𝘾𝙤𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙘 𝙁𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 - 𝘿𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙜

𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧

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FINLAND — 2023

SOFT SUN RAYS made their way into Delphi's bedroom — they were warm and comforting on her pink cheeks. She had awoken when the first beams of light were seen past the dense woodland. Had it not been for the snoring dog resting on her lower left leg, Delphi would have already been up cleaning the spare bedrooms downstairs for when her friends from college arrived. As she lay there she started thinking about their arrival.

Fortunately, the night had been kind to her as no bad dreams plagued her. She slept soundlessly through the night.

Gingerly, Delphi endeavoured to release her leg from beneath Cerberus without waking him — her leg slid gently across the soft sheets until it was free. Once up, the petite girl actively decided against getting dressed for the day. 'I need my morning coffee first,' she told herself while going down the stairs carefully. In a ritual like fashion, Delphi would never get dressed before drinking a cup of coffee. And only in the early mornings would she drink the bitter drink, the rest of the time she preferred some type of tea.

The living room and kitchen were the same as she had left it the right before except the fire was completely gone now. The blue-eyed girl began making her black coffee in her black and yellow mug with a bee painted on it. It was simple yet effective at waking her up in the mornings. After drinking it and reading a few more chapters of her book she bought recently. Overall, she loved the book — a Finnish novel called The Unknown Soldier written by Väinö Linna. It had been suggested to her by Mr Jaakola, the elderly owner of the only book shop in the nearby village as well as the firewood shop, he seemed almost offended that she hadn't yet read it. But the now aged man insisted she buy it and wouldn't be disappointed by it. Out of all the Finnish people in the village, Mr Jaakola — whose first name was Otto — was by far the kindest to Delphi, he never questioned why she hadn't aged since the first time she entered his shop in 1959. At that time he was a relatively young, dashing man who had shown a slight interest in the attractive girl. She suspected it was their shared intense love of books that caused his feelings for her to flourish. But she never indulged in his advancements, at least not fully — he respected that. The rest of the people in the village would actively avoid her whenever she was there.

It was a harsh contrast to her years in Mesopotamia and Tenochtitlan.

With her empty mug and morning reading done, Delphi discarded her mug into the sink and quickly got to work cleaning the spare bedrooms. In all honesty, they were as bad as she expected them to be. Just some dusting was needed here and there, the bedsheets were changed and the windows wiped. Now they were acceptable for guests.

Working her way up the stairs quietly as to not wake Cerberus — who appeared to be sleeping like the dead — Delphi opened her ornate wardrobe with dulled gold handles and intricate carvings of plants and flowers. Inside was a mass amount of clothing. All ranging in style and colour. Today she required something acceptable to potentially greet guests in. Though she didn't realise it, the outfit she picked was identical to the one she was wearing in her premonition. An oversized knitted cream jumper with distressed straight leg jeans paired with black boot heels. She, also, picked three stacked gold necklaces, which complimented the various gold earrings that stayed in her ears almost permanently. Back in the 1970s, Delphi had spontaneously decided to get her ears pierced in several places: two in the lobe of each ear and the cartilage of her left ear. Her fondness of jewellery was not limited to her neck or ears, her slender fingers were often adorned with multiple rings.