Midas Is King

“Mommy!” With one last desperate shout I wake myself up. Sitting up sharply in the bed, I feel my chest heave as my lungs hunger for air. Sobs rack my body; I can still feel the ghost arms of Johnny around me, pulling me away. The air, I can almost taste it, that dark musky air with the metallic tinge of copper. It’s the stuff of nightmares; if only it was just a nightmare. Arms reach out to hug me and I jerk away so fast that the world spins. Brief flashes of white-hot pain emanate from my arms. Hissing in pain, I cover the stinging sections of my arms and with a few defiant motions I yank the remaining needles out of my arm. Hands reach out to grab me, to stop me, and I cry out. They aren’t going to get me this time, they won’t, I’m not six years old anymore.

“Aella! Shush it’s okay now you’re safe!” A hysterical voice breaks through the foggy haze in my brain. It dissipates slowly leaving me staring at Ares, as well as a couple of nurses. Each of them look terrified and concerned for me, it makes me want to scream. I don’t need pity, I’ve never needed anyone’s pity before and I certainly don’t need it now. Ignoring their faces, I calmly untangle myself from the bed sheets and move to jump off the bed. A hand descends upon my arm to halt my movements and I freeze for a moment.



“No! Don’t touch me!” She shrieks, yanking her arm away from me. Using the other she tries to punch me, but I avoid it easily.

“Aella, shush it’s okay now you’re safe it’s okay,” I coo, trying to get her to calm down a little bit. My words seem to have the opposite effect though, instead of calming her down, they freak her out even mire. She shies away from me, pressing herself firmly into a niche in the wall beside her bed. She’s trying to hide, the realization floods through me and I back up a few steps. Aella has the air of a cornered animal; her eyes are flitting around as if trying to find a way out. Too late I notice that the nurses have started converging on her, mistaking my reasons for moving back. Before I can even think about uttering a warning Aella strikes, and one of the nurses crumples to the floor unconscious.

“Stay away from me!” She snarls as I approach her, she has this wild look to her eye, almost as if she is seeing something, or someone else.

“Aella, it’s me, it’s Ares,” I say, inching towards her before the nurses go and do something stupid to enrage her. She just looks at me with confusion written across her face. Sensing motion beside me, I turn to look at the door. A new nurse just entered the room, but this one’s holding a syringe filled with a clear liquid. I can tell how this is going to go if I can’t calm Aella down. Aella stares, unseeing, at me, it’s an eerie feeling knowing someone isn’t truly staring at you but at a figure from her past. It’s clear to me that she’s reliving some part of her brutal past, and I swear upon the river Styx that I will avenge her. That despicable creature will rot in the pits of Tartarus for his crimes. Cautiously, I step towards her, noticing that she’s dropped her arms so that they’re protecting her chest. Whimpering, she falls to the ground, curling into a ball and using her hands to cover her face. My heart goes out to her, and before my brain processes what happened, I’m on the ground beside her, wrapping my arms around her.

“Shush, its okay now, you’re safe” I whisper, placing a kiss onto her forehead. Her only response is to curl her body around mine, and gripping onto my arms, making me hold her tighter. She gasps, her eyes flying open for a split second and slamming shut. As she slumps even further onto the ground I see the nurse standing beside us with the now empty syringe and I want to hit her. They try to pry her out of my arms, but I refuse to let her go. Carefully, I stand up, placing her gently onto the bed. I don’t leave though, I sit down next to her on the bed, refusing to let go of her hand, even when the nurses strap her down.

“Sir you have to leave.” A female voice orders, I ignore her and shake off the hand that comes down on my shoulder. I will not leave her alone. Not until I have to.



Sunlight hits my face and I groan, the light infiltrating my sleep. It’s probably the best sleep I’ve had in ages and now the sun is trying to wake me up. Without opening my eyes, I try to stretch my arms, only to realize that they’re tied down. Terrified, I open my eyes, trying to sit up. I can’t do that either, I’m bound to this bed with no chance of moving. My first thought is that Jack is going to kill me, and my heart starts racing, I don’t want to die. I’m not ready.

“Aella?” Ares soothing voice calls out. I narrow in on his voice, finally I spot him sitting in a chair at the foot of my bed. My heart slows down incredibly; Ares won’t let him find me. He just won’t, I don’t know why or how I know this but it’s true. He would never let anything happen to me again.

“No, I won’t. I’m never going to let you leave my sight again if this is what happens,” A forced grin appears on his face and his voice shakes a little, revealing just how much self-control he is using to remain calm.

“I really have to stop thinking out loud don’t I?” I giggle; Ares just shakes his head and smiles, as if he knows a secret. Sighing dramatically I wiggle around on the bed to get comfy.

“I like it,” He says simply, “And you’re cute when you’re doped up”

Childishly I stick my tongue out at him and the mischievous glint is back in his eyes, it’s actually a relief. It means that he’s okay and back to normal. Well as normal as anyone can be in this type of situation. The relief is so strong it causes me to forget what that grin might mean until he speaks up again.

“Careful, I might have to do something about that,” His voice taunts me, making me want him to something about it. I cock my eyebrow, looking over at him.

“Really? Like what?” A smirk graces his face at my teasing tone, looks like I’ll get my wish after all, I muse. Without warning he lunges for me, catapulting himself onto the bed beside me.

“You asked for it,” He exclaims, his hands reaching down to tickle my sides while I can’t stop laughing.

“Not fair, not fair!” I manage to cry out through my laughter. Ares just laughs, remembering the restraints that are holding me down. Grinning wickedly, he moves to straddle me, not once stopping his assault on my sides. Suddenly he’s close, almost too close to my face. An overwhelming urge to touch his face comes over me but I’m still tied down. Some readable emotion flickers through his eyes and he ends my torture. He doesn’t move his hands, instead he places them flat against my body and I can feel his warmth.

“Hi” I say breathlessly, partially from the tickling but mostly from our closeness.

“Hi” His reply is slightly strained. He looks down at my lips than back to my eyes, and I really want him to kiss me. No, not want, need, like some great secret of the universe will reveal itself if our lips touch. My breath catches in my throat as I gaze up at him. He leans closer and closer until his lips are millimeters away from mine-

“Oh! Am I interrupting something?” A snotty voice asks, causing us to freeze. Ares closely resembles a dear that’s about to be run over by a car; his eyes open wide and panic is etched into his face. Glancing towards the voice, I spot this blonde girl standing in the door to my hospital room. Honestly she doesn’t look smarter than a fly, even if she is deadly beautiful, I can’t understand why Ares would react like this. It’s just some streetwalker, come off of the street corner or something like that. Ares chuckles darkly, swiftly kissing my cheek before getting off me.

“Streetwalker?!?” The girl bellows, her voice goes up an octave or two. If my hands weren’t tied I would plug my ears. Instead I grimace at my thoughts coming out of her mouth, they need to remain unsaid.

“Ares! Do something! She just insulted me! You’re supposed to love me!” Her words make me falter and I look up to Ares. He is surprisingly calm and collected all things considered. I mean if I were caught cheating, I would try to look a little more terrified, especially if it was with that fury.

“Aphrodite, we are not together. Go crawling back to your husband already. I am never going to want anything to do with you again. I don’t love you, I don’t want to love you and nothing you can do or say that will change my mind. And if you even think about trying to change Aella’s mind, I will kill you. Got it?” His words hold no comfort; I see the way he looks at her. It’s not that of old-flamed out lovers, but of fresh, still burning love. How stupid of me to think that someone as perfect as Ares could like me? There is nothing worse than being the other woman, it makes you seem foolish, and stupid, a home wrecker. I am nothing but a home wrecker, and I let Ares make me one.

“Ares, please just come home with me,” She pleads, her voice makes me want to gag, it just sounds so revoltingly sweet. The woman throws a pretentious glare at me, while Ares looks down at the ground. He should feel bad, I think trying to be angry, but I cannot find it in myself to be angry with him, only disappointed.

“Go with her,” I mumble, wishing that they would both just leave me alone. I need time to think, and I can’t with them here. Get out of my face bitch, I think angrily towards the woman, Aphrodite, as she glares at me yet again.

“How dare you!” She screeches, trying to find a way past Ares to, presumably, sink her claws into me. Ares doesn’t budge, just holds her an arm’s length away. I giggle at her antics, it’s actually a comical sight. The tall, dumb blonde trying to have a go at a defenceless innocent while her buff boyfriend/ex-boyfriend, whatever he is, holds her back. Ares snorts with laughter, a silent agreement about Blondie’s uncalled for behaviour.

“Oh my little whirlwind,” Ares sighs, “I will return to you, that I promise, let me return her to where she belongs and I will be back. Five minutes tops.” He flashes me a dazzling smile that turns my insides to goo. Dragging the still-struggling bimbo out of the room, he leaves my room. I slump down onto my pillows and settle in to wait for him. He will come back, I know he will, he promised. That fury won’t convince him to leave me, right? Giggling at my own stupidity, I push those thoughts to the back of my mind. He will return to me, I just know he will.