Chapter 7: The Agony of the Agora

“Tell me,” Lakis said, breaking the silence which had developed about them as they made their way to the Agora, “I have yet to know your name. Would you mind telling me, what is your name?”

“Gosh,” she said lightly and swung her head back with a little laugh, “I can’t believe I forgot to tell you my name! My name's Casandra.”

“Oh wow, like the prophetess from Troy who tricked Apollo into giving her his powers of seeing the future!” He said excitedly, clearly impressed. She didn’t want to disappoint him so she just said, “Oh, well, yeah of course.”

He didn’t seem convinced and asked her, “You don’t know who that is, do you?” But, before she could answer he continued, “When the Greeks waged war on the city of Troy many years ago, the daughter of the king of Troy warned him that the Greeks would destroy the city if the stolen Helen was not returned. She had seen it in a vision, but because of Apollo’s wrath, he cursed her so that no one would believe the girl. So, they all perished in the fires of Troy.”

Casandra was surprised, he spoke so eloquently. Maybe he was actually a poet or something? She didn’t really understand what he said, but she knew that she liked how it sounded.

“Wow, my name has quite a back story!” She declared, and he nodded.

Finally, they came to the spot which Lakis called the “Agora”.

She got excited once she saw it, for it was sort of a central part of the city with all types of commotion and a large mall in the center. Oh boy, this was going to be fun.

“I thought you were taking me to some kind of schoolyard, but this is awesome!” She exclaimed, “how about we go to see what kind of clothes are for sale in there and then grab lunch out here?”

He seemed perplexed, like he had come to the wrong place. But, when he looked at her he seemed to relax a little and said, “Oh, well of course. Please lead the way, wherever you’d like to go!”

She grabbed him by the wrist and proceeded to guide him through the crowds into the front doors of the mall. It was a very nice mall, with a lot of jewelry shops, clothing boutiques, and small gift shops. She led him into the clothing store and began showing him different outfits. She did this for almost 2 hours until she felt bad because he seemed so bored.

“Let’s get food!” She said, and he seemed to perk right up. They made their way through the crowds once more until reaching a small pita shop. It was cute, a small white building with black shutters and tables and chairs set out in the sun. She thought Lakis looked hot though, and decided to see if there were open places inside. There were a couple tables open and they chose one in the back of the room. She ordered them both food, but Lakis seemed to be getting worse. He was sweaty, but it seemed to be a cold sweat.

“Are you okay?” She asked as she leaned over the table a little to try to see his face better. But, she noticed something very odd. Was he…...fading?

“Lakis!” she exclaimed, reaching out to touch his face but he pulled away so quickly he toppled his chair as he stood up, “Lakis, no don’t leave. You’re not well. You’re very, very pale.”

She stood to try to walk to him, but he spun around and dashed out the door of the bistro. She dashed after him, but as soon as she got outside, she could not see him anywhere. She ran up the street pushing past people and calling out to him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

How very strange, she thought to herself. Surely he is not well, he had cold sweat everywhere and he wasn’t talking. Not to mention his eerily pale skin that seemed translucent. How could that have happened? She began to think maybe the heat was beginning to get to her as well. Maybe she was hallucinating when she saw his skin looking so pale that it seemed see through.

“Well, of course you goon,” she said to herself as she slowed her frantic search of the crowd, “there is no way he was just disappearing!”

She decided to take out her phone GPS and try to find her way back home. It seems Lakis lives somewhere near there, so maybe he’ll be back at his own place too and she’ll see him.

Turned out, she was not very far from her apartment after all. Lakis must’ve taken the scenic route to take her to the Agora. It only took her 15 minutes to get back, and she did not see Lakis around anywhere when she checked where the cave should be. But, oddly enough, the cave was also gone!

She shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts, and told herself this day was definitely over. She was going crazy!

She entered the bathroom as soon as she got inside the apartment and stood looking at her reflection for a long moment. She did not think she looked like she was having heat stroke, but to be safe, she started cupping water from the faucet with her hand and drinking it. After she felt okay, she washed her face. As she admired her reflection she remembered the crown in her bag on the sink counter beside her. She never really got to see what she looked like in it.

She reached in the bag and pulled out the oddly shaped crown. She admired it for a moment. Sure, she wouldn’t wear it in public, but it had its own charm. She turned to face the mirror and slowly rested the crown on her head. It looked pretty good on her head, actually. Her dark curls cascaded out from beneath the curled horns which rested below the orange disk which seemed to glow in the lights above. As she continued to gaze at herself, however, she began to notice her features change. Her face shifted, dark eyeliner brimmed her eyes, her skin became a beautiful tan, her dark hair became black and straight, and her clothing became altered. It happened slowly, but she could not turn away. She could only continue to watch as she faded away and the image became another woman from another time.

She noticed tears fell from her eyes and she began to scream and pound upon the mirror like someone who has been caged and wanted to be freed. This continued for who knows how long, but finally Casandra passed out from exhaustion of screaming and crying and feeling foreign from herself. There she lay, passed out upon the bathroom floor, the crown fell from her head and was lying beside her on the floor.