Shocking Discoveries

Within a very abrupt second, I finally turned away from Hera and broke into a sprint towards the house, ignoring her screaming and demands that I release her from the root tendrils this very instant. I had much more important things to do right now than releasing her; things that had only helped to further enhance the growth of the fear and anxiety within me.

I did not care that I had slammed the door open – making a loud bang! echo throughout the house from the force of impact – and just made a bee-line for the cordless telephone that was sitting in its charger on an end table next to the couch. I yanked the phone out of its charging port and my fingers flew fast as they quickly dialled the phone number that popped into my mind.

Forcing myself to sit down on the couch to prevent my anxiety from getting the best of me – it did not really do a good job because my arms and legs were still quivering – and taking deep and steady breaths which did nothing to calm my pounding heart, I listened in agony to the slow drawls of the dialling ringtone and hoped to hope with all my heart that my call would be answered, because I knew that there was only one reliable person who I could get some answers to my qualms from, and if she didn't answer, I wouldn't know what to do.

The Fates seemed to be on my side then, for suddenly I could hear Henrietta's voice saying, "Hello?"

"Henri!" I exclaimed in a sigh of relief, unable to keep in just how happy I was to hear my best friend's voice after so long. "It's me."

An audible gasp could be heard clearly on the other line, followed by her shouting in surprise, "Melindia! Oh my gosh, where are you?! Do you even know how long you've been missing?! Nobody in town has seen you or heard from you, and I never even got any word for you! You had me so worried! I thought something bad must have happened!"

A pang of guilt struck me at my heart as I thought of the fact that I had left Heatherton without a single word of acknowledgement to my best friend. Gods above only knew how sick with worry I must have made her be when I left without a trace, not even giving her a simple word of the fact that I would be gone due to 'urgent matters'. Despite the fact that I had gone away abruptly was to escape from Demeter, it still hurt me to know that I had done so without even thinking about her.

In a voice that was clearly trying to hold back tears, I replied, "I am so very truly sorry, Henrietta. I had to leave town for a while because something personal came up, and I had to take care of it. It's going to take me a few more days, so I doubt that I would return home any time soon."

…Or at all... I bitterly thought to myself in sadness.

"And you couldn't tell me before you left?" she questioned, her voice clear with disappointment.

Holding back the sadness that was within me, I replied pitifully, "I was stupid to not tell you where I would be and get you all worked up with worry, and I know I should have. But this is something I need to do alone, and I can't risk getting you involved in everything. On the other end, know that I am alright now."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds, before a sigh of exasperation yet relief was exhaled by Henrietta, and I could feel my tension die away slowly at the realization that she was not mad at me.

"I understand, Mel, and I'll respect your wishes," she told me reassuringly, and I could almost feel the smile on her lips when she told me that. But that comforting daydream disappeared suddenly when she then exclaimed, "Anyway, I don't think it's best for you to come back to Heatherton anytime soon. Something weird is going on over here."

And that's when the anxiety decided to kick up a notch and I could feel myself getting all worked up all over again. It was already clear from Henrietta's voice that whatever she was going to tell me might be far worse than I had initially presumed.

"What's happening back home?"

"I don't know myself!" Henrietta exclaimed. "But what I can tell you now is that everything about calm and peaceful Heatherton is starting to get off balance. Just about three days ago, there had been two murders!"

At the mention of 'murders', I immediately thought back to the two men who had attacked me near the park, and what Artemis then said to me about what she did to them later on as she gestured to an intimidating hunting arrow of hers. I gulped silently, realizing that I had – indirectly! – been the cause for those two murders.

"That's awful," I replied, trying to hide away the fact of the truth behind it.

Henrietta agreed, and then continued on. "Not only that, but the very nature of the town seemed to be dying."

Now that was what really got my entire attention.

"What do you mean… 'dying'?" I questioned her intently, feeling my brows furrow into a frown of confusion and worry as I thought to myself about how much I may have already known the reason why.

"That's what it looks like," she stated with confusion and worry that could match mine. "The trees had shed all of their leaves way too early – it's not even near fall yet! – and the barks are looking coarse and lifeless. Even the leaves that still stick onto branches have turned a sickly brown and shrivelled out, as if it hadn't seen sunlight or had water for months. The flowers have all wilted and lost their entire colour. Even the grass is no longer green, and dirt makes up wherever it grows." She then took a pause to sigh, before saying, "It's so weird, Mel. It's as if a sickness is suddenly upon the nature."

I couldn't contain the sudden overwhelming sensation of shock as I listened attentively to how Henrietta described the very nature of Heatherton now. In my head, mental images of her words began appearing, and seeing how sick and dead my imaginations had crafted it to be, it certainly did well in making a shiver course down my spine.

Muttering under my breath, I spoke absentmindedly to the phone, "What could have happened…"

But as I have aforementioned, I may have already known what – or who.

Henrietta could hear what I said, and she then replied almost uncertainly, "Well… I know this will sound crazy, but… a lot of people are…. suspecting… your mother."

My heart seemed to have skipped a beat then, and it felt like it had stopped altogether as I took what Henrietta had just said into mind. I don't know why, since I had that looming suspicion that it was her from the very moment I listened to what Henrietta had explained about the current situation in Heatherton. But yet, to hear that she was the cause of it was still enough to send me on an edge.

"My mother?" I questioned her in a half-lying shock and confusion. I was mindful that I had to keep the charade of being clueless up, so I added, "What has my mother got anything to do with the nature?"

Everything… a tiny voice in my mind reminded me. She has got everything to do with nature…

"Well, let me get into some explaining first," Henrietta told me, and then took a deep breath – an indication that I was in for a long explanation – before she spoke once again.

"When the murders were first found out, it was the day some rumours of your mom started spreading. People talked, saying that there was something strange going on at your house. When I went there myself because I wanted to check up on you and make sure that you were okay, since you weren't picking up my calls or answering back my texts, I saw for myself that the nature around your house was dead. It was strange to see that, since I swear to you that I remember that it was still fine about a week ago. It was so strange, but there was also something about it that was almost… unnatural. It was as if there was some other entity that was causing the nature around your house to be that way."

A pause and a deep intake of breath, and she continued on.

"Anyway, I went inside your house because it was unlocked, and I have to tell you no that it's basically a wreck. Things were destroyed, as if a hurricane had just gone through it. I was still at the foyer when your mom found me, and she looked like a mess herself. I could tell from her face that she had been crying and not sleeping, as if she was mourning over something. It's not simply because she's sad; she looked absolutely broken."

I could hear my breath hitch at the last word, and could even feel my heart starting to clench at the thought of my upset mother. I could imagine here right there and then, looking so devastated and distraught as though she suffered all the problems of the world. She being absolutely upset was not something that I ever like to see, and just the thought of it now was enough to make me feel pity and have a need to comfort her.

Once again, I wasn't sure why, even after what she had done to me, I would feel such things. But it was there, and I could not deny it even if I tried.

In a still-murmuring voice, I asked, "Did she do anything to you?"

"No," Henrietta answered. "She just threw me out before I could get anything out of her. But when I tried to get back in because I really did wanted to make sure that everything was okay, I couldn't. And it wasn't because she locked it, I assure you."

"Then what?" I questioned, my curiosity piking at that statement.

"It's because there seemed to be some sort of spell that started to prevent me from going on. Before I could even grab the door knob, I could feel this feeling of repulse that the house was giving off, as if it didn't want me to come inside. It was repelling me, trying to keep me out."

She then let out a disbelieving chuckle, and exclaimed in exasperation, "I don't know if I've gone crazy or not, but it really felt like that. I could feel it, and it worked."

No, I did not think that Henrietta was crazy was feeling that, for I too believed that it had been like that. Right now, with the looming trouble over Heatherton, it's not unbelievable to think that Mom would do that.

And then, my thoughts went back to fully focus on Mom.

So this was what Hera meant when she said that it was 'like the whole 'abduction' fiasco all over again'. What Mom was doing to Heatherton exactly paralleled what she had done back in ancient times when I was first taken away from her; Demeter mourned for her missing Persephone, and in her sadness and despair, she brought death upon nature.

While I felt relieved that this meant that she was still in Heatherton, I could not help but feel worry at the fact that, by destroying the nature of our town, she had indirectly caused suspicion to be directed towards her. I was sure that, in time, people would begin to believe their suspicions that she had something to do with the failing growth, and that she was not an average florist as she had led many others to believe.

And it worried me even more if, at any time soon, many would finally found out what she truly was.

"… Melindia…?"

I returned back to reality at the soft sound of Henrietta saying my name in worry, and I realized then that I had just zoned out and left her hanging. "Still here," I replied. "I was just... thinking… Everything does sound… strange…"

Not to me… I thought to myself truthfully.

Henrietta must have sensed that something was wrong with me, which was why she took a turn to lighten up the conversation a bit. "Well, at least it's something new to happen to Heatherton," she reasoned. "We haven't had this much excitement in town for so long."

It did help me smile a bit, but it only felt so half-hearted. "Yeah… I guess…" I replied, trying to sound cheered up at her words, but simply just could not.

"Mel, everything's going to be alright," Henrietta then reassured. "At least it's not the end of the world."

And that's when I felt my heart stop.

… End of the world…

"Melindia?" Henrietta's voice spoke on the other line, sounding so worried all over again.

"Henri, I have to go."

"What?! Now?" she exclaimed in questioning disbelief. "We haven't talked in so long and I want to know where you've been! You can't possibly when to cut me off now!"

With almost frustrated desperation, I told her, "I know, and I am so sorry. But there are really some very important things that I need to work out right now."

"And what are those important things?" she pressed firmly, not wanting to back down. "Can't you tell me?"

Suddenly, I was unexpectedly filled with the desire to tell her everything that I have been keeping to myself up until now. And I really did have mind to tell her the truth.

Henrietta was my best friend, and as best friends, we would normally tell each other about our problems and things that we kept as secrets, because we have put that much trust and faith into each other. I have told many secrets to her in the past, and never once did she expose them; 'may bad luck befall upon me if ever I let out your secret!' she always told me as an oath that she would not tell a soul.

But now that I held probably the biggest secret in all of current mankind, would I really be so willing to tell her?

She's your best friend… You can trust her… a small voice was telling me in my head, trying to get me to go with what I felt was right.

But then, there was the small voice in my head that was saying something else to get me to go with what I know was right.

You can't tell her… You can't tell anyone… It could bring trouble… Not only onto yourself, but for the others… Even if she trusts you, she probably wouldn't believe that you're a goddess… No… You can't… You can't…

"…I can't…"

There was only silence coming from the other end of the line, but I knew very well that Henri was still there, keeping quiet, waiting for my answer.

"I can't tell you… I just can't…" I said in a whisper, trying so very hard to hold back the tears that were really threatening to spill. "I'm so sorry… But I just… can't…"

I half-expected then for Henrietta to not back down and start demanding that I tell her. I knew very well that she could turn into a force to be reckoned with if ever she called for it, and it wasn't easy to do anything but back down. But even if that were to happen, I just could not find it in me to tell her, no matter how much I actually wanted to, and that was what hurt me even more.

"I'm so sorry…" I whispered to her again, my voice already on the edge of breaking. "I'm so sorry…"

"…"

"…"

"…It's okay…"

I pulled myself out of my despairing thoughts when I realized what she had just said. I did not say anything; only stifling a gasp that threatened to sound just as she started speaking once again.

"It's alright if you can't tell me, Melindia. I'll understand, and I won't push you if you don't want to," she told me in gentle assurance. "Just be safe, okay? Whatever it is you've got to do, whatever it is that you need to settle, just be safe."

At that, I again felt like I wanted to burst into tears, all because Henrietta's concern for me at this moment caused my heart to ache badly at the thought of how good she was being to me. Even if I was keeping such a secret from her, she would still give me all the support that she could, and it was just so touching that it made me feel like I was so very lucky just to have her.

"Thank you," I replied, smiling through near-tears. "Thank you so much, Henri."

"I can tell that you're tired, so I'll let you rest now. If there's anything, anything at all, you know you can call me, right?"

"I'm sorry that I have to cut so short," I apologized in a sigh. "There's so much that I wish I could tell you…"

…You don't even know how much I really wish I could tell you…

"It's alright, Mel," she said again in the most gentle of reassurances. "Good night."

"Good night, Henri."

It pained me to finally end our conversation and put down the call, still filled with the urge to really confess the truth to her there and then. However, it pained me even more when all that was left with me was the silence of the living area, for that was when my thoughts started to haunt me.

End of the world

It was just a simple term to state the possibility of a future where the Earth would die and so will all life that was existing upon it. Such an event has been speculated for over centuries, since the times of ancient civilizations, to the ones of dynasties, to our current modern era.

It was always something I thought of as possible, but unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Maybe it was because of all the unnecessary paranoia and hysteria of it that went around occasionally when the Earth would have strange things occurring, like the sudden creation of a giant sinkhole or a sudden outbreak of a new virus. While such events could be signs, it never did turn out to be signs in the end.

What's more, signs that were taken from centuries-old sources, like the Mayans, were always taken into great seriousness, but it would turn out to be nothing in the end. On the 21st of December of the year 2012, which was the specified date of the world's end, nothing happened at all. The apocalypse didn't happen, and life went on as usual after that.

Also, the words of certain people who would always preach that the End was coming in a few days or whatever would also be proven wrong, time and time again. It always happened, until to the point where no one would actually take them seriously at all.

So I just didn't believe in it because of that.

That was, until now, as some signs starting to come back to me as I delved deeper into thoughts.

"It's a good thing I did," said Poseidon, who was no longer Seamus Trent, "or else it might have been too late."

"Our time is near an end, my dear," Zeus told me in the conference room, before telling me that our fifty years of rebirth would come to an end soon.

"It would have been much of a trouble if we didn't have an Earth goddess at hand when the time we finally went back to Olympus would come," Hera had just told me a while ago in an outburst of spite. "It wouldn't take long now. Just a few more days."

The first thing that had caught my attention when I flipped open the tabloid newspaper I was reading weeks ago in the flower shop: PAGANS PREACH UPCOMING APOCALYPSE! IS THE END OF THE WORLD NIGH?

The signs had been there right in front of me, but I just didn't realize it.

It was like what Apollo said.

"It's easy for some to be unaware of what's clear in anything. Their minds are too busy to look deeper."

I had never looked deeper.

The front doors slammed open all of a sudden, giving the same echoing boom effect throughout the house like when I did it just now. I jumped at the sudden abruptness, especially because it had so unexpectedly broke the silence around me, causing my heart to start racing in shock.

The second I looked at the door, Hades walked in urgently, his pitch black eyes immediately meeting mine and starting to hold worry at the state he had caught me in. Behind him were his two younger brothers, and his youngest sister.

Hera was screaming her head off when she came in looking like she had been sleeping in the bushes. It only intensified when she caught sight of me.

"That insolent girl! She dared to have me trapped in dirty underground growth and leave me outside to rot! She doesn't deserve to be standing in the comfort of this mansion, nor does she deserve to be given leeway for her vile actions! I don't care whose wife she is or how delicate her condition may be! I want her punished now!"

I heard very clearly what Hera had just said, and I did wince at the sharpness of her angry, poisonous words and the deathly glare that I was getting from Zeus from what I had just done to his wife. I will admit that I did feel afraid that I was going to be punished, for my actions were surely not to be taken lightly.

However, those concerns were the most unimportant of my current thoughts, pushed back to the further regions of my mind as I turned a deaf ear to Hera's shrill voice. Right now, my attentions were only focused on my husband.

I got up from the couch and started to walk slowly but steadily to Hades until I was finally standing in front of him, about a foot away. He made to reach for my hand, wanting to take it to comfort me, but I flinched away before he could even try. This close, I could very clearly see the concern he had for me in his pitch black eyes. But that concern disappeared and turned to worry and dread when he caught sight of my current emotions through my teary eyes.

Holding his gaze, my eyes looking right into his without unwavering, I took a deep inhale of breath and exhaled it out shakily, signifying the unstableness of my psyche when I finally told him.

"The end of the world is near, and you never told me."

Author's Note:

OOOOOHHHHH NOOOOOOO.

THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GO DOWN.

Answering reviews!

gracefish21 : Thanks once again!

silentwolf11 : Thank you very much!

Guest #1/ Ember : We'll see if ever that happens.

Guest #2 : Thank you very much! I'm just glad that you are satisfied with the new improvements Divine Reborn has had from The Reincarnation. As for Henrietta, she reappears (sort of) in this chapter, but unfortunately, she would most probably still be unknowing of her best friend's true identity.

Daebak Fai : Thank you! But may the suspense of this chapter continue to kill you! (Muahahahaha!)

Guest #3 : Thanks! And will do!

What will happen now that Persephone has just uncovered the big truth?!

Find out on the next chapter on Friday!

Muse of Fanfiction