“Wow”

“What happened further was quite expected for me but unexpected for the brothers.

It was the last month of Abraham’s reign, he had to leave the king’s post and hand it over to Frederick as per their agreement. However, the citizens of the state refused this and came out in protests. They were standing outside the castle and refused to accept any king besides Abraham. Abraham gave a speech and tried to make them understand but no one wanted Frederick. The five brothers had another meeting then and they came up with the idea that Abraham would rule for one more year and then Frederick would for one. The citizens agreed. But what happened after the year passed? Frederick got disappeared, and on people’s choice Abraham was to be elected again. This infuriated Austin who held Abraham responsible for Frederick’s disappearance. So Abraham was locked in jail…”

“You know what? Stop here. This story is way too interesting, I want to hear it from the beginning but not briefly. I want everything in detail. I’ll send our team to you state and resolve the conflicts I promise. Start again, please”

“Franklin, the selfish king died leaving behind no will at all. The five brothers arranged a meeting and mutually came to a conclusion that each one of them would rule the state for two years one after another. The final king would be elected after the ten years. They had also made it clear that if any brother be that current king or future king would die unexpectedly, the entire agreement would nullify and a new one would be worked upon. The citizens of the state agreed but they did not want a king like Franklin.

Jacob’s Reign

Jacob was forty five years old when his reign began. He appointed Austin and Thomas as governors. Abraham was appointed as the military head and Frederick was what you can call, the minister of education.

This island was quite like a rural state. The modes of transportation were mostly horse carts but there were cars as well. Wealthy and influential people could afford them. The best mode of transportation that was affordable but not available on every spot was train transport.

The fuel that was consumed mostly was petrol, and also natural gas. Electricity was a part of the state, but it was available only for organizations. The modes of printing books were mostly typewriters. There was a proper schooling system that had ten standards. Then further eight years of education were subdivided into pre medical, pre engineering and commerce.

So far, the education ministers, health ministers and others were quite educated. But since Jacob became the king, he hired his own ministers and governors who were quite uneducated.

Let me tell you about Jacob, he was a greedy pleasure lover who loved spending time away from his wife and kids. He had a wife and two daughters, but he spent most of his time by the sea. But there was one thing about him, he used to listen to the voice of his conscience. Whenever he went ahead or crossed the limits of pleasure, his conscience forced him to give up what he might regret in future.

Austin and Thomas were in higher positions but they were also living a life of pleasure and no one dared to stop them. Among all the brothers, Thomas was the only one who wasn’t married. Even Frederick got married one month before his father’s death.

One evening at the castle, I entered inside the meeting room where our meetings were mostly conducted. I got really surprised when I saw Austin and Thomas playing cards while I was expecting them to be working. As they saw me, both of them stood up in respect. I asked them:

“What are you to doing?”

“Uncle Hart don’t worry” Austin spoke up immediately. “We’re just having a break, we’ve been working all morning”

I turned and looked at Austin’s wife, she shook her head as if Austin was lying.

“Your father was not a responsible man” I spoke to Austin, “but he worked hard to make this state what it wasn’t. Instead of playing all the time, you should work harder to make it even better”

“Sure Uncle Hart”

I turned and left the room. Austin stood up angrily that moment and walked towards his wife. He slapped her in front of his eighteen year old son. Everyone in the room got terrified.

“Next time” Austin spoke pointing his finger towards her, “next time you try to backstab me, I will bury you alive. You understand that?!”

Thomas came ahead and held Austin saying:

“Let it go Austin, let it go”

Austin’s son Brandon got quite upset and he tried to console his mother who was weeping silently.

I was standing outside and quite unethically I was listening to everything. I spoke to myself:

This guy will ruin the state for sure. He looked like a rebel to me since he was a child.

The first year of Jacob’s reign was a huge crash down of economy. A state that was already in the phase of recession declined down further. Jacob as we all know was a greedy person, so he raised the prices of stuff so that taxes could be increased.

He doubled the prices of all food items in the first month which was quite a shock. But then he tripled the prices in the second month. The citizens of the state were so upset but Jacob announced through Austin that it was a temporary thing.

The citizens had gathered outside the castle and they were simply requesting that this matter must be reconsidered. Ryan a brave young adult was leading this crowd. Austin however came outside and declared:

“Citizens of Prestigeland, this is a temporary thing. We promise you that everything will be resolved within few months. The prices will go back to their original values very soon. You have to cooperate with us”

Ryan believed in him and he waved to his crowd as if they must respect the king’s brother.

The crowd left peacefully not knowing that Austin and Jacob were simply lying.

Apart from inflation, the unemployment also increased with passage of time. More and more people were getting unemployed as organizations could not afford labors. This further led to poverty and homelessness.

One day while I was walking in the streets, I saw a woman crying. I overheard her conversation with her colleagues:

“I can’t believe they fired me. I have no husband but I have one son. I have no other resources”

This woman’s cry made me really upset and I said to myself:

This is probably just the beginning. May God forbid, but I think there will be plenty of similar cases in the near future.

Several months later one day, I was inside the meeting room of the castle. I was all alone, but the door opened. I looked up and saw Abraham making his way inside. He walked slowly towards me and I wrapped up what I was writing.

“Hello Uncle Hart” he greeted.

“I wasn’t expecting you. Anyways, have a seat”

He sat opposite to me and said:

“Uncle Hart, I am really upset. And I also know that you are upset”

“It is true. This was not what the citizens expected”

“My father should have left a will behind, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know how that would have made a difference. But he should have taught your brothers honesty and discipline. I’m sorry, but I have to say this”

“No, I know you are right. I agree with you”

“You know kid, there’s one thing you can do. You should roam around in the city. You will see how upset people are”

“As a matter of fact, I do. I do take weekly visits. And to be honest, I am not able to sleep comfortably”

“Exactly…” I agreed. “We are the people with power, and this is happening under us”

We both got silent for a long moment.

Few days later, Abraham was walking in the streets as usual. He was under a disguise but he was observing the life of people. He came across an interesting scene and stood still to observe what was happening.

An aged man was walking from shop to shop and was asking the shopkeepers to help him. It appeared as if nobody could. So Abraham went to one of the shopkeepers and asked:

“Can you tell me what that old man was asking for?”

“He is a father of some kids and he has recently gotten unemployed. He is asking us to help him but we ourselves are losing customers. We have nothing. We can’t even support ourselves, how can we support others”

Abraham turned and looked at that man and saw that he was sitting on his knees and he was crying.

Two days later, Abraham and I were seated on a horse cart and we were headed towards some place. We both saw that there was a crowd of people gathered around a tree inside the park.

“Let’s go and see” I suggested.

“Sure”

As we both rushed inside and made our way through the crowd, we saw that a man was hanging by the neck through branch of the tree. Abraham recognized him and uttered:

“Oh my God”

After a moment, he whispered in my ear:

“This is the man I told you about yesterday”

“Really?”

“Yes. I promised him that I would help him, but he said he didn’t trust anyone”

“Why?”

“He said plenty of people had already promised him but no one kept his promise”

“This is a tragedy Abraham. People are losing hope. We have to do something about it”

“There are things in the constitution that I have to respect, as they are a part of law. Or else I would have pushed Jacob from the seat of king by force”

That night, inside the castle, Abraham was walking towards Jacob’s room. He reached there and opened the door without even knocking. He saw that Jacob was lying relaxed on his bed and was eating fruits. Abraham called him out:

“Jacob!”

“What is it Abraham? Come inside and shut the door”

Abraham saw that Jacob’s wife was also there, so he said:

“I cannot come inside, but I want you to know that people are really upset in our state. They are dying because of us. We need to take care of this”

Jacob sat up and asked:

“Anything else?”

“No…But you need to give people what they are expecting. And that is justice”

Abraham turned and shut the door.

I was standing outside and I said to him: