The World We Made

Chapter 4

"Why do none of you believe in me?!" I screamed, tears pouring down my face. "I'm not crazy!"

"That's not it, Cassidy. It's just that this isn't the right thing to do. Can't you see that?" Bethany asked.

"Enough with the kindness, Bethany." Blake interrupted. "This isn't the first time she's refused to believe that she's wrong. This isn't even the first time she's used us to 'save her friends' without any regard to our safety."

My mouth gaped open but no audible words came out. I was speechless, my mind was racing to find evidence to fight back. But nothing came to mind. Was he right? Was I wrong? No, I couldn't be wrong. I was saving my friends, my family. How could this be wrong?

"You're saving your friends and family..." Blake began. "but you're killing mine in the process."

...

"You were all 5 minutes late!" the master shouted, his voice echoing through the mansion. "I feed you, I clothe you, I give you a place to sleep and live and this is how you repay me! Unbelievable!"

There was an awkward silence between everyone. They all seemed to have their attention on me since it was my fault that we were late. I felt guilty even though I had every right to mourn after Jonathon's death.

"We're sorry, sir." Blake said unapologetically.

"Sorry doesn't fix anything. Time is valuable, you can't just throw it away like you people do out there. Do you know how much someone can do in 5 minutes? Someone could've overtaken me in terms on wealth and power in those 5 minutes. And what were you people doing? Roaming around?"

To say he was angry would be an understatement. He was like a bursting volcano, lava poured out of him. Mentally destroying everyone and everything in his way.

"It was my fault, sir." I said, owning up to my mistakes. "I got lost along the way."

"Then someone should've taken better care of you. You're new, it's the servants' jobs to make sure everything goes smoothly."

That didn't make me feel any better. He was just blaming my mistake on everyone else even though it was my fault.

"Everyone will sleep without blankets today."

The slaves sighed which made me feel even more guilty. I know what I did was reasonable and it should be understood by everyone but it was still wrong. My actions still affected everyone else. I was selfish to mourn.

"No, sir I believe that I should be the only one that will sleep without a blanket because it's my fault that everyone was late." No one would suffer from the consequences of my actions.

The master sighed, almost annoyed with my determination. "Fine, if you desire the punishment that much."

I felt everyone become relieved behind me, like I had saved their lives. My heart knew this was right, to take the punishment for myself. But my head told me it was stupid, that I wasn't clever with my kindness. Who should I listen to?

"You're an idiot," Blake said blatantly. "but thank you."

"This isn't something I should be thanked for." I replied.

Blake scoffed, almost laughing. "There's a lot you need to learn about this world. You should start off with realizing that kindness gets you killed."

His presence grew further and further away from me until it became undetected. I hated him, I hated how he made me second-guess myself. He never gave me the full picture, just puzzle pieces I had to fit together myself.