The Mindless Man's Paradise

Chapter sixty-two

My brother was what woke us up the following morning.

  “Hey. Wake up.” he said calmly.

  Immediately, I jolted from my laying position. My hair no doubt was sticking up wildly around my head.

  Cyrus, on the other hand, was waking up slowly, as if it were painful.

  “We have preliminary affairs to attend to before tomorrow morning.” he stated.

  I nodded gravely, peeling Cyrus from the bed.

  “Give us a moment.” I somewhat snapped.

  My brother nodded, cracked the door, and stepped out, rather respectfully. His behavior lately had been differentiating from that of his usual horrendous behavior.

  Not that I was complaining, of course, but something felt out of place about it.

  Cyrus was still groaning and stretching. I climbed on top of him playfully and said, “Wake up silly goose.”

  He placed his hands on my hips, holding me in place. “But why would I want to be debriefed about the schedule of my own execution?”

  He grinned as he said the words, almost like they were a joke, but I knew deep down they weren’t. Adding on to the silly ploy, I said, “Because if we don’t, they’ll hurt us till we do, babe.”

  At my choice of words, he raised a brow. “I like it. Where’d you learn that one?”

  “Where do you think?” I teased.

  He rolled his eyes, knowing better, that any Pre-Landie vocabulary had come from the dictionary I had read cover to cover back at Aurora and Jensen’s cottage.

  Placing both hands along his jaw line, I kissed him. “Now do us both a favor and get up.”

  “Well if you haven’t noticed, there’s a really pretty girl who just so happens to be sitting on me at the moment.” he half-smiled, causing me to blush.

  But I took that as my cue to climb off of him, and allow him to sit up.

  I knocked on the door, knowing that my brother would be waiting just outside.

  “We’re ready.” I called to him.

  In seconds, the door swung open, and my brother stood patiently as Cyrus made his way to the door as well.

  “So what’s on the agenda, mister HQ man?” I asked as we were lead through the underground tunnels.

  “Just healing, dinner, and the Final Lesson.” he said matter-of-factly. “During the healing, you’ll be told what time to be awake and ready by, etcetera, etcetera.”

  “Just like preparing a Turkey before a feast.” Cyrus muttered under his breath.

  I snickered, causing my brother’s head to snap back in our direction.

  Not attempting to sustain a straight face, I raised my hands as if I was surrendering.

  I felt like a child again, back in our house in the family settlements, when my brother would watch over me after school. Mother usually had a 30-50 minute delay in getting home from her work at the Food Distribution Center on the edge of the settlement.

  My brother was tough on me, but he always had me in his best interest.

  I hated the memories, because they reminded me of the love that I once had for my brother. Apparently, any love towards me was nonexistent to him, or had worn off over time. If he cared even slightly, he wouldn’t have acted as horribly as he did to us. Not only that, but the fashion in which he tortured us… it was… horrible. As if he had relished every second.

  But of course, there was no doubt in my mind that he had relished it.

  I sighed, following him, a little less playfully, and more-so sadly, to the healing rooms, where they would make us pretty enough to chop our heads off.

  Cyrus and I were separated for most of it, and that irritated me more than any other aspect of the situation.

  Something had been drawing me towards Cyrus. Something different. I mean, I always wanted to be with him, but now I felt like part of me was missing without him. It was strange, I didn’t quite know what to call it. I mean, after all, I was still becoming accustomed to such foreign feelings. Back before my Journey to Cyrus, I didn’t even know that a kiss was anything remotely pleasurable. A lesson best learned from experience, I suppose.

  But as my eyebrows got plucked, my legs waxed, my hair combed and washed, leaving behind a stinging sensation, I could only think of Cyrus.