The Girl that Hades called Persephone

-30-

Uncle Charlie had met Hades, shook hands, asked him about football. Hades just gave an awkward smile. It was still a better first meet then whatever had happened out. I was meek, trying to figure out what my mother and Hades was talking about.

I wanted to ask her so badly, it was killing me not knowing what was going on. Did I miss something in the start of the conversion?

I looked to H, wondering if I had missed something about him. He looked nervous, and I couldn't understand why he was so nervous. I wanted to know what was going on.

But my mom tried to pretend everything was okay. "Ok, lets get the food to the table," she said.

Everyone brought a plate to the table from the kitchen. The tense feeling in the room was almost too much to bear. I wanted to ask what's going on.

I tried to get to the bottom of this I was nearly killing me. I could physically feel my stomach tightening up, make me want to throw everything up. I barely touched my food.

"Honey?" My mother asked me. "Is everything okay?"

"Do you and H know each other?" I finally blurted out.

Both their faces froze. "What do you mean honey?"

"Yes, Steffi, what do you mean?" H said with sarcasm dripping out of him. My mother shot him a look, but he didn't seem to really care. My mother just smiled at me, as if nothing was wrong.

"You guys act like you know each other."

"Well H and I just met today."

"I don't know about that," I said staring right at my mother. From the corner of my eye, I could see Hades was smiling widely. It was almost as he was enjoying this. I knew that I loved him deeply, for the smirk on his face may want to punch him.

"Why don't you just tell her?" H asked.

My mother went silent again. I looked to uncle Charlie, and he looked a bit confused. Completely understandable, however. The feeling deep in my guts, I knew that mom and Hades had known each other for a very long time.

My mother knew about Hades. She knew about the underworld. She has been hostile to him the second we walked into the house, sat down, and tried to eat like normal people.

"I don't know what you're talking about-"

I shook my head. "You know who Hades is."

"Yes, well-"

"King of the underworld?" I went on.

"Steffi, what are you talking about?" Uncle Charlie chimed in. "Come on I think we should get a second serving on your plate."

"Mom," I said, tense, sharp, not letting my eyes let go of her.

"How about we talk about this later," my mother said staring at me, begging me with her eyes to drop the topic. I wanted to go on, I wanted to dive more into what was going on behind me. I wanted to know. But I didn't want to hurt her.

So, I was silence, I let her be controlling this conversation. I knew that she likes control. Not in a wrong way, just in a very touching warry way.

"Oh, that is long enough," Hades said, standing up from the table. "You have lied to her whole life. Tell her what she is."

"Mom?"

My mother narrowed her eyes. "Hades, butt out of this."

"Persephone has a gift, and instead of trying to nurture that gifts, showing her all that she could be, you suppress her, you made her think that she was dying in the hospital when it was just her power trying to come out."

"Hades-"
"I have seen her gifts. The garden she has grown in my world."

"Your world?! Excuse me!?"

I felt a very sharp pain in my stomach as if I had swallowed knives and they were poking through. My head was spinning, my mind was racing. The pain was getting to be too much, I didn't know if I could handle it.

"Persephone, I want your boyfriend to leave. I don't want you to see him anymore. He's talking crazy-"

"Steffi, your mother is a Goddess."

Silence filled the room. That's when I started laughing.