Olethros

eleven - freyja

When Azriel left, I took care in making my temporary stay comfortable. I folded the clothes- cringing at the pants- and laid them on the table. I went to the singular bedroom. It was the only room with more than one piece of furniture. There was a dust-coated vanity against one wall and a bed with snapped legs on one side. I frowned, leaning against the wall. I guessed that I hadn't asked Azriel for the comfort of a palace, but to save me from one.

Sighing, I marched to the broken bed. I tugged the mattress from the frame, hissing when two of my long fingernails snapped under the pressure. With a grunt, I kicked at the mattress. How could I be pathetic enough to not be able to move a damned mattress? I tugged at it again, my feet slipping on the uneven wood as I finally pulled it free. With a hum of success, I began kicking at the frame until it fell completely.

I had no need for a lavish bed, just one that felt better than the floor. I pulled the bits of wood away, piling them beneath the window and pushing the mattress back into place. There were old linens on it, dusty and stained. I grimaced as I tugged them free and threw them onto the discarded wood. I marched back to the sitting room and gathered the blanket and pillow that Azriel had gotten for me. There were no sheets to protect me from whatever stains were left on the cotton fabric of the bed, so I sacrificed half of the blanket. I laid the pillow at the head of the mattress and stepped back, nodding in approval.

When it came to the food, I was not as accomplished. There was no ice box, so I had to settle for keeping the produce and cheese in the lowest cabinet. I hoped they wouldn't spoil before I could finish them. My eyes fell to the bottle of wine. My mouth watered at the thought of feeling the effects of the liquid. It would be a blessing in this moment. My eyes turned to the window, seeing it had to have fallen to late afternoon, maybe evening.

There was only one bottle and no telling for when Azriel would return, so I needed to make it last. Sighing in defeat, I gathered a few pieces of bread, tomatoes, cheeses, and a few berries that Azriel had chosen. I laid them out on top of one of the canvas bags on the center of the sitting room floor. Grabbing the bottle of wine, I realized I had no corkscrew. He probably planned this. I tried to dig at it with my nails, getting nothing but debris beneath them. I found a nail in one of the walls, pulling it out and trying to dig out the cork that way.

Frustration grew. My attempts got more desperate. I tried to use anything I found, but nothing worked. With a final shout of anger, I smashed the top of the bottle on the counter. Glass and red liquid splashed, leaving what looked to be a scene of an accident. I didn't care. This place was a shit hole anyway. I found a stash of cracked glasses in one of the cabinets, pouring the wine in and picking out the shards of glass.

Finally, I dropped onto the floor in front of my meal and sipped the wine. It was awfully bitter, but maybe that was just me. I nibbled on the food, watching the windows. I was glad I spent a majority of my time alone in my room, because this wasn't too far off, but I wished I had a novel or two.

By the time the sun set, I had drank two glasses of the dark liquid and finished the berries and tomatoes. The cheese tasted sour and the bread had been horribly hard to bite. The only positive thing about the terrible wine was that it was stronger than any I had before. Two glasses had my head spinning, blissful ignorance numbing my mind.

I rose on unsteady feet, moving to the window to watch the people on the streets. I should've felt afraid to be around here, but I was more so intrigued. I watched as cloaked figures walked in shadows, trading coin for drugs or whatever they could get their hands on. They were entirely unaware of me watching them, and that almost felt exciting. I had been a ghost my entire life but now I felt like I belonged with them. I was not pampered in this apartment, I was not waited on by servants. I was simply surviving, just as they were.