The 44 Steps

By Patrick G.K.

THE 44 STEPS

“Flair will get you a friend; your best interest, a partner.
Happy will be he who has a brother.”Schiller

Two identical sisters! Both were born and raised in a small village during the 1930’s where social issues, taboos, and a person’s lifestyle were nothing to kid about. It was a time and place where one had to be really careful of his or her actions so as not to become an outcast.

The two sisters may have looked identical but their lifestyles and actions showed no proof that they were sisters. Each sister lived the life that she desired. Each life had its consequences. Each consequence had a heavy price to pay. Who or what determines the outcome of our desires? Do we really have a choice in life or does life take us where it wants us to be?

This book illustrates a social drama which is engulfed by the social principles of a small community. It is full of suspense, social issues, love, family secrets, betrayal and forgiveness. The fight between good and evil is seen through the eyes of a simpler time. It is a book that takes you back in time, simultaneously exposing topics that are still argued today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patrick G.K.
• Release date: Aug 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301439676

Book preview

The 44 Steps

By Patrick G. K.

Copyright 2013 CREATIVE PEN Eds.

www.creativepen.gr

Smashwords Edition

Author: Patrick G. K.

Translation: George Sinatsakis, Konstantinos Tsares

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, film adaptation, TV and radio broadcasting or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

P A R T I

It was a dark, gloomy night. The wind was hot and humid. The black clouds overwhelmed the sky and the moon that once shone brightly has now nothing to show except its dull, blurry light. The loud barking of the dogs disturbed the peace and serenity of the village.

It didn’t take long for the storm to break out. The dark clouds seemed as if they were bouncing off of each other. The loud thunder which sounded like a hungry lion’s roar shook the entire universe while down on earth, within the village, the rain dropped like tears covering everything in sight. The rain dropped heavily hitting the forests, the fields, the village itself, even the roof of the only house that sparkled with a gleam of light shining from its window.

Within this house with the semi-closed window shutters, Marina who was wearing a red flannel gown was sitting on her bed in her dimly lighted bedroom. She was very sceptically staring at her twin sister who was sleeping right next to her. They were identical twins and Marina loved her sister Mary very much. Marina reprimanded Mary many times not because she was older—moreover, they were both born on the same day—but because of Mary’s inappropriate conduct which was not only unsuitable for an eighteen year old young lady but was also frowned upon both by the village and the city people. Marina had tried for a long time to reform Mary without any success. No matter how hard Marina tried to talk to Mary and help her change her ways, Mary would not comply and all of Marina’s efforts were lost. It was then that Marina had a thought that made her feel both sad and ashamed: Mary is just like her mother!

Marina’s feelings towards her mother were justified. Her mother died when the twins were seven years old. Before she married the twins’ father, Marina’s mother lived a life of sin in Athens. When their father was young and came to Athens for the first time and met their mother, he wanted to marry her possibly because he fell in love with her or that he felt sorry for her. He brought her to the village where the wedding took place even though friends and relatives were against the wedding. The town folk did not exactly welcome this union which they believed to be a shame and an embarrassment to the entire village. Their father’s sister, Ms. Kalliopi did not attend the wedding nor did she speak to either of the two. She was so embarrassed of this shame that was brought upon the family that she did not even want look at them.

Ms. Kalliopi was not an educated woman but she was quite smart. She was a mellow, ripe woman, tall with a flat face, chubby cheeks, well bred, plump with an imposing poise and above all very reverent to God. She married when she was young but her husband died a year after the wedding. She never married again even though she had many offers. It was not until her brother’s wife’s death that she started speaking to her brother again. It was also then that she took in and cared for the twin girls. Her biggest fear was that the orphan twins do not find out about their mother’s sins. She was very afraid that when the girls grew up they would find out that their mother sold her own young body to any willing male buyer. Ms. Kalliopi was horrified just thinking about it. What if the twins find out one day? Then what? How would they describe their mother? What would they say if someone asked them how their mother had died? Why did she die so young? Nothing in this world stays a secret. Eventually, the truth will come out. For such a small world that we live in, we as people see so many things happening all around us—things that we are unaware of who else has seen their occurrence and what that curious person or people tend to do with this knowledge of information

As time went by and the twin girls grew into young ladies, they learned many things about their mother’s life, maybe more than their aunt would like for them to know. They also discovered something else that even their father might not have known. After their parents got married, their mother cheated on her husband with the town president, the teacher and lastly with her fake cousin who would visit them often from Athens.

The twins cried, turned red from the shame and avoided looking at people straight in the eyes for a long time. Marina was unable to stay at ease. She lived with this nightmare every moment of her life…a nightmare that was ringing words in her ears, You are the daughter of a woman scorned, a prostitute from the street. You may not even be your father’s daughter.

Having these thoughts, Marina suffered in her everyday life. She wished that she was never born—at least herself since her sister Mary, who was not at all concerned with her mother’s sins, lived her life without having these worries. Whenever Marina cried with sadness, Mary would very rudely tell her, Oh, stop your whining! It’s not the end of the world. Besides our mother was only human and it’s not as if she committed a crime. No matter what Mary told her, Marina always lived with the pain of her mother’s sins. However, the shameful life of her mother and the embarrassment that Marina felt did not stop her from visiting her mother’s grave often and decorating it with flowers. Marina always inquired how her mother died so suddenly and every time that she asked her aunt she would get either get a vague answer or no answer at all.

Her aunt’s secrecy made Marina more curious as to the sudden death of her mother. As the years went by, her curiosity kept growing stronger. Marina felt that Ms. Kalliopi was hiding the truth from her. What was the truth, anyway?

Marina believed that Ms. Kalliopi must be keeping this secret for a reason—a reason that is so mysterious and horrible such of which no one would dare to reveal in order to avoid outraging one’s self and his heart. Such an outrage would be provoked by an inexorable power derived from the darkest of forces. Marina understood this quite well.

A few months prior to this death, the twins’ father realized the mistake that he made. Thus, it was too late. He should have listened to his older sister Kalliopi, who when she first met the bride-to-be, said to him very agitated, "Our village has never been humiliated like this. You don’t have the right to embarrass our family’s name. It’s not like there aren’t any other girls in the village for you to marry. Or do you think that it is vital for you to get married at this time? You are still too young. You will have an unhappy and miserable marriage if you marry her. You will embarrass all of us, including your children. If this wedding takes place, I will never speak to you again. A person’s dignity and pureness are the two best things that one can have in this world and if one looses them, they can never be reclaimed again!

Nevertheless, the wedding took place. Then came the birth of the twin girls who were born a couple of months earlier than they should have, according to the date of the wedding. Their mother died when the girls were seven years old. Their father also died early—the day that the Greek-Italian war was declared.

Since their parents’ death, the twins lived with their aunt in the same house. Their father was well off and the fortune that they inherited made life financially easy for them. But things were about to get worse in Greece, the village, Mary. Greece had been conquered from one end to the other.

One morning a platoon of Italian soldiers arrived and settled in the village. It didn’t take long for Mary to get to know and befriend the Italian soldiers. She would stay with them and keep them company almost the entire day. Although she was only fifteen years old, Mary looked much older. She was tall and full figured with breasts overly mature for her age. She had beautiful black hair, half of which almost always covered her right cheek and the other half were nicely laid on her white neck. The crisp village breeze waved her hair in an irresistible way. Her strange, almond shaped eyes had quite the indefinite color of blue-green, symbolizing the colors of the sky and the ocean and gleaming with vigor showing the tenderness of one’s heart and at the same time one’s secret passions.

Marina had the same characteristics as her sister Mary. Only someone who knew them well and saw them often was in a position to distinguish the few, minor differences that existed between the two sisters. Marina was a serious, stable, determined and reserved young woman. She was also introspective and reverent to God just like her aunt Kalliopi. Marina was caged in her own world, within herself and the pureness that the people of the village possessed. She loved her sister Mary very much. When Marina’s parents died, her love for them, which she always acknowledged as her other half, grew intensely.

The people of the village viewed Mary’s relationships and