The House of the Rising Sun

Chapter Thirty-One: Coming Forth by Day

Chapter Thirty-One: Coming Forth by Day

Selene

I wasn’t…alive anymore. I was out of my body. I could see myself in the main hall—I could see my body—and all the people drifting in and out of my house. Among those were Kerpheres, Amenemhet, and his expecting wife Yocheved. Amen had copies of the Book of Coming Forth By Day, or the Book of the Dead, and he came to my house to write down the pages personally, as a scribe should do when a death has come upon a loved one.

“We are planning a funeral,” I heard Kerpheres say in Latin as he was exiting my house. Amen had left before him to help Yocheved with something, so there was no one in my house. No one, save my body.

“Selene!” a voice cried. Whoever it was ran inside the house, footsteps echoing. “Selene!” he kept yelling. He ran to the main hall and he froze when he saw me. “Oh my gods, Selene,” he breathed. He fell to my side and shook my shoulder. Suddenly I was jolted awake, and I registered where I physically was. I was on my knees, my face buried in my hands. My hands and face were all wet with salty water—tears—and there was no stopping it. My eyes felt swollen from crying but I couldn’t stop. “Oh my gods, Selene,” Alexander whispered. He was kneeling, hugging me.

“Sosigenes,” I said between sobs.  

“I am so sorry,” he whispered hoarsely.

“He’s dead!” I cried.

“Selene, I’m here,” Alexander said softly. I turned to him and threw my arms around his waist. We ended up situated in a way so that I was sitting on his lap, still hugging his waist and crying into his chest. He was stroking my hair, not saying anything.

I don’t know how long we were like that, and I felt awful for not giving Alexander any kind of welcome, but I couldn’t stop crying. Sosigenes, my guardian, my grandfather, and the one man I knew would always be there, no matter what…was no longer there. He was going forth by day. I would miss him every day. He had passed away yesterday midmorning and right now was going through the embalming process to become a mummy and be buried in a tomb. And what absolutely killed me was that we both knew this day was going to come. I had been in quiet denial that it would, but suddenly…it came.

I was tired, even though it was only midday. It was the crying that made me sleepy; all this mourning didn’t sit well with me.

Then, Alexander stood and picked me up, almost like the way a father would pick up his little daughter. I had my arms around his neck, and he carried me to my room. He treaded silently, and when we got to my room he laid me down on my bed, like he knew exactly what I needed. He sat down and continued to stroke my hair.

“Please don’t go,” I whispered, my voice cracking.

“I won’t,” he said calmly. Then he took my hand and examined it. “Selene, do you see this ring?”

I looked at the gold and blue ring on my finger. I nodded silently.

“That is my promise to you that I will be here, beside you, no matter what.” He bent over and kissed my forehead.

“Thank you,” I said. He continued to stroke my hair and he wiped a tear away. We shared silence once again.

“Selene?” called someone from the main hall. It was Amenemhet.

“In here,” I said weakly, in Egyptian, my voice cracking.

“Come with me, Yocheved,” I heard him say softly to his wife. They treaded softly to my room. Amenemhet pulled back the privacy curtain and let Yocheved enter first, and when he went in behind her, he gasped. “Oh my gods,” he growled, his body going rigid. “Yocheved, get out of here.”