Page 32 of A Reaper's Devotion
Chapter Nine
Ray lived in the city.He also worked at a gym, had a nice small apartment.It wasn’t the best place he could live, but it also wasn’t the worst.It had been a year since he had been gone.
Cyrus didn’t wait for an invitation, as he worked the lock and let himself inside.He didn’t know what he expected to find.A trash heap.Boxes of used pizza.Empty beer cans.
The place was spotless.
There was a single sofa, no television, no video games.Nothing.There were a couple of books, and as he lifted them up and opened them, he saw they were from the library.This surprised him.Ray never read a book, as he considered them for nerds.
Moving to the small kitchen, it had a single cooktop and a small stove.Opening the fridge, he didn’t see any beer, but a small carton of milk, orange juice, and the fridge was stacked with fruits, vegetables, and meat.
This couldn’t be his brother’s house.
“You know, the polite thing is to knock and wait when someone is not home.Not let yourself in,” Ray said.
Cyrus stood and turned around.
His overweight brother was no longer overweight.He was clean-shaven.His protruding stomach was gone, and he wore a tight-fitting thermal shirt.
“Ray?”Cyrus asked.
His brother appeared to have cleaned up his act.
“Cyrus,” Ray said.“What’s the matter?”
“I came to see how you’re doing.”
Ray laughed.“You mean, you came to see how badly I was fucking up?”
Cyrus looked at his brother, and he was not even going to change it.There was no point.Ray was a fuckup.The man before him didn’t look anything like his brother.
“Yeah, trust me, I know how badly I fucked up.I don’t know if it was when I realized you stopped the Reapers from killing my ass, or when Dad threw money in my face and told me how disappointed he was.I did think he was going to kill me.He drove me out of Lost Creek, and that was it.He abandoned me.Told me I was on my own.”
“Do you want me to feel guilty?”Cyrus asked.
“Fuck, no.Don’t get me wrong, at first, I was pissed and blaming everyone, then, ...I don’t know.I hitched a ride, and got robbed along the way by a guy who looked like me.Left me in the middle of nowhere.Took all my shit, and I don’t know.I looked in the bathroom mirror, as we’d stopped for the toilet, and I looked at myself.Realized I couldn’t make any excuses.I was in this mess, because I fucked up.I fell for easy pussy and the easy life.Something had to change.”
