Siren: (See-reen)
"Signomi koritsi, afto theleis?" – "excuse me girl, you want this?" A middle aged Greek man smiles up at a curly haired beauty as she walks around his shop looking for something.
"Signomi" – "excuse me" He repeats, growing frustrated, not knowing how to communicate in English, or Spanish- which is what he believed the young woman was.
She turned around and gave him a wide, yet embarrassed, smile.
"Oh, I am sorry! Nai, ta thelo 'Ola" –" yes, I want all" searching for money to pay for the foods she picked.
Today was marking the 25th day away from her country and everything she knew, and it was surprisingly doing her good. Her tan was the perfect shade of bronze, her hair was curly and alive, her skin was radiant and healthy, and her body was taut because of all the walking and swimming. Greek beaches were the best destination to start her journey, or escape... depends on how to look at it.
"Thank you!" she grinned and walked away hearing the man answering her with a sweet "parakalo" – you're welcome.
Mumbling a tune she caught from last night's clubbing, she was tempted to search for it online, but she glanced at her bag and shook her head as she was walking down a narrow alley of beautiful white houses in one of Athens' most picturesque neighborhoods, she immediately rejected the idea that she would turn on her phone.
Detach. She thought firmly. She was breaking a pattern and being surrounded by social media and everyone she'd ever known wasn't going to help her.
Her mind started picking up pace with the thoughts begging for attention and she could feel her heartbeats following suit, so she started with step 1 of self control: look for a distraction.
Her eyes flickered around, looking for anything that would attract her attention.
Him. A year. Future. Dead. Pathetic—thoughts kept swarming her mind and she was trying her best to ignore it. Nothing was yet stronger than those thoughts and she knew it.
Her mind went back to when she was 7 or 8 years old.
"Darling come on, let's have lunch" her mom said, looking beautiful and happy.
Siren left her toys and walked to the kitchen table, waiting for the food.
"how's school, baby" her mother asked as Siren's sister sat beside her around the table.
"it was nice mommy, Nour fought with me again and I went to the teacher and told her," Siren said proudly, her mom nodding absentmindedly.
"Good darling. Do not deal with people who are not nice. You are nice and you should treat people nicely, so mean people don't deserve your attention"
"okay mommy" the 2 girls nodded, absorbing the invaluable advice their mother was giving them.
Siren shook her head vigorously, "not okay! Totally not okay. Treat people as they treat you, it is okay to stand up for yourself, it is okay to yell, it is okay to be mean, it is okay to be unfair, it is okay to be rude," she repeated over and over what she believes is okay. She was breaking patterns, and believing in the same things she used to think of is not going to help her.
Her eyes caught an attractive man leaving a taverna a couple of steps away from her. His gaze held hers for a second before he broke into a confident grin and he took a step towards her. She felt slight panic at the attention, but she swallowed and engulfed herself with some pep talk.
"Milas Ellinika?" – "do you speak Greek?" he questioned in a broken accent and Siren smiled before shaking her head," Ligo"- " a little"
He breathed out as if he was carrying a heavy load on his shoulders," Thank God, I don't know anything in Greek except for those 2 words,"
YOU ARE READING
Her Wanderlust List
AdventureSiren (Se-reen) takes a decision. A desperate one.. But still a decision that changes her life. Before starting her journey away from everything she'd known, she sends an e-mail to her inspiration to say her thanks. Unknowing that she was as inspi...
