Captured (A Modern Medusa Story)

CHAPTER 2: AVERISTA♥️

Dativa offered me a ride home after our last class together.

I had never felt so thankful, considering how much I was trying to save my bus fare for a good dinner.

One thing I hated about friendships and relationships was that they required you to be vulnerable. And vulnerability was something I could barely afford. Having permanent friends growing up wasn't really my trait. Every time I thought of trying and every time someone came too close, I pulled away. The thought of someone knowing about my personal life and seeing where I lived didn't sit well with me.

I always did my best to, at least, keep my life to myself. I hated when someone forced themselves into my personal space. Isn't it enough that you know all my likes and dislikes? You don't have to meet my parents or family.

And please over please, you don't have to see where I live.

You've had enough of me.

"We are your only friends  . . . And if no one is gonna like us, then no one is gonna like you."

That was what the voices on my head said every time I stumbled upon my hideous reflection. As if I needed a reminder that I was forever deemed a monster. So far, Dativa didn't know anything about my old friends upstairs. Fifty hissing heads with three talking mouths.

As much as I hated them, I had gotten used to them. It was a matter of consequence, after all. I was the one who opened that black box all those years ago.

My curiosity and disobedience had paid off.

Immensely.

Who knew a stupid little childhood mistake could cost me my whole life.

Yes, I had tried to look for a solution. But I had no idea how to even start. I could neither cut nor poison these vipers off of me, they were a part of my body. When they got hurt, I got hurt. So unless I wanted to die, I could try all that stupid stuff.

If only I could find my way back in there. Into that mansion . . . back into that weird laboratory. Maybe there could be a solution wandering in there. Maybe whatever scientist that created that damn Pandora's box could heal my life and save me from this eternal curse.

"Avery? Is that you?," my mother's voice echoed from the inside.

I had been standing in front of the trailer door way too long after Dativa had disappeared. She had offered to come pick me up first thing in the morning for tomorrow's early class and financially speaking, I can never thank her enough.

"Yes, Mama," I finally turned the door handle, noticing she had been peeking at me through the small window.

"Everything okay? Saw you stuck there for a while, thought you saw a ghost."

The smell of burning rice welcomed me inside.

The woman always burnt the food, god save her cooking skills. Before anything, I rushed towards the stove and turned it off.

"Yep, everything is okay now." I grabbed a towel and fanned it over my nose to waft off the smokey smell.

"Hey–I was cooking that!" She pointed.

"Yeah, and it was burning, Mama."

"Oh."

I began to think that the nuts in her brain were getting a little loose or something, but maybe it was the aging. But I couldn't mouth that out. She would call me the one with the loose nuts instead. And maybe she would be somehow right. I mean, a bunch of snakes controlled half of my mind.

Once again, I was yet to introduce my poor mother to 'The triplets': Mikeus, Kavenile, and Strivoda. I always wanted to tell her about it, but again, after weighing the pros and cons, I realized keeping the dangerous secret was better than giving my mother a heart attack. Imagine losing the only family you have.