Page 61 of Heartless Heathens

We were all standing over Corvin lying on the couch while his eyes did that weird fluttering thing again.

“Who is Arlan?” I asked them.

“He's like a grandfather to us,” Felix explained and Sonny scoffed.

“He’s the head of our organization. He’s preparing to die,” Sonny corrected.

“Is he not awake much?” I finally asked after we’d been standing over Corvin for a good twenty minutes.

“This doesn’t usually happen so often. Something’s setting him off.” Sonny sneered, and I wasn’t sure if he was implying that maybe it was me.

Reesa had said that people who touched each other liked each other, but with Sonny I wasn’t sure if what he felt for me wasn’t too far from hatred. Unlike Felix, I didn’t feel that same warmth that pulled me in towards him.

With Sonny I felt the drawing in of a cold vacuum. What I would imagine outer space would feel like, seducing me with its all consuming darkness like nothing else in the world could.

“Did my dumbass brother feed you, Mina?” Felix asked and I shook my head. “Come on then.”

He pulled me by the hand and opened up a cardboard box that sat on the kitchen island.

“It’s pizza.” He held up a slice in offering.

“Here.” Sonny walked over and pulled a smaller version of my tablet from his pocket. “This is for you. It works the same as the iPad but you can call and talk to us from it too.”

It was another gift, and from Sonny nonetheless.

I didn’t know how to respond.

“Take it.” He waved it in front of me.

“You can type here anytime you hear a word you don’t know the meaning of or take a picture of something with this and it’ll tell you what you’re looking at.” Felix came to my side and started showing it to me.

“And this one isn’t restricted to death, so you can actually learn about things that matter,” Sonny added.

“Can’t I learn in school?” I asked them both, hope filling my veins.

“This isn’t a school,” Sonny said before grabbing a piece of the melted cheese bread and walking away.

“He’s not wrong.” Felix shrugged following Sonny’s actions but sat down on a stool instead.

I reached and grabbed a piece of the pizza, bringing it to my mouth and taking a bite of the hot cheesy goodness. I moaned loud enough to force Felix to stop chewing and look up at me. I glanced down, my cheeks flushing with embarrassment that the same noises that came out of me during moments of pleasure with them could come out with food.

But this was the best thing I’d ever eaten in my life.

I’d seen pizza in a few cartoons and movies before but in person everything just kind of took you by surprise. Half the time I was just insecure to be wrong about anything and be penalized for it.

“You’ve really been up there your whole life?” Felix asked, wiping his mouth and hands with a towel as he finished his food.

“Yes,” I answered, looking up to give him the attention he deserved.

“How… How is it that you speak so well?” he asked and I didn’t bother to hide the offended look on my face. “What I mean to say is. You know a lot of words.” He scratched his head like he’d immediately regretted his choice of vocabulary.

“Because I’m smart,” I told him, annoyed, insulted, and a little frustrated. “I read the dictionary fifteen times before I turned twelve.”

“I want to help you. I don’t want to make you feel like you’re dumb or treat you like a child when I explain things that you might not understand. Can you work with me here?”

I nodded, knowing there was a big world of firsts out there I would have to explore someday.

Would I get that chance?