Persephone in a Sense

I’d only been here for two hours and already I hated it. The humans packed the streets, and didn’t hesitate to shove you out of the way without giving you a second glance. They didn’t even know who I was, or where I came from, or what I was capable of. And they just shove me out of the way! Of course, it could be because they can’t see me.

Irritable and unnerved, I slipped into the closest store. These stores, unlike the ones in Hades, had titles…like books. Before I stepped inside I read the large blinking neon letters. “Wal-Mart”. I couldn’t help thinking what a stupid name it was for a store. And of course, how stupid it was to name a store in the first place. What was the difference?

Millions of shelves filled the building, and not one of them looked different from any other. I had some time to waste, so I ducked behind one of the shelves and began examining the products. A bright, multi-colored cube thing caught my eye immediately. With a slight sneer, I reached for the shiny object and examined it, tossing it around a few times to view it from all angles. Without much trouble, I figured out how to move the different pieces of the figure, and became immensely absorbed in it. Colorful things have always caught my attention, and somehow always managed to rope me in…

“Uhm…excuse me,” a far-off, airy voice called. I couldn’t tell if the voice was talking to me, or talking to somebody else a few feet away from me. It was one of those voices that comes to you in a vision, or a dream. I didn’t want to be rude, even though it seemed tempting, so I responded with a strict “Wait,” as I struggled to uncover the secret of the colorful cube in my hands.

“Do you work her--”

I looked up briskly. A boy…teenager…man, stood in front of me, a few steps away. His eyes glittered brown in the dim fluorescent lighting overhead. Underneath his trucker hat his hair was a golden blonde color. I accidentally licked my lips a little. And he could see me. I cut him off before he could finish his sentence. I didn’t think what he had to say was all too important anyway. Not as important as mine, of course.

“Hey” I couldn’t help but smile. I must have surely beat the world record for finding your soul mate. Two hours! I couldn’t have done better.

“Hey?” he questioned, after a stunned hesitation. I could tell that he had absolutely now idea what was going on. He brushed it off and continued. “Do you work here?” he asked.

I laughed mentally. “Me?” he nodded. “No, I was just--what’s your name?” I couldn’t help but not explain myself. Something inside made me so anxious to ask as many questions as I could. Plus, it had been bothering me since we’d started talking.

He stared at me weakly for a moment, then turned around on his heel. I watched him walk away. I thought about calling after him, but I figured it was useless to scare him off after only a few moments of knowing each other. Besides, now that I could identify him, things would be fairly easy.

After he had disappeared completely, I sighed and turned my attention back to the isle of brightly colored toys. I watch two little kids chase each other through a far-off isle. I decided it was time to leave. I began to walk off, but stopped after one or two steps. I turned around, grabbed the small, colorful cube, and slipped it into my jacket pocket. Nobody could see me, and I figured since there were so many things in this place nobody would notice it was gone. And frankly, I didn’t even care if they did or not. I walked outside.