lotus eaters short story

As my head broke through to fresh air, I opened my eyes to a completely new scene. I was in a rectangular pool inside what appeared to be a temple. Greek style columns lined the walls, and the tiles surrounding the pool’s perimeter bore the meandros. Dim white lights lined the base of the walls and lit up the backside of the columns, casting long shadows across the water. Potted plants filled some of the gaps which only added to the ominous appearance of what could only be described as a liminal space. 

I pulled myself out of the lukewarm pool and onto the cold tiled floor. For a moment, I just sat there in silence with my hands planted firmly for support and face turned towards the ground. My sodden hair looked cobalt blue in the low lighting as it hung in front of my face. I knew I could wringe my hair out and keep from making a mess since water had already begun pooling up around it, but I just couldn’t seem to send the command from my brain down to my limbs. All motivation had seemingly left my body as I sat there solemnly, dripping wet. My arms felt heavy, my head even heavier. Grief weighed on my heart like a stone in my chest, and I just couldn’t overpower it enough to move. There were no physical injuries, but the pain kept growing worse and spreading like an infection. Tears started leaking and streaming down my face, but I couldn’t even bring myself to wipe them away. Why should I when more are already on their way to replace them? I just sat and watched them fall into the fast growing puddle forming around me. 

I’m not sure how long I was sitting there, but eventually, I started to hear music. It was distant and muffled, as though it was coming from another room. Despite that, it kept getting louder. as though getting closer. None of the walls seemed to have any doors, at least none were visible in the low lighting. I’d inspected my surroundings once already, but I looked again, and it’s a good thing I did.

I’m not sure how I must have missed it before, but there was a tall, maybe ten foot statue of a man on a dias standing proudly at the end of the room. The man sat on a chaise lounge and was leaning on his right elbow, while his left hand held a glass of wine. He wore a chiton that would have left his right shoulder exposed had it not been shrouded in his long, tight ringlet curls. The white marble of his eyes made his stare look empty yet foreboding at the same time. The size of the statue and the presence in the temple indicated that he was probably a god of some sort. Perhaps I wasn’t meant to stare into the eyes of a god. It’s probably better that way.

Behind the statue, a door opened and the loud music I’d heard approaching finally spilled in and flooded the room. A woman stood in the doorway, but I could only see the silhouette of her hair and dress against vibrant pink neon lights glowing behind her. Other multicolored lights flashed across the crowd of bodies, but I couldn’t make out any of their features either. The woman in the doorway didn’t scream or get angry or anything. She just walked over silently and I slowly made out her concerned expression as she came nearer. When she saw that I was unharmed, she asked if I was okay, and for some reason, I just told her exactly how I was feeling with the pain in my chest and the weight in my limbs. She seemed unphased, as though she’s heard this story before. Nodding, she offered her hand to help me stand up, and I accepted. I wrung out the rest of the water dripping from my hair into the pool and followed as she took me to the corner of the room. She opened a door that seemed to appear out of thin air, and it was a maintenance closet or something similar. The shelves were filled with folded fabrics, but I couldn’t fully make out what they were until she handed me one of the folded bundles. I shook it out and realized it was a dress.

After changing, the woman led me back through the door she’d come through earlier. Everyone’s clothing was uniform with the multicolored pattern on the dress my guide had given me. She took my hand and weaved through the dense crowd of people until we reached the bar area tucked against the wall. In front of the bartop itself was a small, carpeted lounging area. Within were a couple tall bar tables with cushioned chairs of matching height, a fabric booth that lined the wall to my left, and a long, snaking couch in a general L-shape. There were seats lining either side of it, and on a platform between them was a fish tank filled with colorful saltwater fish. On top of the tank were other, smaller tanks shaped like flowers. Fish small enough to fit darted in and out of the petals casually, not even realizing how stunning of a sight they were. Some patrons milled about the free space while others had posted up at a table or booth. Sitting directly ahead of us, though, was a man planted comfortably on the short end of the L. He was leaning on his right elbow with his legs pulled up onto the cushions so he could half-lay down while remaining upright. On the ledge in front the fish tank behind him sat a glass of red wine in a beautiful, ornate glass. I saw the man laugh in response to another patron nearby, but his eyes looked bored behind the facade of entertainment.

My liaison guided me directly to the man on the couch and stepped aside to introduce me and probably explain the circumstances in which she found me. I assumed based on the way she’d made a beeline for him immediately after finding and clothing me that he was probably the one in charge of whatever was going on, whether he was the owner of the building or bar, or maybe just the host of the gathering. I couldn’t say for sure. What I could say, though, was that the moment my guide stepped aside to introduce me, the man’s eyes had most certainly lit up. It was an undeniable shift from the lifeless, bored stare to a bright and alert gaze fixed on me, listening intently to every word his friend shouted into his ear as she fought to be heard over the music. After her preamble, he stepped toward me and held out his hand with his palm up. I placed my own hand over his, and he pulled it to his lips to plant a gentle kiss on my fingers. 

I stood there silent and speechless. The kiss had sent shocks of electricity throughout my body. I couldn’t remember a single word in the entire dictionary, all I could focus on was that feeling. I hadn’t felt so alive in so long, and just one kiss on my hand from a handsome stranger had revived my will to go on. The cold in the pit of my stomach melted away as it was filled with butterflies. Grief drifted gently to the back of my mind. He started speaking to me, but I couldn’t hear a thing as I was locked onto his gaze. His eyes were dark brown and looked almost black in the low, colorful lighting. Long, brown curls draped around his exposed shoulders, shining like an oil slick. 

Someone - I couldn’t say whether they were an employee or another patron - came up with a tray of lotus flowers on a decorative green bedding. The man grabbed one and offered it to me, explaining that it was essentially candy with more intoxicating effects. I bit into it, breaking off a petal, and it was just like he said. It tasted like white chocolate and melted on my tongue. It was only moments later that I realized the neon lights had gotten so much more vibrant, and the bass of the music reverberated throughout my body and mixed indistinguishably with my heartbeat. I tried to remember what had brought me here to begin with, but I couldn’t. All of the pain I’d felt before was gone completely. I felt alive again, free of whatever had weighed me down before. 

My new friend beckoned me to dance, and so I did. We danced for what must have been hours. We kissed, spun around, locked our fingers together, and at times, simply gazed into each others’ eyes like we were trying to read the other’s mind. I probably could have died that night contentedly. I’d never known a kind of passion or love like what he showed me. For the first time in my life, I felt connected to someone else. I felt like I was home.

Then, it was all gone.

I blinked once after gazing into my lover’s eyes for so long, and when I opened them, I was in the woods again. Without explanation, I stood alone in the middle of a clearing bordered by dense foliage and tall trees. I looked all around me helplessly. I closed my eyes and opened them again, and again and again and again and again. My view never shifted from the wall of trees surrounding me. 

I collapsed to the ground sobbing and dug my fingers into the dirt. I screamed and wailed as I cried, but nothing seemed to expel the pain this time. The hair that fell in my face was now a deep, vibrant magenta that matched the neon lights I’d felt so at home in. I cried even harder at the sight of it. The color of my hair was the last remaining piece of evidence that it had happened at all. I fell to the ground and pulled my knees up against my chest. I stayed there, curled up and crying, until I cried myself to sleep.