Midas Is King

‘How dare you.’ I hiss, slamming Aphrodite’s into a column. She opens her mouth to speak; unfortunately I’m not in the mood to take her bullshit. As I press both of my hands into her throat I lift her up slightly so that her legs are dangling in the air. I’m just so sick and tired of all her crap. Who does she think she is, trying to control my life? Panic sets in as she finally realizes that I’m not happy with her. Clawing at my hands she tries to free herself, but I only hold on tighter. A strangled choking noise comes from her mouth and I throw her away in disgust. I promised to only be gone for five minutes which means I must return soon.

A stinging sensation blooms in my cheek, and I turn to see Aphrodite’s with her hand raised to strike me again. Enraged, I grab her hand and twist it until a sharp crunch is heard and she screams in pain.

‘Don’t you ever try to touch me again.’ I growl at her hunched figure. She’s cradling her broken hand close to her body and I scoff at her. If she thinks she’s going to make me feel bad, it’s not going to happen. I take a moment to balance myself and finally notice the surroundings. Twelve golden chairs surround the room in a U-shape and behind them I can make out the tops of the clouds. The throne-room, I think sourly, completely unamused at the prospect of being in here, as it seems my family is always way to close to it. Almost on cue my father runs in, alerted by Aphrodite’s cry.

‘What have you done!” Zeus’ voice bellows out, his voice echoing around the chamber. I sigh in response, knowing the whole family is sure to be coming as well. Hephaestus enters first and as soon as he spots his wife, he rushes to her side. Shooting me a poisonous glare, he turns to whisper sweet things to her, no doubt. Apollo follows not long after and, being the only healer, heads immediately towards the injured goddess. What a noble medic, I think scornfully, turning back to face my seething father.

‘If she would just stay out of my way it wouldn’t have happened!’’ I defend myself, twenty-four pairs of eyes turn to glare at me. Not a single member of my family believes me, which makes sense if I think about it.

‘All I wanted was to spend time with Aella...’ I try to explain, while my father’s face turns nearly purple with rage. Advancing towards he starts yelling again,

‘That mortal girl?! Is that why you have broken every law I have ever set down and hurt a fellow Olympian?’

Now, if you’ve never seen Zeus angry, you have no idea how terrifying he can get. When he lets his anger consume him, lighting begins to dance across his skin and the sky and earth shake. You want to bow down and beg for forgiveness, but I have nothing to apologize for. She brought this upon herself.

‘I am allowed to care for her! She’s not just some mortal, she is so much more! You’ve had your share of mortal whores so why can’t I just have the one I actually love?!’ I howl back at him. Maybe I did inherit some traits from my father, I have a wicked temper and it doesn’t take much to set me off. The women take a few steps back when they hear the anger in my voice. Even a couple of the men jump a little. Sensing the possibility of a blood feud and war between Zeus and I, Athena moves to stand in between us.

‘Enough!’’ Her voice rings out strong and clear through the rumblings of the room. Silence falls, enveloping the room, and once she’s satisfied that all is quiet, she turns to face me first. ‘Brother, this mess is of your doing, what do you have to say in your defense?’

‘I met this broken girl on a cliff. She spoke of us as if we were real instead of false as the rest if the world believes. Something about her draws me to her, I can’t explain but nothing feels right without her. She has this tragic history, her finance beats her almost daily and I think..’ I rush though this tale, I don’t want to tell it. Taking a deep breath to compose myself, I continue, ‘that he raped her because of me. Also she doesn’t seem fully mortal. There is something about her that I can’t put my finger on..’

I trail off when I notice everyone in the room is staring at me like I’ve grown another head. Is it really that strange for me to care about something other than myself?

‘Did you say her name is Aella?’ Apollo’s asks quietly, his voice sounds weird. Like he’s angry, but none of us have ever truly seen him angry. He doesn’t get angry like the other gods; he just writes angry poetry and songs to release it. Stunned, I can only nod weakly nod, and that’s enough to make his face flood with anger. Without a word to any of us, he disappears from throne room. No one dares violate the silence that falls after Apollo storms out. Even his twin looks shocked and disturbed as we await his return. Within a few moments he reappears back inside the throne room, looking sort of smug.

‘Go get Aella, please,’ He orders me, without even making an attempt to explain where he went. Zeus starts to protest but Apollo shoots him the dirtiest glare I have ever seen. Not wanting to see my father yell some more, I head for the globe in the center of the room.

‘Try New York, first,’ Apollo suggests, I nod mutely, not wishing to be yelled at anymore.



The fire alarm stops its shrieking call and I know that the fire is out. Pity, I think dejectedly, I wished to burn with the building. Shrugging, I make my way away from the window towards Jack’s desk. Plopping down in his chair, I stick my feet up on the desk, waiting for the police to come and arrest me. They don’t keep me waiting for very long.

“Hands where I can see them! Drop the knife!”

Several cops scream upon entering the room, it makes me giggle. New York Police Department’s finest, I think, smirking a little, dropping the knife to the carpet and slowly raising my hands up above my head.

“Did he splat? Or just crash?” I ask them, laughing at the expression that appears on their faces, “Splat it is then.”

I’m not sure which cop moves first but before I even notice the chair is ripped out from underneath me and I fall onto the floor. A pair of hands roughly flips me over, shoving his knee into my back while placing me in handcuffs.

“You’re being arrested for the murder of Jack Daniels. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Someone reads out my rights as they half-drag me out to the elevators. I turn to spit at the guy who read them; the law is so full of shit. The law-system is corrupt, Jack proved that time and time again. The system has flaws and it’s the same system that let him get away that is taking me down. Nice, I think sarcastically, the cop I spit at glares back at me, unable to do something for fear of being charged with police brutality. The doors ding open and we all file into the elevator. That annoying elevator music starts as soon as the door closes and I find myself humming along with it a little too cheery for the situation. Someone clearly doesn’t appreciate my humming, they shove me roughly shove me forward into the elevator doors. I’d place my money on the guy who got spit on. He seems like the type to hold a grudge. Scowling, I shut up and wait for the doors to slide smoothly open on the ground floor.
They escort me to the front of the building, were all the staff are now located after having been evacuated because of my fire. Lights begin to flash the second we step outside of the door. I make sure to give them my brightest smile as I stop dead in my tracks. A couple of the police walk forward without me before realising.

“Thank you, thank you!” I call out gleefully to the crowd, “Thank you for being here today, I’ll be back same time next week!” The crowd goes deathly silent and even the photographer’s pause in the middle of taking their shots. I let out a laugh, it’s most fun being mad. You can do whatever you want and get away with it. The silence is only broken by the sound of someone clapping. No one joins in, the crowd begins to shift uneasily as the clapping doesn’t stop.

“Bravo, bravo”, Ares says, emerging from the crowd, I can’t help but smile as I see him, it’s an automatic response. I do a quick curtsey for him, which only causes him to laugh, “Come on Aella, I’m taking you home.”

The police officers seem too shocked to even try and stop Ares as he walks right up to me. Grinning at me, he twirls the handcuff key in front of my face before unlocking my hands. Wincing at the sudden return of feelings I rub each of my wrists.

“Shall we?” Ares asks, holding out his arm for me to take, which I take without any hesitation, the biggest smile on my face.