The Façade of Quad in Nimrod ✓ | Satire, family drama, dark society

XXVIII

Unaware of his father's death, Henry was plotting his father's death. Ever since killing Aulen, something inside him had changed and now he believed he really could kill his father. He also received his first cut of a job and could buy anything he wanted with it. He decided to buy a ring to propose to Nelly. She was, after all, still in his mind, his only love.

"That's it. I'll propose to her, what do you think, Beagley? You've been awfully quiet recently. Are you jealous of my success? Father always wished for you to succeed for him. But then you left. You left me with him and his temper. I hate you Beagley. I hate you for leaving me with that poison." Henry scowled.

"Knock, knock?" came Richard's voice and he peered into Henry's room. He had to quickly compose himself for he saw a puff of gray cloud where the boy's heart would be. The filth had returned.

"Richard?" Henry cocked his head. "What's wrong?"

Shaking his head, Richard opened his mouth when a vision disrupted the scene before him. He gaped in shock at the two paths the future could take. 

Only one was more promising than the others, but that meant he would have to let the gray cloud of filth consume Henry again meaning the boy could never be cleansed.

"Richard?" Henry watched as Richard's face went from shock to disappointment and then back to normal, giving him a smile as if nothing had happened.

"Christmas is just around the bend and you have worked hard. I will give you let you off to go where you please, do what you want, but don't get into too much trouble and remember, you cannot tell anyone where you work. Of course, the break is your choice. Just an option."

Henry pondered on suggested freedom to go where he pleased. He could go to Nimrod and buy Nelly a ring, propose to her and kill his father. Excitement bubbled in his chest and he nodded to Richard letting him know he will take the holiday.

"I would like that, yes. I must return to Nimrod and visit my love."

Richard chuckled and handed him a pack of fifty pholars—the exact bit that Nelly paid for the death of Georgina. 

"Take this. You earned it." It was a sick joke of his and once he left Henry's room and returned to his own, he would spend five minutes chuckling about the irony of it all. It was seen. Henry was never meant to leave the filthy world he was born into. He was never meant to fully be freed from the gray cloud.

"Such a pity, but I had a lot of fun, Henry Quad," Richard said and lay back in his bed, excited about what the new future would bring.

* * *

At noon on Christmas Eve, joy filled the air even in gloomy Nimrod. People were out buying last-minute gifts for others who were dear to them. Children with cheeks red from the cold walked by stores and peered into the windows and the shiny objects that lay behind glass. All shops, cafés, and restaurants were lit with colorful lights and trees were put up to celebrate the festive day; Christmas. 

It was almost Christmas. In fact, tomorrow was Christmas. Despite the happiness that lingered in the air, there was a dark mood surrounding the Quad mansion atop the hill. Workers of Mordecai didn't dare even near the place that now smelled like a pigsty from the outside. Some suggested to call the police, but they were all afraid saying things like,

"What if nothing was wrong and we end up humiliating Mr. Quad? We would be fired or maybe even killed!"

Mordecai had successfully made his workers fear him, but that did him no good even in death, for his daughter refused to believe he was dead and covered his body in a sheet and talked to him as if he was alive.