My astral body is naked and sparkling in the moonlight. I inch closer to the bed where he is sleeping. When we were younger, he spoke about breaking down my walls so much that it still annoys me. Maybe he was destined to bring in all this misery. He was named after the great wall destroyer in the Bible, after all. Rachel and Rahab are not very different.

Slowly, I climb under the covers and begin to shake. His eyes blink, awake. I see the whites through all of the dark. I climb on top of him like he did to me and we are as close as we once were. I am vibrating with nerves.

We roll around for a while until I hear the window creak open. From his roof, the psychopath squeezes himself inside the bedroom. He prowls closer, wielding the knife. It approaches. I whip my head around and a blinding white light replaces the darkness. It fills the room. It is clear the psychopath expected my enemy to be alone.

The knife hits the carpet. The psychopath flees back outside. It is better this way anyways.

I hear a thud and know he's landed on the ground. I separate myself from my best worst enemy. I leave him alone now and always.

The lanky boy sitting next to me asks for a square. I rummage through the pockets in my oversized jacket, even though I’m pretty sure his pack isn’t empty. I bum him one and light us up, then let the silence hang between us with the smoke. It’s too quiet.

“When I was biking here after watching the symphony orchestra play...”

“What happened?”

“I lost Emory, like, I couldn’t find him and I started to wonder...what if I made him up?” he says.

“What do you mean?”

“Like, for a second, I thought he was imaginary or some shit. And then I started to think that I made up everyone in my life, like all of my friends, everyone I thought I’d known.”

“Wow. Maybe just keep up with him.” I joke. “Like, next time bike a little faster.”

He presses the cherry of his cigarette against my leg, high, below my hip, and glances at me sideways.

“Stop.” I say.

I smile and swat his hand away. My eyes jump to the welt he left and my hand does too. I listen to the breeze blowing harder in the trees and feel the scales of the rooftop skim against the back of my legs. My stolen skin cells will stay here even after I am gone, until the wind retrieves them, or they could burn up with the morning sun.

The darkness which usually liberates me presses down against my chest and steals all the oxygen from the blood running in their veins. My body feels wrong, like it isn’t mine. If he were to slice me open I bet he’d find a river of purple flowing in there.

“I know what we should do.” he says, his words cutting through my despair.

“What should we do?” I already spent tonight acting so out of character I almost don’t care what his answer will be.

“We should do it.”

“Did we just do it?”

“Barely. I mean the other it. The thing we were talking about yesterday.”

I inhale deeply and exhale smoke from my nostrils.

“I don’t know how....”

“I told you I’ll help you.”

He crawls back inside, still smoking. The last part of him to leave is his left foot. I hear some shuffling from outside and his head pops back out of the window. Through the dark all I see is a wicked grin, gleaming white. Then, the rest of him emerges. I place my free hand on his narrow shoulders to try and steady him but he jerks his arm up. In his hand is a white rope, glimmering in the moonlight. He holds it proudly. It almost doesn’t look thick enough.

“I don’t know how to tie it.”

“I said I’d do it for you. Look, it’s easy.”

I looked up at the stars willing myself to climb inside, down, out, somewhere, anywhere but here. Maybe, just maybe, a star will reach down and grab me if I stare long enough.

“I told you it’d be long enough for us.”

“But is it thick enough?”

“It doesn’t have to be. It just has to be tight.” he says.

“What are you staring at?” he asks me.

“A star....What are you staring at?” I ask back.

“A star.” he says, looking right at me, not really seeing.

“I’m no star. You’re just crazy.” I say, quietly.

I wonder why he burned me. I think he did because he thought it wouldn’t hurt. Or maybe he was just checking if I was real. He could have forgotten. Maybe he needed the reminder.

I don’t need this.

“Let’s do it.” he presses.

I pause for a second. Looking at the ground below, I try to make out the grass.

“Rachel?”

I take a moment, then say to him:

“Can you stop? If we killed ourselves....She’d go with us. I’m not about to do that to them. They can't die. I can’t have that on my conscience.”

“I just want us to be free.” he says.

“Stop it.”

Smoke gets into my eye and as I’m rubbing it to alleviate the stinging, I feel the air get crisper. I look back and realize that I’m alone.

I was attempting to absorb some of the wisdom Athena’s temple held. My knees were resting on the marble floor. I placed my palms on either side of them, flat against the cold surface. I let the chill climb up my arms and pictured knowledge and fairness flowing into my being. Just as the first drops began seeping into my mind, I felt the pressure shift. My ears began to ring.

At first, I thought it was her. Maybe she had seen my offerings and heard my prayers, that she was prepared to answer them. But the approach of angry footsteps hacked away at those hopes like an axe in the trunk of a tree. I was used to hearing only the gentle rushing of wind at this time of day. I miss how it rustled the leaves so playfully. I can’t hear that anymore. But I can remember. The steps boomed, echoing through the sacred temple. Unease crept up my half-covered legs and found a home in my stomach.

I whipped my head around to see who was standing behind me; long wisps of hair rose from my sides and fell across my face. They obscured my view but I could still make out those eyes. They were dark and as blue as the ocean. The rest of him looked dull.

He was coming closer.

“I’m speaking with the good goddess of the temple right now. I could use some privacy. Do you mind?”

He walked faster towards me. His steps grew louder and louder. His presence encroached the space above me. He spoke just as quickly as he moved.

“Actually, I do, my dear. I just want to talk with you.”

He placed his hand over my mouth and kept it there. Pushing down with greater force as my confusion built. He did all the talking.

----------

A soft beam of light brushed the apple of my cheek, dragging me away from my deep sleep-trance. I was awake but unable to move. The floor beneath me, once a pristine white, glowed with a bluish hue.

I heard a soft voice, much kinder than the last one I’d heard.

“Medusa.”

Glorious, beautiful Athena had actually appeared. She had heard me. And she was glowing and gorgeous. I felt her hand guide my back until I was sitting upright. She held my shoulders steady for a second. I searched for my own voice to say her name in return, show that I recognized her, but found nothing. She saw the worry in my eyes. I bet they were beyond frantic.

“Medusa, I need to punish you for what happened. The gods on Mount Olympus said you have done wrong. It is evil what happened here, and it has changed you. I must change you too.”

Memories of the past day started to race through my heavy skull. It began to throb along with my pulsing heart and an ache quickly grew on the muscle of my inner thigh. The light brightened behind Athena. The pain subsided.

“That is Artemis. She has learned of what Poseidon has done to you and she understands. She wants to protect you.”

The cool light shone so bright it was palpable, glass-like. I began to make out my own

silhouette amidst the rays. I felt a chill on my scalp. My hair was gone. Suddenly, I spotted my own eyes, beady and hard, then returned to the top of my head. Sharp pains stung my bruised crown like pins in felt. Twelve forked tongues poked through my skin and behind them trailed the open mouths of fanged, slender snakes. They would be my new friends. Hissing in my ears, their rattling tongues flicked in and out of their jaws. They basked in the beams of divine light.

“This is your punishment. I have taken away your beauty and given you a sharpness that will disarm, freeze, and permanently immobilize anyone who tries to touch you or even look. The goddess of the hunt watches over you as well.” Athena spoke.

A thick, golden belt wove itself tightly around my frozen waist. It warmed my torso as it circled around me. I raised my watery eyes and was about to thank the goddesses, but they vanished. It was darker than before. The once sparkling floor projected a thick layer of grey ash. I stood up, and brushed it off of my robe with my right hand. I shuffled my feet over each other until I was perched at the front of the temple. Leaning against a column for a moment, I gathered the will to descend the staircase. Its downward slope seemed steeper than usual. I watched myself drift along unsteadily. I finally reached the bottom and floated to a spot among the roots of an olive tree where I plopped down into the dewey, green grass. The night was dark but I still felt the moon’s presence.

I used to think my sisters were the lucky ones. They were immortal and had all the power. But maybe it’s better not being like them. I don’t know if I could do this forever, have this power forever. I don’t want to leave behind a trail of broken people anywhere I go.

The first man I turned to stone did nothing to me other than walk behind me. He gasped and I turned. Then, I met his gaze. Maybe it was one of the snakes that provoked him. He took one final, sharp intake of breath and he was gone. He didn’t follow me after that.

So, call me a monster. I will not mind. I cannot. I’ve quite literally lost my head. I am a monster. Marine monsters birthed and raised me. Maybe that’s why I was attractive to the trident-wielder. But no, Athena said it was because I didn’t revere him as much as I did her. I don’t mind. I have this tale. He has reign over the seas and waves.

His son will brandish my brain on the mountain. I lay my body down here. He is half-god. I am still monstrous. The gods will drink up their new toy. Perseus, I may have heard them shout there. Aside from that, the words and sounds all drown.