The Mythicus

THE MYTHICUS

I am a lot older than you think but to look at me you’d never see it. Originally from Greece, I had the olive skin, the beautiful hair, the curvaceous figure so I looked a lot younger in my days and that worked to my advantage.

As I sat in the therapists office as part of my “recovery” I stared down at the floor. I had adjusted my dark glasses and straightened my hat, I sat up a little straighter to compose myself and looked up and smirked at the therapist. I did warn her that she might not like what I had to say but she just nodded and smiled. I began to tell her my story again.

~~

I had studied Myths and Legends at university but Legends is where my expertise was. The stories people told about the gods and goddess's had peaked my interest and always made me laugh a little, the variations of them changed daily along with descriptions of how they looked but they were nothing like people had said, they were a lot different than people thought.

I am also interested in the old buildings that were scattered across the Grecian Lands. The landscape of Ancient Greece differed significantly from the Greece we know today. Some of what was Ancient Greece are now part of modern-day Turkey, and the neighboring countries have undergone vast changes over time, but you could still find some hidden treasures and I found one in particular that would work perfectly.

I always enjoyed exploring these types of buildings, usually on my own and I really wanted to go and see this one so I had asked my friend Thena to come along with a couple of boys we hung out with. Percy and Si were apart of our friend group and I liked Si a lot, he always was the flirty type and I enjoyed his company although the four of us didn’t hang out as much as I would like to have done so this trip would be a memory I will always remember.

I did some research and this place was very old from what I could find of it. It had been located in the 1900’s and was found due to a ship wreck along the ocean and they took refuge in a cave. It was a dark palatial cavern and mainly consisted of ancient ruins, statues of various people and various pits of lava that had since cooled and been reduced to stone. There were many tunnels that veered off from the main cavern and was described as a ruined temple built in the Underworld on a ledge overlooking the River Styx. The Styx is a river in Greek mythology that formed the boundary between Greece and the Underworld. Just Perfect.

The cave itself was actually owned privately by a man who had built his house near the cliff facing the ocean so If we went I would need permission, not that it would bother me too much but I also needed people to “see me there” so I had to do things the proper way. I had spoken to him and he had agreed that I could explore at my own risk with a couple of friends, however he had to close off the entrance due to vandals so he would need to let us in and would give me a spare key for the lock just incase we somehow locked ourselves in as there was only one way in and out, I had to sign something to say yes I would return the key after but he didn’t bother with waivers as he had to scare people off all the time when they tried to get down there to see it, so he had just given up but I guess because I asked nicely and seemed somewhat normal he had agreed, but only for the day and no camping out.

DAY 1

After somewhat of a hefty trek we finally made it to the cave and my eyes just lit up once we had entered, it was huge, not as big as I could remember but it had been a while. All of us wanted to go separate ways but we agreed we would need to stick together incase we got lost and could find our way back. The first thing that annoyed me was Thena and her complaining about the old man being creepy and strange and what if he was a kidnapper blah blah blah, I rolled my eyes and Percy and Si were just laughing at her. I had hoped Si would want to walk with me but he went in front with Thena close behind and Percy in front of me, that was the second thing that annoyed me but all in due time.

We had been exploring most of the day when we decided to head back and this time I was in front, I could hear Thena kind of whispering to Percy and Si but I couldn’t make it out and they tried their hardest not to laugh. Patience I kept telling myself.

When I reached the door to the entrance it was stuck or locked so I called out to Si to try and see if he could get it open and Thena started to freak out about it. Percy and Si both tried to pull the door open together but to no avail, it wouldn’t budge. Thena asked me if I had his number to call him and I very nicely explained that we are in a cave and I do not think caves have good cell service, Percy confirmed this by checking his phone as did Si while I had my hand tightly wrapped around the key in my pocket. Thena started really freaking out and at this point Si was comforting her, Thena glanced up at me and I saw red, I knew then at that point that they were together and they had been together in secret. Thena knew I liked him a lot, she knew and when Percy saw this too he looked at me as if to say now is not the time because he obviously knew about them.

Thena and Si were talking to Percy about how we were going to get out of there and what would we do for food and water but Percy was glancing at me occasionally to see what I was doing, I was standing there looking up at the entrance wondering if this was going to be worth it and it was. However, for tonight we would be staying while I think.

DAY 2

The others had woken up and Percy found me still staring at the door wondering how we were going to get out. Thena was complaining about being thirsty and starving to death, insert eyeroll, so I offered to look around to see if there would be water anywhere. I went with Percy as Si wanted to keep her company and after a while we had found an area that had a small hole of water but I didn’t know if it would be safe to drink, oh well. Percy asked me if I was upset about Thena and Si and I told him what I thought. Hello, I had liked him for a while and Thena stole him so what do you think you moron. He made me mad as hell so I unleashed my inner anger and made him a permanent fixture of the cave, he actually blended in quite well.

I made the decision to see If I could sneak out that night while they slept and just leave them there to rot. I had hung with Thena for years telling her about Si and this is what she does to me, damn her to hell. While they all slept I did manage to sneak the door open and relock it quietly thank goodness and made my way to the old man but when I came closer to his place he ran out and shouted about what the hell I was doing as we had been reported missing that morning and why didn’t I let them out. I got him back into his house to explain I did not need him blabbing about where we were or what I did and I had to keep him quiet so I silenced him, made him a permanent fixture too. Beautiful.

DAY 3

I guess Thena had become sick from the water she drank as she was coughing and spluttering all over the place poor baby. Si had asked me again where Percy was and I told him the same thing I did the day before, we had split up to look for water and I haven’t seen him since, maybe he took a wrong turn and got lost who knows but Si insisted I stay with Thena so he could go look again, I mean he’s right in front of you if you just look but I guess he couldn’t see him as I glanced towards that direction.

Si was asking me how the hell we were supposed to get out of there as I had my hand held tight around the key. We were not going to get out but I was. Si went back to Thena and I went over to see how she was doing and she was not doing well at all, she looked up at me and smiled and began to apologize to me about her and Si. She never meant for it to happen but it did and all I could do was just stare at the ground and nod. I guess it worked out because after this there would be no me and Si anyway.

Through the night I could hear Thena moaning and groaning and Si telling her to hold on, it seemed she had some kind of fever and was really sick so at least this one wouldn’t be my fault but at day 3 without food and clean water and her needing some kind of medical attention it wasn’t looking too good for her. Si had fallen asleep next to her and I put my hand near her mouth to see if she was still breathing. I checked on Si and he was out of it so I adjusted myself and woke Thena up and what she saw made her eyes go wide as she made eye contact with me, I smirked at her.

DAY 4

I really thought about just leaving Si there but I wanted to watch him when he found Thena was missing. Si and I began shouting for her but obviously there was no answer, he began going a little crazy as he kept saying the statues were moving as he went past them and this amused me. He eventually gave up after hours of looking and stared at the ground seemingly defeated and took the biggest sigh while asking me what we should do.

I loosened my hand on the key to the door and showed it to him.

He went for me but I held onto it pretty tight as I pushed him on his ass. I explained to him how they made me feel, how they were only my friends so they could take advantage and make me feel worthless, how they always made fun of me because I would always wear a hat and dark glasses and especially how Thena had been my best friend and how friends shouldn’t do what they did to each other and he deserved everything he got.

I saw recognition in his eyes and he tried to rush me again but I held the key high and told him if he wanted to get out of here I would need to show him something, so he put his head down in defeat and agreed. I told him to look at me, really look at me and the expression on his face was one I will never forget.

DAY 5

I had to let my eyes adjust to the light once I came out and the first thing I did was throw away the key and destroyed the door from the inside, I had to at least make it look like I escaped through desperation.

A few hours later I was sitting in the police station looking not my best I will admit but desperate times call for desperate measures so I had to look the part at least. I had explained to them about the old man and how he must of locked us in so they had gone looking for him at his house but they found nothing, they did find the key which confirmed my story of being locked up. Phew!

They wanted me to take them back to the cave and show them around as the others hadn’t been found as of yet, they wanted to know how they disappeared when I made it out so I took them and showed them everywhere we had explored and looked but there was no possible way out, the only thing that stood out were the few stone statues scattered around but other than that there was nothing. I believe the official report was that I was a victim of a cruel joke and they had somehow pranked me into believing I was locked in when in fact they had a way out, but then where did they go. I knew where they were.

6 MONTHS LATER ...

The case had been put as a cold case because the other three still had not been found. The police just assumed that because of the gravity of the “prank” that the three had run off or disappeared so as not to get in trouble. I could work with that.

I was forced to attend therapy as part of my recovery and honestly I’d had enough and was getting bored so they told me I could make this my last appointment and I could move on and leave as this place brought back too many bad memories for me, so I decided to off load on the therapist and give her the story of a lifetime. She wasn’t sure if she should declare me insane or if I had just told an elaborate story so I asked her if i could show her something very special and put her mind at rest.

I stood in front of her and removed my glasses but kept my eyes on the floor.

I then removed my hat and as I heard her gasp and let out a teeny tiny scream, I raised my eyes to make eye contact with her.

I watched her watch me and the look on her face when she saw snakes on my head and eyes as red as blood was priceless.

I watched her slowly turn to stone before my very eyes and I will never forget the look of horror and surprise on her face as I made her a permanent fixture, something to decorate the office with.

She blends in rather well.