Captured (A Modern Medusa Story)

CHAPTER 19: AVERISTA♥️

I couldn't stop thinking about Phoebe's words once I got home.
Every single word.

I had declined her offer to walk me home because I knew my mother would be there waiting for me. I still wasn't ready to break it out to Phoebe that I was Halima's daughter. So I got her a cab and sent her away.

But her words haunted me with every step I made. Like a ghost walking next to me.

Her desire to see was overwhelming me. It was a wish I wished I could fulfill for her, but again, not. I wanted to her to be happy. But the desire to have her as mine was far greater than the desire to make her happy? Why did that sound so goddamn selfish?

I simply wanted her with me. Period.

But why did it feel like too much to ask?

She was the missing piece, but I couldn't keep her for myself if she desired something else. Was it wrong to tell her to drop everything to stay with me?

I could be the set of eyes for the both of us, to see and guide her wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted. I wanted her to be with me and want me the same way she wanted her sight back. Pure and deep.

"What in the heavens?" Mama almost screamed when she saw me laying on my bunk.

She was in the backyard garden when I got in. I had seen her through the window and she looked so peaceful. I didn't want to break her bubble, so I got in and went straight to bed.

"You freaked me the hell out. I thought I saw a ghost or a something," she held a hand over her chest to calm herself down. "When did you get back? I didn't hear you come in."

"Sorry," I sighed. "I was back a while ago. I didn't want to distract you, so I kept my silence. Sorry if I scared you."

She nodded away, opening her side of the cupboard and grabbing a towel.

"How was college today, by the way?" she asked.

"Just–" Thoughts of Phoebe bombarded me. "Cool."

I skipped college.

"Okay," she grabbed a toothbrush. "I'll go clean up."

She disappeared behind the bathroom door.

And I was back to my misery. The misery that was nothing but my thoughts. Thoughts of a certain blind girl that was now driving me insane.

When Mama got out of the shower, I pretended to be asleep.

"Avery?" I heard her call. "Did you eat?"

I sealed my eyelids down.

When she didn't get any response, she pulled my blanket over, covering me up.

Then my phone rang and my heart beat halted in sudden fear. But then I remembered that I had saved Phoebe as 'Blue-eyed beauty' and not by her real name. Whew.

I heard Mama moving, checking my cell phone on the small table, I guess.

Don't pick up, don't pick up, don't pick up, don't–

It stopped ringing. My racing heart settled down.

Mama got into bed.

"Goodnight, Avery," I heard her whisper.

                                            * * *

I woke up from a nightmare in the middle of the night.

My breathing was speeding, and I was sweating like I was about to lose all the water from my body.

I checked to see if Mama was awake, but luckily, she wasn't. I didn't want her up when I was feeling like something was coming up my throat. The feeling was familiar. I needed to change.

I needed to find somewhere to be myself.

A monster.

I rushed quietly out of my bed, pulled on a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt, and left the trailer.

I began running.

I've never run this fast in my whole life. I didn't want to end up transitioning in the middle of the road and that's what kept me running even faster.

Water. They wanted water.

They—Strivoda, Mikeus, and Kavenile. They were me, myself, and I.

Luckily, there was nobody in the park. I didn't even have time to think. I crossed the border into the out-of-bounds area and jumped into the water like a fish yearning for life.

My tail flicked up in reflex, Medusa coming alive. I swam to the pond's floor and hated how it wasn't deep enough to satisfy my desires.

"Now that's more like it!" Mikeus laughed.

"I seriously needed this, thank god." Strivoda was smiling.

I just wanted to drown myself and disappear, but again, I could breathe underwater. Sore luck.

I screamed. It came out with a loud growl, one filled with all my anger and pain.

"Woah woah, girl! Maybe next time stop holding yourself back for so damn long." Kavenile shot.

"It's who you are, Avery. No need to deny it." Strivoda whispered.

I ignored them. Everything felt too much to handle.

I swirled up and puffed out the water like a kraken awakened, my form getting bigger.

I crawled out of the water, losing my control.

"Who's there?" A man's voice called from a distance.

I moved, but he appeared in front of me.

A security guard.

"Holy–" The torch he was holding fell off his hand and before he could meet my gaze, he hastily covered his face and skipped away. At least some people read Greek myth and knew not to look me in the eye. I was thankful for that.

"Should've frozen him right there. He would've made an impressive statue for this beautiful garden, don't you think?" Kavenile marked.

"Shut up, you idiot." I hissed at him, crawling away.

I heard another movement and when I turned; I caught sight of the poor ducks by the pond. Now those were what beautiful statues looked like.

I smirked, turning them to stone.

"Guys, I think I have an idea." Kavenile said.

"Oh please no, last time you said that we ended up in the hands of that Perseus kid."

"C'mon, that was centuries ago!"

I chuckled at their conversation, moving my body into the water before crawling out again.

I moved deeper into the garden, my nerves settling down from the smell of dust and the moonlit green of the leaves.

I wished to stay like that for good because I found comfort in a body of a monster despite how much I despised it; I was under its control.

I crawled around trees, remembering the first time I had sauntered around the garden. When my mother first walked me around the place, it was somewhere before I visited Mr. McQuinn. It was back when I used to be nothing but human. Back when I didn't know dust could smell this good and that scales would become a part of my body.

I was a good kid. Despite my over-inquisitive curious ways.

For a moment, I didn't care who looked at me or if there was a goddamn cure to my curse. I was Medusa. One of the most powerful monsters in history. One of the most beautiful women ever to exist.

Breathing life into the original gorgon, I lived out a legacy. A bunch of immortals who thought themselves as gods mistreated the girl, and I simply wanted to set her free. I simply wanted to set that girl free and give her the justice she had never achieved. I was going to set her soul free, so I moved around to my heart's content.

A serpent thrown out of heaven and out of bloody Eden . . .  but if I couldn't rule next to kings, then it was my turn to slice the heroes' necks off and make decorations out of their heads.

I was out to get my glory back, like a sense of sight that I once lost.