The Mindless Man's Paradise

Chapter seventy-two

I woke up to Cyrus playing with my hair, even though it was probably matted beyond comprehension. I turned around, blinking my eyes awake. I smiled.

  He was the first thing I saw in the morning, and it would be like that every morning until we died. Because we would grow old and die, and have kids, I mean, I don’t know. But we were gonna do something. Something normal, and something lovely.

  “Good morning.” he smiled.

  I laughed, giddy with the fact that we were safe, and warm, and soon we would be fed. We would be free to write, draw, laugh and love. Forever.

  Now that the idea was very attainable, I felt warmth spread through my body.

  “Good morning.” I replied.

  He rolled out of bed, right after he kissed me on the nose. He got up, and opened the blinds, which filled the room with beautiful light.

  I turned to his desk, which was nearly inches from the edge of the bed. Memories came rushing back as I lay in his bed. Last time I had been here, I had been that HQ girl that nobody trusted. Now I lay in his bed as Cyrus’s girlfriend.

  The drawings still were on his desk in the strewn fashion they always had been.

  With edges fraying, and creases aplenty, I saw the drawing I had taken from him so long ago, it seemed. I leaned forward so that I could grab it, holding it in my hands. I swung my feet over the edge of the bed so that I was sitting upright. The picture was as beautiful as I remembered it to be.

  I felt the bed creak and then Cyrus was next to me, his shoulder brushing against mine, and his head sitting on my shoulder to watch what I was doing.

  “This one’s my favorite.” I said, unable to look away from the gentle pencil strokes.

  He reached his arm casually around me, and with gentle hands, he pried the picture from my fingers.

  “Mine too.” he said. “But now I can draw other things. I can draw us together, instead of a random girl. And then you can write me stories, like you did when you were young. I can have Kian teach you guitar, and we can sing music and…”

  I could tell now that he was reminiscing about the future we would have together as well.

  “I can’t wait.” I kissed his lips softly.

  His hand found its way to my cheek, where it rested even after we finished kissing.

  “I love you.” he said out of spite.

  “And I love you.”

  He smiled. “Ready for breakfast?”

  It reminded me of the good ol’ days when I was merely a prisoner/patient in this cottage and Cyrus would ask me this every morning. Now I was a resident.

  “Yes.”

  We crossed his tiny room, and walked through the living room.

  Aurora, Jensen, and Kian all sat around the table, eating bacon and eggs.

  Jensen looked like he had aged ten years since we had been gone. Kian already looked taller, and his jaw line was becoming more pronounced like Cyrus’s. However, Aurora hadn’t changed a bit.

  When her eyes looked to us in surprise, I could even see she still wore the thin line of eyeliner that was her trademark. I watched as she registered what was happening. She sprung from her chair, causing it to smack the floor below her.