Lilies

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A/N: This chapter has allusions to Greek mythology. I will give you some background info so that you understand it better, for those who aren't familiar.

Hades: Lord Of The Underworld; Brother of Zeus

Persephone: Queen Of The Underworld; Daughter of Demeter and Zeus

Demeter: Goddess Of The Harvest; Mother of Persephone

Styx: Otherwise known as the river of lost souls, it is what you must cross in order to travel to the Underworld. If you touch it, you die and are bound to the river. You can only cross by paying the ferryman a special currency.

Pomegranate: Often associated with Persephone as her symbol. Also known as the fruit of the dead.

Story: Hades kidnaps Persephone by enticing her to an opening underground with a flower. Once in the Underworld, he marries her and makes her his queen. Demeter is angry and sad because she does not know where Persephone is, and immediately begins to look for her daughter. Consumed by her desperation, she forgets her duties as the goddess of the harvest. The weather changes to harsh cold, and the farmer's crops die. Eventually, Zeus reveals to her that he allowed his brother to take Persephone. There are different interpretations: one where Persephone is tricked into eating the pomegranate, another where she falls in love with Hades and eats it because he asks her to willingly. The pomegranate bounds her to the Underworld, so she cannot permanently leave. Zeus needs Demeter to ensure that the human's crops grow, so as a compromise between Demeter and Hades he makes it so that Persephone splits her time between Earth and the Underworld. Demeter is always happy when Persephone is with her, so these are the seasons of spring and summer. When Persephone leaves, Demeter is sad so with it are the seasons of fall and winter.

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dear mom,

sometimes i wonder where you went

if it was into the arms of another family

who could carve themselves to fit the shape of the footprints you left in the sand like cookie cutters

molding themselves into casts of your eyes so that their tunnel vision was a reflection of your own perception of reality

you as their blind sculptor

distorted, mangled figurines with dips and curves bending to the will of your cracked fingers

or if you traveled back in time to the family that raised you

way back to when you didn't know who you would grow up to be yet

and not knowing was okay because it was part of the surprise

an adult swinging on jungle gyms and swirling down the slide, pretending to be a kid again

because that was easier than coming to the revelation that you had a little girl of your own

and she needed you

i used to try not to think of the more likely scenario

that you left a bad situation to only find yourself in a worse one

with no family to catch you when you fell down

and you tried to find your way back home

but you made a mistake, and got a little

l o s t

your heartbreak and loneliness killing your spirit before you could cry for help