Elysium's Love Triangle

by Aoife Metcalfe

  He has an easy way of explaining this punishment to me. I’m a goddess, one of his almost direct children, he says. I should have known better than to go around ‘having in my heart’ that I want to rule over everywhere. Just as a child learns from his parent, I must learn from him.

  This does not sit well with me. One cannot control what is in their heart. Mine is fifty per cent anger and forty per cent pain. The other ten is not known to me.

  I begin speaking the great language of Latin. Medusa knows Latin. It is the language I must use to ask for her help. A whirlwind appears in the room and a few locusts follow. They make an awfully distracting noise. I make the window open, perhaps they’ll fly out.

  Cairo is awfully disturbed, again, by what is going on. He really needs to man up a bit. I command the door of the room to open. It does immediately.

  Perhaps Cairo, like the locusts, will get out when an exit presents itself.

  He does.

  For a moment I am left in peace to do my ritual.

  Then someone else enters.

  It is this Greg guy. He looks around the room in horror. I don’t think he likes my designs on the walls.

  I wonder why he doesn’t like them.

  He looks at me and does a double take.

  I carry on with the chant. I love the atmosphere in here. In this room we have a whirlwind, rain, locusts and an awesome bullfrog infestation going on. The black substance leaking from the wall is turning a deep and horrible red. Everything’s crazy and out of hand, just the way I like it.

  The world will look like this when I rule. Perhaps I’ll add more ice and less light. Humanity will, for the first time, get to live in a perfect world.

  I’ll be the queen.

  They will be ever so fond of me.

  I’m smiling and thinking about just how loved I’ll be when the human interrupts my chant.

  Greg has, for some reason, chosen to stay. An interesting choice if ever there was one. Perhaps I shall reward his persistence by listening to what he is frantically trying to say.

  He surprises me by taking both my hands in his. The boy is still scared. I can see it. Why on Earth would he want to curse me with his humanly touch?

  “Katy, I want you to look into my eyes now, can you do that?” He is barely audible above all the commotion.

  He has insulted me twice now, calling me Katy. That is such a human name, is it not? What a silly boy. I must tell him off for his insolence.

  “Young man I am trying to call Medusa. This planet’s people need ruling. Now please be off with you.”

  He does not give up.

  Instead he appeals again, “Katy, you need to beat this thing. This is not who you are. There’s a good side to you that is dominant, okay. You have to remember it. You’ve been it, every day of your life, and you can bring it back now.”

  Oh, isn’t he a persistent little humanite.

  I look him in the eyes for the first time and he almost jumps back in surprise. There is a good reason for this I suppose. My eyes are glowing a deeper shade of blood red by the minute.

  “I do not know this good side you speak of,” I smile at him, he’s a pretty boy.

  I try to keep my distance from Katy at all times. This can be difficult, you understand, being halves of the same soul.

  There is still fear in his eyes but he smiles weakly, “Okay, I’ll remind you then. Keep your eyes on mine now, don’t forget that. Remember, earlier? We had our wedding. A little before it, after you called my name out, I heard you tell London that you truly felt you loved me. You loved me because of the way I held you when we were dancing, during our celebration. I know you were pretending at the time but . . . It sounded like the truth when you said that.”

  Truly lovely, his words. I don’t pay much attention to frivolous human weddings in truth. Even when they are mine.

  Though I do remember that. While we danced he held me like he never wanted to let me go.

  Chances are he truly didn’t want to.

  I snap out of it. I do not care for this human’s feelings. Katy does, but she is weak. She is my bad side, if I do admit to having one.

  I speak to him, “I wasted sixteen years of life not using my potential, being a weakling, I shall not continue on doing that. Your attempts at awakening the dead good girl will be futile. Now please let go of my hands and get yourself somewhere else.”

  He is beginning to truly irk me now. Trying to bring her back. There is nothing great about her. She is distinctly average. I am the one who can make the world perfect. She doesn’t even know how to use our superpowers.

  I do not understand why he would want to bring her back. I can fix the world.

  Still, for all his folly, there is a determination in him that must be admired. He would be useful in my army.

  He speaks again, “No, I’m not leaving! Katy. . . Just come back, please. You’re safe; you’ll always be safe with me. I’ll never let anyone or anything hurt you, I promise.”

  I feel warmth. I don’t like warmth.

  Memories I don’t want come flooding back. All the secret looks, glances and conversations the two of us had during that wedding. The way he almost kissed me after that dance, despite knowing how disgraceful it would be to do so in such a public fashion.

  I let these memories fill me up until I can feel, fully, the warmth of that time again. I close my eyes and concentrate on this feeling.

  Then I lock my gaze into his. I won’t ever forget my time with him today.

  He is smiling, there is relief.

  My hair is brown again.

  I know Ethereal was here. My head feels extremely sore.

  I do everything I can to avoid screaming but it can’t be helped, “Greg, she is going to kill everyone! You . . . She wants you in death’s army, she wants to kill you.”

  Ethereal really wants revenge on him now. Anger doesn’t even cover what she feels towards him. It’s rage.

  She does not like how he brought me back.

  She is part of my own soul. I cannot escape her.

  The horrible images of a world taken by death haunt my brain. Greg’s arms, holding me up now, stop me from falling.

  He holds me really close and whispers, “Let go of her now, let go of her.”

  I breathe in and out and it seems to work. Her thoughts fade, though I am still vaguely aware that she is still extremely angry that I am here.

  “Thanks for bringing me back,” I mean it sincerely when I say it to him.

  I can’t help crying now. He holds me close for comfort.

  It takes me a good long time to get all my new emotions out. Poor Greg has to listen to them all.

  I am glad he is here.

  If it had been anyone else here with me, this evening, the world would be currently covered by a sheet of snow. The world would be dying.

  He saved it.

  The room is almost back to normal. The light has returned. I don’t know how. The icky bugs are gone and thank God there are no more toads either. The weather outside is normal again. It is amazing, the dampness of the room is the only evidence left that she was ever here.

  “I won’t let that happen to you again,” Greg promises.

  His eyes are so beautiful. His clothes are very wet.

  I find myself running my finger down his chest.

  “It is so nice to have you back,” he says, amused.

  I love his voice at that moment, it’s so warm.

  I realise that I am falling for him again.

  I step away. It takes a lot of strength but I do it.

  There are a lot of ways I feel like thanking him right now. Most of them are physical.

  I need to snap out of it.

  “Change into dry clothes,” I demand.

  He laughs, “What? Are you serious? After all that, you’re worried about me getting a cold?”

  The truth is I am worried about how completely unbelievably sexy he looks in wet clothes.

  “Get changed,” I say ag
ain.

  He takes off his shirt. He spends ages looking for a new one.

  This is most definitely in order to give me a chance to see his chest. I have to admit it is very nice.

  I catch my breath again.

  I can’t believe how safe he feels around me.

  I’m almost afraid to be around myself. I am practically a ticking time-bomb.

  “You should get as far away from her as possible,” I tell him.

  She is able to come out now. Being in this place enabled her, so did the admiration of her followers.

  He pulls on a t-shirt, “Why would I do that?”

  I sit down on the bed, “She will kill you if she comes back. I’m sure of it.”

  He sits down next to me.

  Once again he looks me in the eyes, “I’m not going anywhere, Katy.”

  “Why?” I ask.

  “I’m not leaving you alone with this,” he says. “She won’t come back. We’ll make sure of that . . . together.”

  “Greg, I can’t let you stay,” I say.

  “I’m not taking no for an answer, Katy,” he smiles defiantly. “I’m staying. There is no use in fighting me. We’ll find a way to get rid of her.”

  Nothing I say makes any difference.

  He completely refuses to leave.

  In the end I give up.

  “Thanks Greg,” I say.

  I look around our completely soaked room and sigh.

  Riley warned me that my bad side would show itself.

  I just never thought it would show up so dramatically.

  *

  Greg tries a lot of things to distract me from the dark side of my soul.

  He wakes me up in the morning with a song.

  Then he brings me on a tour of the plantation. I find out all about their buildings. They have a library full of prophecies made by Cairo’s family. I get to see the one that promised Ethereal’s arrival here. It was completely right.

  I almost wish I could go back to yesterday. At least then I could still doubt that I was her. Now I know it’s true.

  Next we see the Cathedral. This is where they sacrifice people to deities. There is a marble table, with straps on it to hold people down, on the altar. There are traces of blood around it.

  I decide, there and then, to make changes around here. This practice cannot go on. Rejon’s evil ways must be stopped.

  Greg decides then, to show me to the ‘Gluttony Hall’. This is where people eat their food. Unfortunately the food here is ‘fear’ itself. They have screens, all around the halls, showing humans. I don’t think these humans know that they are being broadcast to us. They are all in various states of fear. One of them is a teenage girl. She’s running away from a poltergeist, fully believing that it is real.

  It doesn’t take me long to realise that all these humans are running from some ‘monster’ that isn’t even there. Riley is messing with their minds, making them see things. Orange fears drips from the screens onto the trays of the Arachnes here.

  “Can we go home?” I ask Greg.

  He agrees, noticing the upset in my tone.

  Outside I ask him how he came to be here.

  He tells me the true story. His Mom was always very depressed when he was young. Every now and again she would hurt herself.

  He stops after he says this. He has never told this story before.

  I never knew that things were that bad in his home. No wonder he liked to spend so much time out playing with me.

  I wait.

  He trusts me enough to continue telling his story.

  He would always know when she was going to try to end her life again. He would know because she would cut his hair. This was so he’d look ‘nice’ for her funeral.

  It all made sense in her mind.

  He’d scream at her not to hurt herself again. She wouldn’t listen.

  She didn’t care that he needed her.

  The only thing she cared about was having a boyfriend. She’d have a new one every few weeks. When they’d leave she’d go through her cycle of depression again.

  He was always so afraid that he’d wake up, some morning, and she’d be gone.

  One day it happened.

  “I’m so sorry, Greg,” I say, shocked.

  He explains that a woman came to him one day, soon after his Mom’s death. This woman offered him a new family and super-powers as well.

  Greg decided to go with the woman. In truth he probably would’ve went with anybody, he reflects.

  The woman brought him here. He would be safe and never abandoned, they promised. All he had to do was swear allegiance to some guy named ‘Rejon’ and drink a funny blue liquid.

  We arrive back at our house.

  Greg’s story has helped me understand why he won’t abandon me.

  He doesn’t want me to feel like he did. He doesn’t want anyone, ever, to feel like he did.

  “I’m glad I found you again, Greg,” I say, honestly.

  I hadn’t even realised just how much I missed him.

  I can see in his face that he is dealing with some deep emotions right now. He tries not to show it.

  Instead he changes the subject, “You ended our tour early . . . We’ve still got a few hours until our family dinner. What do you want to do?”

  I let him away with changing the tone of our conversation. I think he’s had enough of the heavy stuff for today.

  I look around and spot his guitar, “You could play some more songs. The one earlier was pretty good.”

  He is suddenly very animated again.

  I sit down on the sofa as he grabs the guitar.

  “Do you want to hear one I wrote myself?” He asks.

  “Sure!” I am enthusiastic. “I never knew you wrote songs.”

  “Yeah,” he looks rather bashful suddenly. “They aren’t very good . . .”

  With a bit of encouragement he begins playing one.

  He tells me that it’s called ‘Two Girls I Know’.

  I smile at this. I should’ve known that his songs would be about girls.

  The words go like this

  So I met this girl Angelica, just a few days ago

  She asked if I liked frogs. I said ‘heck no’.

  She looks away. Her opinion is clear.

  She doesn’t trust me. I’m not gonna get near,

  that thing she calls a heart. I thought that I’d stay,

  and give it a good ole shot anyway.

  Have you ever been aiming for a target

  that you couldn’t quite hit?

  Ever felt like you’re living in a storm

  of your own deficit?

  It’s like I have an arrow, but no frickin bow

  Do you like frogs? I should not have said ‘no’.

  So I met this other girl. Further back than that.

  She asked if I liked surfing. I said ‘what’s that?’

  She looks away. Off far into the sea

  Then she says that she would like to hang around with me

  She gives me a flash of a still innocent smile

  I know instantly, I’ll remember it for a while

  Have you ever been aiming for a target

  that you couldn’t quite hit?

  You really want to

  But you just can’t quit.

  It’s like I set myself up, I just can’t let go.

  I’d run from this feeling, but there’s no place to go.

  He finishes.

  I am aware that the second girl is me.

  This is why I focus on the first girl, “What happened between you and Angelica?”

  He sighs and puts down his guitar, “She told me that I betrayed her by working for Rejon. Now she won’t talk to me. ”

  I wonder what she is doing now. No doubt she is trying to find that weapon.

  What if she comes here to kill Riley?

  My allegiances are all over the place.

  I want to stay here and change the way Riley runs the place. These peopl
e deserve better. They need a leader who cares about them.

  I also desperately want to go back to Daniel.

  I know I can’t do both. I am utterly confused.

  Greg continues, “Rejon sent me to that school so that I could keep an eye on the group of ‘weaklings’ there. I was practically a spy. Angelica was right . . . I did betray her.”

  He looks desolate.

  “You’ll find a way to make it right,” I say.

  I truly hope he gets that chance. He deserves it.

  *

  Rejon has his own personal team of Chefs. They cook everything he eats. I know because they are currently in my house. They won’t let me cook. Rejon can only be served the very best after all!

  In a way it’s a relief. I would’ve been way too nervous to cook for Greg’s foster family.

  They just happen to be the Vale family. The very same people that sent their son to kill me last night.

  Cairo himself is going to be here. He is Greg’s foster brother after all.

  This is going to be so awkward.

  I did meet Cairo earlier. His mind said that he was still terrified of me.

  This hurt so much. I didn’t say so.

  I asked him not to tell anyone about what he saw last night.

  Greg and I have worked it out. We can’t let anyone know about my dark side. Once people know about it they can use it against me.

  Greg told me that it could be worse than that. He has no doubt that there are people here, on the plantation, who would only love to meet the ‘real’ Ethereal if they knew she existed. They would try to change me into her permanently.

  He is right. One such person would be my uncle. He cannot find out about this.

  I think over all of this as I watch the cooks now. They are sprinkling dashes of purple fear on all the meat they prepare. We are having ‘spicy meatballs’ tonight apparently. The spice being used is ‘terror’. They have it in little jars.

  I think back to the Gluttony hall. Suddenly I don’t want to eat anymore.

  Greg arrives in the kitchen now. I am glad of the distraction.

  He holds out his hand and I take it. We are fake married after all.

  He tells me that our first guest has arrived.

  We go to answer the front door together.

  It’s Riley. He smiles broadly when we answer the door.

  In a few seconds he speaks, “So nice to see you both . . . Alive.”