I slow down to a stroll as I make my way to the park. The warm sun dances on my skin.
Smiling at the sun I take out my ukulele and strum a few chords and begin singing a little tune. I find myself singing a catchy tune I've heard Metu singing.
"I can see clearly now the rain is gone.
I can see all obstacles in my way."
I look to my right and see a little girl run out of her house. She runs across the street and over to where I am walking. She walks a few steps behind me and doesn't say anything to me so I ignore the young girl. I'm not a fan of little children. The blond haired child pulls out a small pouch and swings it as she walks.
I continue singing my song.
"Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind"
I heard giggling begin me.
"It's gonna be a bright..."
Interrupting my song was a deep sharp bleating sound of some kind of animal. Annoyed, now, I whip myself around to face the little girl, but instead, find myself face to face with seven little girls and a fat white goat.
Each girl has the same pouch as the first one. The pouch was an earthy brown color and about as small as a coin purse. The pouch was obviously full and the golden colored draw string was tightened to keep whatever was inside, in place.
The fat goat was jumping and bleating as if playing with the little girls. I've seen goats before at the zoo, but never seen such an energetic one, out in the open like this. As the goat dances and jumps around with the girls I notice something else. One of the goat's horns is missing. I hesitate wondering why I didn't notice its missing horn right away. I find myself struggling to look at its horn stump. When I try to look in the direction of the horn, my eyes pass over it and focus of its short perky ear behind the stump. I won't dwell on this little glitch, I decide.
I've halted my walking and have been watching them for about three seconds when one young girl notices me watching her. She giggles and skips towards me. As soon as the other girls spot me they giggle and skip towards me too.
A moment later I'm surrounded by little girls.
The girls have fallen silent and they stare up at me as if waiting for me to say something.
"Hi?" I say looking at them puzzlingly.
Then I hear the voice of a woman. "Hello my dear."
I look around for the source of the voice until I realize it there was no one who could've said that.
I look down at a young girl in front of me and she reaches into her small pouch and pulls something out of it. She reveals what's in her palm, gesturing for me to have it. In her palm sits a small golden bar, about the size of a quarter, which shines in the sunlight. The small cube has a sort of heavenly glow to it.
"What is it?" I ask the little girl. The little girl just giggles and pops it in her mouth. Then a girl beside her pulls out the another small square and holds it out for me. This time I take the golden cube and lift it to my face to get a better look. It smells like warm chocolate chip cookies so, following the young girl's example, I put it in my mouth and instantly taste my mom's peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Just like the ones we used to make together on the weekends. When my mom had her day off.
Before she became famous.
Before she stopped caring about me.
The warmth fills my entire body and my mind clouds with nostalgia. I keep my eyes closed hoping to savor this treat but before I know it the delicious treat is gone and I'm left with just a warm feeling. The same voice who greeted me, asks me if I would like another. I pluck another small square off a young girls palm and stuff it in my mouth. I become lost in the warmth and love the small cube brought me and began reaching for another. The voice of the woman is comforting and smooth as she asks me again if I would like another. The warmth in me gets warmer with each cube. Until it gets hot. I ignore the heat and keep plucking the cubes off the young girls palms. Then I open my eyes and I see that I'm laying on the floor surrounded by little girls. The girls eyes have turned a glowing golden color and they are holding fistfuls of golden cubes. Directly in front of me is the white goat with the missing horn. At the goats feet is the other missing horn. The cubes tumble out of the wider section of the horn littering the ground. With a mouthful of cubes I stifle a scream. My stomach feels like its on fire and my lips and face are dry. The heat in my stomach is so intense I begin to shake violently. The little girls keep thrusting me handfuls of cubes.
Suddenly I hear a familiar voice
"Aye bebe!"
"Metu!" I cry. Even though I can't see her, I recognize the shuffling of her feet. I look up at the goat that is now turned around to face where Metu is probably standing. The woman's voice chuckles "Well hello my relative. I haven't seen a satyr in ages!" I try to lift myself up so I can see Metu but little girls with glowing eyes push me down and pin me to the floor. One girl attempts to shove another golden cube in my mouth and I scream before tightly shutting my mouth.
Then I hear Metu.
"Tell your little pests to leave the girl alone, Amalthea"
Amalthea? Is Metu talking to the goat?
The woman's voice who appears to be coming from the goat replies "Meliai are excellent servants, the carriers of ambrosia. Oh they do make splendid company."
"What do you want goat?"
"My dear Metu, you use the term 'goat' as if an insult. Do you not realize you are insulting yourself?"
I listen to Metu exchange slander with the goat, Amalthea. Their conversation confuses me. But i don't focus on the conversation before me, since the burning has begun to feel unbearable. I need some water or some drink. My throat feels dry and crackly as I croak out the word "water". Suddenly I feel coolness coming from under me. The back of my shirt is soaked in cool water. This only helps a little though since the heat is coming from my stomach.
I lift my head a little to see where the water is coming from and I see water gushing out from the broken goat horn. I tilt my head to the side and catch a little bit of water in my mouth. The cool water gives me enough strength to lift my head higher up to see how Metu is doing. I see Metu holding some kind of shiny weapon but I can't make out what it is because the bright sun, glinting off the blade, is blinding. The goat seems to be blinded by the sun's rays, as well. Amalthea slowly backs away from Metu trying to keep from looking directly at the weapon. Then Amalthea chuckles "Oh Metu you are foolish to think a little light will stop me and my plans. Oh no. Your girl here is very important and powerful. She will be very useful to me. Meliai! Come, my children. Take care of our friend." The little girls rush away from where I'm laying and grab Metu.
Not being held down any more I manage to lift myself up ignoring the sharp pain in my tummy. Instinctively, I finger my lucky rubber band around my thin shaking wrist. I found this rubber band, when we first moved into the mansion, sitting on the floor, in my empty room to be. Something in me told me to keep it. I felt it was important or lucky somehow. So, I've kept it on my wrist ever since. Removing the rubber band from my wrist, an idea forms in my head. Putting the band in between my two thumbs stretching it out I aim for Amalthea, who is watching her small minions wrestle Metu to the ground. I let the rubber band fly from my fingers and hit Amalthea in the eye with deadly aim. She bleats and staggers backward shouting in a fit of rage.
I race toward Metu, feeling dizzy, but help Metu, who the little Meliai abandoned to see if their master was alright, off the ground. "Are you alright dear?" Metu asks as she embraces me in a hug. Relived to be with Metu I allow her to hug me. "Metu, I'm so confus-" I look over Metu's shoulder to see Amalthea galloping toward Metu's back, head down with her last good horn pointed straight at Metu. Before I can shout at Metu to watch out, my ADHD kicks in and I push Metu to the ground beside me so that Amalthea doesn't run into Metu. Amalthea keeps running toward me and I instinctively push out my hands in front of me. Then, I feel Amalthea's smooth, cone shaped horn in my hands. Momentarily unsure what to do I lift the horn upward and hear a crisp snap as the horn breaks free from Amalthea's head. Before I could register what happened, my ears fill with a blood chilling shriek coming from Amalthea. "My horrnn! You stupid girl!" Faster then I'd ever seen a goat move, Amalthea bolts down the road, the Meliai chasing frantically behind her.
I look over at Metu behind me and give her a slight smile. Metu doesn't smile back. Instead she says "miss, you don't look well." Then I notice the burning in me has gotten so bad, as if someone just forced me to swallow acid. Suddenly my knees buckle and I collapse, still holding the bloody horn. The last thing I remember is the fire burning so hot in my body. It's everywhere now, not just in my stomach. There's fire in my arms, legs, there's fire in the darkness when I closed my eyes. I waited for the fire to stop, to subside and dull down, but it was unforgiving. It mercilessly consumed me until I couldn't feel anymore. Only then, when I couldn't feel, did the inferno desist.