A dialogue between Alcimachea and Xenodoria

Short Story I

Alcimachea walks through the park, holding bread in one hand. With her other hand, she supports her back, a clear sign of pain.

"Alcimachea! Where’s the bag for your bread?" someone yelled from afar.

Alcimachea looked around and saw a face she slowly recognized. It was Xenodoria, an old friend she hadn’t seen in ages, as Alcimachea rarely left her house. Xenodoria showed an expression of surprise and joy at seeing her friend after a long time. Something looked different in the way Alcimachea welcomed her friend. Her eyes looked miserable and heavy-hearted, her hair was short and unkempt, and despite the cold, she had gone out in thin clothes and slippers.

"Hi," Alcimachea replied, glancing at the bread in her hand.

"I thought the bag was unnecessary," she said, looking at her friend before lowering her gaze, lost in thought.

Without hesitation, Xenodoria put her arm in Alcimachea’s and dragged her softly to a nearby bench. Her frail body nearly collapsed from the small gesture. She followed and sat on a bench, placing the freshly bought bread on her lap.

"You still love bread, don’t you?" Xenodoria asked, tucking her thick layered dress between her legs and loosening her scarf before draping it over Alcimachea’s shoulders.

"It’s the only thing I want to eat when I remember that I have to eat."

Xenodoria frowned her eyebrows, trying to understand what Alcimachea meant.

"I can barely leave my bed," she added, turning her head a bit closer toward Xenodoria but still not looking into her eyes.

"I’m still clean. I take showers, I wash my clothes and clean my room, but even the smallest task feels like carrying a truck." Alcimachea said.

While she was daydreaming, staring ahead, Xenodoria saw her friend’s feet losing colour because of the cold.

"Okay, I shouldn’t keep you too long before you get sick. Go home, eat well, and sleep as much as you need. I will pass by this Friday, okay?" Xenodoria asked.

Alcimachea looked into her friend’s eyes and asked, "How many days until then? I don’t even know what day it is today."

She turned her look away and tried to remember the date. Xenodoria stood there in silence, seeing her friend disconnecting again, and she stopped interrupting her thoughts. Alcimachea stood up, trying to remember the date and started to walk away, counting and calculating things with her fingers and head, back and forth. While her friend watched her go, Alcimachea suddenly stopped and turned toward her friend.

"I can’t remember… I wish I hadn’t realized that," she said.

After a long silence, she took off her slippers and left them on the street. Alcimachea turned away and walked until she disappeared from Xenodoria’s eyesight.

After arriving in front of her house, she closes the door and takes the spiral staircase upstairs. There is a weird feeling sinking in her that suddenly covers her stomach. These stairs feel longer to walk up than usual. She turns to look down, but the bottom of the staircase has vanished.

Her breath grows unsteady, and she quickens her pace—only to feel dizzier as the stairs stretch endlessly before her. Alcimachea wants to hold the stair railing to balance her dizziness, but just as she reaches out, it suddenly becomes translucent, losing her balance and falling in a suddenly appeared black hole on the ground floor somewhere far away that drags her down through its thick liquid-like form.

This is strange, Alcimachea thinks. I’m drowning, but I can still breathe.

"I don’t know!" someone yelled. "You don’t know! No one knows!"

After a long silence, the voice continued while Alcimachea tried to move in her downfall, "I must keep dragging you down, and you must keep trying to save yourself! I do my part, you do yours—but nobody knows why! Such a paradox!"

And the forces abruptly sucked Alcimachea in itself.

"And now, it’s your turn, Alcimachea," the voice said, leaving nothing but the sound of bubbles coming from its thick liquid.

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Xenodoria - a fictional, ancient Greek-inspired name created by A.I. combining "xenos" (foreigner/stranger) and "doron" (gift), representing the gift of the outsider’s perspective.

Alcimachea - a fictional, ancient Greek-inspired name created by A.I. combining "alke" (strength) and "mache" (battle), representing a strong battle.