Amora's Odyssey ✅

τριάντα εφτά {37}✅

Amora

I continued to pace around in my cell, not able to stay still. On the other side, Eva and Leona seemed to have given up. On the outside, they were the epitome of calmness but I could tell that inside their spirits were broken. I was the only person who seemed to have faith in Iris' ability. In the back of my mind, I had thought that this experience would be somewhat better if my cell partner was at least a little bit more interactive with me. With how it was it was as if I was in solitary confinement and I couldn't bare it any longer, so I snapped.

I sighed, building the courage up from deep within me to finally talk to her and withstand the obvious backlash that would inevitably come. I walked over and sat with my legs crossed next to her. Kleio had her head buried in her legs and as I approached and kneeled to her level I could almost hear her extremely uneven breathing as if she was panicking. Yet again the thought of her panicking seemed impossible. I placed my hand on her knee. Nothing happened for a while, she was completely still as if my touch had passed whatever episode she had going on.

"Kleio?" I begin, testing the waters.

"Go away." Her voice was muffled but it was easy to pick out the fact that she didn't want me to press further. That fact had never stopped me before and so it didn't stop me again from pressing further. At that moment I assessed the situation to think and see if I could do anything that would increase the chances of her telling me what was wrong.

I then realised that our situation wasn't exactly a private one and there were more chances of her being open about her feelings if she was sure I was the only person she was being open to. So I scooted back to the wall opposite her, in a similar position to her and waited. I wanted until the small light that shone into the cell was from the moonlight and not the setting sun. At some point, I had dozed off and when I came to I looked to the cell opposite us and saw that Eva and Leona were fast asleep.

My attention then turned to Kleio who hadn't moved at all from the position she was initially in. I scooted forward again and touched her knee, letting her know I was there again.

"What's going on?" I spoke into the silence between us but this time there was no answer. I tried again regardless.

"Eva and Leona won't hear if that's what you're worried about. They're far away enough and it'll be night soon, so it'll be just us."

As I waited for a response my throat dried and clammed up, I was beginning to think once again she had ignored me but then my hope was restored when Kleio slowly lifted her head. Her eyes were bloodshot but there were no tears which I found somewhat odd. However it did prove one thing I never expected, she was crying.

I didn't say anything again, I only sat next to her and placed my squeezed my hand which was on her knee in an attempt to comfort her. This time there was no argument, she only looked at me and sighed.

"I guess I owe you an explanation."

Kleio

Under normal circumstances, this would have never happened. However, it had come to my attention that normal circumstances had a tendency to throw themselves out the window. Amora had already seen me crying and so there was no point in trying to poorly build back the walls that had been broken down. It was so hard to keep back the thought of losing her again and the memories that being behind bars brought back. I had no choice but to let her in, so I breathed in then out and began my story.

"I was only 10, it was a few months after my parents were taken and I was barely surviving on the streets. I had to steal to make a living and I despised it. In a way, I was exactly like Iris which is why I can't stand her. All I could when I stared into her eyes was my younger self. I kept a relatively low profile and was only referred to as a new ruffian on the street until I unknowingly stole from a slave trader in Achaia.