The Game | Completed

hades

May 28 (five weeks later)

The days passed by in a blur, but the repetition helped, I suppose. Calliope had cancelled her lessons and replaced them with free time so I could play with Ellie.

Thank the Lord.

Though, my days took a turn for the worse when I stopped seeing Henry all the time.

Sure, we had our time, but we never spent in the way I wish we did. We would only sit silently, side by side, in the garden, and more often than not he was late. He was never at meals anymore, and he completely ignored me at every chance he got.

There was still one thing to look forward to though, my birthday. When I was still at Lydia's, my birthdays went unnoticed. I turned eighteen on May 31, and the staff had already begun planning some kind of party.

In my lessons, Kate started to teach me what she called, branches, of my gifts. For example, she taught me to heal myself, which is a branch that connected Immortality and Appearance.

Right now though, I just wanted to make it through dinner. Henry, as always, wasn't there. He stopped coming to meals a week into my stay. Adrienne and I would take turns telling Ellie fairytales, normal or ones we made up on the spot.

I checked the large clock on the wall, 6:43, two minutes until Henry was supposed to escort me to the garden.

But he didn't come. He rarely did.

Instead, James came to escort me. I opened the door and took in the beauty that never failed to astonish me.

***

For awhile I only sat on the bench, twiddling my thumbs, or admiring the flowers.

I eventually got up and sat next to flowers made of amethyst. As I took in their unfathomable beauty, I nearly forgot how late Henry was.

Nearly.

Though I couldn't entirely forget that Henry was, in fact, late. That much wasn't new, he'd been late for our time for weeks now, but he always showed up.

I started to pull together a bouquet of gem-flowers for to Ellie.

Once I had finished perfecting it, I stared at the arrangement in awe. The flowers gave off a faint light and smelled lovely.

That doesn't make sense, they aren't real flowers....

"Whatever." I told myself, aloud. You know, like a crazy person. I started one for myself, one made of ruby and sapphire roses. It didn't take long for me to finish it, so I set the fake flowers on the bench beside me.

I looked up at the silver lamp-post clock and gasped, 7:39.

He didn't come.

I sighed and looked at the door, but no one walked through it. There truly was a first time for everything, I guess.

Even after an extra ten minutes of waiting, Henry didn't show. So, I walked myself back, but of course, I got lost.

How could I have even gotten lost? I huffed and stomped in frustration.

Because you have the directional awareness of a toddler.