it all ends with us: ruins

025

Chapter Twenty-Five:

"I'm mad at the world for taking you away from me."

TW: Torture, blood.

They took him from me. The love of my life, my husband and the father of my three little girls is now gone. Due to the prejudice and hate to our kind, they murdered him in cold blood. I want to mourn in pain but I have to stay calm for the sake of Aphrodite, Artemis and Athena. They have no idea that they're coming for me next but I have to keep that a secret. I hope that the banshee in me is not in my girls. I do not want them to go through the same suffering as I. I'll leave them with my sister but as soon as they are safe I will be gone. They tore my husband to shreds in front of me and I will not allow my girls to watch the same fate happen to me. In such a cruel world I hope that one day someone is brave enough to seek peace for our kind. I hope that day will come soon. Until next time that will be all, Nemesis Astor.

Atlas shut the book in shock. The tears rolled down her face and she had no control of them. They murdered her, they murdered her mother's aunt. In cold blood. Why would her mother make her read such a thing? Does that mean Atlas as a banshee would meet the same fate? Her hands were shaking and the image of someone being ripped to shreds burned her memory. She couldn't wrap her head around it. The prejudice against the creatures confused her, they could not help what they had become.

Atlas fell asleep soon after. She frankly wanted to forget about the diary and obliviate it from her memory. Instead she held it as she fell asleep. Even though it was hard to grasp at the start, these were her people. Her kind. It didn't feel like a long enough nap. She was quite restless and before she knew it Apollo had woken her up as it was time for dinner.

She quickly refreshed herself and made herself look presentable before making her way down to the kitchen. She helped set up the table with plates and cutlery and placed the food in the centre. She filled the glasses up with a spell and then made her way to sit down. She sat beside Ajax and in front of Apollo. Her father cleared his throat and they all turned to look at him. He sat at the head of the table and his plate was already full of food.

"Why don't we say grace?" He suggests.

The tension between all the Lennon's were sky high. They all had a mutual hatred for their father. Their faces were void of any happiness as they all held hands. The uncomfortable tension was suffocating as they continued to eat dinner and the only thought in Atlas' head was praying that her father disappears soon like he usually does. The dinner stretches on for a long excruciating hour before everyone was done and no one had ever been more relieved than they had been in that moment.

---

It was now a couple of days into the half term and precisely two days before the three youngest Lennon's were to leave to the Parkinson manor. The week had been stress free without the worry of homework and essays. It meant that Atlas' days were spent catching up on reading and studying heretics. Within two days she had finished three new books about the topic. She is currently on her fourth book written by Lucy Crane. 'The seven beasts.'

A scream of a banshee is powerful and with enough control and malicious intent can kill people in a five-mile radius. However, the purpose of a banshee is much more complicated than that. They are the caller of death. The original translation was never explained properly but it can be taken in many different ways. Their screams inform people around them of someone's death which is the most common interpretation. Or they are controlled by the God of Death and the scream of a banshee is used as a weapon of murder. Anyone born from banshee blood faces the same fate. The painful yells are an anchor to the other side.