Hell Is An Empty Heart (Book One of The Triple Moon's Chronicles)

31 | Darkness Coloured Her

    Memories of futile happiness eddied in front of her. Her duty as a mother swirled out of her grasp like the blow of the wind. Her quest had gone into the thin air, leaving her stranded in her ugly youth.

Her body became an anchor as she dropped next to a water hole. A semi-conscious Demeter abandoned herself at the well of Parthenion. There, days and days had passed, and by its side, her eyes shrank and drowned in a torrent of wrinkles, her cheeks grew hollow, and her skin shrivelled. At last, grey dust puffed her hair for Demeter to take on the appearance of her soul.

She was now truly old.

Darkness coloured her, and death clothed her as she waited there like a lingering ghost. Children made fun of her, and women dubbed her the "old witch" out of dread for her.

This was what she had become.

"Are you all right there?"

Tears burst out of her eyes at this voice, which sounded familiar. It reminded her of someone, but Demeter no longer knew anyone.

The shade of a girl from afar approached her and repeated her question again. "Are you lost, grandma?"

It wasn't her; Demeter's eyes swelled up in grief, and she stared back at the ground.

"You ought to be at the City State, right? Or at its palace?" As she bent down, the girl's voice remained muffled, but her words were still pronounced. Covering her ears, Demeter shook her head; she just wanted to be left there alone. Yet the girl insisted once more, "I saw women as old as you there, lining up in the hallway."

Demeter shrieked, her body urging her to run away at the moment, but the girl clasped her hand around Demeter's wrist, forcing her to look into her eyes. There was a sense of calm in them—the gleam of hope—and it chased away all of Demeter's fears.

With her furrowed eyebrow, the girl then said, "Please come with me; you are not safe here."

"Leave her alone, Callithoe!" Another girl, standing right behind her with crossed arms, rolled her eyes. She was rough, brutal in tone, and wrapped in a thick coat of brazenness, only to cover her protective nature. "She looks like she won't have long before she joins the underworld."

Throwing an ugly stare back at her sister, Callithoe bared her teeth. "Don't say such things, Demo!" The latter only yawned at the remark. Callithoe stood up, her fists now resting on her hips, and said, "Our father has always taught us to help the less fortunate." Her rant would have continued for hours on end if a loud laughter hadn't interrupted it. Demeter couldn't help but chuckle at the thought that the two of them were alike to Athena and Artemis.

Wiping the tears off her face, Demeter said, "A long time ago, my dear mother gave me the name Doso."

A new identity in honour of her own mother, Rhea, who used to call her Deo.

Words came effortlessly to the mouth of the new Demeter, her mind weaving out a whole new life, but it wasn't with a glimmer of truth.

"I have travelled over the sea against my will, abducted by pirates. I lost count of the days, years, or how long I was with them. All I remembered was their halt at an old and dirty harbour, and while I was still preparing their suppers, I ran from them. I stopped anyone from ever taking something from me, and this is how I ended up here. I do not know what this land is, who lives there, or to which gods from Mount Olympus you are praying. Yet, if you think I'm not safe here, please be kind enough to name me a house to go to. I'd like to work for them—the sort of work that is fit for a woman who has outlived her own age. I want to take some newborns into my arms, nourish them, and bathe them. It would help me greatly to forgive myself for my loss—my child, who still lives at the mercy of my tormentors."