Chapter Text
I woke to the sound of Lilly’s cooing
Then Ellen jumped on the bed
“Mama, it’s morning” she said
“Ellie, do you just want a hug or something” I whispered, I was barely awake, but I had always tried to give her some leniency, she was a 2 year old fire cracker who probably had ADHD
So I gave my daughter a hug and got Lilly some formula
I had two kids, both from goddesses, Ellen had probably inherited her mother’s gift with magic, she was also very thoughtful about her choices, but I would expect nothing less from a child of Hecate, as for Lilly, she was two months old, and was already a month ahead on her development, and I knew that because as well as working in a theatre I was also a psychologist, and also birds seemed to love Lilly, particularly owls, which made sense from a child of Athena, but they inherited all their looks from me and my family, they got that from their mama
I jumped in the shower and washed up, I got dressed, brushed my teeth and checked on the girls, Ellen was dressed and jumping on her bed when I walked in so I picked her up and told her to go brush her teeth.
“Mama, why isn’t my mother here, or Lilly’s” Ellen said as she spat out the used toothpaste, so I spat mine out too, and I thought, ‘I can’t tell them that they’re both children of goddesses, in a family blessed by most of that same pantheon’ but I ended up telling her she’d find out when she was older, the standard response I know, but I just can’t explain it to her now, I can’t explain it to my baby girl.
Little did I know that I would never be able to explain it to her, I wouldn’t even make it past that month.
The day had been pretty normal, I pulled out my Polaroid camera and got a picture of the three of us, my little Ellen, blue eyes and blonde hair, my baby Lilly, a small tuft of brown hair and eyes the colour of summer grass and me, Anne Adrienne, long brown curly hair and eyes the same as Lilly’s, the colour of summer grass.
It was about 5 pm, I was sitting in a chair with my children in my lap, the door burst open and I only just caught the arrow aimed for my throat. I locked my door and wrote on my notebook, I hid the book in a bag of baby things, and told Ellen to hide under the bed with her sister. They were only just safe when the door burst open, and this time the arrow was too fast to catch, I fell at the hands of the hunter, he left the room and flat, slamming the door behind him, and Ellen crawled over to me with her sister
Ellen cried into me, and I heard the heart breaking sound of Lilly’s crying, I texted all my family an I love you text, but I had been shot in the ribs, I grabbed a small video camera under my bed, I knew it had an empty tape in it, I recorded my final message to my family. The girls would get it when they both turned 14, they would get this tape in 2024. It consists of a load of stuff of us as a family, and my final message.
I died with both my daughters crying at my side.
I reached the under world at around 6:30 on October 11th 2010, I had had 2 months and 2 days with my youngest daughter before the hunter killed me.
I spoke to Charon at the front desk and simply said “I am dead and I have money for passage into the underworld” and I produced the coin that was given to me by Ellen’s mother Hecate.
I passed into the underworld and was judged, I reached Elysium and I met the hero my family was descended from:Odysseus, I found that out AFTER I died, but most of all I mourned the life I could have had with my daughters, acceptance doesn’t make the grief go away, but at the very least there’s a small place where I can watch my kids through their lives, the two getting adopted by my youngest sister, I can see them their whole lives in this spot, I will carry on to know them both and I’ll know my future nieces and nephews, And my niece aspen, even better than before, but it hurts not seeing them nonetheless.