Boon or Bane- A greek story

The Gorgon

Damini found herself standing in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. She looked at her hands. She could see blood on her hands. She felt her face. She could feel lots of cuts. From the corner of her eye, she saw a sewage system in the warehouse and a tank. Every muscle in her body hurt, but she still stood still, as if she knew danger was just around the corner. Suddenly, from behind her, Damini heard a loud, purring voice.

"I don't want to hurt you, I just need you for your powers, dear. Your little friends will have to die though. But never mind them, huh? You and I, together we will rule the world!"

The voice laughed an evil laugh.

"Never! I will NEVER serve you, you monster!"

"Well, that's just too bad then, darling."

Suddenly, thousands of snakes swarmed into the room in her direction. Damini screamed and then everything went black.

It was the next day. Damini had slept for more than 24 hours, but that was not her main concern now. The snakes she saw weren't from her past. That means she was seeing the future. And that's what troubled her. She hadn't had a glimpse of the future in so long. Having glimpses of the past was a bit normal for her now, but the future? That scared her. She ran her hand through her hair as she thought. Snakes. Of all the animals in the world, it had to be snakes. She tried blinking back tears and thoughts. Could there possibly be a connection? Her head raced back and forth, she couldn't possibly bring herself to think of that day. But she had to. On the last day with her parents, there were snakes everywhere.

Damini got up and let out a small yelp. Peter and Annabell were sitting in her room. Peter was fiddling with his locket and staring at the ceiling while Annabell was reading a book. Both of them turned to look at her. "Oh, you're awake!" Peter said, smiling. Damini nodded. "Well...what was that?" Annabell asked. "Oh, that was one of my glimpses. You know, the ones I was talking about?" Damini said. Peter and Annabell exchanged glances. "Well, a glimpse? That was what made you pass out?" Peter said with a look of concern. "Yeah, every time I get one I pass out for hours," Damini sighed. Annabell's eyes widened in shock "Dam! That's why someone is after you! You can see the glimpses, no one else can, right? Maybe the person is after you since you can see the past and the future! And you get triggered by images. If that's correct you probably saw a glimpse of a snake?" Damini nodded. "I saw snakes," she whispered. Both of them looked at her expectantly. Damini didn't want to think about it, but she did anyway. She told them all about her glimpse. The empty warehouse, the cuts on her face, the voice. When she was done both Peter and Annabell were lost in thought. "But," Annabell said, "How is that connected to anything? Have you ever had any sort of encounter with snakes?" Damini froze. She was hoping they wouldn't ask, but they did. "Well," Damini trembled. "On the day my parents die- disappeared, there were snakes outside the house. They bit my dad, but it wasn't poisonous so it didn't matter." she paused to absorb the fact that she was actually talking about her parents last day. "Snakes are normal, but that day we found more than 20 snakes in our backyard. My mom had gotten pretty scared. I never understood why but she wanted to go out of town immediately. She put me to sleep and told me that we will be leaving the city tomorrow. When I woke up, they were gone, only snakes were all over the house. The milkman came the next morning and called the police. They never found bodies but my parents are dead, according to law."

The rain had started again. Peter and Annabell were in her room trying to figure out how everything fits into the prophecy. Damini just stared into the clouds outside her window trying to remember anything from her past. She was really hungry, so she decided to go to Felix and get a chocolate cupcake once the rain stopped and tell him about her crazy week. Damini pushed her hair out of her face. What were they missing? "Could you tell me a bit more a"I don't want to hurt you, I just need you for your powers, dear. Your little friends will have to die though. But never mind them, huh? You and I, together we will rule the world!"bout the gorgons?" Damini asked. "Sure. So they were three sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, who are described as having hair made of living, venomous snakes. And anyone who looks into their eyes turns into stone. Blood from a Gorgon's body can heal any injury." Annabell paused. "What does the prophecy mean by "act as gorgon blood to the gorgo?" she asked.

"Not sure. But at least we got the snake part figured out. All of them have snake hair. Just which one of them?" Peter replied. "Could it be all? What is the gorgo part? Is gorgo a synonym? A nickname?" Annabell sighed. We were getting nowhere.

Suddenly Peter's face changed from curiosity to horror.

"Guys, I think I know who it is." Peter looked completely shocked and shaken.

"Gorgo is the nickname for one of the worst monsters in ancient Greece...Medusa."