Lady of Sparta

I woke up to the birds chirping outside. As I stretched my limbs, I looked at the door leading to the other room. It was slightly ajar, tempting me to look inside. I crossed the room with the floor, creaking under my feet, and was about to push the door open. I leaned close to the door trying to find out if Aristides was in there or not, but I couldn’t hear anything on the other side of the door. Something stopped me from opening it. The temptation to open the door almost pushed me to open the door, but I realized that I would be invaded his privacy which was the opposite of what I wanted.

I took a step back, staring at the door. I could only wonder where he was. He was probably someplace training or working. Sparta trained the men pretty well from what I remember from history classes. I had no way of telling if that was where he was at though. I didn't even know what I should do with myself. I wasn't exactly the type to stay inside at all times, but I couldn't leave because of the people in this time era.

I sat down on the bed, trying to find some way to entertain myself. The wooden walls seemed to mock me with the fact that the only thing I had to do was sleep. I sighed, knowing that boredom would sink in sooner than I would like it.

I tried to think of what my family was doing. They would probably either talk about how I was a rebellious child or think about how to redecorate their house. Redecorating for them was like a hobby. It seemed that every month there was different colored furniture and new wallpaper. I wouldn't be surprised if that was where the money went that was supposed to pay for my tickets to Sparta after graduation.

I needed to think of something else. Thinking about my parents was only irritating me. I imagined that I was being petty. I was in Sparta at the moment, just not the time era that I expected. I almost laughed at myself. I wouldn't have any souvenirs to show them. There wouldn’t be any pictures of the city. There would just be the memories in my head that I couldn’t share.

The problem was a part of me wanted to tell people that I got sent back in the past. Not because it was fun thing to do. It was just the fact that no one else had gone back in time. I got to do something that no one else did. The other part of me knew why I couldn’t. People would think that I was insane or that I had an overactive imagination.

I started thinking more about my situation. I was stuck in the past. I could only hope that I would be sent back to 2013. I didn’t know if I could trust Embry, but I needed to. I needed to know that he would do his job and not let me stay here in the wrong time. The only thing that I was worried about was the looks that he was giving me. I still couldn’t wrap my head around them.

I heard footsteps outside. I looked out the window to see Aristides, walking next to another man. The guy had dark brown hair and a light tan. He was still lighter than Aristides, but the tan was darker than my Floridian tan. They were getting closer to the door.

“Hesperos, I don’t need any company right now,” Aristides said, trying to get him to leave. He was almost pleading with him.

I knew why he didn’t want me to meet him. The look on Hesperos’s face suggested that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. I didn’t know what to do when I thought about the other room. I hated having to intrude on his privacy, but that man wasn’t going to leave, not with that defiant look on his face.

“Oh, you don’t need to be alone on this day,” Hesperos argued.

I could hear his hand hit the door as I ran across the room for the second time today. This time I didn’t hesitate to open the door. I promised myself that I wouldn’t dig around as I gently shut the door behind me. I breathed a sigh of relief when they didn’t acknowledge the sound I made.

I scanned the room. There was a mess of clothing in the corner. It was scattered around a little bit, almost like it was dug through. They didn’t look like they were big enough to wrap around Aristides, but he was the only person who lived here. Who else could they have belonged to?

There was also a bed like the one in the main room. The walls were the same dull color, but the room seemed to be bigger for some reason. Maybe there just wasn’t as many things cluttering up the room, or maybe it was the window that let in the sun. There seemed to be something sad about this room. I couldn’t pin point what it was, but I could feel it as the air came into my lungs. The smell of wood permeated in the air like a ghost being to be seen.

“I’m fine,” Aristides informed the new man. “I’m serious.”

They went into a conversation where I could only pick a few of the words up. I got a very vague understanding of the conversation. It was kind of dull. It seemed that Hesperos was trying distract Aristides from something.

I stood, leaning against the door listening to them. It wasn’t because I wanted to know what they said. I just wanted to know when the man left. I wasn’t exactly happy hiding in Aristides’s room as the two of them talked. The sound of their voices weren’t loud, but at the same time, they were hushed. The way the stranger talked was like he was trying to get to the point, but yet at the same time skirt around what was going on.

“It’s been three years, Aristides, and you still miss her,” Hesperos said. “Don’t you think it’s time to move on?”

“I’ve tried, Hesperos. I really have, but how is it easy to get over the one that you loved since you were a child? I loved my wife, and here you are acting like her death is something that I shouldn’t think about,” Aristides retorted. Anger filled his voice like a thick fog hovering over the ground.

My hand landed on my mouth as I was filled with shock. His wife died. Were the clothes in the corner hers? I slid down the door. The sadness in the air seemed to become thicker than what it was. I wasn’t prepared to think that something like that happened to him. He had seemed a little distant when I saw him in his own thoughts, but I didn’t think it could have been something like this.

“I know you did, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s just don’t you think you should start feeling better by now, right?” There was something in Hesperos’s voice that made me want to see his face. He was worried about Aristides, but yet he wasn’t sensitive enough to know that he needed to drop the subject.

“Hesperos, I want to be alone. Please leave,” Aristides demanded. There was a bit of anger laced in his voice, but it was to a lesser degree now. He was tired of the conversation, and it was clearer than a cloudless day.

There were footsteps towards the front door. I wasn’t sure if I could come out when I hear the door click shut. The birds had stopped chirping, and silence hung in the air. I just stood, leaning against the door with the thoughts of his wife swirling in my head. I tried to absorb this with ease, and I felt so sorry for him.

“He’s gone,” Aristides called to me. When I stepped into the room, he asked me, “What did you hear?”

There seemed to be something different about the way he looked. He wasn’t sitting straight like he did when he was listening to me talk about technology, but he was bent forward with his head in his hands. It was like he was pieces of broken glass that was shattered on the floor. There seemed to be something sparkling in his eyes when he looked up at me.

“Everything,” I answered. I sat down on the crate as I tried to think of a way to comfort him. None of the normal things was coming to mind. I didn’t know how he felt about me holding him or lying about how things will get better when they won’t really. The only thing that I could do was to distract him. I asked him about where he went. The conversation about his dead wife was pushed to the side. The sadness in the air was there in the room with him, and it was obvious. It was just that it was being ignored to where it wasn’t felt on a higher degree.