gods among us » Places

         

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god: thothXXXXXXXXhex: #ffe5b4XXXXXXXXattire: xXXXXXXXXsong: x

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for Nancy, the flight to Egypt had been nightmarish. She'd spent the majority of it crying in the airplane restroom, running the tap to muffle the sound of her panic-induced sobs. Hyperawareness of her environment's inescapability gripped her from lift off until touch down, and even her dreams were riddled with plane-related anxieties. Following visions of crashes and hijackings and a slow sinking into a middle-of-nowhere ocean; she would wake up gasping, and then the gasping would fail to cease. Following almost every awakening, she'd have to sneak off once again to the airplane restroom. By the time they landed in Cairo, the routine had become clockwork, only for them to disembark, and return Nancy to a state of unsureness.

But at least she was on solid ground, now, and she could reassure herself that the worst part of the trip was behind her. Until the trip home, anyway. Nancy tried not to think about it, but it loomed in the distance, a storm cloud on the horizon, or a dark figure lingering at the edge of her periphery. Her inability to live in the moment was disappointing, but she had adapted to her wanton worrying at least a little, and pushed the presence further into the edge of her gaze. It was still there, that dread, but it looked slightly thinner now. Scrawnier. The days leading up to the flight home would feed it, but today, Nancy vowed to starve it best she could.

She was not athletic in the slightest, but the ache in her legs after hours of walking was oddly pleasant for Nancy. Usually 'different' frightened her, but the distance from her parents had provided a strange sort of ease, and, geography aside, she'd never felt further from them than she did right now. For all her physical tiredness, therE was a lightness to her steps, and the curious glimmer hadn't left her eyes since they first began their exploration on foot.

that is, until now, when she gazed down at the cavernous expanse before them, and her intrigue turned to incredulity.

"I can’t let this opportunity pass. We have a real chance to make a discovery here, I mean think about it. Wouldn’t some of you like to have a piece of your name written into history? You all signed the waivers didn’t you…?" A name written into history. Fame wasn't something Nancy had ever aspired towards, but nonetheless, Hawthorne's statement struck her. Her family appeared, uninvited, in her mind. Disappointment and resentment were ingrained into their faces, and they each held their doctorate.

"I’m not forcing any of you to follow me in, in fact, by all means stay out here. I’ll just have a brief look inside… Anyone who would like to join me however, I won’t stop you either” Nancy watched as students began to trickle in after him, following the professor into the darkness. The temple loomed, steadfast and foreboding, and Nancy stared at it, thinking of doctorates.

With a resolute sigh, she followed her classmates.