Laura

I Get a Surrogate Father

It was after nightfall, but I didn't care as I continued to walk around camp, taking paths I knew would keep me away from other people. They were all so shallow that it left a bad taste in my mouth; none of them knew what it was like to truly suffer, to truly feel loss.

God, that sounded a lot better before I thought it aloud. How angsty...

I looked ahead of me as I walked, hearing the calming sound of waves as I spotted the sea, a pristine beach of white sand laid out before me. I didn't even care if I was possibly leaving the camp's boundaries, its 'protective borders'; I wanted to see the ocean.

I slid down to my feet in the warm sand, slipping off my black boots to let my feet feel the ocean as the tide swept back and forth. With a grin, and a small, small feeling of guilt, I snuck a chalice from the dining hall out of my backpack. I whispered my favorite drink to it once more, but when I went to take a sip, I tasted nothing but air.

"It only works in the dining hall, kid."

With a scowl, I looked over at who was standing on the beach next to me. He was a man, lean but only slightly muscular, with slightly grayed blonde hair that was held back by a runner's band to keep it out of his eyes. He wore a white tank shirt and some thin blue cargo shorts that were accompanied by running shoes, stained with dirt and mud as if he had been walking for centuries. And even though he looked like a jogger, he had something resembling an earpiece for a cell phone. Not to mention the guy was jogging in place the entire time I was looking at him, as if he was some restless spirit who needed to move constantly.

"Are you one of the teachers from the camp?" I asked the stranger cautiously as I slipped the golden cup back into my bag. The man laughed, taking a seat next to me with a grin. "Nah; I'm just a guy running with the wind." He answered back cryptically.

Some answer, I scoffed inwardly, scooting away from him and continuing to look at the ocean. "Hey, you want one?" The stranger asked suddenly, causing me to look over at him. He was offering me a bottle of Sprite, the other 5 of the six-pack sitting on the sand next to him, which was strange considering I never saw him bring it. "A little birdie told me you like them." He added with a smile, his green eyes seeming to glow with friendliness.

I took it cautiously, popping the cap and taking a sip before I spoke again. "So who are you, anyways?"

The stranger opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as a sound of something vibrating came from his pocket. "Excuse me a moment." He stood up, taking out his phone as he took a few steps away. Though my hearing was good, I couldn't really make out what the raspy voices on the other line were saying, and oddly enough, they reminded me of snakes.

"Martha, just tell them I'm busy. How hard can it be to give a message from a messenger?"

There was a pause before he spoke again. "I don't care; I've been doing this job for millennia! They can wait, unless they want a personal 'present' from me. My Gods, how many miracles must I perform to get some credit?"

And that's when it clicked. Now, believe me, my Greek mythology knowledge was just about as good as a toddler's on how to drive, but I knew how to put two and two together.

"You're Hermes, the messenger god, right?"

The man snapped his phone closed and slipped it back into his pocket before turning to me. "Oh wow, finally someone who doesn't say 'the thief god'." He grinned, once again sitting down next to me. "But aren't you?" I replied with a cocky smile, taking another gulp of soda. The god only laughed, taking a sip of some other beverage he brought out of nowhere.

So, much to my surprise, there I was, talking with the apparently real Greek god Hermes. He taught me a few things about himself, since my mythology was awful. Apparently he invented the internet. Someone just moved up on my list of favorite gods, which reminds me to actually make a list of favorite gods.

"So, Laura, was it? How do you like the camp so far?"

I took a big sip of soda before replying. "It fuckin' sucks." I responded curtly, not bothering to censor myself in front of him. "Sorry to hear that. But hey, with all the attention you're grabbing, your dad will show up sooner or later!"

"Fuck him; I don't need a father."

Hermes did a sort of frown at that comment, his eyes looking as if he was lost in thought. "If no one claims you, you're always welcome to be one of my kids."

I gave him a brief glance before I turned my gaze back to the sea. "Are you sure it isn't your mother that's a god? You sort of remind me of Athena, with that free spirit of yours."

I took a big chug of soda as if I was about to say something distasteful, which I was. "My mother was nothing more than a godly pain in the ass. There's no way she had any sort of holy stature." I scowled, drumming my finger on the plastic of my soda. "Apparently she hates me because I 'drove off' her oh-so-wonderful husband."

"That's too bad. Hey, what did your mother do for a living?" Hermes asked suddenly, causing me to look over at him. "What does that have to do with anything?" I asked him with a raised brow. "Well, sometimes the gods pick someone who reminds them of their element or likelihood. For example, Athena would fall in love with a smart young man with a strong opinion and a good sense of moral justice."

"But didn't she plead to eternal chastity?" I interjected, taking another swig of drink as the messenger god nodded. "Yeah, she did. It pretty much gives a literal meaning to the term 'brain child'."

I gave a small laugh, which died down quickly as I thought of how to answer his question. "All I remember about her is that she liked bright, warm places. Oh, and throwing empty bottles of scotch at people when she got in a drunken hissy fit." I muttered something foul under my breath at that last part, thinking of my clashes with the glass alcohol containers.

"Sounds like Ares could be your dad, what with the violence and all. Then again, your mother might have changed after your dad left."

"I hope he isn't. Those kids at his cabin are bastards."

"Yeeeeah, there pretty much are. They get it from their father. He is the god of war."

"I'd hate to have to tell him I got an F on my report card."

That made Hermes chuckle as he pulled his phone back out of his pocket. I noticed for the first time as he was typing something into the keypad that he had two snakes slithering up and down the antenna, just like...

"Just like a caduceus." I found myself saying aloud with a smile. "Aren't you also a god of medicine?"

The god of thieves gave me a grin. "In a way, but medicine is mostly Apollo and his kid's line of work." I gave a small nod as I opened up another bottle of Sprite.

"Hey Laura, I'd like you to say hello to George and Martha."

I turned to him and was about to ask who until I noticed he was pointing to the snakes. "You named them? That totally isn't weird."

We can hear you, you know, a raspy feminine voice spoke in my head, who I just assumed would be Martha. The other one just mumbled something about having a craving for mice; I didn't really catch it.

"So Laura, what's your full name?"

"I actually don't know. I forgot it a long time ago, along with my birthday."

"Rats. I was gonna see if I could look up your record, maybe see if I could find out your parent."

Rats? Where? I love rats!, said George.

"Record?" I asked, raising a brow questioningly while ignoring the snake.

"Yeah. Since there have been so many incidents, the gods have kept track of the children they've sired for centuries." Hermes gave a sort of sigh."The ones we remember, anyways, which is actually not much."

"Nice to know I'm important. And what is this 'sired' bullshit? I'm a person, not a horse."

The messenger god laughed, giving me a concerning pat on my shoulder. "Yeah, I never really liked the term either."

You've got a call from Apollo on line three, came George's voice. "Tell him I'm in a meeting." Hermes said, waving at the snake dismissively. He says it's urgent, Martha added with a tone of urgency. Remember the last time you put him off? He lit all of the plants in the Herbal department on fire.

Fire?

I thought hard for a moment as Hermes got up and walked a distance away to talk to this 'Apollo' person. I knew that was the name of one of the Greek gods, but I couldn't remember which one. Could this guy be my father? Why did he leave me alone with an abusive mother? Why did he never check in on me, or even tell me happy birthday, or-

"Hey Laura, I gotta go."

The voice of the messenger god snapped me out of my thoughts. "Ok. Have a good century, Herms." I gave the god a wave as he started to jog away, out of my sight in the blink of an eye.

I gave a look up to the stars, thinking deeply. Just who was my father?