Desdemona | Visitor
“WAKE UP, YOU’VE GOT A VISITOR!!!” My eyes pop open and I lift myself off the wall.
As I had thought, it was Joel— the same guard who had been keeping watch over me for the past 3 years while I sat in this dungeon with my arms barred to the cold bricked wall. He jams the key into the hole of the door and with a twist the door creaks open. The dark figure wearing a cloak slips a small brown satchel into the guard’s hands. Judging by the way the contents of the bag clink together as metal would I assume its silver. Joel looks at me and then looks down at the brown bag and walks away after locking the cell back, but not before telling us we have limited time. The light from the barred window reflects down as my eyes search for my silent savior.
I tense up as the hooded figure, clad in black, steps forward. I immediately recognize who it is when a long honey brown curl falls down into visible sight. I grow excited and forget myself, thrusting my person to hug her when I get yanked back by the chains on the wall cuffing my wrists. I wince in pain and look at how red and sore my wrists were. They had begun to scab and were cut a little deep from the chains cutting off my circulation. It seemed as if they were tighter each day than the last.“ Lena?” I question. Pale white hands come up and remove the hood, I assess my eyes over her and instantly know something is wrong. I begin to say something when all the air is sucked out of my body as she pulls me into a bone crushing hug. I return the hug back and begin to whisper sweet nothings in her ear as she sobs into the crook of my neck.
This was the first time I had physically seen her in 4 years.
My mother used to sing to us before she fell into silent sleep. I’d like to believe shes in heaven. She always did believe in the gods, so I had made a regular habit of praying to the gods, asking them to look over my mother, until I could join her, which seemed to be soon. The song always calms us down.
My voice was rusty since it had been years since I’d last talk to another being, although there was Joel- the guard, I never trusted him enough to talk to him. My voice rasps as the first notes float out.
“Your love would tickle my heart like feathers…
Only the gods can decide our fate….
I’ve never loved anyone like this….
My heart was so cold I thought I’d freeze through…..
I feel as if this love could never be real….
Deep down I found my magic flames….
Safe haven of the sleepless…
Telling me that you’re near….
You’ll never know the real me…..
But If you look through my eyes, you’ll see….
For now let go, the gods will decide if true love lasts forever..
I don’t know if, you’ll ever know
But I have to let you go…”
I comfort her until finally she pulls away and sniffles ” Oh I’ve missed you so much sister. We have plenty to talk about. But I forgot what I wanted to say when you started singing, my brain turned to mush. You sound like a siren drawing me closer and your singing reminds me of when Mom used to sing for us,” she rambles out really fast I let out a raspy laugh followed by a hideous coughing fit. Lena had a habit of talking until she ran out of breath. She was still the same after so many years. She rubs the small of my back to put my coughing to ease.
“You’ve grown so much Lena!” I rumble.
She laughs. “I’m not that old.”
Before my mother died she left us with a gift of her own, leaving us telepathic. Ever since my father had thrown me in here we had been able to communicate through the wire that connected us together, but mine stopped working recently because of how very little nutrients I was getting down here.
Telepathy required a lot of energy, for which I didn’t have.“You’ve missed out on so much. Things have been crazy the past 5 months!” She sets down a straw woven basket I hadn’t even noticed until now, her cloak had been huge and succeeded in covering it. I swing my arms to the side of my head, still locked in place by the cuffs three feet up the wall. She opens the basket and fishes out a large glass jar of water that looks to be hot by how quickly she sets it down and sucks her thumb.
She pops the latches of the glass jar off and moves her hand around in the basket until a white cloth graces her with its presence. My eyes crinkle with the thought of how my little sister is taking care of me When the roles should be reversed. I wipe my eyes for any tears falling and realize there are none because of how little water is in my body. We look at each other for a moment and I open my mouth to thank her but she holds a finger to my lips and nods her head as if a thousand words had just been spoken with just one look. “What’s happening out there?” I ask as she dips the dry cloth into the jar of steaming water. Then scoots over to where I’m sitting and drags the cloth over my arms and legs working to wipe away the scuff and dirt marks. The last time she was here she had stealthily slid down to see me because father would not permit it and he had taken her away from me; us both in tears. Speaking of…
“Father let me down here to spread the good news , but I had to bribe the guard for extra time. Father got engaged. Well, I bled for the first time and the father says he was going to find the very best suitor for me. Our st-” My face scrunches up in horror and she stops scrubbing me and asks what’s wrong.
“Anastasia you do know what this means right,” I say using her first name to show how serious I am right now. I don’t wait for her answer and keep talking “He’s going to sell you to some man that wants nothing but a warm body and a woman to breed like an animal! You’re fucking 14, what if you get pregnant?! Gods forbid something happens. You’re too young for this….I-i can’t let this happen. I can’t lose you. I promise you I will do whatever it takes to stop this from happening.” I wheeze out as this newfound information makes a sadness pool in my near frozen heart. She continues to scrub at me continuously dipping the cloth in the hot jar every few minutes. “Its too late, they’ll be here by tomorrow afternoon. `It’s better than now.” she says, sulking. My eyes flutter close as I take in deep breaths and open my eyes to find her pair of orbs staring into mine. “You know I just care about you right? I would never want anything less for you, than what you’re worthy of and you deserve happiness. I just don’t think you should be marrying, anyone this young, but if it makes you happy? I’m not one to stop you.”
Although I doubt it would make her happy, I knew she was seeing a boy two years older than her. From the glimpses I got of him he seemed nice enough and I could tell she was very fond of him. Though I did not bring him into topic.
Anastasia and I Desdemona only referred to each other as Lela and Lena when we were alone. We’re the spitting image of our mother; no traces of our father to be seen. Our father has golden locks streaked with slight grey hairs. He has a pointy nose with a small black mole above his left brow.Lena had inherited that from him. He wears these reading glasses and has thin pasty lips that were always in an down turned frown. I’d even say he looked decent but his nasty temper took away his beauty replacing him with a permanent frown. Lena had a combination of both our parents hair resulting in a dark shade of honey brown. And inherited our fathers ocean blue eyes, Lena’s were more like a beautiful cyan blue.I had crimson like eyes, an unusual color for eyes, but I know its from my mother. Right now my eyes are green and lifeless. I was born with green eyes and jet black hair but the transition started after Mama went into sleep. My eyes had a habit of changing color when I was weak or exhausted. They usually stayed red when I was healthy. Our mother had beautiful strands of jet black hair. My hair is dark as night with curls that fall mid tailbone. It had been kept in a long dirty braid since I’d been taken to the bathing rooms, which was not often. My dark olive, sun kissed skin was from our mother, where as Lena had ivory-like pale skin She had to be at least a whole foot taller than me and had filled out her gowns nicely, was a good height, but my growth had been stunted since because of how bad the air was, water and the minimal food I was allowed. We had the same button nose and full pink cupids bow lips. I was all skin and bones and had 3% body fat.I didn’t know how much longer I would last down here.
After wiping away all the dirt marks with the cloth everywhere she reached into the basket grabbed a brown pastry covered in white powder, a glass of milk and some grapes. I almost moaned at the sight of fresh food, it had been so long.
So. Long.
She feeds me all the food piece by piece until I protest, and forces me to eat the rest even though I can’t stomach it down. The guard comes by and gives us a couple more minutes to say our farewells.
She pulls me into another hug. “Father has hosted a ball tonight in honor of him marrying a duchess. He said if you could behave you shall be allowed to come. He also invited my suitors.” She says, her voice is full of hope. I will have the chance to escape!
Quinn appears in the room suddenly sitting on a bale of hay in the far corner of the cell.
‘You know you’ll never escape as long as you are weak like this.’ Quinn says, stating the obvious.
‘Even if you could you’re just a weak, pa—’ I push him to the back of my brain.
He is just a figment of my imagination right?
Right….?
I snap my head back to Lena, and my hope begins to fade away.
“I love you Lena, take care of Bear for me, ok?” I cough as my throat goes dry. I smile at the thought of Bear. He was my mothers pet parrot and we had resumed care of him when she passed. He was the only possession we had of hers left because our father had packed away her other things and sent them to Blythe Chateau. Where her parents— my grandparents live.
She nods and then is escorted out of the cell by Joel. She waves a hand at me and leaves. Here I am alone….. again. I turn my head to where Quinn was sitting and realize he wasn’t there to begin with. I bring my knees up, turn my side to the wall and tuck my head into my knees. I fall into a dreamless nap where my terrors take me captive.
