Chapter 16: Imprisoned(5)
The sun came up over Sparta.
Helenos did not feel the warmth inside the tower. The sun just felt cold to him. The light had to go through the bronze bars, on the balcony and it made long thin shadows on the marble floor.
Helenos was sitting on the edge of his bed. He was staring at nothing all. The sun was getting higher and higher. The shadows were moving a little bit.. Helenos was not moving.
The Sparta sun was really quiet. The tower was still. Helenos just sat there. The sun kept shining over Sparta.
The only sound he could hear was the silence of the sun shining on the metal bars.
It was quiet.
That was all he could hear the silence. The metal bars were shiny because of the sun. The silence was the sound of the sun shining on the metal bars.
He... used to be a web developer. H... knew about the concept called a loop. A loop is when you do the thing many times. The web developer knows that if the loop does not stop it will make the whole system fail.
The web developer understands that a loop that never ends is bad for the system. It learned that a loop should always have an end, or the whole system will stop working. It knows about loops and how they work in the system.
***
His life in the tower was like doing the thing over and over.
Every day he would wake up and then look at his hands. His hands were really perfect and really white.
Sometimes he would feel something in his memory. It was, like a little spark of a life that did not belong in the tower.. Then the Queen would tell him that he was not feeling well. So he would drink his tea because it helped make the voices in his head go away. This was his routine. The tower was his routine. He did the things every day in the tower. The man lived this life every day. He did it for long that it was the only world the man knew.
The loop was safe. The loop is always quiet.. Today the loop did not feel like it normally does. There was something about the air, in the loop that did not feel right. The loop just felt off today.
He was trying to fix his silk pillow. His fingers touched something metallic and cold.
He stopped what he was doing. He did not put anything under his pillow.
He slowly put his hand under the pillow. His fingers wrapped around the bronze coin that someone left behind.
He picked up the bronze coin. And held it up to the light to get a good look at the bronze coin.
The coin was really dirty and had big dents in it.
Everything in the room was fancy. The coin just did not belong. When he looked at the coin, he got a pain in his head. The weird vision thing was happening to him again.
He heard a voice.
It was not the Queens voice, and it was not its voice either.
The voice he heard was the one that belonged to the person... the person who always appeared in his dreams.
The voice was really quiet when it said "you cannot just stand there". You have to take a step you know, move your feet. It is not that hard to hurt someone who is just standing still. You do not want to be like a statue or anything. I mean a statue is really easy to hurt it is easy to kill. So you have to move or else you will be a target the voice said. The voice kept saying "move" because if you do not move you will be, in trouble.
Helenos let out a gasp. Her hand opened up so the coin fell down. The coin hit the marble floor. It made a really loud noise, like a clink. Helenos was standing there. She heard the sound of the coin hitting the floor.
The Queen said this is not real he whispered to the room. I am really sick. The voice I hear is a symptom of my sickness the Queens voice is what I mean.
He closed his eyes tight. The voice was bothering him.
He wanted it to stop. He wanted the fog to come back and hide the woman with the grey eyes and the wooden sticks from him. The fog made him feel safe. If the fog did not come back he would have to think about the bars on the windows of the place he was in.
The bars on the windows were a problem for him. If there were bars on the windows then he was not a Prince like he thought. The woman, with the grey eyes and the wooden sticks would say he was a prisoner instead.
The logic was really tough for his brain to figure out. It was like trying to work with a computer that does not work properly. The system just could not deal with the data, from the logic. The logic got. His brain could not understand the logic.
The big bronze doors slowly opened. Menelaia looked straight at Helenos. Then her eyes went down to the floor. Menelaia saw the bronze coin, on the floor. The bronze coin was just lying there. Queen Menelaia looked at the bronze coin again.
Her face did not change. The room felt really cold all of a sudden. She walked over to pick up the coin.
She turned the coin over with her fingers.
She looked at Helenos.
"Where did this come from Helenos?" Her voice was quiet, but sharp.
Helenos felt a pang of unfairness
"I... I found it."
His heart was beating fast in his throat. The healer, she must have dropped the thing while helping him.
Menelaia stepped closer to him. He could smell the wine on Menelaias breath.
"Do not lie to me Helenos"
Helenos felt a shiver go down his spine.
"I... I... I'm not"
Menelaia changed her demeanor and chuckled softly. She went to the balcony. She threw it. And the coin vanished into the blue sky.
"Do not do that ever again."
She grabbed his arms. Pulled him to the big bronze mirror in the corner.
"If you try to lie to me one more time," she said. "You will face consequences. Understood?"
"Yes... Menelaia."
"Exactly " Menelaia. She gave him a big hug. "You are very important, to me, Helenos. Things are things they do not have feelings. Only people can get hurt."
"If you stay with me Helenos, you will never be unhappy again. You are the one I care about and I want you, helenos to be happy. I will make it that way."
"And for that to happen, you must follow the rules and stay in the tower."
Menelaia called for a servant.
He brought in a pot of tea. The tea smelled like flowers that were very sweet. The smell of the tea was really nice; it smelled like sweet flowers.
"Drink this. It will help me sleep."
The drink will stop these dreams from coming back. Menelaia said that is what this drink is, for to help me sleep and stop the dreams.
Helenos took the cup. His hands were shaking badly.
The voice of Helenos was still inside his mind. It tried to send one last message to him. The voice... dodo... dodo wanted to say something before it was too late.
It was not strong enough.
It just went away.
He looked into Menelaias eyes. He saw that she loved him. Menelaia loved him much that she wanted to have all of him for herself. Menelaia did want him to feel better. Menelaia wanted him to be empty inside.
All it mattered to him is that Menelaia loved him
Helenos said that she is really tired of being sick all the time.
The sickness was not going away.
***
Helenos is tired of it. Helenos feels like hehas been sick, for a time and it is getting old. Helenos wants to feel and not be sick anymore.
***
"Then you should drink." Menelaia said it out loud.
***
He picked up the cup. Drank every last bit of it. The stuff was really thick and sweet. Before long the room began to spin around him. The ivory chair did not look so sharp anymore. The bronze bars on the windows now looked like they were made of ribbons. The fear that was in his chest started to feel like an heavy weight the fear, in his chest was getting heavier and heavier.
"there" Menelaia whispered softly.
She grabbed him because his knees were giving out on him. Menelaia helped the man back, to the bed. Laid him down on it.
Helenos closed his eyes. He felt like he was floating around in a dark ocean. Helenos was not a developer. Helenos was not a student. Helenos was Menelaia's husband.
***
When Helenos fell into a sleep, the last thing Helenos saw was a blue screen, with white text.
The system is going to shut down.
Do you want to save everything before it does?
His mind really wanted to click the yes button. The mouse was not there.
The screen just went black.
***
Down in the palace Menelaia stood with her head general, the man who was, in charge of all the soldiers. Menelaia was talking to her head about something very important. The palace was a place but Menelaia and her head general were alone standing together and discussing their plans. Menelaia and her head general were very serious they had a lot to think about.
"Is the Prince okay?" one of them asked,
"Yes, Latashia" Menelaia said.
"And the healer?"
"She is being taken care of." Menelaia replied, "Now more talk about my husband. You are already passing the line I made"
"... Sorry, my queen."
Menelaia clapped her hands.
"Now, may we get ready for war against Troy?"
***
Inside the tower, Helenos was sleeping.
The bronze coin had not dropped to the ground. It was stuck on a stone ledge, below the balcony.
It was a piece of the real world, waiting to be touched.
The program had crashed, but the system was still trying to restart.
It only needed one more thing before it could.
.
