Prologue
She took a step outside. Everything was ordinary. Too ordinary. The cold breeze blew on her hair, the chill making her shiver involuntarily. She should go back in.
She sighed heavily and took a few steps down her porch. When she reached the ground, she bent down and gently touched it with her open palm. After she realized nothing was going to happen, she withdrew her hand and sat on the porch instead, staring blankly out into the street. She should really go back in.
It should take her a lot more time to fully come back to her senses. After all, only days had passed since she’s come back from her very un-normal adventures. Back when rivers could talk. When she could fly. When rats could cook. When the cutest guy she probably ever met stirred her heart and gave her literal butterflies in the stomach.
Her hair was tied up in her usual high pony, still it reached the lower portion of her back. She wore an over-sized white sweater on top of tight fitted blue jeans. Her face showed no emotion as she watched children running around her neighbor’s yard and cars speeding past her home. Still, her stern grey eyes hid nothing - not from me anyway. Not the sadness, nor the hope. Please go back Hestia, or I wouldn't be able to stop myself.
And she did. She stood up, walked up the steps, and opened the door to her house. She looked one last time over her shoulder, waiting, but nothing was going to come back. Something in my chest tightens. She went in and closed the door.
So, I turned around with my head hung low and heart still heavy. My cheeks feel cold and my vision blurry, but I go anyway.
