Hades
Pay attention. Are you listening?
The story you’ve been told is a lie.
What a cliche way to start a tale. Trust me, I know. But I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve said those exact words attempting to correct a story that effectively ruined my reputation.
Kidnapper.
Rapist.
Pedophile.
Those are some of the milder things I’ve been called over the years. At a certain point, I gave up trying to correct the lie and leaned into it instead. I wasn’t always this way. A little introverted? Sure. A workaholic? I suppose you could call it that. But not cruel. Not cold. No, that came later. That’s what happens when you marry a conniving shrew who destroys you and takes half of what you own. And you let her, because you were so crazy about her you didn’t realize what she was doing until it was too late to stop her.
So now I share an entire kingdom with said shrew, and she makes sure to drive that miserable fact home as frequently as possible.
Do you know what the name “Persephone” means in Greek?
To murder.
To destroy.
“Bringer of death.”
I should have paid attention.
