Abraham’s Reign
Now Abraham was finally the king. He was given the king’s crown but he refused to wear it openly in public, unlike his brothers. He was forty two when he took over.

He had plenty of work to do. His elder brothers had left the state polluted with trash, and now it was his job to clean the entire state. His pure intentions towards the island were not known to anybody. Although I knew he would do something revolutionary.

The very first day when Abraham became the king, he went towards the closet of his room. His wife Courtney was in the same room and she asked him:

“What are you looking for?”

Abraham took out a huge bundle of pages from inside the closet and said:

“I won’t sleep tonight. I have to make some plans”

“You were reading these few days back as well. What are these?”

“My plans. What I need to do in these two years, is written down here”

“Oh”

“My dear please go and sleep. I will sit in another room, and I won’t sleep. Just go, please”

“Ok”

One hour later, as Abraham had assembled all the pages together, he talked to himself quite loudly. I was standing behind him and I could listen to him speak:

“I need to make instant decisions this week. I cannot delay what my brothers had…justice”

He held a pencil in his hand and blank white paper. He wrote something on it, I walked ahead to see what exactly he was writing. As I got closer, I saw that he had written:

“A revolution with no bloodshed is needed”

The first week of Abraham’s reign was beyond what anyone could have expected, including me. This week was a really fast moving one as instant moves really shocked everyone. Majority of the people were happy but influential citizens were very upset and angry.

Abraham in the first two days reopened all the previous pending and dismissed trials. A long list of cases was released and all the newspapers published this. I saw delightfulness in the faces of people with my own eyes, and this really gave me hope.

Abraham released his economic strategy on the third day which made everyone happy as it sounded convincing. He had increased the export of stuff that he knew was very much in demand. Inflation and taxation were reduced drastically, but I personally did not agree with this decision.

The syllabus of school was redefined within one day and it was changed almost completely. Subjects with trickery were replaced and the core subjects were also revised. I don’t know about myself but the general public was very satisfied with this.

The roads and public places that were destroyed during the previous times were also supposed to reconstructed again as Abraham personally gave contracts to experienced builders. New buildings were not meant to be constructed immediately as Abraham believed in saving money.

The decision of sixth day of the week was something indescribable. All of his brothers who were appointed as governors were not replaced but asked to resign from their posts. This enraged Austin and Thomas but Jacob convinced them to obey the orders of the current king. This gave birth to a fire of vengeance in Austin.

Abraham could not rely on anyone so he appointed himself as the governor of every post required. It was hectic but Abraham was a man of courage. I remember he used to stay up all night and work. This also affected his marriage life, but his integrity was priceless for him.

The second week was spent in implementation of some orders. Since Abraham monitored everything under his own supervision, therefore nobody dared to do corruption; or else they knew they would lose their jobs.

Within one month, all the trials were resolved. Why? Because Abraham had a strong decision making power. He was a man of vision. His vision was to see his state clean and stainless. Obstacles and hurdles never stopped him from anything.

The first case that was resolved was Silver’s case, the guy who ruthlessly killed a defensive mother of two kids. The words heard in the court that made everyone happy were:

“Silver is sentenced to death”

There was an air of excitement at Prestige Land for an entire week, once Silver was punished. However, Austin was more than just angry on this.

Then after few days, the case of library was finally concluded. The irresponsible staff that was responsible for the fire was not just terminated from the job, but they were sentenced for twenty years’ imprisonment.

Likewise, the ones responsible for circus event were also punished for five years imprisonment. But all kinds of circuses and stage theatres were banned and Abraham labeled them as ‘Waste of Time and Effort’. Many disliked it, but majority were happy about it.

The case of angry mob who killed the palmist was kept on hold by Abraham as he believed that it required more evidences.

One day Abraham was put on test, by fate. I believed that he was going to back out, because after all he was a human. But I’m glad to say that I was wrong.

Abraham’s brother in law committed a theft. He was caught publicly and there were more than twenty people who witnessed his crime. The police did their job of arresting him, but the general public was raising a question that would Abraham be as honest and fair as he had been before.

Courtney was quite worried but she had faith in her husband that he wouldn’t break her heart by punishing her brother. Thomas and Frederick were convincing Courtney to talk to her husband or else he might destroy the family reputation.

Despite differences of opinion among family members and general public, Abraham gave his final verdict as per stated in the constitution:

“The convict has proved to be guilty therefore he has to return the stolen amount and shall be imprisoned for two years”

Only this news needed to be spread in the state, and when it did, people believed that now there will be justice. There was hope now and absolute hope. The truth was prevailing and people admired the honesty of their new king to such an extent that they started planning secretly against the future king.

The day Courtney’s brother was sentenced, she met Abraham during the night and asked:

“How could you do this to us?”

“Like I told you before, I am the slave of the state’s law. When it comes to justice, I simply cannot see anything”

“Abraham, this is too much. You have to take your sentence back or else we might have to end this marriage”

“I wouldn’t recommend but if you want then we can get divorced”

Yes, this was Abraham. He did not care about his family life. His wife left him forever, not getting an official divorce. But Abraham was firm with his rules.

When this news spread among the citizens, the concerned people were upset for him but they encouraged his deed of staying with the truth.

This man was the hero of everyone. Although there were some who disliked him but their opinion did not matter.

One day I left my house in a disguise as a news reporter and collected public opinion about the new king, although six months had passed. I asked people:

“What is your opinion about the new King Abraham?”

This was my question and the general public was answering it with their utmost interest. The comments that I can recall are:

“Long live King Abraham”

“No kingdom like Abraham’s kingdom”

“Abraham is not the king of Prestige Land, he is the king of everyone’s heart”

“If honesty and discipline have a second name, it is Abraham”

“Abraham is the name of peaceful revolution”

“This state has finally gotten what it deserves and that is justice”

“Someday Prestige Land would be among the top developed countries”

I wish I could have published this in some newspaper but I couldn’t. However, the genuine news reporters had actually published the comments and it was quite enough.

Inside the castle, I saw Austin angrily tearing away the newspaper that had published positive comments about Abraham’s kingdom.

This can’t be happening. I heard him say. Abraham cannot be better than me. I cannot let people like him or else I won’t get power again.

“Say it louder so I can hear you” I taunted.

Austin looked at me and realized that I had heard everything he just said. He gave an expression of getting irritated and asked:

“What do you want?”

“I want you to be happy for your brother. He has restored your family’s reputation”

“Are you out of your mind, old man? This dog has spoiled everyone’s reputation except for his own”

“Watch your language Austin. This is no way to talk”

“You know what? Just go and leave me alone”

“I’m leaving but I’ll say something here, you have no guts to face the truth”

I left him, and while I was walking towards the exit I heard him screaming with anger.

Several months later during the second year of Abraham’s reign, Austin secretly called a meeting of brothers in the meeting room. They all were there except for Abraham. I wasn’t there, but I was told about what happened in this meeting.

Austin was leading this meeting and he opened with this statement:

“We have to do something about Abraham”

“I agree” Thomas added.

“He is trying to step ahead of us. He is doing what we never did, also what our father never did”

“I however think that we should not get hasty. Less than eight months are left. After this, his time will be over. Frederick will take over”

“No, absolutely not” Austin disagreed. “He needs to resign now. I want him to step down from the throne, we have to force him somehow”

“Austin!” Jacob spoke in between. “Don’t forget that Abraham never interfered in our matters. Whenever anyone of us made decisions…”

“…I don’t care” Austin interrupted.

“Let me complete first” Jacob warned him, “we all have been kings before, and nobody forced anyone to step down. Just let him spend the last few months, then his time will be over”

“I think he’s right” Frederick spoke regarding Jacob’s opinion.

“It’s not few months” Austin insisted. “And you know what else. We all are criminals. We all had done some sort of corruption. If Abraham finds out this stuff, he might get us behind the bars”

Jacob had no words now as he agreed with Austin on this.

The remaining few months were as good as the previous ones. There was no corruption in the government level as well as in the private sectors.