Forever Your Mother,

Entry VI | Scylla, Charybdis, and the Cattle of the Sun God

My Dear Lysandros,

    Fright and terror that the beast Scylla has earned from me will haunt me for many days. The more time that passes, the more my soul whelms with anxiousness, and the more little bits of my heart shatter accepting of how I may never lay my eyes upon you again. How I may never hear your voice or how I may never feed you your favorite meals again. At that moment, I had been living on adrenaline, focused on keeping my own life safe. As I recollect events, I wish I had been more aware. More aware of the lives lost, more aware of my own men suffering. I had been so scared, so petrified, I can barely recall exactly what had fully happened, my recent memories only coming to me in flashes. During our battle for our lives against the sea, oars were knocked out of our hands as our weapons and blades flew against the ship. King Odysseus had encouraged us to persevere, but upon facing the beasts, he had nothing more to say. Flames had been thrown at us by the mouth of the beast, a hot blaze grazing the hairs of my skin. When the beast had stricken our ship, it had grabbed six men who all wailed and cried for our king. Now, we have barely made it with fewer lives than we had come with, rowing away from the sea beast Scylla and the whirlpool monster Charybdis. There has been talk of stopping at an island, Eurylochus insists that we all need rest however, our King Odysseus is advising against it.

    As of this moment, I am too whipped to even care what our final decision will be, as the only thing I long for is to hold you close to my arms. It pains me to admit, but I must tell of how my mind is closer and closer to accepting the fact that the possibility of meeting you again is fading. I know I mustn't lose hope, but I have been built up and broken down continuously ever since the beginning of this venture. I was worried of how I may never see your face again, but I no longer am, as I have come to realize that I envision your face every night before I slumber. I recall the sound of your voice, albeit faintly, with every man that calls my unreal name. I feed your favorite meals to all of the men on the ship, pretending I am feeding you for all the days I have been away. I had wished to watch you grow up, yet I realize I have watched thousands of boys like you around me grow to be capable men. This entire journey I had been waiting to get back to you, but I have realized that your being has been with me all along. I find myself asking you again to refrain from finding yourself to be upset with me for going in place of you. I could not have you risk your life in a war as mindless as the one so long ago had been. War is to be fought by warriors, but you were only just a boy. And you still are my boy. If I were to be queried about my regrets, not a single one would be of me going to fight across the sea for you. I can feel within myself that this entry will be the last I write to you for a while, so just know that if my life is to end across the sea without you, that does not mean I am ever not with you. May my man lead my writings across the sea to find a way back to you, my child.

It was here, the entry took a break with text. Dee had been confused, as there was no signature at the end like there had been with the rest, but it had seemed like the letter had ended. What happened? Did she forget? Countless questions swirled within his mind as he loked over each of the papers. Then, he took the small piles of papers and threw it onto his bed, spreading each page out in order.

    As Dee looked for more papers to find an end to this entry, his mind wandered towards the contents within. Thaleia describing her longing for her son and how much she missed him had kind of given Dee a vision of how his own mom would think while being away from himself. His eyes were already tearing up, and it hadn't help how much Thaleia already reminded him of his own mom. Just as the author of the letters had wanted nothing more than to hold her son in her arms again, Dee craved the same comfort from his mother. He remembered waking up and running away from his mom, but she had only wanted to hold him. The boy was becoming drained, he didn't want to be upset with his mom anymore, and he could bet his mom didn't want to either.