Page 40 of Meduso
I would be forever changed after that last day in Athens. There were only two sets of feelings I was able to hold on to in my heart.
The first was guilt. I had led my sisters down the path of ruin with me. They were now forever transformed and punished as these heinous monsters all because of my actions. Nothing I could ever do would be enough to amend for this. No apology would ever suffice. I had to eventually learn to just accept this and bear the guilt for the rest of my life.
The second was distrust. The only two people I could ever trust were Euryale and Stheno. My view of the world was now tainted. I have been deceived and harmed by far too many individuals. I now adopted the idea ofburn or be burned. I could only look out for myself and my sisters. Everyone else in my path would need to die. I had no other choice but to live by this mantra, for fear that we could be murdered by anyone.
During our departure from Athens, Euryale, Stheno, and I would only travel in the middle of the night, realizing it was the safest time for us to move about in the open. In the mornings and daytime, we camped in any nearby, uninhabited forest or area that we could find along the way. Where were we going? We hadn’t the slightest idea. We just continued to move west, as far away as we could from any form of civilization.
We spent nearly four months just hiking through lands, hills, and mountains. We had to pause every time we needed to cross a body of water. I made a small sturdy boat each time that would allow us to safely cross rivers and seas. I still had a vivid memory of the boat Dictys, the fisherman, used on the island of Seriphos. I structurally modeled them after his, and sure enough, they were able to hold all three of us gorgons to safely cross.
We were very fortunate that no one attacked us during our days spent camping in the woods. Each of us rotated as being a guardian of the grounds, watching over the other two who slept. We repeated this process for several months until we finally reached a secluded island. There was no sign of any humans here. It was just us and plenty of wildlife. Surely, we were far enough away where no one would be able to track us down so easily.
“I think we have found our permanent residence. What do you both think?” Stheno asked.
Euryale and I both agreed with her.
“Okay. I guess we should explore this island and get used to our surroundings,” she suggested.
This island would eventually become known as Sarpedon. For now, my sisters and I felt no need to give it a name. It was simply our home, isolated from the rest of the world. The layout of this place reminded me so much of Seriphos. The surrounding cerulean water was just as transparent. A majority of the mainland was composed of forests with a few streams, springs, and even a large lake on the eastern side. To the west were mountains with many caves scattered throughout.
Since we were the only monsters here, we each claimed our own cave and then discussed what we would use the others for, including food storage, a gathering place for plants and herbs, among other things.
It was getting late after our first day of exploring the island. For this evening, we agreed that all three of us would stick together and sleep in the same cave. Stheno and I went out to gather wood to start a fire while Euryale collected some berries and other edible plants we could sustain our appetites with. I distinctly remember the many times Perseus showed me how to start a fire and I was pleased at myself for remembering his technique. It must have been almost innate to me now.
Stheno gave me a quizzical expression. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“Seriphos. A friend there showed me how to properly strike these glassy cave stones to ignite the timber,” I explained. I still had never discussed about my true relationship that existed with Perseus to Stheno. She still assumed we were just friends. Only Euryale was the one I confided in and knew of my real feelings for him. I caught Euryale slyly grin at me as I made reference to him.
“Anyway, this should be able to keep the fire going for the entire night,” I stated as I analyzed the bulk amount of wood we had gathered.
We all sat facing the flames. Our tails spread to form a circle around the fire, wanting to also keep them warm as well. It was such a unique feeling to now only have one elongated appendage as my lower body. But I now had months to get used to it. However, I could not even imagine what it would feel like to have living snakes in my hair. My sisters’ serpents were silent and had their eyes closed. I knew they would sleep through the night.
Those snakes were a never-ending reminder of my culpability. The worst part about our curse was that Euryale and Stheno received the short-end of the stick. We all were transformed into gorgons, but my sisters had the additional repercussion of having to suffer with their hair loss. I should have been the one solely punished, yet Euryale and Stheno were the ones that had to endure more agony than me. It was unfair, and not a day had gone by since the incident where I did not think about my actions and this end result.
“So, this is our new home…” Euryale broke our silence with.
“It would seem so. We will need to hideout here for years,” Stheno shared. “If we find that too many mortals discover our whereabouts, then we will need to conceal ourselves elsewhere.”
I remained still, just gazing into the fire. I barely said much to my sisters these days. I preferred to bottle up my feelings and emotions. Sharing them aloud would just be painful, and I felt it was best to just avoid them altogether.
“Now that we can finally rest, I think we should havethe talk,” Stheno stated as she made eye contact with Euryale, who nodded at her.
“Yes. It has now been months. We really should clear the air,” Euryale added.
I was bewildered at what they were referring to. “What talk?”
“Brother, we forgive you. We know you are burdening yourself with how this panned out,” Stheno replied.
“It’s not your fault, Meduso,” Euryale chimed in with.
“Yes, it is,” I clarified. “If it weren’t for me, you would still be the way you once were.”
“But who says we wanted to be that way?” Stheno sighed. “Look, after that conversation you initially had with us about Poseidon, it really had me thinking. You were right, brother. We had lost our freedom. Forever in servitude to Athena. Now, we are free to live our lives how we would like to. So what if I have a tail and a few reptiles on my head? It’s better than scrubbing floors and washing clothes for the rest of our lives.”
“Plus, that Athena… she’s a nasty goddess!” Euryale shouted.
Stheno and I gasped at our sister’s response. It was so out of character for her. I’ve never heard her say something like that in my entire life.
“She is!” Euryale reiterated. “Think about it. What kind of goddess forces her servants to be pure, preventing them from having children and from loving another? That’s just plain cruel!”
