Irish Oxytocin

Detention | 21

                          ❁ Chapter 21 ❁

Cora's Point of View

I often reminisce about the time when I was a little girl. Things were incredibly different compared to how they were now. I didn't have any of the friends I do now, and Dad was still around. Mom was more present, and Daniel and I never fought; only bickered.
It leaves me with a million questions every time. Like, how come our parent's biggest job was to protect us from the world?
Or, why was it our ignorance and ability to be evidently naive that protected us from the horrors we would have to face as we got older?
I remember Hollywood always romanticized the way we'd meet our soulmate, and how the whole timeline of events would play out:

1. You meet.
2. You fall in love.
3. You marry.
4. Have children.
5. Happily ever after.

It was only when I was now eighteen that I realized how much of the story they leave out in our fairy tales.
Example: Romeo and Juliet, the greatest romantic art piece to exist in history?

Juliet was thirteen years old, and Romeos age is never specified other than he was "several years older." Incredibly inappropriate, but because it was beautifully written we as kids never questioned it. And, not to mention they died in the end anyway. They both died, meaning some of the earliest human soulmates documented in books from several years ago weren't that magical to begin with. That doesn't sound like "happily ever after" to me.

I do believe the gods thought they were making our lives easier by telling us who we were meant to be with, but I think it complicates things more. Almost like I've missed a million lessons that would make what I'm going through right now easier.
They set it out for us that we can't be with anyone else if or until we meet the one. What if I wanna explore? What if I wanted to fall in love a million times, instead of someone forcing me to?
Why is there always the risk of losing someone you love because someone told you that you're not meant to be?

Thousands of years ago, the Greek gods ruled the land. They were in charge of many things revolving around the universe, and we all fell into it. It just made sense at the time since they had all the power. Aphrodite was the goddess of all things love. She was beautiful and promoted all sorts of sexual love and inner beauty. A real role model for women.
When deemed fit, she'd make gods fall for other gods for their own good. She was incredibly powerful.
Hades, the god of the underworld, and Persephone, the goddess of agriculture and vegetation, were two of her victims. Hades was full of hate, and loneliness. He ruled the underworld by himself for years, and Aphrodite and her father Zeus were worried about what this mental torture would lead to for the rest of them. Being lonely can make you do sinister things.
Hades had loads of power and was even stronger than Zeus. Aphrodite thought it would be fit to make him fall in love with someone who would fix him, and save them all.
Persephone was divine. She was gentle and caring. She had everything they needed to bring Hades' stone heart back to what it used to be.
Aphrodite made the two fall in love with her power, and Hades trapped Persephone in the underworld. Though she loved him too, Hades was toxic for her. He loved her more than anyone, but Persephone was too good for him. He wanted her to reign beside him.

This started to unravel quickly for Aphrodite. Her father wanted her to stop messing around with other people's hearts, and find someone for herself. She was selfless, but Zeus wanted her to settle down. But little did he know, she already did have someone.
Aphrodite was in love with Ares, the god of war. Zeus forbid their love from the start, but it didn't stop her from falling for him. Her father was afraid he'd turn her pure heart into something dangerous. To prevent their love, Zeus arranged for her to marry Hephaestus; the blacksmith of the gods. Their marriage would prevent her from ever being able to be with Ares ever again.