Fiction
1 min
Then and Now
Mari Kong
I am running.
Running from my past.
Running from my future.
I wish I could say it was not true.
I wish I could say it was all inside my head.
But I know better.
I start to deny it, day after day after day.
I start to believe myself.
Maybe I am right.
Maybe the gods never existed.
Maybe the gods never will exist.
But I know better.
I try to forget.
But I see reminders every way that I look.
Where one might see a bolt of lightning, I see the fury of Zeus when I insulted his honor.
Where one might see a toy sword, I see the bloodlust of Ares when families are divided by war.
Where one might see an owl hunting at night, I see the strategic mind of Athena, forever plotting.
Where one might see a construction worker, I see Mjolnir endlessly building and destroying.
Where one might see a raven, I see the suffering of Odin as he hung from Yggdrasil's branches.
I try to look away.
I try to remind myself that those times are gone.
There is no more Zeus, no more Thor.
But are they really gone?
I want to think that they are.
But I know better.
I remember everything.
I have lived for thousands of years, and I will live for thousands more.
I can never die.
Is that a good thing?
I have seen so much good in the world, and so much evil.
The two extremes.
Every day, I sit and watch what we have become.
Maybe it was my fault that the gods are now gone, a thing of the past, a page in the history books.
Do I regret it?
No.
But perhaps, deep down, I do.
I tricked Zeus into fighting Odin...that was quite clever, I do admit.
I tricked the gods of all worlds into fighting each other.
I made peace in the world.
Peace, but first through war.
Do I regret it?
No.
None of it.
I wish I would have no regrets.
But I know better.
This was an entry for a writing contest held in conjunction with Center for Fiction and The Decameron Project
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