Divine

Chapter 5: An Underworld Meadow

Persephone

Somehow, I had managed to crawl into the bed and sleep through my remaining tears. It wasn't a restful sleep; however, my mind could not calm itself enough to allow me that. Every time I was even close to falling into the deep sleep I needed I would remember my mother, or my dreams and goals that I'd had for my future. These thoughts would put me into another spout of teary sobs.

The bed was very soft however, and it allowed me to have some form of comfort in my room, or dungeon, whatever it was. It was very soothing to lay there in that soft, white bed and stare at the ceiling as tears fell down my cheeks. Or to even just curl up in a ball and sob until my throat hurt.

This is how the serving boy found me, curled up in a ball on the now tangled sheets. He sighed heavily when he came into my dim room, probably in pity but I wasn't paying enough attention to know. He came to the edge of the bed and crouched down so that we were at eye level. "Would you come with me, please?" he asked me quietly, almost as if he was attempting not to startle me.

I didn't move my eyes, though, didn't look at him at all. I just nodded my head at his delicate words. I knew I would go with him, because for some reason I trusted him. And I also couldn't bear to be in this cold, gloomy room any longer. It was suffocating me to remember what had just happened here, to know that my freedom had been taken away from me with these four stone walls.

He sighed again, but this time I could tell it was in relief. He stood up and sauntered back to the door. Then he turned around and saw that I was still curled up in my ball on the bed. "Are you going to be able to walk?" he asked uncertainly after a moment of hesitation.

I thought about it for a moment, could I walk? I thought of the will it would take me to sit up and step away from this bed. I wanted to leave, but I lacked the motivation to move away from this comfortable mattress I was laying on. I shook my head no to the serving boy.

I saw a slight smile bridge along his lips. Then he walked back over to me and put his arms around me.

At first, I wasn't sure what he was going to do but as he stood up again I realized that he was willing to carry me to this place. And I wanted to slap myself; I didn't even have the incentive to move myself while he was willing to carry the both of us. I just felt like an indolent letdown as he stepped outside of my dungeon and into the hall.

"You like gardens, right? You look like a girl who would love the outdoors to me," he said idly as he carried me down the hall.

I nodded silently as I looked around at the hall around me. The thing about it that surprised me was that there weren't any doors, windows, or anything at all. It was just a stone tunnel, tedious and eerie. All it did was turn and fork off into separate tunnels that had the same appearance as the original one, anyone would've gotten lost in seconds but Pierce seemed to know where he was going. He turned every corner and walked into other passageways with a complete confidence about him.

He smiled down at me as I looked around at the barren walls around us. "Kind of boring, huh?" he asked me. His eyes sparkled down at me as he smiled.

I nodded again as he read my mind. His confidence was well deserved, apparently, not only could he make his way through identical tunnels without getting lost, he also managed to read my mind.

"Well, I can't say I disagree with you, but I think you'll get used to the mind-numbing scenery in a little while," he finished off while his stunning smile still ensnared me. His eyes were captivating to me; they were both green and brown, light and dark. A combination that was so beautiful me.