Athena's Enigma

9 - If Only For A Week

“How dare you defy me like this!” My mother was pacing the floor.

I sat on my sofa with my hands neatly folded in my lap cringing at every word thrown at me. My Uncle Porus was sitting perpendicular to me on the other small couch avoiding all the accusing glares I threw at him.

“Did you really believe that you could get away with a stunt such as this?” My mother asked though I knew it was rhetorical. “I can’t believe my own daughter would go behind my back and sneak off to come down to Earth.”

I sighed keeping my gaze on my hands. “It was Porus’s idea.”

“I don’t care whose idea it was! You still went through with it,” she scolded. I wanted to argue but the logical part of my brain told me to shut up.

Athena stopped pacing and took a few moments to calm down. After a few deep breaths she calmly asked, “What made you think you could do this without me finding out?”

I automatically shrugged before I met her eyes. “I wanted to show you how much this means to me.”

My mother’s normally silver eyes turned a dangerous storm grey. It reminded me of the saying ‘calm before the storm’. It only took a few milliseconds for my mother to return to her enraged pacing. “Were you aware that your face is in the paper? It’s all over Olympus actually.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at the very thought. I didn’t read the Olympian newspaper often but I knew no one was featured in the paper unless they were a god.

“Apparently, it’s a big deal when an immortal goes to live on Earth,” Porus explained.

“Imagine my surprise when reporters show up at my house asking me what my youngest servant is doing on Earth!” My mother ignored Porus completely.

“I’ve been gone for two nights,” I stated obviously. I felt my irritation rise as I asked the next question. “You must not have missed me if you hadn’t known I was missing.”

My mother was slightly taken aback by my comment but quickly recovered. She shot an accusing finger toward Porus. “He told me that you were staying with him a few days. I did not question it because I knew you were distressed since I specifically told you that you would not be living on Earth.” 

I faltered a bit before saying, “I bet you didn’t even miss me.”

“I didn’t know you were missing,” Athena shot back at me. “I thought you were in safe hands not walking around on Earth! What were you thinking?”

I stood up feeling anger boiling over inside me. “I wanted to be treated like a regular person. I want to be normal!”

“You’re not normal,” my mother shouted raising her voice to tower over mine. Her words stung so much that I felt like she physically assaulted me. I fell back onto the sofa and focused on trying not to cry.

After a few minutes of eerie silence, tears actually started to fall down my cheeks. I knew I wasn’t normal but hearing it come from my own mother’s mouth was like a slap in the face by the hand of reality.

My mother sat down on the sofa next to me and tried to pull me in to cradle me like when I was younger. I allowed her to hold me. I suddenly lost my will to be angry with the world. She muttered soothing words and stroked my hair really making me feel like I was suddenly five years old again.

“You know that I didn’t mean anything negative when I said that,” my mother defended herself suddenly.

I sniffled but didn’t respond as I let her continue. “You are definitely not normal nor will you ever be but that isn’t a bad thing. You’re special, Avena, in only the most wonderful ways of course. I love you no matter how are.”