The Afterlife (HoO Fanfiction)

Back To Their Roots

~Adelaide~

The vibe on the boat was becoming heavier and heavier. The more the day went on, the harder the sun was hitting. The temperature raised to an uncomfortable height and the humidity levels did not help. I walked slowly on the wooden floor along the cabins. The wood creaked under my feet. I listened to the silence choking the crew of the Penelope. It was hard to breathe, I was suffocating.

All the passengers were meeting one another, in a vain effort to find comfort. Nico had come to see me earlier. The conversation had been brief because we weren't able to understand each other. It was deceitful because I had the impression that he could have been able to relate to the darkness that had been haunting me forever. He seemed to carry something different in him, like a scar that had taken time to heal. I could see this deep cut in him in every smile he tried to crack. He was doing a good job of hiding it. I was unable to decide if he was hiding it from himself, too. Nico was fascinating in a way because I could see a bit of myself in him.

It was true that all the crew members were wearing scars of their own, at different depths. I could see in their eyes this pain, silent and so loud at the same time. I could not yet understand at this point what they had lived, I could only imagine it since I had just entered their world. However, I was starting to get the idea.

I had the feeling that Lewis's death had affected me less than the others. I had learned a long time ago to hide my emotions and to forget them. Anyway, when you're already at rock bottom, comfortably settled, the storms above your head could no longer reach you. My misery could not be deeper. Or could it?

During my conversation with Nico, I had understood quickly that he had learned to accept death. I guess that being the son of Hades was helping. Still, something in his voice left me to believe that a long process was behind this acceptance. For me, death had surrounded me like a cotton ball, making my movements slower, the sounds more muffled around me. Death had made me more comfortable at rock bottom and I was losing more and more my will to reach the surface. It was starting to become more difficult every day to imagine a world where I was okay, where the sufferings were easier to bear.

Anyway, after a few attempts at comforting me, confronted with my will to stay silent, Nico had decided that it was better for me to stay alone to face reality. I had used this occasion to see around a bit of the ship. To observe the rest of the crew trying to face reality, with their friends or better half.

My steps led me to the common room, where I found Frank and Will seated at the table. They had turned on the TV in last resort to let their thoughts wander away from their painful memories. Not wanting to enter a conversation, I was ready to leave the room.

However, the music introducing the news report caught my attention. I turned around to look at the screen as Frank and Will were doing. They were more looking than watching and trying to make sense of what they were seeing.

"Searches for the missing girl, Adelaide Dämmer, disappeared in Berlin a few days ago, are still underway," said the monotonous voice of the host. I saw my picture showing up on the screen. It was an old picture of me, at my twelfth birthday party, where I was awkwardly trying to smile.

"The authorities suspect that the child ran away on her own. Adelaide's parents are convinced that she will come back soon and believe that she was rather kidnapped. They announced that they are ready to give anything to see their girl come back to them in good health." The image changed. I could now see my adoptive parents crying on the screen, trying to speak in incoherent words.

Will and Frank, surprised, looked from the screen to me, then from me to the screen.

"Adelaide, you didn't tell us that your parents were looking for you," Will said.