Chapter 1.28- 3-6am Friday morning

Chapter 1.28-A Thousand Pieces

            Trembling, Cyrus changed into his pajamas. Tears were coursing down his round cheeks. What a horrible night!

            Finally, putting his head in his hands he did his best not to scream from the misery.

            His legs about to give way out of exhaustion, he climbed on top of his bed giving way to silent tears.

            The notebooks his mother had thrown at him he had carefully laid on the nightstand. She had forgotten them in her anger. But Cyrus hadn’t. He used them to prove to himself what a responsible person he really was. He had carefully lined them up, laying them gently down before allowing himself to give in. Before he’d changed his clothes even.

            Cyrus rocked back on his heels, his quiet sobs still making his thin shoulders heave.

            He never should have attempted such a stunt. Never. But as he had seen it he had no other alternative. Now, he wasn’t sure what he could do, and sunrise was only a few hours away and then his problems were merely compounded.

            Trying to breathe a little more deeply to help himself stop weeping he sat back, curling into a ball.

            Galen slept through it all. Peaceful and unaware of tension in his own room.

            Cyrus was so thankful the officers had bought his story, even more thankful that the principal had. But even if he followed through with the principal’s order to write a letter of remorse, after tomorrow afternoon it would all unravel anyway. And then he would be shipped off to boarding school.

            He would never have let Phedra know if he could have helped it. But she had seemed to be on his side, not wanting to go through with the dissection. It could have been so perfect, his cover intact, his mother never knowing that there was so much more going on. If only he had successfully released the frogs, he’d still have the only person who could comfort him right now. He’d still have his Olivia.

            Olivia would understand. She’d know that he had been doing it for her all along.

            For quite some time now, Cyrus hadn’t been attending his AP biology class. His class was scheduled at the same time as Olivia’s free period. 
            The first time he skipped, it had been a thrill, a rush. Though he had had to work extra hard to make up for the absence he found he could do it.

            The second time was worse than the first time. He had almost been sure that the teacher would have noticed a pattern; knowing that he was at school, just not in his class. But the teacher hadn’t reported it.

            And so Cyrus had skipped to hang out with Olivia a third time, which was quickly followed by a fourth. Then he had gotten extra bold. It was then that Cyrus began to skip consecutive days of class. It was at this point that he began to lag behind in work.

            Then the guilt had struck, and he couldn’t face the teacher anymore knowing that he was officially failing a class. And so he had just never gone back.

            He wasn’t prepared for tomorrow’s science fair. Well, technically today’s now.

Attempting to release the frogs had been a final attempt to hide his guilt from the world. It was his effort to cover it all up one last time. It was a final act.

He could only imagine the look on Phedra’s face when she found out he hadn’t been attending class. The triumph she’d display at home. She’d never let him forget that in the end, truly, it was she who was the better sim.

And the more he sat and thought on it all his guilt melted away, replaced by resentment towards his younger sister and his mother.

            His mother had never paid the same attention to him that she’d paid to Phedra. It had fueled her desire to best Cyrus in everything he had attempted. A desire of hers that drove him nuts. Why couldn’t she just leave him alone? Why couldn’t she be her own sim?

            If he wasn’t constantly trying to thwart Phedra’s attempt on his sanity and place in the world maybe he wouldn’t have felt the need to take a break from class. Spending it with Olivia was simply convenient. It wasn’t the only time he could have taken. He could have just as easily have lied about participating in a club after-school and used that time with Olivia instead.

            Well… no… he couldn’t have. Her mother made her come straight home in an effort to ensure that she didn’t spend time with Cyrus. Lily Pad had banned Olivia from seeing Cyrus quite some time ago.

            Why were parents so stupid? Why did they have such stupid rules?

            Intending to glare at the only instance of his stupid mom and her stupid rules in his room he looked at the notebooks on the nightstand.

            In a neat feather-light script they were all labeled. “Important Documents-Identification, Birth Certificates” on one, “Important Documents-Travel” on another, and “Important Documents-Wedding, Death, Adoption” on the last.

            It was this last one that had him especially curious. Adoption? Had Helen had a sibling who was adopted?

            His curiosity aroused, fueled by the adrenaline still pumping through his veins after the events of the night, he grabbed the third notebook leaving the other two on the desk.

            Flipping it open, eyes alight, it took a moment to get through the wedding and death papers.

            He hadn’t known Helen had a sister. He had known about William and Peter, there were pictures of her brothers around the house. But Bernadette was not pictured and had never even been mentioned. Looking closer at the document, it looked like she had died of an illness a few years ago. Peter was listed on the certificate as a surviving relative along with Helen.

            Still flipping, wondering if it wasn’t this Bernadette who was the adoption mentioned, he finally found the dedicated section.

            At first, he thought he was going to be sick. What he was reading could not be true.

            Not wanting to believe it he grabbed the first notebook, flipping through it with such violence that Galen grunted in his sleep at the increased noise.

            Cyrus continued. He couldn’t stop just for Galen. Finding the paper he was looking for he sat back heavily on the bed, rocking. Goosebumps erupted in waves down his body. His breathing ragged, gasping, shallow.

            He never could have believed it. Never. No.

            How could he never have known? And… wait.

            Grabbing the notebooks once more he tore through them furiously again, lining them up on his bed to cross check and reference. Names. Dates. Times. His cheeks burned. Ears flaming as his nostrils flared. Tears again snaking their way down his pale cheeks.

            Suddenly, he jumped up. Putting his clothes back on, he grabbed his backpack opening it with a *rrrrrip of the zipper. Throwing its contents hastily under the bed he pulled a few sets of clothes at random out of their drawers and threw them into the freshly emptied bag. Only when he stood back up, peering at the notebooks did he stop.

            Staring hard, he threw the bag back down. Diving under his bed he resurfaced with paper and pen. Using the notebooks as a writing surface he scribbled a hasty note before tidying the books back up.

            As he exited his room he quietly deposited his bag by the front door, heading for the girls room across the still and dark living room, clutching the notebooks as a life-line.

            Carefully, quietly, he slipped into the girls room. Tiptoeing to Phedra's bedside, slowly, gently, he slid the books under her pillow, leaving them peeking just enough to draw her attention in the morning.

            Praying that Fay makes her own bed the next morning, not Helen, he crossed back to the door pausing only a moment to look at the picture of Buck on the wall. The only person he’ll truly miss.

            It was just past dawn when Cyrus left the house, locking the door behind him. He checked to make sure no one else was about, then hurried off to find Olivia.

            Once he had reached her home, he’d thrown pebbles at her window until she’d peered out, waved, and disappeared again.

            It was only moments between her disappearance at the window and her reappearance at the door, but the intervening time was agony to Cyrus. He was sure she’d be caught by her mom.

            Once she was out of the door enough, a gentle smile on her face, Cyrus grabbed her, almost knocking her over.

            “Cyrus? Whatever is the matter?” she asked coyly, thinking this was a new game for the lovers to play.

            “Everything,” Cyrus replied, shaking her a little to get her to realize how serious he is. “It’s all wrong. Everything. I’ve been arrested, home, been forbidden to see you and now I don’t even know who I am.”

            Olivia pouted at him. He made no sense to her.

            “Really, Liv,” Cyrus said, urgency in his voice. They were losing time. “I don’t know who I am! Buck’s not my dad, Phedra’s not my sister like I thought she was, nothing is the same!”

            “What do you mean?”

            “I mean that Buck isn’t my dad.”

            Olivia was confused. She thought he knew. Lily Pad had told her ages ago. Then it finally clicks.

            “Oh, Cyrus,” she breathed.

            “Run away with my Liv,” Cyrus’ voice was just as breathy, though more full of emotion. He was nearing tears again, and she could see it. “Now, Liv. Right now. Run away with me. Leave it all behind and let’s be together. Right now.”

            For a moment she was torn. But the hurt look and tears swimming in his eyes did the trick. She nodded.

            “Right now,” She answered.

            The tears started again in earnest as they turn away from her house. Putting her arms around him, she guided him to the street.

            Cyrus can hardly hold himself together anymore, and so leans on Olivia as he resumes weeping. He’s going to break. A thousand pieces of him strewn on the lawn and then no more.

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            A few hours later:

The sun is properly up, and so is Phedra. Bounding out of bed she’s ready for the science fair and a chance to show just how smart she really is. It’s also another chance to show up Cyrus one more time.

            Nothing can stop her this day… nothing at all.

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            Aaaaand… Phedra is next chapter. ;D

I LOVE the final pose of Olivia and Cyrus. So bittersweet. </3