100 reasons to love our lives

Places like home

Nico

The sunset bathed us in golden lights. Warm summer air surrounded the temples.

But I was cold. I felt cold.

Hazel held me tight in her arms while I shook. Tears had long abandoned me, the water dry on my face.

"Take my handkerchief", my sister ordered. Additionally to the tears, I also had had nosebleed and the problem with snort. Weakly, I took it and wiped my face clean; as clean as possible at least.

Now not just my body was cold, but the air around us cooled down too. The sky shined in the bright color of strawberries and peaches, illuminating the jewellery on the Temple of Pluto. We were sitting there like we did back in our teen days, where the world had bigger problems we could solve instead of caring about our own.

Hazel rested her chin on my head, an umbrella next to us. The rain had stopped just half an hour ago, leaving us with a bright, clean world we could watch.

It was a deep freeze I felt; coming from my bones, streaming into my blood. Shivering, I hid in my sister's embrace. Hazel hummed a few songs, her hands rubbing my back.

From her stomach came a bump; as if the little life inside her tried to shut me up. It was kind of ironic that an unborn baby was more calm than a twenty year old.

"Come on", Hazel now said. "You will take a shower now, and I prepare dinner."

"Yes, mother", I muttered and let me get dragged to her house.

Even though Frank and her still were praetors, they were offered a little apartment for their future family. I vividly remembered their wedding. Hazel had been so excited that the ground beneath her had been riddled with diamonds and ruby hearts. My guess was that someone had buried them just so she could pull them up; but it had been memorable anyway.

She was a young mother - twenty, like me -, but she had her life under control. Had married at nineteen. Awaited a child, and as far as I knew, everything had been planned. She had four years of praetor duty left, but nobody would dismiss her even after that. My sister was a master of her profession; she knew what she wanted to do, and in two months, she would have a baby daughter.

Hazel had my deepest respect for that.

"I'll bring you fresh clothes", she now said. We stood in front of the bathroom door. "Thank you", I said. "Really. For everything."
"You're welcome", she just said.

The hot water was a blessing. Every bad memory of that day drowned, got washed away to a point where I could think about them without starting to shake again.
But I was tired, my muscles hurt, every step was forced.

I hated Celine. I hated that Will just left without a reason. I hated that I had to sleep in a room bathed in misery. I hated college. And I really hated myself for finally snapping.

But after I changed my outfit, I almost felt human again.
My reflection in the mirror looked surprisingly well. Red eyes, yes, there were some stripes on my cheeks from my fingernails, but other than that... I looked just like me.

Was that good or bad? It didn't matter.

As I went outside, the delicious scent of spaghetti got caught in my nose. Controlled by sudden hunger, I made a beeline for the kitchen.

"Hello, brother", Hazel greeted me. She was sitting at the table while Frank provided for food. My brother-in-law waved shortly, giving me a shy smile.
Hazel's smile was much bigger. "Welcome back to the living."
"I nearly laughed", I answered. "Can I help?"
Frank shook his head a little. "It's almost done. Thank you though."
His ears reddened and he turned to the pot again.