ilios | h.s

nine

NINE

Kay had somehow vanished.

Maybe she was a magician doing some impressive trick, but Harry hadn't seen her all day and his concern was building, he obviously didn't expect her to be in his life twenty four seven that would be stupid, but when she didn't show at the lunch buffet, he knew something was most certainly up.

This is what led him to appear outside her apartment door, worry on his face and a pastry in his hand waiting for someone to answer his knocks so he could confirm she hadn't joyfully run off with a beautiful Greek man and left him alone.

Rachel answered his knocks, giving him a soft smile before letting him into the room, pointing him to the direction of his desired destination without saying a thing.

He spotted her stood passed the open glass doors, white curtains flowing from the sea breeze, he walked over as she rested on the railing looking out to the sky blankly like it had no reason to be stared at.

"It's beautiful isn't it." Harry asked her, announcing his presence, but she didn't move from her forward facing position as if she was a victim of Medusa, stuck in stone trapped in the now for forever.

"Yeah." She spoke quietly, still gazing hopelessly out onto the landscape her eyes were glazed and so were the colours, not really being able to distinguish anything interesting about the view, just a cloud of thoughts and feelings that merged with the warm colours.

"What's wrong?" Harry wondered as he looked at her face with concern, for someone so chatty it seemed as if she'd lost her voice, faded into an echo that barely reached the surface of sound.

"Nothing, probably just ate something bad." Kay tried to push his question off, not releasing he knew of her lack of eating, she was never a good liar when it was something serious, Rachel said she always had a bad fibbing habit but you could see right through the big ones.

"Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another." Harry moved closer to her as he spoke a quote from her beloved author with as much courage and drama as he could foster, his drama teacher always said he had a flair for the theatre.

"So you actually listened to me when I read to you?" She was shocked, now turning to the smiling boy who knew what he'd done, how to get into the heart of a classic nerd? The Iliad. This was a regular trick pulled by her friends that he had somehow found the instructions for, pull on her strings and something will get moving, art, books, food, music.

"Your perception of me is rather concerning Kay." He raised his brows, angling himself to get a better look at her tired face, rushing over it as he tried to figure it all out, every string and it's chain reaction to know what was occurring.

"I'm sorry." The brunette finally spoke after a few moments of silence, her face becoming solemn and melancholic as she admitted with a sigh the words her tongue so desperately tried to suppress.

"Don't apologise, I honestly have no idea what you were saying most of the time but I enjoyed it." Harry joked attempting to stop her fears, he did truly enjoy her reading it felt as if his mind was being quilted into a mosaic of genius through the hands of another.

"No, I'm sorry. Sorry for the level of uncertainty I cause you to feel. I'm just scared if I'm being truthful." She moved to rest her back against the bar, hugging herself with her arms as she explained the reasoning for her temporary disappearance. Life was a lot easier to handle if you found a way to shield the issues until they became faded but his rays were a little bit too strong to be suppressed by the wall.

"Scared?" He asked with laced confusion, staying where he was to give her distance, let her breathe.

"Seems rather silly really? I blame it on all these tragedies I read, but if there is an opportunity for a heart to beat, there is an opportunity for it to be broken." She could almost laugh as she spoke, hearing the sound of her voice falter and break, eyes fighting back the urge for tears to rush down her face, he was so good and so kind, but her mind still raced with the opposite ideas, that he was going to be the best and the worst thing for her, he was one of the finest lines she had ever come in contact with an she wanted to explore it so bad but the levels of unpredictably were off the charts. This was a talent her mind had no control over, thinking, it either came in introspective philosophical ways or revolved sprung the idea of if something could go wrong, what, when, why and how.

"Did you know that nothing could ever sound silly if it comes out of your mouth?" He moved to place his hands on her arms before pulling her into a hug, wanting her to know that he understood and recognised her fears.

"Thank you for sharing that with me, and I want you to understand that I understand, and I have no expectations of what needs to happen . For now I just want you to enjoy my company as much as I enjoy yours every day." He raised her head off his chest and into his hands, looking into her eyes and speaking to her soul, before pulling her back into his chest, kissing the top of her head as they gazed out into the sun blessed sky once again.

She fit so comfortable in the skyline, her skin blending in with the setting sun, her patchwork dress matching the breaking dusk blush as her heart steady to the pace of his own, she did not want some logical response of how to fix the way she felt, Kay wanted a way to help it pass and heal and weld, and that seemed possible with his guidance.

"Ilios or the sun, as Heraclitus says, is new, every day." The soft spoken woman whispered into his chest as she felt the beating of his heart. She just wanted to be able to experience life without any trepidation, but she knew that would never occur, not fully, because we have gut feelings for a reason.

————

[AUTHORS NOTE]

HELLO TO ALL THE NEW READERS ILY

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Comment your fav book!

I honestly don't have one since all the books I read were fan fiction for two years but right now I'm ready a lot of new physical books to try and get my love for it back!

Currently I am reading Song Of Achilles and I've never felt such adoration for a piece of writing omg!

remember to vote, comment, and share!

- L