Elysium's Love Triangle (22 page)

Every day I got milk.

I look out the window and smile.  So much glorious water.  I could make it rain for a week
,
but t
hat might wreck with this countries
delicate eco-system so I don’t think I will. 

All of humanity rejoice.  I will be such an awesome leader if Zeus
doesn’t go wrecking
my plans . . . again.  Zeus doesn’t often like my plans.

Usually he hears them and sends me to the flames.

He has an easy way of explaining this punishment to me. 
I’m a
goddess, one of his almos
t direct children
,
he says.
I should have known better than to go around ‘having in my heart’ t
hat 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 p
ain.  The other ten is not known
to me.

I begin speaking the great language o
f Latin.  
Medusa
knows Latin.  It is the language I must use to ask for her help
.  A whirlwind appears in t
he room and a few locusts follow.  They
make an awfully distracting noi
se.  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 l
ocusts, 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 whirlw
ind, 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 gl
owing 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 worl
d perfect.  She doesn’t even know how to use our superpowers
.

I do not understand why he would want to bring he
r 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 aft
er 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, th
e dampness of the room is the only evidence left that she was ever here.

“
I
won’t l
et 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 again.

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 t
aking no for an answer, Katy,” h
e 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 pl
antation.  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 promi
sed Ethereal’s arrival here
.  It was completely right. 

I almost wish I could go b
ack 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.