When I woke up from what I had been hoping was a nightmare, I was in a damp cell. It had cement walls and flooring, with a cot in the corner and a roughly worn blanket thrown on top. I noticed a security camera in every top corner of the cell. There was a wooden door on one side. I tried to walk over to the door but my hands were in shackles. I was still wearing the outfit I'd been wearing before, and the cell was cold. The clothing i was wearing was not in any way warm. Why were there so many security cameras? And where was I? Why was it me they decided to take? And who were they? I'd been in choir growing up, so, being the choir kid that I am, singing helps me calm down. So I started singing my favorite song.
"I heard there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the lord. But you don't really care for music, do you? Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall,-" the door opened as I sang the high note. I stopped singing immediately.
" No, please do go on with your singing. You have a very beautiful voice." Someone said. I looked up. It wasn't Hendricks. The man had dark hair and grey eyes. He was tall compared to your average human. I glared at the man and remained silent. "I said, keep singing!" The man said. He scared me, so I kept singing "The major lift, the baffled king composing hallelujah, hallelujah,-" I sang. Then Hendricks walked through the door. " Thanatos! I said no using the prisoners as entertainment! Leave! Now!" Hendricks yelled. The man left but Hendricks stayed. He had some bruises after what happened yesterday? Two days ago? "You." I spat. "Me." Hendricks said, almost mocking me. " Where is Liam? What did you do to him?" I yelled.
"Oh, your friend? He's in a different cell."
"Will you at least tell him I'm not dead?"
"Sure. What were you singing earlier?"
"Hallelujah." I was suspicious of how nice he was being, but it wasn't like I could do anything about it.
"Would you sing it for me? I've never heard mortal music before."
Had he said mortal music? Wasn't everyone mortal? Never the less, I began to sing.
"I heard there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the lord, but you don't really care for music do you? Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift, the baffled king composing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah," as I of hit the high note, flowers and vines sprung up from the cement like it was grass, and not hard stone. I stopped singing, and the flowers stopped growing, too. I looked at Hendricks, and he looked excited and really happy. "Why are you so happy? And what the fuck just happened?"
"Tone down the swear words sweet heart. Calm down."
"Who the fuck do you think you are, taking me to a cold ass cell, then telling me to 'tone down the swearing', Hendricks?" I said his name in an acidic tone.
"Hades. Call me Hades." Hendricks said. "What, are you the Greek god of the underworldmgr?" I sneered. It probably wasn't a good idea to sass my captor but I couldn't have bared less.
"Why the sass, hmm? I am the god of the dead after all." 'Hades' said.
I snorted. "Prove it." He moved towards me, and I flinched. "Why are you flinching, I'm only walking towards you. And after last night, you've proven you can give a person quite a few bruises."
"Yeah. And I'm not afraid to do it again." I said. He looked at me like he wanted to ask me why i flinched again, but didn't say anything.
"Where did you learn to fight like that? Older siblings?" 'Hades' asked.
"Yeah." I lied. He studied me for a moment, as if he weren't convinced, then stared at the vines intensely, as if he were trying to make them move without actually touching them. Then, they shriveled up and died. I shrieked and shrunk away from him. "You asked for proof and now you're terrified of me. Trust me, if I wanted to kill you, I would've done it by now." Hades said, impatiently. It was creepy that he could just kill things. But the gods didn't exist, did they? I mean, Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena, Artemis, Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hephaestus, Demeter, Dionysus, none of them were real, were they? No. They couldn't be. This had to be some kind of nightmare. I pinched myself. I didn't wake up. "Believe me now, Sweetheart?" Hades asked. I didn't respond. Then, I got an idea. I wasn't sure if it would work, but I had to try. If I was the one controlling the growth of the flowers, then if I tried I could probably grow them again. I stared at the shackles on my hands, and started singing For Good from Wicked. "I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason. Bringing something we must learn, and we are lead to those who help us most to grow, if we let them. And we help them in return." Plants started growing again. "Well I don't know if I believe that's true, but I know I'm who I am today, because I knew you. Like a comet pulled from orbit, as it passes a sun, like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better, but, because I knew you I do believe I have been changed for the better-"
The vines had grown around the shackles like I'd wanted them to. I watched the vines tighten on the shackles, then shatter the chain, therefore breaking the shackles off of my hands. Hades stared at me for a moment, then said, "That was smart. Follow me." Was that all he had to say? I followed him out the door. I realized that he probably trusted me only because he could kill me without laying a finger on me. Then a thought came to mind. "Why me?" I asked Hades.
"What?"
"Y'know, why did you kidnap me, out of all the people there?"
