The Forgotten One

Gya couldn't remember the last time someone had said her name aloud. It had been centuries since she was chased out of her home by her own parents, Ceto and Phorcys, and she soon learned that humans found her kind to be revolting and threatening so she made a home for herself in any shadow and dark corner she could find. There were no opportunities for friends and, for love, even less. Although the mortal world would never offer Gya any solace, compassion, or affection, she took it upon herself to help anyone she could. She became a veiled and hooded heroine of sorts in the years she spent among mortals and tried her best to make up for whatever sin she had committed that made her into the creature that she was; having scaled skin across her forehead, shoulders, hands and feet as well as venomous snakes for hair could only be her just desserts. Her eyes, that resembled burning embers in a fire, could turn any living creature to stone if she looked directly at it and so her greatest asset also caused her to suffer the greatest loneliness. She could never have true love so long as her gaze was cursed.

"You're mighty quiet over there Gya."

One of the smaller snakes wrapped itself around her index finger as she searched for words that would be sufficient enough. She couldn't stay and risk hearing Perry say her name one more time because it would his own undoing. "I should go."

"Come on. I didn't mean to scare you off. I'm not a bad person, honest. I'm certainly no killer if that's what you're thinking." Gya heard the door on his side of the confessional creak open and his footsteps halted just a foot away from hers. He knocked on her door lightly. "You know my biggest secret now. Don't you think we could talk face to face now?"

Gya lifted her hood back over her head. "That's not a good idea," she said. There was no way she would let him see her and all of her monstrous features. It was enough just to be talking with someone who led a solitary life like she did. Anything more, she probably didn't deserve.

"I don't bite, I promise," he said, taking it upon himself to open the door. Gya shut her eyes and sunk back into her chair until she remembered she had her veil on. She cautiously opened one eye, then the other and saw Perry staring at her hooded figure. "You're a weird one aren't you?"

Self-consciously, Gya tugged her hood even lower. "You could say that."

Perry chuckled and rubbed the stubble on his chin. "Well that makes two of us. Maybe I should go back to my side of the screen. Would that make you more comfortable?"

Gya nodded her head and Perry smiled as he shut the door. Immediately Gya felt better. She put her hood back down and her snakes slithered about freely. Perry grunted as he sunk back into his chair and a couple of Gya's snakes inched toward the screen, flicking their tongues out every so often.

"Hey, do you hear that?" Perry asked. "That hissing noise?"

Gya bite her lip and jerked the two snakes away from the screen. "I don't hear anything," she lied as she gave a stern look to her companions. "It might be the air conditioning..."

"Yeah, I guess. So when you said you wanted to be more than what the stories say, what stories did you mean?"

"Nothing. I was just being dramatic."

"Come on, I thought we'd jumped the honesty hurdle. Now, I've met some dramatic people in my life but none of them have ever worn veils and cloaks to go to confession at four in the morning. So if you're not going to tell me the truth, at least tell me something real."

His words reverberated in the small confessional and resounded in Gya's spirit, as if touching her very soul. Gya couldn't remember the last time someone sincerely wanted to know how she was feeling, what she was thinking. Perry's concern tugged at Gya's heart strings and she realized he was breaking down her walls without even knowing it.

A strange sensation began to build up behind Gya's eyes, like hundreds of little pins. She took her veil down and hesitantly touched the corners of her eyes and found them to be wet. Was she... crying?

"Are you crying?" Perry asked. "Geez, Gya. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. It's just, you know, you know things about me that my own family doesn't know. I just... I don't know..."

"Perry," his name rolled off her tongue almost like a question. Gya was unsure of exactly how it felt but she knew she could say his name a million times and it would never get old. She sniffled and gazed at her tear-dipped fingers tips. "I'm a monster."

"No, you're not. We've all done things we're not proud of but that doesn't make us monsters."

Gya shook her head even though she knew he couldn't see. She looked lovingly at her snakes as they hovered around her head. "No, I truly am a monster. The veil and the cloak... it's all for your protection."

Perry put his face against the screen. "What do you mean for my protection?"

She averted his gaze and cleared her throat. Gya felt that lying to Perry was similar to lying to herself. They were both outcasts and both knew the pain, agony, and guilt that came with taking a life. Although he was human and she was not, Gya found a sort of refuge in Perry and as she prepared to truly confess her entire story, she felt something that she hadn't felt in a very long time- hope.

"Are you familiar with the story of Medusa?"