Cold and damp from the rain, Cassandra confines herself in her tent. She was tired and felt sleep slowly try to consume her. With a sigh, she slowly removes all of her wet clothes and puts on a large dry oversized shirt. Shivering, she wraps her body in a blanket. She lets out a shivering sigh as her body slowly begins to warm up. How much more can her body take? How much longer can she go on to find her sister, Sophitia? Where did everything go wrong? She felt it in every bone in her body like she was a hundred years old. What happen to those simpler times? What happened to no worries? Where was the peace and harmony of life? Where was the loving life she knew? Out there, her sister was somewhere, die or live. She hoped alive. Tears formed in her eyes as the thought crossed her mind.
"Where are you, Sophitia?" she muttered as she buried her face in her blanket.
Slowly, the slumber consumed her as she fell to the makeshift bed beneath her and dreams flooded her mind as memories started to come back.
Opening her eyes, Cassandra found herself back in her bed from her home in Athens. She scanned the room to find everything, as it was when she had left. A smile formed on her face.
"Good to be home," she said to herself as she rose out of her bed.
She made her way toward a mirror to find the figure staring back at her younger than what she had seen the other day. She was smaller in stature and young, very young. Cassandra was back to the days of her childhood. Shocked and happy, disturbed and excited, mad and sad, so many emotions over come her. Why did the gods decided to fill these memories in her dreams? This would only make her long more for the home she left behind. Long for the family she once had as a tear slowly rolled down her face.
"Cassandra," her mother's voice called, "Breakfast."
Cassandra made her way slowly down the staircase. Upon her arrive she took in the sight in front of her. There, her brother, Lucius, clinging to the leg of her mother as she prepared three bowls of oatmeal and her older sister, Sophita setting the table. Cassandra could feel her heart stop as she observed this scene. Tears filled her eyes, blinding her for a second from such a beautiful vision.
"Cassandra," Sophita's voice called, "Cassandra, why do you weep my sister?"
Cassandra felt the warm hand of her sister on her back and she wrapped her arms around Sophita before she slipped from her.
"Cassandra," Sophita said shocked, "What is the matter with you? Why so excited to see me?"
"Don't go, please," Cassandra pleaded softly, "Please."
"Cassandra, Sophita, come on you two, before your breakfast gets cold," their mother called as she sat Lucius on her lap.
Cassandra sat by the docks, staring into the water, watching every move her ten-year-old self made. She was so confused. Why did the gods choose this memory? Why did they want her to relive this part of her life or was this to torture her more to make her go home?
"Cassandra!" her sister called her, "Hey, want to tease Claudius about how he gets beats by his own younger sister in a sword fight?"
"No," Cassandra said softly as she dropped a pebble in the water.
"Well, do you want to watch the gladiators train for a while?"
"No," Cassandra said as she watched the ripples form from the pebble.
"Do you want to race horses up at the park? I've seen you have gotten better at those sharp turns, maybe you'll be able to beat Thaddeus."
"No," Cassandra said as she finally turned to face her sister.
"Cassandra, you've been crying. Tell me what ills you, my sister," Sophita said as she began to dry Cassandra's wet face.
"Nothing," Cassandra said simply.
"Cassandra, don't you dare. You know it pains me to not know what makes you this way. Please tell me," Sophita begged.
"It's just… I had a dream that you were gone."
"Gone? Where?"
"You didn't say and that I had to go looking for you. You had left some many people behind and I had to bring you back before you got hurt or killed."
"Cassandra," Sophita said, "I'm not going to go anywhere. I promise you."
"That's not true!" Cassandra yelled and got up and ran towards the town.
Cassandra hid in the stables behind their house letting her mind wonder in and out of her dream state. She felt her making her way back to the real world, back to her cold tent, back to the reality that her family was torn apart.
"Cassandra," call her sister's voice, "I knew I would find you here."
"How?" she dared ask.
"You always come here when you're mad about something," Sophita said as she sat next to Cassandra, "You were right about something, Cassandra, one day I will have to leave. I know that I will get a husband and I will have to learn his trade, but I promise you that if I do end up disappearing, that you and I will find each other again."
"How do you know that?" Cassandra asked, "What if I end up searching for you till my death?"
"Like I said, we'll be able to find each other, even in death, but let's hope that we find each other before then," Sophita said as she wrapped an arm around Cassandra.
"I love you, Sophita," Cassandra said as she looked into her sister's eyes.
"I love you, too," her sister said as everything around them started to fade to black.
Cassandra felt the sun's ray hit her face as the chirping of birds made her stir from her slumber. She looked outside to see such a beautiful morning form from such a terrible storm.
"Miracles happen," said to herself, "I'll find you, Sophita, even if it is in death. We'll be together again."
