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Number Five
Five sat at home with his mother on a seemingly average day. It was getting a bit late, and his father wasn't home yet. He could almost hear his mother pacing anxiously in the kitchen. She was busying herself with preparing dinner, no doubt. Five could smell it from where he was lounging on the couch.
Five flips the channel again. He sighed in a huffy breath and wished for his favorite show to come back on. He was only five years old; how else was he meant to occupy his time when the sun went down?
Five heard the click of the lock before the door swung open, forcefully to say the least.
Five perked up when he saw his father coming in. He didn't seem to notice how angry his father looked. "Hi, Daddy!" he greeted him enthusiastically.
His father looked over at him, trudging in angrily and unsteady. The look in his eyes were foggy and distant. "Hello, son..." he grumbled, failing to put on a decent face for his boy.
At that moment, Five's mother came rushing out. She saw the annoyance and drag in her husbands eyes instantly, and she was afraid. "Honey?" she asked shakily. "What's the matter?"
Five now realized that his father was angry, and he was afraid now too. Nothing good ever happened when Daddy was angry.
His father collapsed into a chair. "Rough day..." he said lowly, his voice icily calm.
His mother nodded anxiously; Five knew that she was worried as well.
"Those idiotic workers..." he mumbled, cussing under his breath. "They're all so stupid, depending on Lorien to be attacked when it's the most peaceful, perfect planet out there..." The rage was building in his words and Five trembled.
"The idiots!" he yelled, slamming his fist down. His mother flinched. "One day they'll all get a kick in the face!"
He pulled himself to his feet and his mother scrambled out of the way. "How stupid!" he yelled, going towards the steps. "Peaceful? Perfect? They're all nuts, they're all wrong!" And with that, he stormed up the steps, stumbling only twice.
Once he was gone, Five's mother released a breath. She walked slowly to Five and sat next to him, wrapping her arms around him warmly. "He must have been drinking..." she said quietly.
Five sniffed, a bit scared. "A-At least he didn't hit us tonight..." he said sadly, the innocence in his voice corrupted by the pain.
His mother nodded slowly, somberly. "But we're okay, sweetheart. We'll be okay..."
Five sighed. His father got so angry, so angry at the Loric, and he took it out on Five and his wife. Five was scared. His father was so frustrated by it all, the apparent perfection of the planet. He screamed, yelled, drank, and hit... Five wondered, even at his young age, if something that made someone that angry could really be right...
Was it possible that the Loric were...wrong?