The Monster [H.S.]

Chapter 65

"Harry?" A strange voice says and I feel anger burn in my chest. Can't anyone leave me alone for 2 fucking minutes?

"What?!" I snap, still reeling from what happened.

"Can I come in?" The voice asks as I swing the door open. "Or not." They smile a fake smile. "I'm Leorardin...well, Leo now. Anyway-young man?" He cuts himself off and waves someone over from his left, and then I see Noah walk in front of me and Leo place his hands on Noah's small shoulders.

"What are you doing?" I ask Noah.

"He's been stealing rations from the kitchen." Leo says, pursing his lips.

What a fucking snitch.

"What? Why?" I ask, panicked that he's hungry and I've not taken care of him.

"Do you want to tell him or shall I?" Leo says as Noah looks up to him with pleading eyes.

"He was homeless and hungry, and I ate all my lunch. I was going to give him some of my chocolate but Sandy ate it and then-"

"Who was homeless?" I question.

"A human wondering the path outside." Leo says, his previous laid back but slightly disappointed demeanour changing to a somewhat harsh and sharp one.

"Why on earth were you socialising with the humans?!" I grabbed Noah's shoulder and shouted the words into his petrified face.

"Harry, you're scaring me." His small voice says but the rage that built up from Leo's simple sentence seems to be overtaking any rational thoughts I have. The amount of rage itself for such a simple thing is irrational.

And I feel it. For the first time, I feel myself physically not wanting to behave this way but being stopped. I'm fighting with myself not to scream at my 9 year old brother but I can't because a much larger part of me is fuming that a Terrebit has sympathised with the enemy.

"Get in here." I seethe pulling him into the room and my attempt to slam the door is stopped by Leo's foot.

"You should know, Harry," he begins, his face as smug as ever, "I'm not the only one who saw this. There was around 10 of us at the fence at the time. The news is spreading like wildfire." He says, and my blood boils again.

He's not telling me that for fun, he's telling me as a warning that I'll need to publicly punish Noah, because otherwise my people will lash out at favouritism among Terrebit, outraged that one of them should be able to steal from the rations while others are not. There would be an uproar - a civil war.

As I close the door finally, I look to Noah with fury in my eyes.

"Do you realise what the fuck you've done?!" I scream.

Stop screaming at him. Stop screaming at him. He's 9 years old and he is your brother. Stop screaming at him.

"I'm sorry he just-"

"I don't want to hear it!" I yell.

Stop yelling at him. He's the only family you have left. Stop yelling at him.

"You've betrayed us." I surprise myself by saying. "You've betrayed your own people for the enemy. And you have to be punished."