<center><img src="https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/es/original/ES4870.jpg" alt="Orpheus and Eurydice" style="width:250px;height:350px;"></center>
<center><h3>Orpheus</h3></center>
<center>[[Don't look back|Start 2]]</center>(link-reveal: "The first time he sees her.")[ In the high-school cafeteria. Classes are over and he’s sitting there with some friends and strangers, waiting for the next class. One of those strangers was her, and (link-reveal: "she sparks his interest.")[ But he was busy being confused. A schoolboy crush nursed for someone else, not meant to last. So she remains just that. Interesting.]] It isn't quite their time yet.
(link-reveal: "That time comes in Rome, a year later.")[ The streets of Rome are a magical place on nights in March. Especially when you’re on a quest for ice cream. Together, they make their way to (link-reveal:"the Trevi fountain.")[ Here, she tells a story: whenever you throw a coin into the fountain, it means you will come back to Rome. But, you need to throw them over your shoulder.]]
That night, in the pouring rain, they made their plans for (link-reveal:"a second Roman Empire.")[ A plan to rule as co-Emperors over the entirety of Europe—until that is—he would meet an ‘accident’. This they debated over. She was adamant about taking over, while he sought to convince her that he would never pose a threat.] Something clicks after that.
(link-replace: "He remembers that night under the stars.") [ He remembers that night in the field, when talked and talked and talked, chatting of everything. That night, they watched campy action films and slept in the tent. Just before they went to bed, they gazed into each other’s eyes, silently, for what seemed like an hour.] (link-reveal: "The next day, he could deny it no longer:") [ <em>He was in love.</em>]
(link-replace: "Pure bliss.")[The next month was one of pure bliss. A month filled with floating through the hallways and listening (and finally relating) to love songs. It was also a month of exploring feelings, of slowly getting to know each other.
When he helped take her mind off studying, because she was an extremely diligent and hard-working person, he would stroll through the park with her. The entire time, he had a strong feeling that he wanted to hold her hand. (link-replace:"The only problem was, he didn’t really know how to go about it.")[As they were standing on a hill, he took his chance and held her hand. He didn’t stop holding it almost until the moment they had to say goodbye.]]
(link-reveal: "She loved listening to him play.")[ When he started playing the piano, her eyes would close as a complete serene calmness came over her. Never before or ever after had he seen someone enjoy his playing so very much. Every moment he could be with her was like a dream.] It was the first time just texting someone wasn’t enough and it only made him want to be with her more.
The most valuable gift in their time together was a birthday gift: A keyring attached to his phone.
[[But it wouldn't last.|Start 3]](link-reveal: "It was too new, and too much was going on.") [ Exams were approaching and, because he wanted to see the world—take a gap year—a deadline now loomed in the distance.]
They decided the time had come to end the experiment. When the boy returned, they would see how things stood.
(link-reveal: "Six months apart.") [ He has been in Thailand for almost six months now. He’s having a great time talking to his new little sister and twin brothers, watching films with her, picking her up from school and enjoying his life in Australia. She stays on his mind however.] (link-reveal: "And he always wonders.") [
<em>What should I do? Should I move on? Should I keep the feelings alive? Should I reach out and talk to her about it? The little keyring she gave him on his birthday still dangled from his phone.</em>]
But the attachment grew fainter and fainter, until, for a while, he had forgotten what it was like to care so much for her.
(link-reveal: "His reminder came on the 20th of December.") [ As he was riding home with his little sister, making a story like they usually did.]
His phone started buzzing.
(link-reveal: "His brother was calling.") [ He ignored it, he is talking to his sister after all, but the buzzing did not relent. Eventually, he answers, but the reception is terrible. He couldn’t understand what his brother was saying.]
Confused, he reads a message from a friend, ‘I am so sorry’.
He wonders, ‘Sorry about what?’
His friend replies: ‘Look in the group chat.’
[[And his world stops.|Start 4]](link-replace: "He reads that she has—very suddenly—passed away.") [ The shock hits him and his body goes on autopilot. He still has to get home with his sister. On his way, he has to explain to her why he’s so upset. She doesn’t understand.
He messages his host-mom, telling her he won’t be able to work (link-reveal: "that afternoon.")[ When they finally get home, he takes the package his parents had sent him, which arrived right on time for Christmas, goes into his room and bursts into tears.]] He has never cried so much in his entire life. His face hurt from all the salt of his tears and he almost ate half of the chocolate from the package that very afternoon.
(link-replace: "But life goes on, as it tends to do.") [He was still in Thailand and still far from home, still with three kids to look after and classes to attend. There was so much he had to do; there was no other option than to go on. So that was what he did.]
(link-replace: "Sometimes the memories hit him with their full force.") [Her favourite song would run through his head; a tearjerker. As he climbed the steps to a temple on a hill. There, he buys some incense from an old woman and lights it for her. And teary-eyed, he would tread down the steps again.] (link-replace: "With words from long ago.") [He stares at an innocent text from her. One she had sent him when they ended things. She had said then that it wasn’t that bad, that nobody had died. The words had taken on a jarring tone now, and lingered in the back of his mind. The keyring remained firmly attached to his phone.
] But most of the time, it lingered only in the back of his head, and in the picture of her on his desk.
He writes her a letter, crying, in the middle of a Thai shopping mall, which he sends to her parents.
In the letter, he compares his fate to Orpheus. With an instrument slightly less portable than the lyre.
(link-replace: "Don't look back.")[ [[But he did.]]]He looked back and saw...
(link-replace: "...that night, in the pouring rain, when they made their plans for a second Roman Empire.") [A plan to rule as Emperors.]
(link-replace:"...their meal in the restaurant. When she arranged their coasters into stars.")[The picture of that star, still on his phone.]
(link-replace:"...their strolls through the park. How badly he wanted to hold her hand.")[How he couldn’t stop holding her hand almost until the moment they had to say goodbye.
(link-replace:"He looked back and saw")[He looked back and saw her.
And unlike Orpheus, he was glad.
[[Afterword]]]]Written by Anonymous
Edited and Developed by Teo Kai Xiang
Image of 'Orpheus and Eurydice' by Auguste Rodin, modelled ca. 1887, carved 1893:
"The mythical poet Orpheus braved the underworld to rescue his dead wife, Eurydice. The gods allowed her ghost to follow him and regain life, provided that Orpheus did not look at her until both had reached the sunlit earth. Rodin depicts Eurydice’s spirit floating in the underworld’s dark entrance while Orpheus hesitates at the threshold. Because he cannot feel her phantom embrace, or hear her spectral voice, Orpheus turns to see if his beloved has come. An instant later he will glimpse her, and Eurydice will vanish."@import url(https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Stylish);
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}<em>I still think about her though. Not often, but sometimes.
These moments are filled with a bitter-sweetness. There are so many fond memories. Yet all of them are tinged with sadness. But the sadness I feel, means there were so many good things, so many things to be happy about. The memory of sitting next to her in the sun, while she is drawing Greek vases and points to trees that look like those very vases will forever remain.
Memories I will cherish forever, and trade for nothing in this world. Because when the thought of her creeps into my head now, I look back on those memories no longer tinged with sadness, but with happiness and bliss.</em>
[[Credits]]