The Mindless Man's Paradise

Chapter sixty-seven

  In between rugged breaths and silent kisses, I heard feet padding through a hallway closer to our door.

  It couldn’t be my brother, because he had been there only two minutes before then.

  When the door swung open, and locked behind him, I could hardly believe it was him.

  “Aspen.” my brother panted.

  “What?”

  “Listen, we don’t have much time, so I must speak with haste. I am not only Brother.”

  My eyebrows raised. Whatever could this mean, I did not know.

  “My name is Shields. I named myself that because it means loyal protector.”

  “Since when have you had a name?” Cyrus chastised him.

  “Ever since I heard about your Infractions. About the two of you. From the moment I filed the reports, I vowed that I would protect you Aspen. You have helped me see HQ’s ways without meaning to.” his eyes fell upon Cyrus and I’s intertwined fingers. “I have never seen such a passion.”

  I knew what he was referring to. He was referencing the love Cyrus and I had for one another.

  “That passion is love.” I said, smiling through watering eyes.

  My brother- Shields- ran across the room, embracing me tightly.

  “Brother.” I said, out of habit.

  “Call me Shields, Aspen.”

  My arms didn’t hug back at first, but eventually, they did, however unsure they were.

  “How could you torture us, though?” I questioned earnestly.

  “It was one of the hardest things I had ever done, but if I wanted to bust you two outta the Society, how else was I going to cover? I could show no sympathy. I could only show apathy, or else HQ would get suspicious.”

  The only part of his words that I had heard were: ‘But if I wanted to bust you two outta the Society…’

  “Bust us out?” Cyrus exclaimed.

  Shields nodded.

  “As in, we’re not going to get our heads chopped off?” I asked, appalled.

  “As in, you are going to live a happy life together. The two of you. Aspen and Cyrus.” he grinned as if this gave him pure joy.

  This was something I hadn’t seen in my brother for a while. His features were lit up, instead of the stoic face that he usually had on.

  Cyrus and I were gripping each other’s hands so tightly, that I thought my knuckles might just break.

  “So how is this going to happen?” I asked speculatively.

  “You will know when it happens. All I will say now is give me the daggers, and do not question anything when they put your heads under the guillotine, do not freak out. That is just where the plan starts. I have got everything from there, do not worry. Trust me.” he urged us. How had he known about the knives?

  With our shaky past, every part of me was telling me that I should keep my dagger, and perhaps accept my death. This all may be another phase of torture. This phase may involve inducing hope into us, and having it ripped away.

  But a single part of me made me believe him.

  “Okay.” I handed over my knife.

  Cyrus handed over his, although trusting me more than he trusted Shields. And then moments later, two burly men walked in and grabbed us by the arms.

  Something inside me knew what had caused me to trust my brother. It wasn’t that fact that he had a name, or the fact that he had hugged me, or the fact that he had been playing double agent the entire time. It had been the small part of me that loved him. That had always loved him, and still did.