Prologue: Any Given Sunday Drive

The Rawsone Residence, 1782 Parkway, 4th and Rochester Drive, Wilmington Hills, Oregon 1962...

Laughter rang out as a five-year-old boy with a darkened complexion and dark brown eyes ran about the backyard of his home ignoring the previous warnings about getting his suit dirty before his parents carted him off to an unwanted dinner party with his father's overbearing colleagues. The young boy had managed to rid himself of his suit jacket and tie before venturing into the yard against his mother's wishes in the hopes of having a bit of fun before the long car ride. Despite his being out there only a few moments, he found himself in the company of a similar-looking young boy dressed in his suit jacket and tie that the happily playing boy had been missing.

"No fair Rian." said the fully dressed boy.

He'd been identical to the playing boy in all aspects, They were twin brothers of course with the same dark hair and eyes, but vastly different stances on how things worked in life.

"Go back inside, Lonnie." said the jacketless boy known as Rian.

"Mommy said you can't play out here we're about to leave." said the fully-dressed boy known as Lonnie."

"Quiet!" hissed Rian, in annoyance. "You always do this, can't spend time by yourself ever, you even follow me to the bathroom when you know you don't have to use it."

"I-I do not, Rian you are just being mean," said Lonnie narrowing his eyes at his elder brother.

Lonnie could hardly believe it when they told him, Rian was older than him by Fourteen minutes and he acted like it was fourteen years.

"And you are just being a pest." scoffed Rian as he too narrowed his dark eyes in his brother's direction. "You're a baby Lonnie...always have to copycat."

"Shut up, Rian," growled Lonnie. "I'm not a baby and you're being mean."

Rian rolled his eyes once more further annoyed by his younger twin's attempt to undermine his fun. He'd been locked up inside the house ever since school ended and now he wanted some time to himself.

"Leave me alone!" hissed Rian, attempting to distance himself and his brother, when the sliding door to the living room opened from the house.

"Boys!, What have I told you about coming outside and getting dirty before the party!?" bellowed what appeared to have been their father, Colin Rawson, who had been very stressed about the upcoming event and wanted very much to get it underway without further fuss.

Rian glared at his younger twin once more. He knew with his father's temperament punishment wasn't too far behind especially where he had been concerned. Colin Rawsone was a rather imposing man of average build aside from his towering height and sometimes cold dark-colored eyes. He slicked his hair back and wore a blue suit and tie with a white long-sleeve shirt and heavily polished black dress shoes. He often wore a silver watch that he checked as if due to compulsion as the hours passed in a bid to keep in time with his busy schedule.

His wife, Mildred Rawson, the beautiful slender blonde woman with piercing blue eyes, had spent most of her time isolated when not out and about pretending to have the perfect marriage and playing the role of the perfect wife and mother of two.

"Hadrian, what happened to your suit jacket and tie?" continued his father storming over to the older boy and pulling him by the arm through the open sliding glass door to the living room.

Having no choice, the older twin known as Hadrian followed his father as he muttered under his breath about their mother's incompetence and the total disrespect he endured as a result of his eldest twin son's disobedience.

Lonnie watched for a few moments before following behind, fear coursing through him about Rian getting the paddling of his young life due to his outside venture when they had something so important to focus on.

It didn't take long for Lonnie to be standing outside their bedroom door and the resounding smacks across the backside had hit their mark. Hadrian hated to be paddled. He got it more often than Lonnie had and still it did little to deter Rian from his rebellious streak now and again.

Colin emerged from his son's bedroom and ventured down the hall to find his wife. Lonnie entered the room to see a red-faced and very angry Rian fully dressed and wearing his tie just as his younger brother had.

"Rian?" he asked cautiously.

"What do you want?" growled an already upset Hadrian. "Is there ever a day you don't get me in trouble?"

Lonnie sighed. He had only wanted to be closer to his big brother and it was due to the shouting he heard from downstairs whenever his parents were in each other's orbit for very long. Most days, their father went on long business trips. Other times they were civil to one another if nothing else, but on days of importance, they were more inclined to disagree with one another constantly.

"Sorry Rian," said Lonnie with something of a saddened expression across his little face. "Mommy and Daddy were yelling and I got scared."

Rian sighed knowing all too well what his brother had been referring to, he had enough of it himself and it compelled him to seek peace outside despite the warnings and eventual condemnation for disobedience.

"Hadrian, Phelan, it's time to go!" shouted their father from the bottom of the stairs.

Not wishing to go another round with the paddle, Hadrian took the initiative to obey this time round and get the trip and party over with.

"Come on let's go before he comes looking for us," he said taking Lonnie by the hand.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The Family Car, Open Road...

Rian was silent as he attempted to look out his respective window only to see nothing, but the tops of trees due to his height disadvantage. He simply didn't have an interest in any of the people in the car at the moment and was still bitter about his recent paddling at the hands of his father, who was drinking quite a bit before they left the house. He could tell he'd been a bit out of sorts when he buckled them both in. The stench of whiskey on his breath as he glared at his elder twin son as if warning him not to "act out" at the party.

Lonnie had never been in any danger of this, as he was the "good boy", from the moment he was born he'd earned the sympathies and attention of the adults by sheer luck of being born second. His elder twin had been saddled with responsibility from day one which included, but was not limited to watching out for his baby brother.

Rian had hated parties and although he was much too young to know what the word pretentious meant he would have agreed with it if he could. Colin Rawsone's many friends and associates were all pretentious fools squeezing every last dollar they could muster from the clutches of the working class while having the nerve to complain about poverty being on the rise.

Up front, their parents continued their seemingly never-ending argument. Colin was so drunk that he had forgotten the directions and missed the exit, Mildred was so busy nagging him about both his drinking and missing the exit that neither of them noticed the speed at which the car was going nor the fact that they had slipped into oncoming traffic.

Terrified, Lonnie had wished to be closer to his elder brother. He reached for an embittered Rian's hand but was unable to grasp it. The increased speed of the car continued to terrify him and he quickly unbuckled his seat belt and grasped his elder brother's hand just in time to see him glare at him before the car suddenly struck an oncoming vehicle and veered off the road tumbling into a nearby ditch.

Shaken and terrified, Rian attempted to move but the wound on his forehead prevented much of an attempt. He still felt Lonnie's hand grasping his and held on just the same. A few moments passed before everything faded then returned as he found himself slipping in and out of consciousness. The only thing constant had been the pain, the white-hot unrelenting agony only tempered via the sensation of tightly gripping his baby brother's hand.

Unbeknownst to the semi-conscious boy, his younger twin had been killed on impact via a shard of glass from the windshield being impaled into his tiny chest. His cold dead hand grasped his brother which had been the only means of keeping him from flying out of the car altogether.

A series of stressed voices rang out and the cries of a mother filled Rian's ears as she and her husband stood by as medics dug the children out of the back of the wreckage. Colin had little to say as he watched an EMT attempt to reach the boys. There was a bit of blood coming from a gash on his head but he'd been unscathed. Mildred's tear-stained eyes remained on the car as she sought the safety of her boys.

"I've got one!" shouted the acting medic.

He daringly pulled the lifeless body of Phelan Rawsone from the back seat only for his mother to burst into further tears. Despite everyone's best efforts, he succumbed to his wound and no longer drew breath.

Waiting on bated breath, both parents watched in horror as their youngest son's lifeless body was filed into the ambulance. The second EMT managed to get an unconscious Hadrian out of the back treating him delicately due to the open wounds he suffered.

Mildred and Colin were informed that the boys were holding hands just as they were pulled from the wreckage a clear indication of turning to each other for comfort in their last moments together.

SEVERAL YEARS LATER.....