Psyche and Eros

The Flutter of Wings

When I finally awake, it's sunrise again. I bolt up from bed, my entire body sore from the horrible position I slept in for who knows how many hours...

An entire day it would seem. I slept an entire day! I trip out of bed, the sheets still tangled around my feet. 

I rip open the curtains to check for certain, and confirm that the sun is indeed rising from the east. Oh dear...my parents must think I've avoided them out of hatred. It's surprising they didn't send someone to wake me...perhaps, they did. Hopefully, their feelings aren't too wounded. I know they don't have too much choice in what they told me before I went to sleep. 

It still doesn't stop my entire body now existing on the edge, now instilled with anxiety permanently until something is fixed - if such a thing is possible. 

I brush the horrendous knots out of my blonde hair, still leaving a slight wave to it all the way down to the middle of my back. Its dire need of a wash is evident, but I better speak with my parents before anything else. I'll change my clothes and head down and then have the servants start a bath. 

The stairs creep as I head down, and I brace for the entire house standing at attention. The cursed daughter is finally making her grand entrance again. To my surprise, though, my parents and their advisors are too engrossed in their conversation to notice me. 

"Has she woken up yet?" My father inquires in a slightly hushed voice. 

I stand halfway down the stairs, able to hear and not be seen. 

"No, my Lord. Not the last I checked." His advisor tells him. 

"Good. I have to find a way to tell her. She'll need to make the journey soon. Very soon. I'll have to help her find a way to not be frightened-" My father whispers, his voice reeking of defeat. 

"We can't do this to her!" My mother shrieks. "There has to be another way! The oracle has to be wrong. How could our little girl be destined for this? A monster-" 

"Shh!" My father shushes her harshly. 

I have no choice but to cover my own mouth to keep quiet. My eyes are wide with realization. Have they truly given up hope? Did the oracle tell them to do something terrible to me? Was I born this beautiful to sacrifice to a monster? 

My mind spins with possibilities. I try to keep calm and precise as I try to step back up the steps. I can't face them right now. It'll have to wait. I don't know how to face them at all any time soon. 

Do I have a reason to fear what they do next? Would they truly allow something terrible to happen to me? 

They have always been loving parents, despite being distant. I always understood they both have important roles to fill, a job to do, a duty to fulfill in arranging for their daughters to marry well. Keep our family secure and well-liked, and more importantly, highly respected. 

Now, they have to deal with me. 

"The oracle is never wrong, Sweetheart. You know that! We have to do as he instructed us. We'll take her to the meadow, and the...man destined to be her husband will take her." My father speaks harshly. I picture him grabbing my mother's face sternly, forcing her to heed every word. "You know there are dire consequences if we don't do this. For the family. For us. The rest of our daughters. Besides she will love him, monster or not." 

My mother simply sputters out a quiet sob. I can hear my father comforting her but I can't bring myself to face them now. I run up the stairs back to my room, not caring about the echoing sound of my feet tripping up the steps. 

I only feel the panic of what comes next. When they ask me to go to that meadow. When they abandon me. Not being caught listening to them. 

Tears had unknowingly already begun streaming down my face. I barely feel them, but I notice them fall from my face onto the floor, some landing on my bare feet as I lean against my closed bedroom door. I don't want to see anyone. If they dare to try and come up now, while things are this fresh...I'm not sure what I'll do. 

I look to the light peeking through the thin, white curtain, covering my window. It's my only other exit, concealing me from the danger outside. Gods and Goddesses wishing to extinguish me are surely waiting for me out there, waiting for me to step outside in the open. Perhaps, they have already been watching for a long time, and Aphrodite's exposure of herself was nothing but a promise they would continue to watch me until the last day she allows me to live. 

Of all the entities I thought I would fear in this world...I never thought it would be another woman like her. A Goddess who shares so much in common with me, someone whom I thought would be on my side. Of course, that isn't the case, and we now stand on opposite sides of an unfair, unbalanced battle. I don't stand a chance without mercy. 

Perhaps...if only I could speak to her one more time, I could say something convincing to her, something to strike her compassion. I know she can be forgiving! She has the power to change my fate if only I become unthreatening to her! I don't have to fall in love with a monster if she decides otherwise! An oracle can only see what the future currently is determined to be, which is a fate that is ever changing with the right tools on my side. 

If only I could get to her temple...maybe I could pray to her, and she could hear me. 

The thought is tempting, as terrifying as the possibility of things turning sour is. Do I have any better options? It's a concept my parents clearly have not even considered. They are not interested in taking the risk of changing my future, only accepting it and saving themselves...

I do not have a choice. 

Steps are now echoing up the stairs, as my mother's worried voice calls up to me. Shouting my name worriedly over and over. I can't let it deter me. 

I run to the window. A place I used to climb out of all the time when I was little. I know every loose brick, every stable brick to set my feet on to dismount safely and climb down to the ground. They have always remained the same, a stable little guilty pleasure of escapism whenever I don't wish to speak to my parents for their permission to go outside. Before, that was because I was too young to go out on my own...now it's due to a whole new reason. A legitimate reason for danger. 

Both times I am ignoring my parents. 

I back out of the window, feet first, finding the first foothold relatively easily. My body follows its cell memory, rapidly scaling the wall in under a minute until both my feet land on the grass. I run around the side of the wall towards the garden walkway. I can get out the back without being seen if I just move quickly. 

I run, wincing in pain as my bare foot lands on a shockingly sharp stick in my path. I hop on my other foot as I continue without stopping. 

The guards shout my name as my mother wails. "Psyche! Please you need to get yourself back inside!" 

I don't look back, but am forced to stop in my tracks as something sharply pierces the ground beside me. My face immediately turns white, every hair on my body standing on its end. I remain frozen as my eyes turn as far as they can. 

I feel the fear in every inch of my chest as I see that it is an arrow...an arrow that barely missed me. My eyes whip back to the trees from where it projected from, but whoever it remains hidden among the branches of the trees. 

The guards rush up behind me, an army of booted feet coming to my rescue...though I am sure if they wanted to shoot another arrow, they would succeed before they reached me. 

Still, they seemingly missed the first time. Why? And why aren't they trying again. 

I hear silence from the trees, until finally, when my m