My Husband: The Devil

Torture

I'm sitting in class, listening to my teacher drone on and on and on about things I don't care about. I sigh and sink in my chair. I stare at my black fingernails and try to daydream about something interesting. I stare out the window and brush off my black shorts. In case it wasn't clear, I'm a big fan of dark colors. I hate bright colors, it just isn't me. Then my teacher calls on me. "Ree-Ha, perhaps you'll read this article for us?" I look up at the poster pinned on the board. Twenty-two pairs of eyes became stuck on me, not including the teacher. I sit up and start reading. In the next minute and thirty seconds, I was finished. "Good job Ree-Ha, perfect as usual", my teacher says, and turns his attention to someone else.

My name is Joo Ree-Ha. I live in Daegu, South Korea. I'm eighteen, and in my last year of high school. I'll be honest, it's hell on earth. Not because of the work, naturally every school has that. But because of me. I'm considered the freak in my school. I like weird things and I'm not interested in things like lip gloss and boys and pop music like most girl teens here. But no one else understands. Especially my mom. I've always been the 'problem' kid since I was little. Sure, when I was little, I was happy. But when I was five years old, my father died. Ever since then, I started to rebel. I took things that didn't belong to me, all the other little kids around me were afraid of me, and I can't count how many times I had to get sent home for picking fights with other kids. 

I've been in juvie once for about six months for doing some illegal drug dealing. I'm a sucker for marijuana. Big deal. My mom is always worried about me, and my parole officer made me go to this sick little school where all the girls are preppy, giggly and cheerleader-y. Barf. I'd rather jam a thousand forks in my legs than follow this crappy crowd. So think of it as a world full of white sheep, except I'm the black one. 

The bell rings and I file out of class. I lug my leather backpack over my shoulder and stalk out of class. The other students part for me to walk through them and whisper as I walk by. I'm used to it by now, I guess. It's me, the mini freaky who has a fucked up life. How could they not act the way they do towards me. I go down to the cafeteria and go on my Instagram. Like I would touch the slop they serve at this place. They probably spike it with a happy serum which turns your brains to mush and makes you into a happy carefree idiot. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but it could be true. I look at the table next to me, full of girls, talking and laughing and taking selfies together. I look around my table.....empty. Every other table is filled except mine. Typical. I shouldn't let it bother me, but it still hurts sometimes, knowing that I can't change who I am, no one would like me anyway.....

Meanwhile, downstairs.....

Like WAY downstairs.....

Hades looks over at the Elysium gardens, the place where all good people go where they die. He turns to his brother. "If you ask me, we should get rid of it", his brother says. Hades turns to him. "Get rid of what?", Hades says, staring at him blankly. 

"These cursed Elysium gardens. They're useless."

"Don't you think I would if I could? The Elysium gardens contain magic that even mine cannot touch. Besides, Dad wouldn't be happy with us."

"How would he know? He retired and left us in charge remember?"

"Still, we have to abide by nature's rules. We can't just do whatever we want with the place. If we change one thing, we're liable to to make more problems happen."

"Yeah, he'd kill us, literally if we destroyed the world he created. He's so proud of it. He cares more about it than he does about us."

The two brothers look over at the darkest part of the underworld, or more literally, hell, as their father liked to put it. Hades's brother stepped closer to the edge and looked over at the new arrivals coming in and Ceberus, the three headed watchdog making sure no one left. 

And he smiled.

Hades looked questionly at his brother. "Taehyung, what are you doing?"

Taehyung turns to Hades. "Oh, I'm just enjoying the view."