She was the daughter of Phorkys and Keto, the children of Gaea (Earth) and Oceanus (Ocean). She and her sisters, Sthenno and Euryale, were the three sisters known as the Gorgons. She was the only mortal out of the three.
She was originally a golden-haired and very beautiful maiden, who, as a priestess of Athena, was devoted to a life of celibacy; but, being wooed by Poseidon, whom she loved in return, she forgot her vows, and became united to him in marriage. For this offence she was punished by the goddess in a most terrible manner. Each wavy lock of the beautiful hair which had so charmed her husband, was changed into a venomous snake; her once gentle, love-inspiring eyes now became blood-shot, furious orbs, which excited fear and disgust in the mind of the beholder; whilst her former roseate hue and milk-white skin assumed a loathsome greenish tinge.
Seeing herself thus transformed into so repulsive an object, she fled from her home, never to return. Wandering about, abhorred, dreaded, and shunned by all the world, she now developed into a character, worthy of her outward appearance. In her despair she fled to Africa, where, as she passed restlessly from place to place, infant snakes dropped from her hair, and thus, according to the belief of the ancients, that country became the hotbed of these venomous reptiles. With the curse of Athena upon her, she turned into stone whomsoever she gazed upon, till at last, after a life of nameless misery, deliverance came to her in the shape of death, at the hands of Perseus.
Only then to be respawned at the hands of Hades and casted back into the Human world.
If you hadn't guessed it by now, I'm referring to Medusa.
You know, Medusa: about six foot, give or take an inch, snakes for hair, terrible skin, one hell of a glare?
That Medusa.
Or as get the not-so-pleasure of calling her: mother.
Yeah.
My dad got hammered one night seventeen years ago and boom; here I am.
He hasn't stopped drinking since.
He has, however, gotten married since that night to my lovely step-monster: Katherine.
Together, they produced my little shithead brother: Eric.
He's fifteen and probably the biggest idiot I have ever met; and it's not just because he's my little brother.
I really can't stand-
"Evelyn! For God's sake, are you ready yet?" Katherine barked, almost ripping the door to my room off of it's hinges as she tore it open.
"Yeah." I answered civilly, looking up at her. I was ready an hour ago.
"Then why aren't you downstairs?" She snapped.
"I was for like a half hour-" I stopped myself, knowing where an argument would lead. "My bad. I'm sorry. I'll be down in a second."
"Hurry." She mumbled, and then was gone. I sighed and closed my laptop before slipping it into my backpack and slinging it over my shoulders. I got off of my bed and slipped my iPhone, that I pay for myself, into my back pocket and glancing at myself in the mirror.
You know, for being the daughter of a monster, and I don't mean this in a narcissistic way, I was actually kind of beautiful.
My reddish-brown hair was tied back into a ponytail while my bright blue eyes shined behind my near half-inch, unnecessary, thick, hipster, nerd glasses that I only wore to prevent the curse that my mother passed one to me from showing through.
Aside from that, I guess I got Medusa's genes from pre-Athena's wrath.
"Evelyn!" Katherine screamed.
"Coming." I sang unenthusiastically as I left my room, shutting the door behind me and descending the staircase.
"Well, it's about time." Eric grumbled to himself as I entered the forer, his perfectly styled, blond hair unmoving as he got off of the couch.
"Let's go, guys. We have a plane to catch." My father said, swaggering slightly as he made his way to the door. The Gorgon in me could smell the alcohol on his breath.
It wasn't even noon.
"Honey, have you been drinking?" Katherine whispered to my dad as Eric and I walked out of the front door and into the back of our family Durango. After apparently denying everything, my father climbed behind the wheel and Katherine next to him in the passenger seat. As we backed out of the driveway, I leaned against my door, gazing out of the window at the rainy scene surrounding our country-side, New York home. My sensitive eyes focused on the woods across the street and what I saw made me shoot up in my seat.
There, in the shade of the trees,far enough into the darkness that wouldn't have been seen to the normal, unaided eye, was a woman wearing dark sunglasses, and cloaked in all black.
With hissing snakes for hair.
"Mom…" I whispered just as my dad his the gas, swerving slightly.
"What?" Eric asked, trying to look around me out of the window.
"Nothing." I replied, sitting back in my seat. "I thought I saw someone." I shrugged when he continued to stare. "Eric, really. It's nothing. Stop staring."
"Evelyn, don't snap at your brother." My father snapped at me, glaring at me through the rearview mirror. "Apologize."
"For what? I didn't say anything." I replied.
"Evelyn Grace Swan, do not get smart with me." He growled.
"I'm sorry, Eric." I said sarcastically.
"When are you going to learn some manners?" Katherine hissed.
"Never when you two are raising me." I murmured to myself with a sigh.
"What was that?" Katherine barked, turning in her seat to glare at me.
"I didn't say anything." I growled back, closing my eyes for everyone in the car's protection.
"She said-" I silenced Eric with an icy glare. "Nothing. She said nothing." He quickly corrected himself. We pulled into the airport parking lot twenty silent minutes later. My dad stopped at the door.
"Honey, why don't you and Eric go check the luggage? Evelyn and I will park the car." He suggested.
"Okay. C'mon, Eric." Katherine agreed. Her and Eric grabbed the bags out of the trunk before disappearing inside the busy airport.
"What's on your mind?" I asked, knowing well enough the real reason my father wanted me alone.
"You are not, I repeat, not, going to act like this when we get to the wedding tomorrow; am I clear?" He spat, squeezing the wheel angrily.
"Crystal. But shouldn't you be telling this to Eric and Katherine too?" I replied, crossing my arms at my chest.
"Listen here you little shit-" He hissed, interrupted by a long honking from a car horn. My dad corrected himself before whipping into a parking spot. "Sorry. Just promise me you'll keep your glasses on." He sighed, much more civilly when he realized I was right.
"Always do." I said in the most serious tone I could muster.
"Thank you." He said, smiling slightly back at me before we got out. "Do you want me to grab that?" He asked, glancing at my backpack, as we started toward the entrance.
"Uh, sure." I said, letting it slide off of my shoulders and handing it to him.
"Ev, you know I love you right?" He asked. "Evelyn?" He said as I stopped dead in my tracks, my eyes wide.
"Oh, sorry." I snickered and started walking again. "Yeah, dad. I know." I replied and for the first time all year, I looked him dead in the eye and smiled at him.
"That's a relief." He smiled back as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders. We reached the automatic doors of the entrance and saw Katherine and Eric waiting for us in line to check in. Joining them, we were on board flight 771 to Seattle, Washington about twenty minutes later.
I immediately put my headphones into my ears and just stared out the window, letting my phone shuffle through my songs over and over again before nodding off.
"Ev, hey. Wake up." I heard Eric's annoying voice pull me from my dreams.
"Huh?" I mumbled, not opening my eyes.
"Evelyn, look!" He snapped.
"What?" I grumbled as I opened my eyes. "Oh, my Gods…" I whispered, looking onto the black clouds surrounding us.
"Whoa!" Almost the entire plane gasped as a flash of lightning struck millimeters from the wing of the plane. I squeezed my eyes shut.
'Lord Zeus, I'm sorry I ever so foolishly entered your domain. Please allow us safe passage and I promise it will never happen again.' I silently prayed to a God who I knew thought I was an abomination. One more flash of lightning lit up the sky before the storm clouds began to thin. 'Thank you.' I breathed a sigh of relief. "You can breath now." I squeezed Eric's shoulder.
"That was terrifying." He gasped.
"Yeah, it was." I sighed again, taking my glasses off and rubbing my eyes, being careful that my glasses were back on before opening them. We touched down about an hour later, safely, and then were paraded into the rental car.
You'd think after not seeing a place for five years there would be some change.
But not Forks.
Forks, Washington was exactly the same as I had left it.
We were at our motel a few minutes later and a few minutes after that, I was sprawled out on one of the two beds listening to Katherine lecture Eric about something while dad showered. She walked into the bathroom, still talking.
"Evelyn, let's go to the store." Eric whispered, pleading really.
"No." I replied.
"Why not?" He asked.
"Because I don't like you." I looked at him.
"Please!" He begged.
"Fine." I snapped, throwing my legs over the side of the bed and hauling myself up. "Going to pick up dinner. I'm taking Eric." I called into the bathroom.
"Pick me up some soylent!" Katherine yelled back.
"Yeah, right." I snickered as Eric made a gagging sound. I picked up the keys to the rental and followed my brother outside.
"What do you think we should get?" He asked as I pulled out onto the main road.
"I don't know. Definitely not soylent though." I replied, getting a chuckled out of Eric. "I'm serious." I snickered.
"I know you are." He laughed as we pulled into the small market. Eric trailed behind me on his phone as I scanned the aisles for anything that looked remotely good. "Oops, sorry." I heard Eric mumble. I looked up and my brother looking up at a man twice his size, height and width, that he had walked into.
"It's cool." The guy shrugged, flashing the most perfect, jaw-dropping smile I had ever seen at him. He looked up and our eyes met-his widened. I couldn't help the the blush that overcame my entire body.
"H-hey…" He smiled at me. I blushed deeper.
"H-hey yourself…" I murmured awkwardly, smiling back, looking away and pushing a clump of my bangs behind my ear.
"I-I'm Seth." He stammered, steping around Eric and in front of me.
"I-I'm-I'm…"
"Evelyn?" Eric snapped, an amused smile on his mouth.
"Evelyn. I'm Evelyn." I giggled nervously.
"Evelyn. That's a really pretty name…" He replied, smiling bigger yet.
"You're a really pretty name…" I muttered without thinking. Eric's chuckle pulled me out of my trance. "Oh, my God… That was the lamest thing ever… Um, I'm just gonna go. C'mon, Eric." I said, turning to walk away.
"No, no." He chuckled, reaching forward and gently grabbing my arm to stop me. "I liked it." He said when I was looking up at him again.
"Your hand's really warm." I muttered, picking up his paw of a hand in my much smaller one.
"Thanks. My other one is too." He replied, picking up my other hand in his. We just stared at each other, holding hands like we were old friends and smiling like idiots for I don't know how long.
"So, you two going exchange numbers or something?" Eric asked, an amused grin on his mouth.
"Oh, yeah. I have a phone." The two of us said at the same time.
"Yeah, this is weird. I'm gonna go over here. Find me when this is done." Eric said, pushing off of the shelf he was leaning against past Seth and I.
"Don't get lost." I called after him as I punched my number into the perfect man's phone.
"Um, so tomorrow?" Seth asked, handing my phone back to me.
"Yeah, tomorrow." I replied.
"We could..."
"Yeah."
"Or we could..."
"Yeah, either way." I chuckled.
"Seth, let's go!" A woman's voice barked, echoing through the entire store.
"That's my sister. I gotta go." His smile faded.
"That's fine. I should probably find my brother anyway." I said.
"Alright, see you tomorrow." He smiled again as he backed away.
"Oh wait," I muttered, my smile fading. "I have a thing tomorrow."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot. I do too." He told me.
"Text me." I semi-asked, semi-told.
"Promise." He winked, and then he was gone.
Only one thing was going through my mind:
What just happened?
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