The Whispers of Eros

Pulled Part 4

She walked with the group of friends along the soft hilltops behind Port Adonis, finding out they were normal. Too normal. They were similar to people she knew at home, people who were comfortable with their life, comfortable with themselves and were actually just here for a holiday. To explore the island, not themselves. What else would they be doing Kassandra? That's what people do when they leave their homes for a couple weeks. Kylie and Theo had been together since high school, apparently there was a lot of back and forth between them I know what you're thinking.....back and forth until Kylie finally gave in, at least that's how Theo sees it. Now they had never had any regrets whatsoever, other than that time at the lake, but they joked about that now. Casper and Becky were not entirely different. Though a couple years older with their own house recently acquired 'for an absolute bargain, just needs a bit of touching up', 'yeah if touching up means knocking the crumbling walls down and renovating it all', 'it'll be fun Becky come on, you can paint it whatever you like, and look, we still had the funds to come out here, so try enjoy it. Think of the potential!'. 

Touching up the house was a.....touchy subject it seemed and Kassandra filed that subject away as a no-go zone. They all just seemed to go along with whatever they felt like, and it seemed to work for them. Part of her felt dull. None of this was terribly exciting, or thought provoking, or dramatic. They just need more time on the island. True. Not sure why she agreed so quickly, but considering how she had begun to feel on the island, it wouldn't surprise her to see it weigh on the minds of her newly acquired companions.

Despite the ordinariness of the group, there was a soothing care-free attitude amongst them, she didn't have to try be anyone, didn't have to please them. She could be content with just existing. That is, if it weren't for Sam. Automatically she turned slightly to look at him and saw his eyes had wandered over to her direction, motioning her towards him. To distract herself she glanced up at one of the seagulls hovering overhead and wondered what it could be like, being able to let the wind direct you where to go, or being able to fly against it, without the pressure of consequences.

"I prefer eagles to be honest", said Sam, "there's something more kingly and powerful about them, plus their squawks are far less irritating than these ugly sea-pigeons".

"I think they're actually quite lovely, icons of the coast, they're adaptable and rely on being prepared for opportunities that come their way. There's a reason they fit in everywhere, and their egos aren't comparable to an eagle's", Kassandra replied.

"Eagles could fit in everywhere, if they pushed hard enough you know", Theo joined in, jumping in front of them and rapidly raising his eyebrows suggestively. 

It has started to spread, whatever it is. Soon it won't be the only thing spreading. As long as it remained harmless like this, she could handle it. There was far more to get from this island than annoyance at a couple temporary visitors. 

"Ignore him" Sam said to Kassandra, "he loves trying to provoke people, get the pot stirred a little and see what mess comes out is his motto. We were planning to have lunch down at Alexander's Villa if you wanted to join?".

She found his eyes and all of a sudden felt a great hunger swell within her, a powerful storm. Release it, let go. 

"I'm feeling kinda hungry already, bit early but there's only so much you can hold back you know what I mean?"

Yes of course, it was hunger, like, hunger hunger, I must've been too excited to have breakfast this morning to explore the wonders of this place. "Yes!" she exclaimed a little too enthusiastically. The moment passed and she continued, "sounds like a plan, how far is it gonna be?".

"It's actually on this side of the town so we just have to walk down those stairs over there", Sam said, pointing to a cute little arch stricken with vines. She hadn't even noticed how close his body was to hers now, no wonder she could smell his exotic but delicate perfume. Is this what he's usually like? Or did he put that on for a reason? She couldn't decide and figured it best to avoid the thought, and any ones which followed on from that.

As they reached the stairs the saw the vines actually had fresh grapes hanging from it, a vivid dark purple, all almost uniform in size and shape. They were....mesmerising. She almost didn't see the sign which said, "Eat these at your own risk, you cannot go back after" but still found her hand lingering at the nearest bunch, only stopped by Sam's confident arm.

"I'm not sure I'd wanna do that if I were you. I reckon we should find out a bit more about these before stuffing ourselves with them". He gave Kassandra a knowing look and she blinked hard and escaped her trance. Close one. Her mind had been full, preoccupied with thoughts of devouring every last grape there. Your stomach is not the only thing that could be full.....that could be.... stuffed. 

"You're right, they just look so perfect, sitting there, unbothered. I think I'm just hungry." But you are...bothered. She proceeded to jump down a couple steps and look back, hurrying the rest along as she saw Casper and Kylie stop to admire the vines. Sam helped shepherd them along and soon they were all bounding together to get to the town below. Those thoughts...they felt so...strong, why couldn't they motivate me in a way I wanted? Or was this what I really wanted...