has been electric, and maybe taking over the business would only make us stronger.

"A whole business, all to myself," I thought aloud as I lay in my bed. In twenty-four hours, life as I knew it would completely change.

I woke up that next morning trying to contain all the crazy thoughts running through my head so I could be calm and collected, but that just welcomed in the storm even more. Apparently overnight, my spoiled rotten brother Barry took my place as successor. His mother convinced my father that I wasn't fit for the job because I was so young, and even said that I had an attitude problem. Yeah, right.

And, on top of this, she said that in order for Barry to be most successful, I needed to move out of the house and learn to be independent. My father disagreed heavily, but supposedly he made a promise to her years back and she finally cashed it in. I didn't care though, truly. If they felt strongly enough about me to go against me like that, I was better off without them. They wanted me to move out of the house? No problem. And I wouldn't let the door hit me on the way out.

I refused to pack anything to bring with me to prove I was more independent than they gave me credit for. All I needed was some clothing and Sarah, and we left home that day. As we left, my other brother Luke chased after us and asked to come with us. He didn't want to work in the family business if Barry was the successor, and he figured he would have more fun in exile with us.

Exile didn't last long though, as Barry found our hiding place that next day.

"What do you want from us, Barry?" I questioned as I saw him walking to us from his Mercedes.

"Dad is dead," he said bluntly. "I can't take care of the business on my own. I need you to come back."

"What's in it for me?"

To this, Barry threw the keys for the Mercedes at me. "That's what's in it for you. You come back, and the business and all its benefits are yours."

I just looked at Barry for a minute, and then back to Sarah and Luke. Life in exile had become so simple, I didn't know if I wanted to go back to reality just yet.

Author's Note: I wrote my story based off of "Ramayana" in Indian Myth and Legend (1913) by Donald A. McKenzie. Due to length, I only re wrote the first half of the story because the original is very detailed and in depth. In the original, the main character's name is Rama, and he is the son of the king of their land and has three brothers from two other woman that aren't his mom. I modernized this and changed the father from being a king to a business owner in the security industry, as in the original he is known for his protection over his land. Rama was on a journey one day with the sage Viswamithra when they were attacked, and Rama killed off the evil demon. I rewrote that part in my story as Ryan saving their neighbor Vicky. And I included the bat detail because in the original, after Rama saved the sage, he was instructed to restring a bow from the gods in which he was successful and cracked the bow. I wanted to include this detail because in the original that was a very key part of Rama's story of strength. I just combined those two parts of the stories for length purposes. Along with this, in the original Rama sees Sita after saving the sage and immediately falls in love with her, much like in my story with Ryan and Sara. Then, Rama was named successor when he returned home because his father was old, which I replicated in my story. The throne was taken from Rama, though, because his brother's mother convinced the king that Rama was a scoundrel and wouldn't be successful, and she used two boons that the king had promised to her earlier. I kept that pretty similar in my story. And the ending, where Barry goes to find Ryan in hopes of winning him back is how the original first half of the story ended.