Page 49 of Arrogance
“You always want to shoot second, so why are you now, all of a sudden, giving me a hard time about it?”
I simply shrugged. “Fair point.”
Apollo rolled his eyes before he withdrew his bow from his back while retrieving an arrow from his quiver. “Same as usual? We’ll just continuously shoot back to back until one of us misses?”
“Yes. Let’s go with those rules,” I confirmed.
Apollo then stood, his legs spreading apart as he held his bow up high in the air, lining the arrow with his own level of vision. He proceeded to draw the arrow back along the bowstring, steadying his aim. Soon, he released the arrow and fired it. It traveled a great length but completely went off course, landing in a nearby tree, nowhere near the targeted destination.
“Damn! That was a slip up. Can we consider this a practice round?” he requested.
I could not help but chuckle at his mishap. “Yes. But allow me to get a practice shot in as well. It’s only fair.”
Apollo nodded. “Of course. Go ahead and take you shot.”
My brother stepped to the side to allow me to take the same spot where he was standing. Removing my bow and collecting an arrow, I angled the two just right. Squinting my eyes, I heavily concentrated on the small dot in the lake that was in the far distance. I steadied my aim for nearly thirty seconds before finally releasing the arrow.
I stood on my toes, watching it soar through the air before coming down landing directly on the target rock. A smile grazed my face once I realized I had a perfect shot that was right on the target.
Lowering my bow, I glanced over at Apollo. “Easy enough. Okay, it’s your turn.”
Apollo shook his head suddenly with a bewildered expression on his face. “I’m being summoned,” he blurted out. “I must go.”
“Summoned? By whom? And where to?” I asked, very confused by his inopportune timing.
“Our father. He just spoke to me in my mind. It’s an urgent matter,” Apollo revealed. “My apologies, dear sister. We’ll have to resume this another time.”
I folded my arms over my chest, disappointed. “How lucky that you miss your practice shot and you get to see how flawless mine is before we actually compete. Now you just happen to be called to Mount Olympus?”
“I’m not sure what to say to that, Artemis. But I must make haste. Again, I’m sorry.” And with that, Apollo took off in a hurry.
An annoyed grunt escaped from my mouth. He had wasted a great deal of my time. I could have been finished carving the hide of the bear I had sitting on the floor in my home. There was no use in dwelling on it any longer.
I began gliding through the woods, eventually reaching the lake to collect my arrow from the rock. The closer I came to the lake, the more the rock stood out to me. It was only once I stood just at the foot of the water was I able to make out the rock in its entirety with my arrow sticking directly out of it.
But what struck me as bizarre was the pool of red discoloration from the water that surrounded the rock. Upon closer examination, I then realized what I was truly seeing. My hand covered my mouth. I was in complete and utter shock. Tears began to creep up into my eyes. “No! It cannot be!” I exclaimed.
I dove into the water and swam towards the structure that I was led to believe was a rock. “Orion! Orion!” I shouted.
My arrow was sticking out of the back of his skull. My arms wrapped around him, as I held his limber body in the lake. He was lifeless. The gravity of what I had done was now catching up to me. I held him up so his head and torso were out of the water, carrying him like an infant. I buried my face into his chest, crying mercilessly.
How could I have done this!? Why was I so careless and quick to think it was a rock sticking out of the lake without further inspecting it? Now Orion was dead, and it was all my fault. He was the closest person to me in my entire life. I loved him. How could I kill the man I love?
I wept, still hoping that this was all some sort of nightmare, but I knew that was impossible. This was my reality. And I would never be able to hunt with him ever again. Never to hear his laughter or voice. Orion would never be able to show me that gorgeous smile of his that captivated me every time he gave it.
And this was all my fault. I was a murderer. Although this was a completely tragic accident, the facts still remained the same. I had killed my lover with my own weapon. Why was it me who found my one true love only to have it ripped from my grasps right away?
“It’s not fair!” I screamed in the air. My voice echoed throughout the forest, only to be heard by all the creatures in the wilderness.
But I could not allow his body to rot in this lake. He meant so much to me. I could not allow him to decay here on the surface. Thus, I stepped back, letting Orion float in the lake. A bright white light emitted from my hand as I placed my palms face down over the water. The light emanated, traveling to Orion’s body, completely engulfing him.
“I love you…” I softly uttered, before his body fully disappeared into thin air. A final tear fell from my cheek. The drop landing into the lake, causing a wide ripple effect. Orion would be permanently shown in the night sky. I vowed to watch him every night for the remainder of my existence. The patterns of thekatasterismoiwould depict him in his hunting stance, helping light the way for navigators using him for guidance.
I stood there in the lake for hours, just replaying the scene of his death over and over again in my head, torturing myself with the vision of my arrow pressed into his skull. His crimson blood continued to through the lake like a wildfire.
Was there any way I could have prevented all of this from happening?
Why did I not verify that it was Orion in the lake and not a rock?
