Reincarnation

The doorbell rang and my mom went to open the door. They shook hands and she let him in. She asked if he was thirsty or hungry but he said that he was fine. Then he walked into the room and put his hand out to me.
“Hello, I am Mr. Heck. Your new tutor,” he told me. I took his hand into my hand and shook it.
“Alice,” I told him.


I never met my brother. My mother rarely talked about him and if she did, she looked like she was about to cry. Because my brother was not just anyone. He was the Pharaoh of Egypt. I knew he became pharaoh before I was born and he was taken away from home and raised by priest and advisors. After my mother died, I had nowhere to go except the palace.
Two guards walked with me into the throne room and I went to the center of the room and got on my hands and knees.
“Akra, sister of the Pharaoh,” said a man. I looked up to the throne and that was when I first met my brother. Pharaoh Akem.


“Did you do your homework?” asked my tutor and I showed him my work. He flipped through them and wrote some things down in red ink.
“You mix up your tenses,” he said and I just watch him grade. He hands back my homework and I look at the correction.
“You need to read this book for the course,” and I held the book in my hand. It was red and white with a horse on the front cover.
“Catcher in the Rye?”
“Yes”
“What is it about?”
“A boy name Holden,” and I opened the book and flipped through the pages. I never liked reading but I knew I had to get it done. Then my tutor looked at the room and noticed a pile of papers near the printer.
“Your mom’s work?”
“No, mine. I write short stories,” which was true. I just did not like to read.
“Can I look through them?”
“Sure,” I said and he got up and read one page to the next.
“These are amazing!”
“Thank you,”

I spent my time in the palace surrounded by guards and servants. I have not seen my brother since the throne room incident. I was wondering if I would ever see him again. I had been living in the palace for three weeks and I felt very lonely. I missed my mother and my father died before my birth. Back at my old house I had friends and I was missing them. But they could not visit because they lived too far away.
During one of my lonely periods I decided to go to the garden. A guard and a few servants followed me. To my amazement, I saw him. The Pharaoh. I stood far away from him because even though he was my brother, he was a total stranger to me. I sat on a bench on the opposite side and watch the flowers blow with the breeze. After awhile the Pharaoh looked in my direction and our eyes met. Then he got up and walked out of the garden. Once he was gone, I started to cry.


“Did you write your essay on Holden?” I got out my folder and handed to Mr. Heck. Again, he fixed my tenses. I hated my tenses because it sounded right to me but to everyone else it was wrong.
“I liked your essay,”
“Thanks. Can I ask you a question?”
“Why did you become a teacher?”
“I wanted to be a writer, but my advisor in college told me I could not live off of being a writer. So he asked me if I ever consider teaching. That’s how,”
“I remember a bit about school. I had a difficult time with reading, writing, and learning math,”
“I know,”
“They said I was stupid. So that was when I decided I wanted to be a teacher,”
“Why?”
“Because then I could save those who are hurt,”
“You can’t save all of them,”
“But if you try to save one, isn’t that all that matters?” when I said that he looked down and smiled and then looked back at me.
“You’re right,”


One night I snuck out to go to the garden by myself. The servants were gone and the guards were outside my door. I got out through my window and secretly went to the garden to think. Once I got there, I sat down and looked up at the sky. I was praying to the Gods to take of my mother and watch over me. I also prayed that I would make a friend.
“Hello,” said a voice and I turned around to see the Pharaoh. I quickly got up and bowed.
“You may raise your head,” he told me and I did. I looked around and became surprised.
“Where are your servants and guards, Pharaoh? You should have them around for protection, oh Great One,” I said without looking at him.
“You look like her,” he said.
“Who, Great Pharaoh?”
“Mother,” I was speechless. I stood still and could not speak. Being around the Pharaoh was like having a snake around your throat. Ready to kill because this man was not just a man, he was a living God.
“Sit down next to me,” he said and I did what I was told.
“Why are you here?”
“Because I no one would take me, oh Great One”
“No. I mean, why are you in the garden. It’s late. You should be asleep,”
“I like it here because it takes away my pain. It’s hard to explain, Great Pharaoh,”
“Stop calling me that,”
“What?”
“Great Pharaoh and oh Great One. If I am a living God then you are a living God as well,”
“I do not understand,”
“We come from the same parents, correct?”
“Yes,”
“Then we are both Gods,”
“I guess, but you are the Pharaoh. I have no rule over Egypt. There can only be one living God ruling Egypt,”
“Yes, but who is to say that a female can not be a God as well? Tomorrow I will proclaim you as a living being of Iris and successor to the throne until my first born son,” and the next day, he did just that.
“Akra,” he said, “call me Akem or brother. We shall never be alone again,”


Every day I looked forward to Mr. Heck’s visit to teach me. His teaching style was unique and different from my other tutors. Despite my mistakes, he told me that it was very good and that if I kept practicing I could get better. I saw improvements in my writing and I started to write and type more then ever. Mr. Heck was saving me from loneliness and sadness. But eventually June came.
“This is our last day,” he said.
“Yeah. What are we doing?”
“Nothing. I just came to say good-bye,”
“Thank you,”
“For what?”
“Teaching me. If I become a teacher, I will pass on your teachings. You taught me that despite my difficulties I can still do with a lot of work,” He smiled but also looked embarrassed.
“I have something for you,” he told me. He put his hand in his briefcase and took out a book.
“The Catcher in the Rye. I know you liked it,” I smiled at him and took the book. Yes, this book became my favorite book because it taught me that anything can happen. Before Mr. Heck was out the door, I said one more thing.
“Mr. Heck. You are the Catcher in the Rye,”


It was true. Akem and I were no longer lonely and spent a lot of time together. We spent times playing games, eating together, and sitting in the garden. We were happy and the whole kingdom loved us and viewed us as the living Gods of Ra and Iris. While Akem sits on the throne, I sit next to him, although I never get a say in anything. But something that is happy seems to always end.
A war broke out in Lower Egypt and Akem had to go and fix it with his army. He was to lead the army into a great battle.
“Brother, be safe,” I told him.
“Dearest sister, I will return to thee,”
“Promise?”
“Promise,”
“I love you,” and I gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“I love you too,” and he was off.


During the summer the disease got worse. I was in bed coughing with a fever almost every day and night. All I could do was look out my window and watch the children play on the sidewalk. The disease came back without any notice. I was supposed to live for another twenty or so years. But the doctors did not predict this.
By the middle of July I was put in the hospital. The only visitors I had were my mother, grandmother, aunt, cousin, and a few family members from outside the area. I had many gifts and get-well cards. Whenever I felt lonely I read my Catcher in the Rye book. It made me forget that I was sick or in the hospital. There were times I pretended that I was with Holden in the city and in the museum. Then one night the fever was too much.

I waited for my brother to return and I heard nothing for days. My guards and servants kept quiet. Eventually the army returned and a messenger came to me in the throne room.
“Where’s my brother?”
“We succeed in defeating the rebels in the Lower kingdom,”
“Where’s my brother,”
“We have succeeded,”
“Where-is-my-brother,” and the room became quiet.
“The Pharaoh died in battle. I am sorry, Great Pharaoh,” and he bowed to me. I was alone, again and I cried at my brother’s burial. Although I became Pharaoh of Egypt and should be proud to rule such a great kingdom, I was very sad. Because I had no one to share this with and my loneliness grew worse. At my brother’s tomb, I made a promise.
“I promise you, we will be together again in the next life,”

I went to the wake and saw the body in the casket. Her mother was sobbing in another room over the lost of her only child. Family members and a few tutors were there to say good-bye. There were pictures everywhere of the child and one thing that caught my eye was next to the casket. The Catcher in the Rye. I paid my respects and left the building. I could not bear to attend to the funeral at the Church or to the gravesite.
“I promise you,” I told her, “I will save them all,”