The Mindless Man's Paradise

Chapter fifty-two

  Turns out that I was wrong when I said nothing could have been worse than phase four. Because phase five was so much worse. In fact, so much so, that I still have nightmares to this day.

  Once my brother left, the door opened back up.

  It was my brother again, all healed up, as if I hadn’t ever punched him. Trailing behind him was my mother and father. Each of their faces held the exact same expression; disappointment.

  At the same moment, they all chastised me.

  It was a blur of:

  “I cannot believe that Daughter is an Infractor.”

  “I knew that you were a disgrace.”

  “Phase five phase six phase seven phase eight phase nine phase ten phase eleven…”

  My brother’s voice rose above all three, and you can probably infer what he was saying.

  “…phase twelve phase thirteen phase fourteen phase fifteen…”

  His words felt like a bee buzzing around my head at first. That, on top of the constant berating from my parents was enough to drive me mad.

  I began to scream, and shout, and cry, but they wouldn’t stop.

  Turning to Cyrus, I ran to his arms for some sort of comfort. But when I reached his arms, he shoved me away from him, and I practically fell to the floor.

  “Why would I want to console you? You ruined my relationship with my brother and my father! I betrayed them for you! And you didn’t bother to stop and think about what I’m feeling? Ever? Not even once? You were all worried about what you were going to do and never how I was feeling…”

  Cyrus continued his spiel, and my whole body began to wrack with sobs. I hadn’t ever even thought about what Cyrus was feeling. Not once.

  And I claimed to care for him? What a fool I was.

  I reached to my eyes to wipe my tears, and when I pulled my tear stained hand away, I saw it was stained with blood.

  I shrieked, wiping my hand on the white fluffy floor, trying to drown out my family and Cyrus’s voices.

  But they were still there.

  “You’re stupid, insignificant…”

  “I thought you were better than this!”

  “Phase 503, phase 504, phase 505, phase 506…”

  “You thought I cared for you? You’re just another stupid HQ girl!”

  In my rush to wipe my hand off, everyone took three steps closer to me.

  My body was starting to shake, and more bloody tears seeped from my eyes. I watched as their irises turned from their natural colors to a crimson red, which jittered as if it was really fire. I screamed, making my throat raw, hoping that it would drown out their voices, but their voices seemed to get louder as if being broadcasted over a PA.

  I fell to the floor, and scrambled backwards, away from them, until I was stuck in a corner.

  It was as if my worst fears were coming to life.