Cyrus listened to the sounds of the girl flopping down the stairs.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Those three slaps had echoed in his brain, and when he looked back up at his father, he couldn’t help but feeling distaste.
“Why would you do that?” Cyrus said, his blood starting to boil.
“She’s dirt. She’s filth. She’s a stupid HQ girl. She cannot be treated with respect.”
“She’s not dirt, or filth or even stupid!” Cyrus felt his voice start to raise. “She deserves every right to have a pillow and some freaking toothpaste!”
Cyrus watched as his father’s veins started to pop from his forehead. He was getting angry.
“Did you hear the things she said about us down in that basement, Cyrus?” his father shouted.
“I did!” Cyrus screamed back. “But did you ever think that maybe she was just scared? Or maybe even frightened? Did that ever occur to you? She’s still human, dad. There’s a fine line between sane and insane, and I’m afraid that you’ve just crossed it.”
Cyrus’s father looked at him as if he didn’t even know him.
“Cyrus, she’s one of them.” his father said now, lowering his voice.
“Well, news flash: so were you, and so was mom!” Cyrus shrieked, with unrelenting rage. “You guys changed, what makes you think she won’t? She went to SHQ just like mom. I know you know what they did to her. And I know how much you hate them for it. She’s just like mom, dad! She’s been through everything mom’s been through, and you don’t want to admit it.”
His father tried to speak and defend himself, but Cyrus interrupted him.
“Don’t try to dig yourself out of this hole now, dad, you’re already too deep. I don’t like HQ anymore than you do, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve a chance.”
His father said nothing.
Cyrus bent over and picked up the pillows and blankets and said, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m bringing her something to sleep on because I’m a rational human being.”
Cyrus unlocked the basement door, turned on the lights just to see the girl lying on the floor in a broken mess.
He dropped the pillows, knowing that they weren’t the biggest priority anymore.
YOU ARE READING
The Mindless Man's Paradise
Teen FictionIn The Land, nobody has names. There are no such things as weddings, culture, ethnicities, or cities. In a post apocalyptic era, taking place in the only habitable part of the world, all survivors of the last war gather. Under their government's co...
