by D Wills
Allana sighs and lifts her head as she lays her hands out before her.
“He didn’t throw her away; he was tricked, Aphrodite told him Psyche was going to kill her if Eros carried his relationship on. Eros gave Psyche up to save his mother, but Aphrodite’s story was all a lie”
Oh. Well what happened to Eros was horrible an all but why am I getting punished for her lies?
“So why is it fair for me to suffer because of his mother?”
“Eros is still majorly bitter and angry, and we are his, so we live with the life he has given to us”
I shake my head as I walk from the kitchen I can’t listen to anymore of this. Up in my room I throw myself into finishing the history homework I’ve been assigned so I can ignore everything that’s been said and silence my brain before the incessant stream of questions and theories as to what’s happening begin.
Is staying away from him even a possibility? I’m already burned by the flames of love; will they cause me to combust if I disobey them? Staying away from him is probably not going to be my choice; Josh already thinks I'm crazy, so I'm sure he’ll be staying away from me.
Flopping onto my bed the angry glare of Eros finds a way into my head. I bury my face into a pillow desperate for the twisted image to disappear.
* * *
It’s pitch black and too warm. I can hardly make anything out,
just a faint red haze of light. The air is thick with the heat and the stench of something. My breath chokes in my throat, my body refusing to let this putrid oxygen find a way into my body. My arms are tied down, and so are my legs. I can only move my head. Terrified, my heart begins to race in my chest. I try to call out for help, but my voice is caught in a fist of silence. My senses are no longer heightened, they’re dulled. My vision is usually perfect in the dark, and I can always sense anyone around. This has to be the work of an immortal; how could a mortal be powerful enough to do this?
I twist frantically, trying to loosen my ties but the rope cuts against my normally impenetrable skin. An immortal who has the power to harm me is responsible for this.
“Hello, Acacia.” I don’t recognize the voice, but my heart kicks itself up a gear in response, “Your disobedient behaviour will not be tolerated.” The voice is almost melodic in a taunting way. My heart stops, a cold rock sinking to the bottom of my chest. “Now the time has come to pay the price,” the haunting voice continues into a horrifying lullaby.
This has to be the Furies, it has to be. This must be the Underworld. I’ve been sent here for telling Josh. Amora must’ve told the Gods what I’d done, and they obviously didn't think Josh, and I are as innocent as Allana does. Allana would never tell the court of Olympus about me; no matter how loyal she is to Eros, she’d never want me to face the Furies. They are as evil as Amora is beautiful.
Closing my eyes I try to centre my strength and throw my body from left to right in an attempt to get the ropes to snap, but every move I make forces them deeper into my skin. They carve themselves into my flesh as tears sting my eyes.
The red haze starts to move closer. No matter how much pain the ropes are causing, I'm sure whatever this haze is bringing with it is going to be ten times worse. With the last bit of my strength, I throw myself against my binds, but they hold tighter.
The scream growing in my body escapes and the control I had on my imagination disappears. The Furies' faces manifest in my mind. This must be them. The Furies possess no conscience, no morality, they are made to torture those they are sent to pursue and now they’re pursuing me.
But how?
I'm meant to go before the judges of the Underworld; there’s supposed to be a trial before I'm sentenced. Amora must have gone straight to Hades who told the judges about me almost telling Josh and being burned by love. My sentence has been determined without trial. My crimes are undeniable and undefendable.
A wave of searing heat washes over me. I scream as the intensity scorches every inch of my body. The excruciation passes as instantly as it arrived, but now I'm physically numb, motionless. I can no longer struggle against my binds.
I cry but its silent and dry. There are no tears. I’ve been robbed of all my outward senses and actions, but I can only feel inside the pain from things around me. I can sense the pain the rocks are causing that I'm laid on, but I can’t detect their jagged edges. I can hear footsteps coming closer to me, but I can’t call out for help.
I can see Amora standing in front of me, but I can’t react.
Amora! I guessed she’d be behind this, but I only suspected her to be the informer, not the torturer, executor or kidnapper.
Amora stands before me, practically glowing from the satisfaction of having me so helpless at her hands. Pleased with herself, her deep red lips twist into a satanic grin. Her dazzling eyes grow wide with expectation, and her usually fair hair is now tainted red – wild, exactly like her.
Slowly she crouches down to her knees, her eyes never once leaving mine. They’re fixed on me, which only scares me more. She’s so determined in what she’s brought me here to do she doesn’t even lose focus. She begins to crawl along my body, holding herself inches above me. Her breathing is controlled and steady, whereas mine is haggard and broken. Her eyes draw level with mine showing me my terrified face reflected in them.
Amora throws her head back and screams with delight, but just as quickly she snaps her head back to face me, as fast as only a Goddess is capable of doing.
Snarling, she whispers “Time to die” as her hands rise above us both. I notice her nails are sharpened to a point as she lunges for my neck.
I draw the deepest breath possible as I jump awake. Patting my shoulders, chest and legs, and my bed, I hurriedly glance around the room, checking I am still there. I'm safe, it was a dream. Just a dream.
I take in breath after breath hurriedly until my breathing starts to slow and my heart is no longer beating in my ears. I check my wrists and ankles for any scars, but they’re perfectly smooth, as always.
Amora would never do that. I may not be her favourite person in any of the worlds, but I'm her ... well her sort of ... sister I suppose. Granted we’re never going to share secrets or go shopping together, but would she actually rat me out to Hades or go as far as getting permission from Zeus to kill me by herself? She’s vicious, but she’s not a killer, I hope not anyway.
I peek at my clock. 3am is that all? I'm too wired to go back to sleep and too afraid the nightmare might find me again. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I reluctantly place my feet on the floor as they continue to tingle with weakness beneath me. My cami clings to my skin damp with sweat. That dream got to me more than I realized.
I head out into the landing to go take a shower, hopefully I can wash away all the traces of my subconscious torture. Amora’s door is a few feet from the bathroom. Perhaps I should go see if she’s awake and tell her about my dream. I'm sure she’d laugh and tell me how childish I am to be having nightmares and she’d never do anything like that. I’m not so sure that would be her response though.
Her room’s empty anyway. She’s probably out at some club making matches or making out with someone. Hooking herself up is usually her plan.
She obviously doesn’t take what she was made for seriously, but there is no reprimanding her. Everyone falls instantly for her charms.
Perhaps I should wake Allana. Maybe she’d put my mind at rest and tell me that I'm not about to be sent to Tartarus for all eternity. I reach for her door handle, but what if she confirms my fears and tells me my days are numbered? I release my grip and step away. I’d prefer not to know, I think. Shaking my head I turn back to the bathroom and go for the shower I’d originally planned.
The shower stream hits my skin and strokes every inch of my body. I close my eyes, and picture Josh stroking my arms and neck instead of this water. I imagine his lips gently pressing along my jaw and down my neck.
“Ah!” the water becomes freezing. I almost slip from the shock. I q
uickly shut the stream off and grab my towel, wrapping the fluffy embrace around me, still smiling at the image of Josh and me. I’m glad it’s replaced the one of Amora reaching for my throat.
I need some elixir to settle these nerves.
The front door opens as I get to the bottom few steps. The early morning light streams in illuminating the dark oak staircase and me wrapped in my towel. I shield my eyes and strain to see who is about to walk in, silently praying it’s no one I wouldn’t like to be practically naked in front of; which would be just about everybody in existence.
Amora stumbles in from another late night. Her blonde hair is now a freshly dyed scarlet shade as bright as it was in my nightmare. A shudder engulfs my body at the memory of her sinister appearance. Her eyes are nowhere near as focused as they were in my imagination. Instead they’re glazed over, and her movements are sluggish. I guess she’s enjoyed her work this evening.
As she falls into the hall and trips back onto the front door, slamming it shut, she laughs, clearly with no idea what she’s doing. Her eyes roll in their sockets until they rest clumsily on me
“What the hell are you doing up?” She scoffs at me. “Shouldn’t you still be tucked up in your fairy sheets?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” I mutter, walking past her, not wanting to engage with her any more than necessary.
“What’s wrong, nightmares wake you up?” Her lips curl into a contorted smile as she crosses her arms over her chest and leans back against the door, no longer slurring or stumbling.
The dark shimmer to her dress darkens her eyes and adds an air of menace to her demeanour; like she’d trap you then kill you, a black widow of the immortal realms.
I stand still waiting for what’s going to come next; from her mocking tone, I know the nightmare jab wasn’t just a lucky guess.
“You still thinking about your new boyfriend,” she teases. I shake my head and start towards the kitchen, not interested in her theories of my damnation for getting remotely involved with Josh.
“You’ll pay for what you’ve done, you know.” Her voice becomes irritated at my insolence towards her.
“Go to hell Amora”
“No, sweetie, don’t you understand? That’s where you’re going, and straight there if I get my way!”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about?” I only half believe what I’m saying. I’m beginning to think she has a lot of answers I could use.
“Don’t I? You better hope Josh is worth your life” she slowly steps closer to me her voice becoming lower “because he’s going to be the last thing you ever do, and the first” she laughs at her own joke I turn away in disgust.
“Maybe if you weren’t such a bitch Eros would want you and then we could get along with our lives”
Her laughter stops.
“You better hold on to some of that fight I swear to you, you’re going to need it”
I push past her as she shakes her head.
I stop at the entrance to the kitchen. Should I go get out of her what she knows? I look between the kitchen and the top of the stairs to where her door has just slammed. There’d be no point going trying to talk to her. I can’t believe a word she ever says anyway. I know she has the ability to plant ideas in people’s minds and manipulate their thoughts, so there’s no doubting her capability to terrify me by messing with my dreams, but why go to all that effort? It doesn’t make any sense. I mean it’s obvious she’d love to get me out of the way, and she’d run to Eros or Zeus the minute she had any kind of dirt on me, but there’s nothing else she could do. They’d be the ones with the power to decide my fate.
If she wanted me to get more serious with Josh so she’d actually possess some concrete information to tell them; why try and scare me from ever going near him? I guess she’s just bitter, that or she’s trying to show me exactly what she’s truly capable of.
I sit back on the same stool I sat on when I got home from school. It’s been hours since then, but I'm more confused than ever. The questions in my head are like the cells of a disease; they are splitting and mutating.
I lean my head against my hands as an uneasy feeling grows in the pit of my stomach. Something terrible is on the way - I just know it.
Romeo, Romeo
~4~
The sun breaks over the hedgerow at the end of the garden blinding me momentarily. I hadn’t realised how late, or actually how early, it had become. I should think about getting ready for class. My lips contort involuntarily into a wide smile. I’ll be at school in less than an hour, and finally I can see Josh. There’s no harm in looking, or is there?
My nightmare could be a warning for something that might be coming if anything happened with Josh. Perhaps I should avoid him? I picture him in my mind and imagine the sensations his touch would evoke. Just thinking about how he would bring me to life more than convinces me getting closer to him is worth any price they set. After yesterday though, I might need to pay some sort of price to get close to him in the first place.
I hear doors open upstairs. Allana must be up. I don’t want to deal with her questioning me this morning, which she inevitably will do when I can’t hide my messed up appearance from her. Jumping off the stool I grab a bottle of elixir off the counter to drain whilst I get ready, this way I can be out of the door before she has any chance to grab me.
I never enjoy the drive to school, mostly because I never want to be there; today though I'm split in half. Whilst showering again to try and get myself into some sort of normal state, the sensible part of my head woke up and gave me a barrage of warnings to stay away from Josh. All of them were countered by the feverish devil inside of me aching for Josh’s skin to be pressed against mine.
Stopping at the traffic lights as raindrops began to beat down on my hood I sigh. I pull through the lights as they go green and make a right towards the school. The usual crowd is walking along the pavement, probably all now regretting their choice of summery clothes.
I laugh to myself as I recognize some of the celebrity clan trying to huddle under one umbrella. To make things worse for them, the car in front of me swerves into a puddle at the side of the road; the spray drenches them. Their screams pierce the thick morning air before being quickly replaced with abuse towards the car speeding away.
The car turns right into the school, and I slowly pull in behind the super soaker. Out climb four of the guys who were practising with Josh yesterday, all high-fiving each other and laughing at their cruelty. Carrying on down the car park after I checked Josh wasn’t with them, I pull into a space near the back of the lot.
A commotion starts towards the front of the parking lot. I snap my head up as the shrieks and gasps grab my attention. Leaning my head back into my seat, I strain to see down the row of cars to where most of the school has now gathered. I hear the roar of an engine, the kind I’ve only ever heard on TV. A car emerges into my sight, growling towards where I'm parked.
Something about the way the vehicle moves sets my nerves on edge. It’s like a shark in the water hunting for some prey. It’s a low, sleek, dark grey sports car. No idea what kind - I've never actually bothered about cars. Allana got me this one so I could get around. But I can’t take my eyes off how it slithers along the path created by students all admiring its body work.
Sliding effortlessly into the space next to me, the engine shuts off, releasing me from my trance. I blink quickly as the driver’s door swings open.
Out gets a dark haired guy. I can’t tell who he is as he has his back to me. All I can see are his faded grey jeans which hang low on his hips. The top of his fitted black t-shirt doesn’t quite meet the rim of his jeans, allowing the thinnest strip of flesh to show. There are black markings like the edges of a tattoo barely visible under the hem, but I can’t make out the image. The body turns, and I can sense eyes on me like I could back in Olympus at my presentation ceremony.
I drag my eyes up, sure I'm about to stare into the eyes of someone from the court of Olympus.
I look straight into Josh’s.
I thought I’d be too embarrassed to look him in the face again but seeing him now only fuels my urge to get next to him - to wrap myself in his warmth. The creature inside of me begins to hop madly around, begging me to get out of the car and touch him, but the expression on his face keeps me in my seat. He appears unimpressed and disappointed as he throws his car door shut without taking his eyes from mine. I bite my bottom lip.
Should I go and try and explain yesterday to him? But what would I say? As if in answer to my question, he shakes his head slightly and takes off towards the school. The minute his back is to me, I want to run up to him and turn him back around and tell him everything, beg him to forgive me for my outburst yesterday. I know I don’t even know him, but a part of me deep down must do. There’s a connection I feel between us that I need to explore, and I only wish I knew if he felt anything too. He must Allana said the flames of love burn both halves, so he has to have felt them.
I need a distraction, but I’ve got maths first, my worst subject. I walk into the school, hoping to see Josh in the halls but equally not wanting to. I don’t want to observe the look of chagrin on his face aimed directly at me.
The school halls are alive with auras, but I don’t notice any of them. I’m not sure I'm qualified to go around matching people up when I’ve messed up my own potential love life.
The red and blue lockers lining the halls become a blur to me as I drag my feet along the cold slate floor. I'm not interested in any of this. I'm not interested in being an unwanted consolation prize. I'm not interested in being the object of hate to Amora, and I'm not interested in breaking my match-making record. All I can think of is what Josh must think of me. I'm sure he’s not interested in me, and I don’t need him to be interested, but none of that’s important. The only thing that matters, is I want him to be.