Author's Note: All of the references to Greek mythology and specific nouns or descriptions all solely belong to Rick Riordan and whoever made up Greek Mythology. The personality and name of Selenia and any other made-up characters belong to me. This is my first actual FanFiction, and any comments are appreciated.
"See you later," I muttered glumly as Alyssa flounced off to join her new 'friends'. Silently seething, I turned around and stomped back to the sidewalk. This has got to be officially the cruddiest day of my stinkin' life. I glared at the blonde haired girl that was once my friend, surrounded by other idiotic yellow haired 'pops'. Or, Popularity Obsessed People. Alyssa had been my best friend since kindergarten, and we did-or used to- do everything together. I even got to learn what it was like to have a real mom when her mother took both of us on a real live shopping spree. Awesome right? I practically flipped out at every single store we went to.
Well, I thought she was my best friend. Until last week. Suddenly she got all...cold, you could say, almost detached, and started hanging out with the pops, the very people that I had despised for the majority of my stupid life. And even worse? She started teasing me about the vaguely moon shaped birthmark on my face. Like it was a taboo to have a freaking birthmark. Argh. You know, sometimes I just wanna bring my bow to school and shoot everyone I hated. Or maybe that's the ADHD talking. Yup. ADHD and dyslexia, glorious right? I snorted at myself, glancing up to stare at what I thought was a stop sign. Well, more like a P-S-O-T sign, from the way I read it.
Walking along the cement sidewalk, I rounded the corner to the orphanage that I call home. I won't waste your time with a descriptive sob story. Three years old, mom poofs off to who knows where, dad goes boom in a car crash, orphanage. That's the gist of it.
Not that I didn't like Oracle Orphanage. The staff there are actually pretty nice, if not a little distant. Shortage of money meant the place was slightly rundown with an unpredictable power flow, and not the best entertainment. Heck, the place has box TVs. But it was better than nothing.
"How was your day Selenia?" Mrs. Jones, the clerk asked sweetly as I trudged in. Grabbing my bow and quiver, I responded with a curt, "Fine," before heading outside to the yard. I could hear her resigned sigh and felt a twinge of guilt. I mean, it wasn't her fault I was like this. Outside in the grassy area, kids, all orphans like me, were running around merrily in the sunshine. I avoided the happy gathering and headed for the old, beaten up wooden target that had been punctured in some places by my arrows. I don't know when I became interested in archery, just that I guess I was naturally good at it. When the orphange staff found out, they had immediately entered me in various junior archery competitions, you know, the kiddie kind. Often I walked away with either a red ribbon or sometimes even a blue ribbon. Soon I had saved up enough of the prize money for an actual, sturdy-ish target to practice on. In some ways I was glad that I could help them out instead of being a good-for-nothing, useless lump like certain kids here, who took everything for granted.
"Here comes tattoo freak!" A familiar voice leered. Instinctively my hand flew up to caress the silvery crescent shaped birthmark on my left cheek.
"Shut your mouth Plastic Face," I shot back, my fingers itching to shoot an arrow through her dumb pretty head. In fact, that seemed like a pretty good idea right now.
Mel smirked, her full, lip gloss saturated lips quirking up into an ugly grin, and her gaze trailed up and down in disgust at my clothes in comparison to her utterly girly outfit. That girl spends all of her pocket money on fashion, and so do her minions, Kika and Janess.
"At least I have a perfect face. How much did you pay to get branded?"
"It's a birthmark!" I yelled, balling up my fists. By now some of the other children were turning to look. Even a few sparrows hopped down closer Marvelous.
"Really? I thought it was a tattoo-"
"To mark you as a slave!" Kika sneered in contempt. Rumor had gone around that my dad was a slave for the Reqorant Region, the group of hoity-toity government officials. And that was the last straw. I was sick of it. Sick of the teasing, sick of the bruises I got everyday, sick of the silent tears, sick of the gaping hole in my soul.
I didn't know why I did it. First my vision turned red, an angry tint to everything around me. The next thing I knew, Mel was on the floor, and I was rained blows on her head. Screams and squeals echoed louder and louder, and at first I thought it was because I was slugging Mel. But as the shrill yells grew higher in pitch and fear, I looked up.
And I realized there was something that shouldn't be there.
A large, golden furred lion reared up, and with a sickening crunch, crushed three of the younger kids beneath it's huge weight. A thunderous roar ripped the air as it caught sight of me, and it's amber eyes smoldered with a burning passion. The metallic scent of blood tainted the air, and all of my instincts screamed at me to run. Now.
So of course I did the logical thing. Notched an arrow, and ran straight to it. Hey, that was the only thing I could think of, to take it down.
But then I noticed something odd as I fired the first arrow. The sharp weapon came towards it's right flank in a deadly arc and... shattered.
What?! How was that possible?! My heart thudded in an uneven rhythm as three more arrows were wasted, blowing up into a million splinters as it came in contact with the beast's glossy coat. That's when it came to me. A Nemean lion. Somehow, at this moment, all of the Greek myths I had read about on the weekly library trips flooded back to me, and it seemed not so mythical after all.
I racked my brains frantically, trying hard to remember how the hero defeated this thing, and all the while it was closing the measly distance between us in a leisurely way. It knew I was defenseless, and it was taunting me, daring me to complete the impossible task.
While all of that was running around in my head like moronic bees, the creature had been running towards me, and before I could duck out of the way, a large, rough paw knocked the wind outta my poor lungs, and probably fracturing my rib cage in the process. I rolled painfully away from it three paces before I stopped, panting heavily. Crimson liquid ran in red rivulets down my face, and my eyesight was slightly blurred. How in the world am I supposed to get away? Running was definitely out of the question, and help? Nuh-uh, everyone probably already fled. I guess I have to kill it, but how exactly do you freaking kill a freaking ten ton wild animal with an impervious skin?! Huh?
The lion opened its jaws wide and roared triumphantly, and I got the feeling it wanted to kill me. Like, tear my body apart and dance around the corpse kill me. With great effort I heaved my self out of the shallow ditch I had rolled in, and its fiery eyes narrows. It curled it's lip over it's razor sharp teeth in a menacing growl.
That's when it hit me. Boy, was I an idiot.
Grinning despite the danger, I reached down to retrieve the lucky arrow. I had made it myself on my eleventh birthday, with a pure iron broadhead and smooth shaft. Exactly what I needed.
Lifting the heavy weapon, I notched it in, and started calling out all of the insulting names I could think of.
"Hey you lizard brain! Yeah you, over here stink head!" Okay, maybe not the best insult, but it did the job.
It's eyes glowed bright red in fury, and it opened it's pink maw in defiance. This was the moment I had been waiting for.
I pulled back the bowstring and fired right down it's throat. There was a wet slicing sound, and the monster roared in pain, galloping around in circles. Half-crazed with agony, it ran full force at me, and a sharp, unbearable pain shot through my ribs. Lovely, just lovely, and just when I thought i could have dragged my sorry self out of this mess alive.
The last thing I remember was the disgusting stench of sulfur, and a faint sound of hoofbeats before darkness claimed me.
What do you guys think? Please R&R!