SANITY

Chapter 1

Athens, Greece - 1922

Athena is a lonely woman. She has no family left in Greece. Everyone run away a long time ago. Refugees won't stop coming in and it's getting harder and harder just to make a living. It has always been rough for her. Even as a baby, she had no luck. A newborn baby is now in the middle of the huge square, with people passing by minding their own business. Is getting dark and those ugly yellow lights are on. The basket that she was left alone with is not warm and comfortable anymore. An echoing, loud sound woke the baby up and as soon as she opened those deep black eyes the first raindrop fell from the sky.
   She hardly could afford that small apartment she was living in. "Men don't pay me enough" she always used to say and laughed sarcastically. She's now in her tiny kitchen about to make some oat with some warm water. She pulls out the gas stove, light it and she puts the aluminium bowl wish some water in it on the fire. She was waiting impatiently because she is so hungry , and she only gets to eat twice a day. The water is almost boiling so she adds the oat. While she was mixing it, the door knocked. She wasn't waiting anyone to come by. She has no friends. She cowardly walkes towards the old wooden door and as she get closer the anxiety and fear are the two strongest feelings she could get. Was she standing in front of the door when she asks "who's there?" And she gets no answer. The person of the other side is knocking once more. Some seconds pass by and she decided to open the door. Now the fright cannot be seen just in her face but also on her shaking hand as she's reaching for the door handle. She put some effort into opening it because the knob was Rusty and complex, but when she finally managed to do it what she saw calmed her down and filled her with both happiness and curiosity.
   The man on the other side was just the mailman. The first impression of him was disgust because of his hair and skin that was clearly dirty. It's like he had been working on the rubbish dump for three days and didn't even bother to wash himself. He was stinky too. Nevertheless she said hi in a -way too sweet and- kind way.
"Are you mrs. Athena?" he asked in the monotonous way
"Yes, that is me, indeed!" She responded filled with enthusiasm.
"I got a letter for you and I was actually asked to give it to you in person, instead of putting in the mailbox" he said.
"Is that so?" She said competely confused.
"Yes, now you shall take it because I have to do better things than looking at you" he repied again in  monotonous way.
"Thank you for the letter, and oh... the next time tell your boss to send someone else" yelled Athena and closed the door violently.
  Athena can't wait to open it! She is so excited... The letter is heavy and thick and she has no idea who would send her a letter. She rushes to her room and opens it. What was in there, she couldn't believe. She takes it out and she starts reading what the senter of the letter has written.

Dear Athena,
I've been thinking about you and I miss you. I decided to write you to inform you that I'm here for you not physically but mentally. I do not know what you've been doing all this time that we were apart but I want you to take all that money that I sent you and if you want you can come to Italy and stay with me.
                                          Yours Ahmed.

P. S. The first thing that I want to do when you're here us to see once more  those deep black eyes of yours just like the first time, in Syntagma Square.