[ ☆ | nepenthe, a collection of short stories ]

[mars]

nepenthe /nɪˈpɛnθiː/ (ancient greek: νηπενθές) is a fictional medicine for sorrow, literally an anti-depressant – a
"drug of forgetfulness" mentioned in ancient greek literature and greek mythology, depicted as originating in egypt.

just a small collection of drabbles and short stories !!
feel free to discuss my writing on this thread or mark to watch for updates. posting is fine by me <3

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table of contents

ningyo's journey
hanahaki disease
lavender days
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[mars]

It wasn't long until her eyes closed, tired and weary from her long journey home. The young girl had just gone through a very rough, cold night and the warm sunrise brought her some comfort, enough for the girl to begin to drift off cozily in her bed, sleep overtaking her body as breath after breath began to shift into a rhythmic lull, her vision and thoughts disappearing into a dark void.

Yet it was in that exact moment that her eyes snapped open to a new reality: she was no longer laying in bed, but instead standing in the middle of an empty intersection in a city; something odd for midday when the sun was right overhead. It was too quiet, sickeningly deafening with the absence of sound, and the girl began to fall backwards in dizziness.

Falling. The girl was falling. She fell down through a caving pothole in the road, rocks and chunks of the earth suddenly whizzing past as her long, dark hair flung up above her in the wind. Her eyes shut tight in horror. Where she was, she couldn't exactly say; as she began to open her eyes, the movement stopped and she was hovering in a vast abyss with millions of stars and clusters of glittering space gas and dust surounding her. It was like a sea.

Floating...she was floating in the sea. That was it! A strong wave of green water hurled the girl under the surface, forcing every last bubble of air out of her lungs as she sank. It was calm underneath the breaking waves and the girl smiled peacefully, now knowing where she was. She flipped her fins behind her, swimming deeper towards the ocean floor without stopping to take a breath.

She was a beautiful mermaid now, fins the color of the cold, teal water. As she neared the bottom, she placed one foot on the deck of a sunken ship. It was certainly not a battleship, instead a softer passenger ship, and she could imagine the people that once roamed on board before it sank. There was her mother, sipping slowly on a fresh morning coffee as she read the paper.

Walking down the hall of the large ship, the girl made her way into one of the rooms. Her room. There was her small bed, just like she remembered leaving it; her teddy bear was all snuggled up under the blanket. She curled up inside of it, tired from another long, cold journey home.

The rocking of the boat and the warmth of the sun rising lulled the girl to sleep, the sound of seabirds and voices as a simple background noise as the boat rocked her like a cradle.

The girl opened her eyes, no longer on her shipwrecked vessel. Instead, she found herself lost in the city, surrounded by silence.

[mars]

Ikiryo could feel the flowers before her first cough confirmed their presence. There was a certain tightness in her chest that hadn't been there before and it slowly grew as the plant began to consume her body, making her feel progressively more weak and tired as the days passed. This was the consequence of love, Ikiryo knew this well; this wasn't the first time it had happened and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

How could a flower like this grow with no light? The girl wasn't sure, but it felt as if the plants were draining every ounce of her energy to make up for their lack of free sunlight. She wasn't supposed to be able to feel love after her last procedure - and the procedure before that - but something always brought the disease back inside her body. No amount of surgery or medicine could remove it; it was as if it was hiding somewhere to prevent itself from being eradicated completely. It was smarter than any doctor or medical handbook on the subject.

Each time Ikiryo felt the familiar flutter inside her chest, she knew the plant had already begun to sprout again. It was only a matter of time before she'd be laying in that same hospital bed, staring up at those bright white lights; she seemed to get weaker every time this repeated and her chest would ache for hours on end. It was an endless cycle that had left many scars along her rib cage, permanent marks of past loves that she'd never be able to forget now. Ikiryo often wondered what it would feel like to let the plants take over her body, but she wasn't fond of the coughing...they would inevitably choke the air out of her until she had no choice but to go get them removed or simply let herself waste away into nothing.

The other students at school would laugh as the petals fell into her hand after a short coughing spell, that is...all but one. He was different - a petite kid with short, black hair - and Ikiryo appreciated his friendship more than anything in the world. She cared about him to the moon and back; she'd to anything to keep him safe! If only she had known that he was coughing up the same petals, maybe then she could have truly helped him. Yet he hid it well, for those petals were because of her.

If only he had known that Ikiryo's petals were also because of him.

Maybe that was why the disease never seemed to completely go away: it was never truly a one-sided love like the disease entailed, but a love that simply wasn't mentioned or understood. It was a love that others looking in could see, but hadn't bothered to tell, and it was for this reason that neither child knew of the mutual feelings they shared. To each of them, the love appeared to be one-sided, and even that was enough for the disease to take a strong hold. They were sick because of one another, yet their lives always revolved around their sole best friend; they were each other's light and darkness at the same time, a cruel repetition of sorrow and laughter.

Surely this disease would disappear when the children separated. They were destined for different schools, different paths, new crushes, and a life without one another, yet for now this was all they knew. It was a temporary sorrow that felt as if it would last an eternity; it was a sorrow that would inevitably come back as the children formed new attachments to other people. This hanahaki disease was permanently ingrained in their minds and bodies, and at least for now, neither child knew how to deal with it emotionally. Can a child truly understand love?

[mars]

 The wind blew gently over the meadow, rustling the lavender that stemmed from around a young girl's ankles. She sat on the hillside, her legs outstretched in front of her, humming a soft tune while her gaze rested upon the horizon, watching the clouds as they fell behind the tall, rolling hills in the distance. It was rather peaceful today. The sun's rising glow cast a warm light across the field, illuminating the hillside in vivid hues of orange and pink. The girl noted the sounds of birds chirping around her, the swishing plants as they succumbed to the wind, and the sudden touch of a warm hand on hers. Oh?

 The girl glanced over her shoulder, seeing an ever-familiar face only a few feet away from hers. Just him again. He was smiling slyly, and the girl simply rolled her eyes, quickly fixing the brown bangs of her bobbed hair before gazing back into the distance.
 "What are you doing here, Yoon?" The words slipped off her tongue lazily. It was something that she had said a million times, a phrase directed at the mysterious blonde boy beside her whose hair was long enough to fall into his eyes - brown eyes that sparkled with youthful joy, unspoiled and untainted by the harsh realities of the world.
 "You know why. Why do you even bother to ask anymore?" he inquired, a sly smile on his face. It was a smile the girl despised, wicked and unlawful, just like him. The girl bit her lip in frustration, looking down at her knees which she had unknowingly pulled protectively close to her chest. Another coping mechanism of hers, something done to keep her safe.
 "It's just out of habit, I guess. Sometimes I hope for a different answer."

 Silence fell among the two as they sat in the meadow, Yoon sitting rather close to the girl. The wind continued to blow steadily and the sun seemed suspended in time, never rising any higher than it already had. The girl knew why, but she didn't want to admit it, because in the end...none of this was real.
 "Let's go exploring in the woods!" Yoon prodded, poking the girl on the arm with a single finger. "We can go to that creek you like, you know, the one we go to when you want to get away from the world? I really want to go back, and I think you need to for a little bit. You seem sad today." Yet the girl shook her head.
 "No thanks...maybe tomorrow. I'm really tired today."
 "But isn't that why you came to this meadow?" Yoon asked again, cocking his head to one side. "To get away from things for a while?"
 "No," the girl began. "I came here to get away from you."

 Yoon opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out and suddenly everything faded away into pitch black. Opening her eyes, the girl hugged her blankets tightly, letting out a small whimper. The boy was simply a figment of her imagination, someone that she had created for comfort. He was the one who dried her tears; he was the one who soothed her when she was anxious. He was the perfect person, the best of friends, the softest yet the most fearless. Yoon was everything the girl wished she could be.

 Was it possible that in the process of feeling better, the girl had fallen in love with someone who didn't even exist? Someone who was all in her head? The girl tried to hug her blankets even tighter, holding onto the few moments that she remembered of her dream. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She wanted to go back.

 Yoon, I've changed my mind. I want to go back to the creek today. I want to catch minnows with you and be happy again.