Sins Not Tragedies, Tragedies Not Sins
It has been a few years already since the war had broken out. Reimee had just finished washing the clothes. The wind was cold but gentle and the flowers had already started to bloom. This was already the fourth spring of the war but in the same time, the fourth spring since they met. She remembered that scruffy dark brown hair and brilliant green eyes that seemed to consume her. He was the man she loved and she did not regret her decision to leave Athens, even if that meant fleeing to the mountains and living in fear. But this is war, she thought. Fear and chaos was everywhere. They have been lucky so far living in their little house in the mountains. And when they were together, it’s as if they were the only ones who mattered in the world.
As she was hanging up the laundry, she sang contentedly to herself.
“Misirlou mou, i glikia sou i matia
floga mou ‘hei anapsei mes stin kardia,”
She heard a noise behind her. Footsteps. But before she could turn around, she heard a man sing.
“ah giahabibi, ah gialeleli, ah
ta dio sou heili stazoune meli, oime.”
“You should really try to practice singing more often. You sound horrible.” Reimee says.
The man was carrying an armload of wood. “Give me a break already Reimee. Isn’t the fact that I managed to memorize the damn song good enough?” He replies.
“You sound like a dying cat”
Reimee smiled as he dropped the firewood he was holding. He held his arms wide as she ran to embrace him. It was Antreas. Her dear, her beloved. His clothes were dirty and his hair was a mess but when he held her in his arms like this, nothing else ever really mattered. After a few short seconds, they finally let go. He caressed her hair.
“I’m going to start the fire,” he says.
She watches him rush back to collect the temporarily forgotten firewood and into the house. He almost tripped on a crack in the ground and swore. It makes her laugh.
As she lifted up the blanket she was holding to hang, she began to remember . He told her when they first met that he was the son of a Greek god, Poseidon. At first ,she thought he was just fooling around. But the moment she expressed her disbelief, he pulled her to a nearby bridge and made an orb of water float from the river. She was flabbergasted and her face paled. He laughed at her reaction.
Reimee smiles at the thought. She continues on with her chores until suddenly lightning struck nearby. It was so close that she tripped on a basket. She rubbed her eyes as she sat from shock. “What was that?” she thought. As her vision cleared, in front of her stood a well-dressed, beautiful woman. She wore a peach fashionable coat, high heels, and a large hat embroidered with multicolored feathers. Above all she was glaring at her. Before she could react, the woman slapped her.
“Listen here girl”, The woman hissed. “ You may not know me but I sure as hell know you ” The woman pointed a finger to Reimee’s face. It seemed as if she was ready to tear her to shreds any minute now. “You think you’re such a hotshot with that pretty face of yours, well you’re not. You’re just a fat-head, share crop, mare with no intelligence,” The woman’s face was just inches from hers now.
“But who are you anyway?” Reimee asked, visibly confused. Though, her question seemed to do her more harm than good as the woman looked even angrier than before. But she stepped back and held her head up, obviously annoyed. “Ants like you don’t even deserve to know my name. I am Hera, the queen of heaven.”
Shock and wonder played at Reimee. Antreas did used to tell her stories about the gods but here one of them was actually in front of her. A really, really angry goddess.
Hera took a step closer and studied her face. “Your sin…,” she starts.
“I have done nothing!” Reimee pursues.
“Liar!” Hera’s eyes bursted into white flames and her hair shines a blinding silver.
Hera pulls Reimee’s hair up. “A mortal with a face like this doesn’t deserve to live. It causes too much trouble. But since I’m feeling merciful, I won’t kill you.”
Tears started to fall on Reimee’s face. She knew that she was going to die.
“Killing you would be too easy,” Hera continues. “I’m just going to deal with you another way”
She pulled Reimee’s hair to the side and lets go. The crying girl pleads “Please, at least, don’t hurt Antreas”
Emyri sat at the edge of the cliff. She watched as the world drowned itself in misery. It had been about five years since the Second World War started. She had watched the sorrow of a thousand broken hearts, the deaths of many great men, the hatred, the loathing, the angst that the war had inspired and this pleased her. She was after all, the goddess of misery and mockery. Sadly, all things must come to an end and it wouldn’t be long until peace transpires once more unto this world of foolish men. Before then she would incorporate a story of tragedy. One only she could watch and remember.
While contemplating her thoughts, her thoughts set sight on a beautiful couple top a mountain. “A clever place of hiding,” She thought. No one could ever find them, or so they thought. She got up and rushed over to Cupid. Every great tragedy began with mistrust and she was going to use that to her advantage. She bribed Cupid with the best and most expensive chocolate in the world and he happily complied. He shot his arrow straight into the heart of Zeus and makes him fall for the ever so lovely Reimee Palamara, the lover of Antreas, son of Poseidon.
Knowing that she already had a lover despite his love for her, he watched her often with deep sorrow and longing. Hera noticed this and jealousy filled her heart. All according to Emyri’s plan. She watched as the goddess goes down to the earth and personally visits the blonde haired dame. She watches as Hera confronted the poor girl and threatened to turn her into a flower. But in a twist of events, the boy interferes and is instead punished. The girl wails in agony and begs for Hera’s mercy but gets little of it. It seems like Hera did feel merciful today as she assigns Reimee to do numerous difficult tasks. If Reimee managed to accomplish all of them and stay alive by winter, Hera promised to give Antreas back his body. If she fails, he dies.
“Interesting,” Emyri muttered to herself. Making a mere mortal girl do ludicrous things only demigods could achieve within a time limit and in the middle of a war? This was going to be fun.
Grasping the little flower that was once her dear one, Reimee fells to her knees. She had only winter to collect all the things Hera asked her to and she had nothing and no one to help her. She wasn’t as brave or strong as Antreas. She was scared and she was alone. But she knew that she had to do this for Antreas so she rushed inside their house and left the little flower in a makeshift pot to keep it safe. She collected all of the things she needed and left without even looking back.
Hera asked of her to do the following: To retrieve a magical stone guarded by a sphinx in Crete, A sword hidden somewhere in the ruins of a temple in Turkey, and an amulet made of ivory in the forests of Bulgaria, all before winter.
Armed with only a rifle and some supplies, Reimee starts off her journey. She rides a train then a boat to Crete having more than a few close calls with Nazi soldiers. She managed to survive and pick up some abandoned rifles and bullets along the way. As she journeys around the island of Hrissi in Crete, she comes upon a sleeping sphinx and without hesitation shot it numerous times. As it lay dead, she retrieves the magical garnet and it instantly heals her wounds and fatigue. She also picks up a bowler hat that apparently made its wearer invisible. Feeling better and more confident, Reimee carries on.
Managing to sneak inside a ship of smugglers, she heads on towards Turkey. She reaches the port safely and heads toward the ruins of Ephesus. It was hard getting around as she did not know the language and what made it worse were the soldiers and the fighting. Bombs wrecked several Turkish cities such as Istanbul and Ankara, but lucky for her she wasn’t there when the bombings happened. She reached the ancient ruins or Ephesus, but this time it was guarded by numerous soldiers. Till dawn she waited until several Italian soldiers attacked and a shootout ensued. When the fighting had died out, she came out of hiding and managed to find the ancient sword. Experimenting with it, she tried her hand at it and found out that she was quite good at it. She immediately leaves and heads to Bulgaria.
Reimee rode a train headed to Bulgaria but after finding out about how the Germans lead numerous Jews to their deaths by train, she goes down halfway and opts to walk. It took her several days to weeks to get there. It was incredibly hard to get around Bulgaria as most of the residents were in hiding and the war was at its height but she didn’t lose hope. She had her trusty bowler hat and her shield after all. After barely dodging several bullets, nearly getting run over by a tank, and almost dying of starvation, she reaches her destination. Atop a stone table there hung the ivory amulet as if it were waiting for her. Beside it were bottles of water and some food. She hungrily wolfs down her food and takes the amulet back. She rushed back home.
It had been 7 months and 29 days since she first departed from Greece. V-day had been declared and the Allied powers had won. But there were still some places where the war hadn’t ended. Hurt, starving , and weak, Reimee headed back to where their little house stood. When she reached it she ran inside looking for the flower. It was alive but barely because the day after that was the beginning of winter. Caressing its petals and feeling the lost warmth of her loved one, her heart twists with yearning. She missed him dearly and was eager to see him again. “Just you wait Antreas. We will meet again soon” She whispered to it. But before she could collect herself to offer the gifts to Hera, gunshots resound from outside their home.
Nazi soldiers had spotted their little house and not willing to admit they’ve been defeated in the war, assaulted it. They kicked open the door and Reimee tried to fight them but it was too late. She had been shot. As the soldiers raided their belongings, bloody and dying, Reimee reached out to the little flower which had been once the kind, brave, and honest demigod Antreas. It had been stepped on and most of its petals had wilted but Reimee couldn’t help but remember all the memories they shared. With her dying breath, she kissed it’s petals and died, never getting to even see the face of the person she loved the most again.
Doting the last period, Emyri had finished writing down her story. She was quite pleased with her work. A lost love without reunion. Japan had finally surrendered to the Allied powers, concluding the total end of the war, but at least she got her story. A true to life stage play seen from the best view atop Mt. Olympus. She couldn’t wait to watch the next one.
@annereadsanddances @forgetmylifesofar
