On Stormy Days

Just a short story about war, and a love that blossoms through it. OdysseusxBelarus

On stormy days, Odysseus enjoyed spending his time curled up on the couch and catching up on his studies. As a doctor, the white haired man didn’t have much time to read whatever he wanted. He normally spent his time reading a new medical journal or working on new medicines. Of course, Odysseus was an unusual doctor, so he had no choice but to discover his own cures. He catered to the needs of the supernatural. There were all kinds of strange creatures that tried to fit in with the human world. They couldn’t go to a regular doctor when they were hurt or sick in risk of their secret being discovered. So there was Odysseus.

During this particular storm, Odysseus had fallen asleep while reading a journal written by a doctor living in the supernatural world. Rarely did he fall asleep while reading, especially when it was something that interested him, but today was an unusual day. He had worked very hard for a shapeshifter that had come in with a broken leg. It was hard to set a leg that could change shape! So no one could blame Odysseus for being a bit tired. Because of this, though, he was caught unprepared by the knock at the door.

At first, he thought the knock was just part of the storm. But then it came again, a bit louder this time. Odysseus slowly opened his amber eyes and sat up, trying to wake himself. When the knock came again, Odysseus realized that it was probably an emergency patient! After all, who else would wake him up at two in the morning? He rushed over to the door, glasses askew and hair going in every direction, and flung it open. The man standing outside the door held his fist as if he was about to knock again and almost punched Odysseus in the face. The man caught himself though, and in the short span of time Od had before the man spoke, he took in his appearance. His blond hair was soaking wet, and his blue eyes looked both annoyed and worried at the same time. The man had a silver haired, silver eyed woman with him, as well as four children. The oldest of the children were clinging to each other. The girl had long, silver hair tied in a braid. The boy had light blond hair that looked almost silver like his sister’s. Each of the adults was carrying a child. The man carried the older one, who looked maybe eight or nine, and had dark colored hair. Od was pretty sure it was a boy, but his face was buried in his father’s shoulder. The woman was carrying the smallest child, maybe around five, who had blond hair and blue eyes just like his father. Odysseus knew this because the little boy was staring directly at him, and his facial expression was almost exactly like the man standing before him.

“I knew we had the right house!” the woman exclaimed.

The man next to her gave her a sidelong glance before turning his eyes back to the doctor. He said, “My name is Lance Wise. This is my wife, Anju. We need your help.”

Odysseus stepped back from the door and signaled for the family to come in. He led them toward the kitchen and sat down at the head of the table. The twins sat on one side of him, while their parents sat on the other side. Odysseus could tell that this family wasn’t from around here. Both of the adults had accents, though Lance’s was thicker than Anju’s.

“You are the local doctor around here, yes? The…immortal doctor?” Lance asked carefully. His blue eyes were narrowed in suspicion, although they had obviously recognized him at the door.

To appease the man, Odysseus nodded his head and replied, “Yes, I am. My name is Odysseus, and I am immortal. You are too, as well as your family, by the looks of it.”

Lance looked like he was a teenager, and Anju only a bit older. The children obviously couldn’t be as old as they were if their parents weren’t immortal. So, that would make the children immortal children as well. Immortal children were always a sticky subject, because their blood line had to be very precise to give them the full effects of an immortal. But Lance only nodded his head to agree.

“My family is from Ithaca, and even over there we heard very good things about you. If you didn’t know, Ithaca is under attack by your countries own army. But since Ithaca is an island nation, we have no place to go but here in Atoka, the country that hates us so much. But we hoped you would be different. Would you allow us to stay here for a time, until the war is over and we can go back home? I will, of course, work for my rent. I can do whatever you ask of me.”

“I will too!” Anju added with a determined look sprawled across her face.

Odysseus was, needless to say, surprised by the offer. He had expected that this family came here at two in the morning for some sort of medical emergency, not to find a place to stay. But he realized that the twins looked like they were about to fall asleep right there and then, and the boy in Lance’s arms was already asleep. They were all soaking wet thanks to the storm as well. He would be a terrible doctor if he turned them away. Not just a terrible doctor, a terrible person. A long time ago he would have turned them away without hesitation, but within the last 500 years or so of his long life he had turned a new leaf, so to speak, and tried to be a better person. That was why he now offered his services as a doctor to others, and was about to make the right decision to help this poor family.

“Of course you can stay here! I have an extra bedroom I use for patients, why don’t you sleep there? I’ll go get some extra blankets and some towels so you can dry off,” Odysseus offered.

Both of the adults gave Odysseus a warm smile, and Anju replied, “Thank you!”

Odysseus found that Lance and Anju were both good workers. He had discovered that they had been a rather rich family back in Ithaca, so it was surprising to know that they had such a work ethic. There was always food, the house was always clean, and he found that even his patient files had gotten organized. It was nice not having to do this stuff himself. He had more time to read and work on his medicines. Sometimes he could even play with the children. Unfortunately, this only lasted for about a month.

On the last day of the rainy season, there was a knock at the door. Odysseus opened the door to find two men in military uniforms standing at the door.

The shorter one spoke, “I’m General E.J. Spoorn, and this is Colonial Sketch. We have reason to believe that you’re hording illegal immigrants, and we need to take them in. It would be really nice if we could do this without a fight.”

Odysseus had honestly thought the one who had spoken, General Spoorn, was a girl. His voice was gruff though and sounded like someone had sliced his vocal chords with a knife. The other man, Colonial Sketch, was a tall man with a nasty looking scar over his right eye. Odysseus could tell that both men were immortals. It was dangerous for immortals to be in the army, but he knew a few who risked it.

“Ah…” Odysseus said, acknowledging his words, but not answering his question.

Most of Lance’s family had been gathered in the living room before the knock, but the rest came after it. Lance moved to stand at Odysseus’ side.

To Odysseus, Lance said, “Thank you for keeping us this long. I knew this would happen.”

Spoorn frowned at Lance when he saw the blond haired immortal. He commented, “You need to stop escaping. We’re only going to deport you, not kill you.”

Odysseus stared at Lance in surprise. So they had been through this before? He hadn’t even imagined such a thing. But Lance looked like he was a child playing a game, when Anju looked mad that they had to move again.

“Alright, let’s get a move on. Really, we don’t like having to waste all of our time on you people.” Spoorn sighed.

“Actually, I have a paper, if you care to look at it.” Lance shared, pulling something out of his pocket. He handed the little piece of paper to Spoorn. The man read it over before handing it back to Lance with a scowl on his face.

“I see your game, Mister, and I hate to play it. But I guess I don’t have much of a choice. Whatever, the rest of you, let’s go.” Spoorn growled.

Odysseus tilted his head in confusion as he watched Anju take the two younger kids outside with her and the military men. Lance walked up to him, however, and handed him the paper.

“Marriage is the only way we can stay here,” he explained, “So I found someone who would write marriage contracts. I have one for each of my children. We’ve been looking for someone to take care of them for us, and if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like if you married my daughter.”

Odysseus wasn’t sure how to react to that. He just stared blankly at the Ithacan man. He couldn’t believe that someone could be so desperate; to ask someone he hardly knew to marry his child. Odysseus understood, though, that this man was running off of desperation. If he had been in his situation, he couldn’t have put such a plan together. He couldn’t have sacrificed his children like that either. Suddenly, he had a new respect for Lance. Odysseus nodded his head, and Lance handed the paper out toward him.

“I already signed it, and we had a judge sign it as well. Once you sign it, you will be legally married and my daughter will be an Atokan citizen.” Lance explained.

So Odysseus did the only thing left to do. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and signed the paper. He almost dropped both items when Lance suddenly hugged him though.

Lance had let go of him just as suddenly, and he was down hugging his daughter. She had been saying her goodbyes to her twin brother in the meantime. The young boy was crying, and Odysseus inferred the girl was crying too.

“Good-bye, my Belarus. Be strong. He will take good care of you.” Lance said, patting the girl on the head. He then took the boys hand and dragged him out the door, shutting it behind him.

Odysseus didn’t know if he would ever see this man again. He had changed his life drastically in only a month, and he was gone as quickly as he had come.

Belarus was thirteen years old. Her father had given her the permission to marry, and she had obviously known what she needed to do to be accepted into this new family of hers. She was always cleaning and cooking, and would constantly ask if Odysseus needed any help. Odysseus had grown to like the girl, though. He would spend his days telling stories about his past as the silver haired child clamped on to every word. On stormy days, he would read aloud to her. She would sit on his lap like a child and follow along in the book. Odysseus took time out of his busy schedule to teach his new wife how to read, once he had found out that girls don’t learn things like that in Ithaca.

Odysseus treated Belarus more like a child than a wife. She was only thirteen, after all. Sometimes he even forgot they were married. Lance had been right to choose Odysseus as his daughter’s mate. He had no ill intentions of going to bed with this young girl. He instead spent his time giving her an education like she would have gotten in school.

By the time she was twenty-one, Belarus had blossomed into a beautiful young woman. She could read, write, cook, clean, and even knew a little about medicines. She was a big help to Odysseus when he had a patient. She was turning out to be a rather fine nurse, and a wonderful and loving wife.

“Odysseus, Sir?” she asked one day, walking into his study as he was reading.

“Belarus? What is it?” Odysseus asked, putting his book down on his desk and turning to look at her. He hated when she called him ‘Sir’ or ‘Mister’, but it was what her father had told her to call him, so she had refused to even think about dropping the proper titles.

“Uhm…” she muttered, suddenly at a loss for words. She turned her head away as a blush crept onto her face.

Odysseus stood up and walked over to her. He wrapped her in a hug. He could tell she was worried and just wanted to comfort her.

“Thank you…for taking me in, all those years ago,” Belarus said, looking up at him as he held her in his arms.

“Of course,” Odysseus replied, obviously surprised by his tone of voice, “It was no problem. You’re an amazing woman, and you’ve kept me from being alone for the past eight years!”

Belarus smiled up at Odysseus before leaning forward and gently kissing him on the lips. She pulled away before he could respond. The blush was on her face again.

“I’m sorry, Sir,” she apologized quickly.

“Ah, no!” Odysseus gasped, “Don’t be sorry! You are my wife, after all. I love you, Belarus. I didn’t think I would ever love you more than a father loves his daughter, but I was mistaken. I didn’t want to pressure you, though, and make you unhappy.”

This only caused Belarus’ blush to deepen. Odysseus was amused by her reaction, though, and leaned down to kiss her.

At age twenty-five, Belarus was a current mother of one, and soon to be mother of two. It was another stormy day, and Odysseus had taken it upon himself to read some of his favorite books to his family on days like this. Belarus and Odysseus sat on the couch with their daughter, Odyssa, sitting between them. She had white blond hair and amber eyes, just like her father. Also like her father, she had a passion for medicine, but she was quiet and kind like her mother.

Odyssa had fallen asleep in the middle of their reading. When Odysseus finished the chapter, he closed the book and kissed her on top of the head. He reached over and set a hand on Belarus’ stomach, which was just starting to bulge with a new life.

“Have you thought of a name?” he asked, trying not to wake his daughter up.

Belarus shook her head in reply. She had named their first child after her father, but she didn’t have any idea on another name. She didn’t even know what gender this child would be!

Odysseus laughed, “Well, we could always name this child after you!”

Belarus tipped her head in confusion. She didn’t know of a masculine form of her name, and really didn’t want to name her child ‘Belarus’.

“Minsk!” Odysseus said with a wide smile. He was only joking, so he was surprised to see his wife’s face light up in excitement.

“That’s perfect!” she exclaimed, giving her hands a small clap in joy.

Odysseus was shocked into silence for a moment, but finally decided it was best to just go with it. He gave her a wide smile and leaned across his daughter to kiss her.

“Now quit your fussing! You’ll mess up your hair!” Belarus chided her daughter, Odyssa. Odyssa’s long hair was tied back in a braid so it wouldn’t get in her face, but she insisted on reaching back to touch it. She had never had her hair braided before, and it was amusing her.

Her younger brother, Minsk, was standing at her side. He had white blond hair like his father and sister, but his eyes were silver like his mother’s. He was trying to hold still so his mother wouldn’t yell at him, but he wanted to go play in a puddle of mud from the last storm.

They stood at an airport, waiting for a plane to come in. They had already been there for half an hour, and the children were rather tired of waiting.

Belarus jumped in excitement when she saw a tall, silver haired figure approaching.

“Ivan!” she cried and ran to the man. She tackled him into a hug. The man just laughed and returned the hug, giving Belarus a small pat on the head. Belarus dragged the man back to her children.

“Kids, this is my twin brother, your Uncle Ivan!” she explained, “Ivan, these are my children, Odyssa and Minsk.”

Ivan reached down and patted each one on the head. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a piece of candy for each of them.

The children looked at each other before taking a piece of the candy from their Uncle.

Belarus just smiled as she saw the exchange between her brother and children. She was very excited to see her twin after so many years, and it just made it even better to know that he was accepted by her family, and that he accepted them. 

 Awesomeness! 

Oct 20, 2011

• An Escape to Fantasy
• On Stormy Days

 Third Place

Aug 16, 2011

• Unique Fairy tales
• On Stormy Days

 2nd

Jul 20, 2011

• a valentines day
• On Stormy Days

 1st Place

Jul 5, 2011

• Age of Mythology
• On Stormy Days

Author's Note

This story...turned out to be sappy. I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. And it is rather boring. So thanks for actually reading all of it~

Sorry this story has the biggest problems with like, spacing. You might not notice it, but I sure do. It makes it almost impossible to edit. I blame this on writerscafe ; )

And all of my stories seem to have an abrupt ending. I can't help that. I'm just terrible at endings, sorry. I just knew I wanted her to see at least her twin brother again, and I had to get the Belarus/Minsk joke in there. If you didn't get it, it's more fun to just Google the two names rather than me explaining it.

And finally, credit for Odysseus, Anju, Ivan, Tyki, and Sketch go to Tiny. So does the picture, which is Odysseus.

Reviews

[Elemenopy]

Well, I suppose your story is well written for the most part. I did find it rather drab, to be honest. I tend to enjoy stories with more of a plot I guess. I by no means think it was terrible, because you have displayed a talent for putting a story together into one fluid thought. However, I would have liked to see some sort of struggle, or at least something to make the story stand out.

At the beginning I was excited to see a varying array of different species and characters with abilities and mysteries. Turns out there was no mystery, only a story of a man, albeit immortal, but a man nonetheless, marrying a woman and having some kids. I guess I was just hoping for something more.

I would like to say that you did a very nice job at presenting a character enveloped in kindness. There are not a lot of stories out there that can boast a humble lead. I think that if kindness and acceptance were your main goals in this piece, you achieved them spectacularly. Keep on writing, I know there are people with much kinder hearts than mind that find your writing marvelous.

[Daydreamer54]

Through it all though, it was cute and creative in a way! great write! ^^

[Silent Knight]

Very nice. I like it.

[Dearantlers]

Wow, it really kept me reading. And it's not really all that sappy, and it's for sure not boring. Your story is awesome like all your other ones.

[Julie Beth]

i didnt thinmk it was sappy i really liked it and again with the cool names awesome write :D