Mom and Dad filed into the living room after switching their outdoor shoes for slippers. “Oh! Kids, who is this?” Mom paused abruptly and dad almost crashed into her.
Mom looked just like me, only taller, and Dad looked just like Chill, they were the same height. Again, life isn't fair. The only difference is Achilles got Mom's teal eyes, and I got Dad's blue ones. Now when I say Mom looked like me, she could almost be my twin. She even had dyed hair, teal, and almost as many piercings as me.
Yeah, you didn't think we came from normal conservative parents with names like Achilles and Athena did you? Our parents were sort of free spirits, which is why we moved so often. Mom would say she had a feeling it was time to move, and off we'd go.
Achilles introduced our new friend, “Hades, meet our Mom, Helena, and our Dad, Juno.”
“Wait, I thought Dad's first name was J.R.?” I was more than a little confused.
“If you had a name like Juno, wouldn't you go by J.R. too?” Chill raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, you have a good point.” I made a 'huh' face and moved on.
“Hey, don't you kids make fun of my name.” Our dad huffed, but grinned. He was like Achilles that way. They just didn't get too grumpy about certain things.
“No, no, Dad, we totally get it and sympathize.” I waved him off.
Hades just watched our interactions like he was watching a circus show and probably asking himself how he'd ended up in this predicament. Of course, if he wanted a run down of how, I'd be more than happy to explain it to him. I might use a few choice words to do so though.
Finally, the mountain of a man shook his head and cut off my Dad's reply, “sorry to interrupt, but your daughter had a run in with a gang of goblins today. That's why I came over to talk to you.”
Oh sure, he just throws goblins into the conversation as if it won't freak out my parents.
“Well shoot,” Mom said in low key disappointment, “we were hoping the kids would make it all the way through high school without having to worry about those kinds of things.”
Wait... What? My jaw dropped at my Mom's utter lack of concern. I mean, Hades just said a gang of goblins and mom just what? Sounded like some mildly put out housewife who'd just been told the in laws were coming to visit? Who was this person and where was my mother?
Chill was in the same state of shock that I was, “Wait a moment here! Are you saying you believe him Mom?”
It was our Dad who answered. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Of course we believe him. It was only a matter of time before one of you kids stumbled upon the others. We just hoped that our moving around would make it more difficult for the others to disrupt your childhood.”
Mom nodded in agreement, “It really sucks to have to fight boogeymen in the closet and monsters under the bed when you're growing up. It tends to leave emotional scars that stay with you forever.”
Comments (4)
See all