The Mindless Man's Paradise

Chapter thirty-seven

The following morning, I reluctantly untangled myself from Cyrus’s arms.

  Looking outside, I confirmed that we had enough time to ready ourselves and still get to HQ on time for whatever lesson they would throw at us today.

  I shook Cyrus awake, and he groaned heavily; a wordless outcry to his arousal.

  “We’ve gotta get going. HQ meetings, remember?” I whisper, trying not to alarm him.

  He stretched his arms and rolled over to wrap them around me, even though I was already sitting up.

  “Those damn HQ freaks.” he mumbled. “I’d much rather stay in bed with you.”

  At his words, he tackled me on the bed, throwing the covers over us, causing me to giggle crazily.

  “C’mon Cyrus!” I halfheartedly tried to convince him. I was still giggling so much that he knew I couldn’t be serious.

  “You’re never going to leave.” he grumbled, pretending to sound mean and menacing.

  I began to kick my feet wildly as I feebly tried to pry his arms from my waist. The comforters began to slide off the bed due to this. There was about a five minute giggle-fest before I used all of my bodyweight to roll us off of the bed and onto the floor, where the force of the fall caused Cyrus’s arms to pop open, and for me to be freed.

  For a while, we lay clutching our stomachs from the laughter.

  “Okay, now seriously, let’s get ready.” I said, the giggles finally subsiding to snickers.

  “Fine. But under one circumstance.” he said, crossing his arms.

  I raised a brow.

  “Kiss me first.” he grinned.

  I rolled my eyes, but then reached across the floor to where he lay and grabbed his shirt in two fists, pulling myself closer to him. Once close enough, I pecked my lips to his, and jumped to a standing position.

  I held my hand out to help him up, and we essentially just put on our daywear. We had wasted so much time that the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, so we knew we had to hurry.

  We rushed to the bicycles and clambered aboard them with haste.

  After minutes of awaiting a gap big enough for the two of us to enter the roadway, we were finally off. We found ourselves pedaling as fast as we could; interweaving throughout several cyclists and earning a couple of angry shouts.

  Soon enough, we were back in HQ being escorted to the man who had given us our essay the previous day. He sat at his desk, feet kicked up, seeming to be waiting for our arrival with a wicked smirk on his face.

  “I see that you are on time today.” he scoffed as he kicked his feet off of the desk.

  We didn’t say anything to him. Instead, we watched as our escort left the room, locking the door behind him.

  “Your scan results are in.” he said melodramatically, as if he knew we were on edge about them.

  He took a moment to pause, seemingly absorbing the nervous energy surrounding him.

  “You two are shown to be compatible. Extremely. We have not seen anything like you two in years. In fact, the last Soul Mates with results this high died almost ten years ago.” he was leaning on the desk now, propping his head up with his elbow, and staring us down intensely, as if he were examining us.

  We still said nothing. This man was giving off very dangerous vibes, as if he was about to warn us of something.

  “Those two Soul Mates had tried to rebel.” he said without preamble.

  This earned a gasp from me. Never had I ever heard a tale of anyone trying to rebel. Cyrus’s parents were an exception in this case, because never did you ever hear tales of rebellion from an HQ official himself.

  He knew something. He was hinting at it.

  Was it Cyrus’s handwriting that tipped him off?

  “They were publicly executed in our courtyard.” he smiled, pointing to the doors we entered through. “Right out front. On that nice, pretty green grass. All citizens were required to come and watch. Not only was the couple executed, but they were beheaded. This way, they could watch the reaction of the crowd a few seconds before their brain stopped working.”

  The man blinked, as if there wasn’t anything wrong with such a thing.

  “I just felt that you should know before we get started today.” he grinned evilly, cocking his head slightly to the right.

  I turned to look at Cyrus, whose jaw had dropped.

  “Who are you?” he questioned the old and wrinkling man.

  He laughed, spinning slightly in the chair to get up and pace.

  “Well, if you really must know…” he crossed to the front of his desk, where he leaned against it, causing it to creak. “I’ve been here since the beginning of this society. I created it; watched it evolve and grow up, like a parent watches their child. You see, I know every trick in the book that a couple of lovebirds like you could pull. You aren’t smarter than we are. If you have even a particle of intelligence in those childish heads of yours, you’ll keep your butts parked here in the Society until told otherwise. We’ve been watching you two. You really should have been more careful.”

  “You’re really walking on thin ice, you two.” he laughed, seeing our shocked expression. “Oh, alright. I might as well address you as Aspen and Cyrus, shouldn’t I?”

  This time he cackled like a madman, his chocolaty colored hands clutching his belly.

  My mind was reeling. This man, he established HQ? The Land? Everything?

  He was part of the elite group that began this mess of a world?

  Not only that, but he knew our names!

  I guess Cyrus and I hadn’t exactly done such a good job of laying low.

  Once his laughing died down, and he was calm enough to speak he said, “If I get word of the slightest Infraction from either of you two, that’ll be the last straw. It’ll be off with your heads.”

   His eyes gleamed as if he was only telling a heartwarming tale, but that made things much worse to hear. Scary, even.

  “I suppose we should get to our bonding activities, then?” he asked, as if the previous conversation never even happened.