She walked inside the room while closing the door behind her and took it in. There wasn’t much. It was small, longer than it was wide, and there was a place she thought once must have had a window but was now boarded up. The only furniture was a small wooden bed that appeared old and worn as well as side table and a closet.
Because there wasn’t a lot of room, the bed was pressed against the wall shared with the hallway. Three candles had already been lit on the square side table, and Reia walked over to the closet to see what was inside.
Disturbingly, it was filled with white dresses similar to the one she’d worn here. There were no other colours, no pants, shirts, or skirts. Just wedding dresses.
It was off-putting going through them, wishing there was something other than a bride’s dress to wear, but she’d rather not be naked. She picked a simple one that was so plain it didn’t have any lace or sewn designs at all and decided to make it a sleeping gown for herself.
It appeared someone else already had that thought, because it had been cut to be shorter and more comfortable as not to get tangled in their legs while they slept.
Just how many people have died coming here?
Reia couldn’t linger on that thought. That was the past, and they shouldn’t matter to her. They were already dead anyway. All that mattered was her own survival.
She slipped it on with just enough time before he opened the door and laid a wooden bowl on the end of her bed. It was filled with a handful of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and hazelnuts.
“Fruit?” she asked with a hint of curiosity.
She picked up one of the strawberries and took a bite into it, surprised to find it was deliciously sweet.
“I have a garden where I’ve learned to tend easy to grow human food. It’s not much, but I understand you humans
must eat regularly. I have maintained it over the eons.” He tilted his head when she frowned at him with her lips pressing together. “Why is it you appear confused?”
“This is all a lot to take in. I wasn’t expecting a house, nor fresh food like this. I was expecting when you said food that you’d throw a slab of meat at me or something. I just...”
Reia rubbed her cheeks, weariness making her eyes heavy.
“Never mind. Thank you for the food. I’m tired. I would like to sleep.”
He tilted his head the other way, before nodding.
Reia didn’t know how late it was, and even though the bedding smelt musky and dusty, she crawled into it. It was firm, but still softer than her own bed made of hay and straw, and her blanket was actually animal furs that had been sewn together.
Her heart felt heavy in her chest as she curled into a ball, wary about closing her eyes, but allowing sleep to take her regardless.
Orpheus was disturbed from his slumber with his vision going from black to bright blue in an instant before it settled to its usual soft glow. He’d been startled awake by the tiniest footsteps, the obvious creep of a tiptoe, moving across the floor in front of the door of his sleeping room.
She has awoken. Without moving his head from its laid down position as he lay flat on his stomach, his gaze turned to his window.
It was late morning, and he was still so tired since he’d not slept once on their journey. Even though they’d both slept for what must have been unusually long, he barely felt rested.
After checking on her after a short while to find she was truly asleep, Orpheus had felt comfortable enough to seek his own sleep and recovery. Even though he was nocturnal, like Demons, he would now begin to force himself to sleep late into the night while in the future he would attempt to force his human, Reia, to do same. Hopefully their sleeping patterns could align, both compromising until they slept through dawn and most of the morning.
He sighed when he continued to hear the slow creep of just the pads of a human’s toes touching the ground. She was sneaking around his home. What is she up to?
Forcing himself to his hands and knees, Orpheus rose, scratching at his back and chest, itching due to sleeping in the constriction of his clothing. He didn’t mind the pants too much, but he always found it uncomfortable to sleep in his button-down shirt.
He would have to endure since he couldn’t show Reia his body. She would most likely panic, like many others had.
He’d learnt a long time ago that his flesh distressed the humans.
Quietly, he placed his boots on and left his room, not bothering to grab his jacket, to make his way to the living area.
The woman was at the door, trying her hardest to be silent as she yanked on the handle only to find it locked. Of course, he’d locked it. He couldn’t have her going outside by herself.
Coming up behind her, he placed his hand on the corner of the door to keep it in place and stop it from rattling at her attempts of opening it.
“Do you wish to die?” He almost sighed at her in irritation.
Sometimes he wondered if the humans were stupid. They always did this, always tried to leave while they thought he was unsuspecting. They are all the same.
She flinched before quickly turning around to face him with her back pressed against the door and her arms behind her.
“No,” she squeaked as her eyes fell to the side, avoiding his gaze while he towered over her and looked down. “I just wanted to peek outside.”
He wondered if that was a lie.
“If you wanted to see what outside was like, you could have looked through the windows.”
He gestured to the room to point to the one in the cooking area, then the one near the fireplace.
When she turned her head back to him, he knew by the deep narrow of her eyes that she was giving him a glare.
Cute, he thought. He found the fiery personality of this little, tiny woman, adorable.
He heard something hard scraping against the wooden door and knew she must have something in her hand. He sent his vision to the table to find one of the three daggers upon it was missing, specifically, the one in particular she’d been inspecting the previous day.
