For the damned | ✓

20

HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT to feel when he stepped inside his office, passing by the stacks of paperwork neatly organized on his desk as he walked towards the windows. Amidst the dark colors of the stone floor and the jet black walls stood only a simple bed and a place to sit, but this had always been more of a work space to him than anything else. Honestly, he didn't remember the last time he had slept, but he didn't mind.

With a sigh he dragged a hand across his face, staring into nothingness, even though the view from his castle was beautiful. It was perched on top of a cliff, sky blue water wildly splashing against the side, the waves made of white clouds. The sea stretched on wherever he looked, above it a navy sky glittering with sea foam, so clear it reflected everything below. At the end of the cliff the entire realm stopped, the sea circling it like it was an island and creating waterfalls at the ends. Calling it an island wouldn't be the right term, not when this simply was a place he had made with his thoughts, everywhere and yet nowhere at all.

Perhaps he should finish some paperwork, but for some reason he couldn't. Today had been a long day of work as well, but the only thing he had been able to think of was why he had ignored his rules. If anything, he was a man made of them, bound by them even. Yet, when she had asked, he had not been able to say no. Had it been the way she had said his name, one which he hadn't heard for years, or simply the way she had looked at him? She did have that warmth in her eyes, one which made him feel like only the moment mattered.

With a shake of his head he stared confusedly at his window, a faint reflection of himself in the glass. When had he become a person who was spontaneous? If anything, he planned out his whole year to the minute. This wasn't like him, nothing was. She was on his mind too much lately and now he was even feeling sick. He placed a hand on his heart, but somehow it was beating normally now.

Without thinking he turned around, leaving the room and entering the silent halls of his home, everywhere he looked colorful paintings adorning the walls. He hesitated by one at the end, weeping poppies in the clouds. Her last work, he remembered. When he closed his eyes, he could hear her voice.

"Helio! Heli, look at this!"

He opened them and saw her ran towards him, that wide smile she reserved only for him on her lips as she proudly presented him the painting.

"Another addition to your house," she said.

"You have made so many already," he said, voice laced with adoration.

"I promised you, didn't I?" she smiled," I'd decorate it for you."

"What's wrong with the current state of my house?" he frowned, though it was good-natured.

"You're living like you're a monk in the mountains," she shrugged, placing the painting on the wall and opening her arms," and voilà. Now you look like a sophisticated man."

"I am a sophisticated man," he said, intertwining his arms through hers and pulling her in for a hug.

Honestly, he didn't care if he was nothing at all if he had her. When he opened his eyes again, he was alone, shivering cold in an empty hallway. Was this a betrayal to her, him opening his heart again to someone else, even if it was just a bit? He didn't know the answer. Everything surrounding her always became gray to him, even though the rest of the world was black and white.

He started walking, descending from the spiral staircases to nowhere at all. Only when something fell out of his pocket did he stop, mind quiet as he looked at the lemon cake on the floor. For some reason he had let one remain in his pocket, the plastic around it crinkling as he picked it up, his thoughts wandering. Delilah, how was she doing? Had he left too quickly? In his hurry he had forgotten his manners, so he would excuse himself for that the next time he saw her.