"You love her best, don't you?"
Drew's question sliced the air, turning the atmosphere from casual to sharp.
The room seemed inappropriate to host such a daunting question. The light pink drapes let a little light peek through. A large purple queen bed with regal purple curtains surrounding it was neat, its purple and pink blanked folded neatly, not a crinkle in sight. Posters of various male celebrities covered up the stainless pink walls. There were three doors, one on each wall. If you opened one, it would lead to a large, roomy, majestic bathroom. Another door would lead into a grand hallway. The last would lead into a closet so large, one might literally lose themselves in it. The last wall was covered with something that was much more precious than everything else in the room, at least to its owner.
The wall was covered with pictures and souvenirs. There was one row for every year she had been alive. The sixteen rows had various pictures of Drew with her true family and friends. If one were to look at them, they would notice that three people kept on appearing over and over. The first one was Drew. The second one was a handsome Chinese man with a smile that would immediately make you go weak at the knees. A beautiful girl with black hair and glowing blue eyes was the last.
Drew was very familiar with this room. It was hers. She visited whenever she could. She would always take at least an hour to gaze at her memoir wall, as she called it. But now, she simply glanced at it once and looked away, turning her attention back to the woman in the center of the room, radiating beauty.
"Tell me," Drew demanded. "You love her best, right? After all, she's the one in the Prophecy of Seven. She's the one with beauty and brains. She's the one with the amazing personality. She's the one with the most powerful charmspeak. She's the one who's sporty and doesn't care about makeup which automatically makes her better than us. S-she's the one who y-you love the most."
Drew's voice cracked at "love."
"Why did you come here?" she asked, blinking back tears. "Since you obviously don't give a damn about me, why are you in my dream? Why don't you go to her dream? Go ahead and tell her about how she's your best child and rant about how the rest of us, especially me, are the shallow and selfish ones."
Her mother didn't say a word. She simply looked at her, her face morphing and constantly changing until her eyes turned bright blue. Soon, her hair turned a deep black.
Drew winced and looked away. She was not going to cry. She couldn't feel any self-pity, not now. Not when her mother was with her.
But she couldn't help but feel a wave of despair go through her entire body.
All of her hard work. All of her pain. It was all for nothing. Because Pretty Perfect Piper got everything. And people had the guts to say that she was like Silena.
Silena…her best friend. After she had died, it was as if the entire camp's spirits had died along with it. The Aphrodite cabin was the most shaken up. Drew was the most anguished. The one true friend that she had deserted her. Left her. And she was all alone. Turning that agony into anger wasn't hard. She had ruled the Aphrodite cabin with an iron fist, determined to not let anyone else leave her. She was the oldest. It was her duty to protect the others.
But now Piper had come. And she simply did not understand. She was just as shallow as the rest of them. She thought she had the right to talk about Silena and act like she knew her better than Drew. She didn't.
But somehow, Perfect Piper managed to get everyone's attention. It didn't matter that she had nearly betrayed everyone. It didn't matter that she had been a complete hypocrite in her speech with Drew. Nothing mattered. Piper was perfect and that was that.
It was true, Drew decided. You needed to have the most powerful special ability in order to be noticed. Nothing else mattered. Who cared about sacrifices, pain, suffering, passion? As long as you were gifted, you didn't need to work hard.
Drew felt everything that she had gone through in that one moment. Every hit, every harsh word, every disapproving glance by her father, every disgusted glance. She felt it all. The sensation was too much to bear. She felt like her entire body was on fire. Her heart was sore from being used over and over.
And a tear fell from her eyes. That one tear led into a fitful of sobs. She didn't care that her mother was standing right there. She didn't care about anything. All she could think about was how everything had gone wrong. And even her own mother didn't love her. She obviously had a favorite and it wasn't her.
Drew felt two dainty yet strong arms hug her. This made her sob harder.
"Hon, it's alright," Aphrodite murmured. "It doesn't matter what others think. They simply don't know you."
"I-I-I," Drew tried to say between sobs. The tears fell down her face harder and faster now.
Finally, after what seemed like a millennium, she ran out of tears. She couldn't cry anymore. She was done. She pulled away from her mother, wincing at the black mascara and eyeliner that stained Aphrodite's ever-changing dress. In an instant, the mess disappeared, leaving her mother's dress as beautiful as before.
"I-I'm sorry," Drew gasped, trying to catch her breath. "I didn't mean to –"
"It's alright," Aphrodite cut her off. "Drew, you are not less important to me than Piper. I love all of my children equally. There was a reason I blessed you with charmspeak, Drew. You also have a part to play. You are not more important than others and they are not more important than you. You would do well to remember that."
Her mother looked away as she talked. Her voice was different when she spoke again. "Gods make horrible parents. You know that. But it does not mean that we love our children any less. I am the goddess of love. It's easy for me to spread love. And while it may not always be the true love…it's what comes naturally to me. But feeling love myself…that's more complicated. I am the goddess of love, but ironically, it's difficult for me to feel actual love. But when it comes to my children, it has never been complicated. A goddess may be different from a mortal mother but we still hold the same love, no matter what."
Drew's heart seemed to be sewing itself back together the entire time her mother was talking. But there was still one problem.
"Silena," Aphrodite said. Her multi-colored eyes turned a shade darker. "She was a beautiful child, both inside and out. And you loved her."
"I love her," Drew corrected. "My anger aside, she is my best friend."
Her mother smiled and her eyes seemed to glow. "Yes, she is still your best friend. But even though she is dead, her love for you still exists inside your heart. It is reborn into new love, love that you will find one day."
"Thank you," Drew choked out. "Thank you for coming here. For me."
Aphrodite merely smiled. "I always guide my children."
A light bathed on her mother's dazzling face and slowly, she vanished.
Mom's not perfect, Drew thought. And neither are her children. But we represent love…and pure love is flawless.
I think I got off track. I meant for this to have a depressing ending but…oh well. This is what happens when you write. My title isn't very good. In fact, right now, I haven't even thought of the title. I'll probably put it on sometime soon. When I post this story up in FF, though, you'll see the title. Tell me what you think of it? (Even though I haven't thought of it yet.) Any grammar mistakes?
Crucio!
-A very tired Selene Bellatrix Black