Work Text:
You wake up
again
again
again
ag-
on Ogygia: where the storm never leaves your bones.
By your side thankfully clothed, is your captor & worst of all, your fellow prisoner. She holds out some bread and fruit. Cracks open the pomegranate and hands it over as if a gift. You do what you’ve been doing a lot these days; staring. Staring at her, the offering, the cave walls which she has repainted again to make a different mural. Where many sea creatures were, are now the images of warmth, of plenty, a wedding.
You think of Penelope, Telemachus, man with a trail of bodies-
And blink once she tries to shove food into your mouth. It’s better that you feed yourself.
Sitting upright, hands that don’t feel like yours anymore pick up the fruit and some of the bread. It’s still warm when you swallow. She puts the fruit between her bread and enjoys the summer rays as it invades the cave.
It was foolish really, to think she wouldn’t find you again here.
The hands shake as you wish you had privacy.
Wishing you simply listened to your mentor.
She’s finished eating, snapping her fingers when reality pulls you back to it. She never liked leaving you alone in this state. She tilts her head like a curious pet, you brush off some fruit which is stuck to her cheek. It made you think of Telemachus, whose younger years you’ve all missed. And yet here’s a youth of a goddess, getting the grasp from manners, society, love from solar dreams.
She tries to kiss you, you ruffle her braids to stop it. She looks to you with wonder and laughs. And in turn you wonder if her childish laughter might’ve brought you joy. Another time, another place, another story.