Down System

Chapter 7

As I slid the door, a place under the ground had welcomed my oriole eyes. This site was kind of unusual— a subterranean passage. I had thought of going down the stairs when heavy footsteps stroke in my ears. I immediately came out under the bed; unfortunately, my mother had caught me.

"What are you doing there, Aleera?" Mommy asked, folding her forehead.

"A-ah, j-just..." I stuttered while still getting out. "Just picked up my earring 'cos it fell under my bed, Mommy," I said when I finally stood out in front of her, raising the jewelry.

"Oh, is that so? I must have disturbed you, I guess?"

"No, Mommy, it's okay. Anyway, is there something I can do for you?"

"Yeah, I must say. I'm so sorry for entering without knocking, by the way. It's just because I have an important thing to say, and it's urgent, as you can see, my dear."

"Okay, just go ahead, Mommy."

"Someone's waiting for you on the balcony."

I puckered my eyebrow. "And, who?"

"Can you come with me so you could meet her?"

It must be a paramount appointment, so I followed my mother. Wrinkles still creased my brow until the moment we arrived in the verandah; a woman with white hair was sitting there, talking with Daddy Perseus. I couldn't see the face of the visitor since I was facing her back, not until I finally took my seat close to her.

The woman was beautiful despite her age. Her eyes were also brown, and it suited her tanned skin. Her face was perfect, possessing a thin rosy lip and a pointed nose. However, her angelic countenance was somehow different from the way she looked at me. Her stare was impenetrable as if I had done something wrong to her. She didn't take away her gaze at me until Mommy Morrigan introduced me to her.

I couldn't look directly at the woman. I didn't know if I should shake hands with her or smile awkwardly. While still thinking of what I should do, my mother patted my thigh, giving me a signal to speak. I just realized that I was making the atmosphere misbegotten, so I waved my hands to the woman whose eyes were still stuck on me.

"Such a nice name, Aleera," the old woman said. "I am Namika, your guide. Perhaps your parents already told you something about me."

The woman's tone was friendly to me, yet her stare was still ineffable. There was something in her eyes that didn't reach my intuition.

As I tried to look at the deepest of the woman's eyes, the whisper of the wind had reached my aural. There must be something I should know about her and her sight that couldn't get over me.

"Ah, Namika, I'm sorry about our dear Aleera," Mommy broke the silence. "She's really ain't used to talking with new people. She must be shy towards you, especially that we haven't yet told her about you."

"Morrigan's right," Daddy mouthed. "We want you, Namika, to introduce yourself to her so that she'll be able to know you better. Aleera," he turned his gaze at me, "can you please talk with her and don't be shy?"

"No, it's okay if she doesn't yet want to talk with me," the old woman said. "Maybe we could set again another time for this-"

"No," I said, causing the woman to stop. "I'm fine with this, Namika. I was just a bit surprised by this," I chuckled. "By the way, what do you mean by guide?"

Namika smiled. "I'll be the one to guide you since school will be starting again. You know you're parents are busy with work, so I'll be here for you. I'll also be your tutor. If you don't mind asking, I'm good at everything."

"She's right, Aleera," Mommy said. "That's why she's the one we hired. We know you'll be fine with her throughout. And so, we're just gonna leave you here for a moment, and we'll be preparing snacks for you."

The woman beamed at me and touched my hands the moment Mommy and Daddy left the area. Her knuckles were as warm as the breeze that was continuously rubbing my delicate skin. Her sight that seemed to be ornery just turned lenient. Her heart was like touching mine.

My eyes could not be painted while glancing at the woman. The climate I was receiving from her had made me totally aghast. I could think of her as a weird witch, but that idea was contradicting her appearance. But, who knew? Looks could be deceiving.

Until the time Namika departed her way to the house, I could still feel her. Her touch was imprinted on my hands.

I fronted the mirror and gazed at my worried face. Days after, I would start going to school and being with Namika. I conceded my parents for being occupied with their work at the company, but I did not apprehend why they had to rent someone to watch over me. Perhaps there were thinking I was still young to be independent, but they should also perceive that I could manage myself. However, I was too diffident to address my concern to them.

I stood as the underground entered my mind. I drove my vision to the door, making sure it was locked before I could advance to that place. I walked towards the entrance because I wasn't convinced by just looking at it. I had a glimpse on the outside, and when I was certain my parents were not around, I performed my plan.

I spun around wide-eyed with the large-scale library inside. The pungent smell of books tickled my nose. I rubbed my nostrils, still sauntering throughout the place. Spider webs and thick layers of dust didn't escape from my eyes. It looked like it had been over decades since it was last dredged.

Noticing a map on the table from the left side, I went there. I bit my lip as I lifted it, knowing that it was the map of Hades. Did it mean I was still in this hell world, but just in the past?

I put down the map and looked for books that could give me information about the setting I was in. Unfortunately, the shelves were full that it been hard for me to find my objective. The majority of the publications were fictional novels. Minutes after roaming my eyes, a book with a bizarre title had made me pause.

"1578?" I whispered in midair.

When I opened the book, I just got an epiphany that it was not a novel but a photo album. The furrow in my brow couldn't be faded while moving the pages. The pictures I was viewing were the different and actual events I had seen with my own eyes in the year of fifteen eighties and onwards, when I was still alive, living in those years.

My heart was shattered into pieces while remembering what I had been through in Hades. It wasn't just about myself that was hurting me but also about every Hadessian woman who I witnessed suffered from the metal hands of the Hadessian men.

I continued sliding the pages while tears cast down through my jowls. I did not expect the photo from the middle page to kill me for the second time around— it was a picture of my head hooked in the very end of a metal pole.