A GODDESSES PARADISE (girlxgirlxgirl)

24; Over the sun, under the rain

"The responsibilities of an older sibling- stay and die or leave and suffer?"

🌿

The Green Bay beaches are highly unvisited,

Irene can only guess after looking at the lack of footsteps and many pointy rocks. It's not exactly a good place for relaxation, or fishing, compared to the other beaches and bays on the island. It's dark and cold, the wind blows harshly here, unlike in the city where they have the mountains and hills to protect them. It's not a perfect place to set up camp, but when has any place ever been perfect?

Irene has a tight grip on her brothers hand, almost like he would disappear if she let go. After their hugs and cries, a almost deadly kind of silence engulfed them both. Only the wind and rain is heard as they walk. Sooner or later, all this bad weather will morph into an even heavier storm, and nervousness bubbles in the girls stomach. She would much rather be back at the temple during a storm, protected by its sturdy walls. But that is out of the question now, she has left and has no plans of coming back ever again.

Irene's pace is clearly more fast and confident than Isaac's. He seems more hesitant, and that hesitance only grows at each step that they take further away from the river and the rest of this islands society. He knows that the emperor is still there at the temple, and he wonders how long it will take before anyone notices his disappearance. Irene doesn't seem like she wants to go back, doesn't seem like she enjoyed her stay here, but lately he has enjoyed it. He wasn't ready to leave, he isn't ready to leave, but technically he knows that they should. The two of them don't belong here, they were never meant to be here. Their home and life is in their own village, and neither of them were meant to leave it.

Their silence lasts a long while, all the way to the Green Bay. Isaac doesn't know what Irene has been doing during the past month, and Irene doesn't know what Isaac has done either. They stay silent, both wanting to know, and also not wanting to. Afraid of the answer. Isaac is especially afraid. He doesn't want to know what happened to Irene, what and who created those marks around her neck, that he has been eyeing for this past hour they have spent together. Who is responsible for the slight stains of blood under her lips and the small tremble of her hands? To be fair, they are both trembling. It's the cold, Isaac tells himself. It's too cold out here.

Irene hesitantly lets go of his hand. Silently they build shelter of dead wood and big leaves. It's not very sturdy and might be blown away with the storm, but it's enough. Both of them have seen worse than this. They have nothing to eat for tonight, so instead they sit under the small roof and try to keep themselves warm. Starting a fire is useless, all the sticks are wet and the ceiling above them leaks. Irene isn't supposed to smile at that, but it reminds her of home, so she does.

Outside the sun has set a long time ago. The storm gets worse and a cold settles over the bay. Isaac thinks about his warm bed that he woke up in today, and sighs. If Irene thinks the same, she won't show it. Both are too stunned to speak. For months everything has seemed like a weird fever dream, slowly turning into reality, and now that they've been reunited the dream is broken and they are grounded yet again. Grounded and hungry, Isaac sighs at that. He'll have to find food tomorrow. Maybe fish again, that's what he was good at after all. Fishing. Before coming here and becoming some sort of pet for an emperor, living at an island that's not supposed to exist. What has his life gotten to?

It's not the cold, nor the hunger that is keeping them awake though. It's the unanswered questions, the unspoken words, the wild thoughts. This past month has been crazy enough, and a moment of silence is really what the both of them need. The cold and wet atmosphere really does remind them of home, the bad conditions and hunger. It's not a good image they have of their house and life back at the village, but it's comforting. It's something familiar, something that makes sense, something that seemed so far away when they were alone and separated in a new world. A new world that now hates them, hates Irene, and might start hating Isaac soon enough.