Hades

Chapter Fifteen - Seashell

School resumed. So did life. Dad went back to work, and chores at home got a little harder. Sometimes I would have to wake up in the middle of the night to comfort Jon or Ron after they had been crying. No one bothered me. No one until a month after the funeral.

His name was Poseidon, and he claimed to be the Lord of the sea. I believed him. Not only did he smell like the ocean, he looked it too. Board shorts, no shirt and a string necklace with a wave pendant, his dripping shoulder length brown hair made him look a little deranged standing in the middle of the train station. 

"Forgive me and my apparel, or there lack off," he introduced himself as he planted himself on the bench next to me. "But I have a query." 

"Fire away," I smiled having time to kill and a want to make the stares tossed in our direction worthwhile. 

"Or water away," He chuckled to himself. "You know, because I'm the Lord of the sea."

As I stared at him, he cleared his throat and stuck out his hand. "Poseidon." 

"Clarice," I said as I took the hand. "But I presume you already knew that." 

He smiled as he continued to hold my hand. We sat there in silence for a while until I finally cleared my throat. "Are you here for a reason?"

"Oh, yeah," He smiled as he pulled his hand away and stuffed them into his pocket. Pulling out a small seashell he passed it to me. "My um...my brother as you know, was in quite a bit of a pickle before."

"Look, if this is another tactic to convince me into marrying him then I don't--" 

"Wait, wait, let me finish. He doesn't need your help anymore. It um...it's all sorted. He knew you probably would have turned him away if he came in person so he sent me instead," Poseidon explained. "He knows you probably don't want anything to do with us anymore, so I guess this is the last visit from anyone of us."

"Oh," I replied after. I wasn't sure of what to say, I was relieved, but yet again, deep down, I knew I was disappointed. I was disappointed that I was never going to see him again. I was never going to see Hades again. "Um...so then what is this shell for?"

"That," he pointed towards the shell in my hand. "Is a token of our appreciation. It's not much, but Hades himself sealed a bit of his essence in their with my help just to give it to you. When you crush it, the one thing your heart desires most will appear."

I smiled at Poseidon then pocketed the shell. "Thank you."

He smiled back. "No problem. I should be heading back now, all these people staring at you, it would be quite difficult for you to make friends, and you might need some now since you pushed Hades away."

The words sort of cut me but I nodded my thanks once more. "Goodbye."

He smiled one last time before disappearing into a puddle of water. 

***

Sitting in my English class before the teacher had arrived, for the first time in my life, I felt...lonely. It seemed to be an empty feeling in my chest, demanding to be felt. It cried out to me whimpering, but there was nothing I could do about it. Sighing, I pulled out the book I started reading the night before. I didn't particularly like it, it was mainly the main character whining through his writing. The class went quiet as the teacher arrived.  

She began to teach as I read my book. I stopped when a piece of paper was tossed in my direction. It landed in my book and I tried not to freak out. When I had felt lonely before, the feeling I primarily felt was fear. Sure, loneliness was painful, but bullying? That had never really happened to me and I prayed that it wouldn't start now. Trembling, I unfolded the paper. 

Do you like that book?

I was too stunned to reply. It was a civil conversation. Possibly. I swallowed. The person next to me cleared their throat. I looked at them and saw that it was a smallish guy with curly blonde hair. He scratched his head and pointed towards the paper, his right foot tapping impatiently on the ground. 

Not really,  I wrote back and passed the piece of paper to him. 

He looked at the paper then looked back up at me with pale blue eyes which didn't really tell me what he was thinking. Picking up his pencil, he scribbled something back onto the piece of paper. He folded it in half then passed it to me with a thin lipped, lopsided smile. Even with the smile, it was hard to tell what he was feeling or thinking.

Why do you read it then?

It's a classic. I wrote back. 

So?  How does that make you like it more?

I guess it doesn't. 

"Clarice and Alex," The teacher called out my name and the name of the blonde boy. "Would you two please not pass notes around in my class? This isn't the fourth grade."

Chuckles made a wave around the class and Alex leaned in towards me, gesturing for me to do the same. 

"Want to read a real book?" He asked not really waiting for my reply. "Meet me out the front of the library after school."

The bell rung and I never got to reply him. He left the room as if nothing had ever happened and that we had never even passed notes. I realised I was smiling to myself as I placed my book back into my bag. I knew that he definitely would not take no for an answer. I was going to the library whether I wanted to or not. 

Leaving the room I felt the loneliness and fear leave. It was replaced with a feeling that I realised I had not felt in school ever before. It was the sense of belonging.

A.N

OK guys, I have quite a few things to say:

1. Thank you so much for getting this story to #49 in fantasy it really means a lot when I saw it I was so happy thank you guys so much.

2. This story will only have 2 more chapters excluding this one. The next one, will be in Hades' POV.

3. I am starting a new story which will be published soon and I hope you guys will check it out.

Thank you so much for reading!

- Laughinggoat22