As the bright blue sky began to give way to the soft orange light of dusk a cold ocean breeze ran across Jasons neck.
Sweat dripped down the young man's head and soaked the wool shirt that was under his bright gold armor. The blood seeping out of the cut on his forehead blinded his left eye, while the poison in his right leg made it extremely difficult to stand properly.
Before him, resting in a tall oak tree, was the item he had sailed across the world to obtain. The golden flees; the skin of a ram, born by the god Poseidon who had taken the form of a ram him self in order to lay with the nymph Theophane.
Jason had gone through hell and back for that fleece. He had fought storms, monsters, and even gods just to have a chance to claim the golden ram skin as his own. To show it before his home of Iolcus, and prove to them that he was the right full king. The king they deserved and the one who would lead them to prosperity.
However, before him was his last challenge.
Wrapped around the tree, its violet scales glistening in the sunset, was a long serpentine creature. A black tongue poked out of its mouth, which was lined with dagger-like teeth dripping with venom, and its orange eyes glared at Jason. Its upper-body rested on the ground, with its long, razor sharp claws digging into the grass.
The dragon was ready to end this farce of a battle, clearly having grown tired of Jasons endless attempts to steal the flee away from it.
The feeling was mutual, and with a heavy sigh, Jason prepared himself to deliver the finishing blow.
He clutched his sword firmly in his hand, and from his hip, drew a bronze dagger decorated with rare gems.
"The gift which my beloved Medea has bestowed upon me shall be your undoing beast!"
And with those words, the captain of the Argonauts charged at the dragon who responded by launching itself right back.
However, Jason was ready and, after dipping the tip of his dagger into the wound on his forehead, flung his own blood in the monster's direction.
The taste of warm blood was too much for the dragon to resist and it tilted its body ever so slightly, just to feel the drops on its long, black tongue.
Jason took the opening, and plunged his blades into the dragon's neck.
He ignored the pain coming from his leg and forced himself forward even farther, screaming as he ran his weapons along the serpents entire upper body.
Blood and entrails spilled from the monster, staining Jasons hands and body a deep red and decorating the ground in gore.
With one last grunt, Jason pulled his long sword from the creature's body, and swung it down, lopping its head clean off.
For a long while, the dragons body shook and slithered on the ground, its blood still spilling out of its body as it lay dying.
Jason watched as it suffered, not wanting to be taken by surprise by the monster. However, it did not rise from the ground and eventually, it stopped moving all together, finally succumbing to its death.
With a heavy sigh, Jason proceeded to limp towards his prize.
He was beaten and bleeding. His whole body acted with pain, and he could no longer see out of his left eye, the blood forcing him to close it.
Jason knew he looked nothing like a king, no one had to tell him this. However, how he looked right now didn't matter. All that mattered, was the fleece.
He stood at the foot of the tree, his eyes growing wide as he beheld the golden skin he had fought so hard for.
Dropping his weapons to the ground and with hands shaking, the prince reached up towards the fleece and-
"Boo!"
I let out a loud yelp as I fell forward onto the pile of books I was supposed to be stacking, the copy of Jason and the Argonauts being thrown out of my hands.
Trying my best to look less like an idiot then I already did, I turned around on the floor and looked up at Zee flashing an ear to ear grin at me.
"What's wrong blondie" he said, his playful smile still glued to his face, "reading a ghost story?"
"N-no" I stammered, "I'm, uh… reading a golds story."
Dang it, that sounded way better in my head.
"Comebacks work better when the other person knows what you're talking about dude."
Taking my hand, Zee helped pull me off the ground as I wiped the dust off my skirt and sweater.
"It was Jason and the Argonauts" I told him, while picking up an arm full of books to put on the shelf, "the version where Medeas dagger is charmed by her."
"Oh yeah", he said, picking up the book I had been reading, "a fearless prince sets sail on the great Argonaut, determined to claim the item which will seal his destiny as king. You do know the real one screwed over Medea and his friends right?"
"Well, yeah, but that version is super depressing."
"Fair enough." He flipped the book neatly onto the shelf, and began to do the same with the others that had been strewn across the floor.
"O-oh, you don't have to-"
"Don't worry about it. Besides, the sooner this is done, the sooner we can hang out."
And with that, Zee jumped up, grabbed the shelf, and shoved a copy of the hunchback of Notre Dame between our copy of Victor Hugos other books, Hernani and Les Miserables.
"Just think of me like your fairy godmother" he said, hanging off the shelf, "but instead of living in a rodent infested house with a step mom who should probably arrested for child abuse at the very least, you're working at a library with some guy calling himself a fairy godmother."
I let out a small giggle without really meaning to.
"If you're my fairy godmother shouldn't you be in a pretty blue dress?"
"Blondie, you know I'd rock that dress. I've got the legs for it."
He then reached up and tossed another book into its place. Which caused the bookshelf he was hanging on to fall forward and bury my fairy godmother in a pile of old books.
After about an hour or so of us stacking books and telling, extremely lame, jokes to each other, we made our way to the front of the library.
While I personally wouldn't say our library was big, it wasn't small either. With two floors, a large child section and computer room, as well as five study halls on the second floor, I'd say it was about the size of your average public library.
At the center of the library were two large desks, curved into a circle and with an opening between them so as to allow us to get in and out as we pleased.
My boss, Matilda, sat at the desk facing into the library, her brown hair tied into a neat little bun while the computer screen reflected in her olive eyes. She was busy typing up all the fees and check outs for the day and hadn't noticed us yet.
A small knot formed in my tummy as I prepared to speak.
I had thought she'd be done with her work by now but she was still working so diligently. It seemed wrong to interrupt her by asking to leave.
My brain began to rock back and forth with words that I couldn't seem to get out and I began to debate on how to approach the situation.
Should I just ask her to leave? But, she said I could go as soon as the work was done.
It's possible she just meant my work, but what if she had meant her work as well? What if she still needed me to stay a little longer and assist with other things that need to be done before anybody left?
Oh, I know, I'll ask if there was anything else that needed to be done. If she said no, I'll be able to leave. Simple, right?
I swallowed heavily, and prepared to speak. It was the moment of truth.
"i-is there anything else you need done?"
There, I asked. But, it didn't exactly come out as words. It was more like a squeak. Like, the squeak a mouse makes. In other words, too quiet to hear and Matilda continued on, not noticing me in the slightest.
"Yo, Matty" Zee basically screamed, "Work is done!"
That got her attention, and my boss looked up from her computer.
"Oh" she said, finally registering that we were in front of her, "heading home then Skye?"
There was a small pause as it took me a second to remember my own name.
"Oh" I stuttered out, hoping my face wasn't as red as it felt, "y-yes… if, there's nothing else you need done."
"Nope, you're free to go."
"Freedom" Zee cheered, as he raised out the door.
"O-okay" I said, following him, "sorry."
"No reason to apologize Skye" she reminded me for the umpteenth time, "have a nice night."
"Right… sorry."
Unsurprisingly, outside the marble floored building which served as my place of work, and personal stash of awesome books, the streets were filled with people either rushing home or simply to their next destination.
Zee wasted no time in getting into a festive mood and began swinging around on a nearby street light, his spiky black hair casting a surprisingly large shadow as the summer sun hit it.
"Ah" he exclaimed in a rather over dramatic fashion, "the fresh air, the freedom, the realization that you have no money to do anything. Don't you just love summer?"
"I'm fairly certain you're not hurting for money" I told him, pointing to the obviously expensive motorcycle which he had parked next to the curb.
"Skye, I'm hurt. Just because I make lots of money, have great health, a cool ride, and several game consoles doesn't mean that I don't suffer. It means I have terrible spending habits."
He then picked up the extra red helmet, which we had decorated with cat stickers and a picture of Squirtle from Pokemon, and threw it in my direction.
I did my best to catch it, but the helmet just sort of landed at my feet.
"…really glad I never joined a sports team."
"Hey, on the bright side, if you had joined football, you'd get the record for how many fumbles a person could get in one game."
"Well" I responded as I picked the helmet up, "I'm very glad my poor athletic ability can be acknowledged in a hypothetical situation. When should I expect my award?"
"Sorry" He said, scooting up to give me room to sit, "the school district can't afford to buy plastic any more, budget cuts and the principle trying to support their gambling habit by taking out of the funding and selling sports equipment and plastic trophies meant for crappy football players. How about Dinner instead?"
"You put way too much thought into what a fictional principle would be doing if she had a gambling problem."
"I personally think I put very little thought into that hypothetical and just said the first stupid thing that popped into my head. For example, alligators make terrible house pets."
"Very insightful buddy" I told him, finally managing to get my unnecessarily long hair to go under my sweater, and strapped the pretty red helmet on my head, "let's go ghost rider."
With a quick rev of the engine we zoomed away from the curb and into the heart of downtown.
It wasn't really a long drive, about ten minutes if that, but the extra traffic made it a little more difficult to navigate the street.
I didn't particularly mind the slightly longer drive, I really liked riding on Zees motorcycle. Even though I couldn't drive to save my life, last time I tried my moms car ended up in a tree, but simply riding side saddle on this motorized bike was enough for me.
It gave me an odd feeling of independence. Like me and my friend could go anywhere and do whatever we'd like with being looked at as strange or judged for what we enjoyed.
Plus, the engine made my voice all vibraty, so I kind of sounded like a robot whenever I talked.
What I didn't exactly care for was…
"Hey Zee" Someone called out over on the sidewalk.
Within seconds, a group of at least five people had gathered onto the other side of the street, all calling Zees name and waving at him. a lot of them pulled out their phones and took pictures or started recording videos.
Like always, Zee glued a big grin to his face and waved back to his fans.
I tried to wave as well, but no one really cared.
Once the light turned green, Zee made sure to loudly rev the engine before shooting forward, making the small crowd cheer with excitement, and forcing me to cling to him out of fear of falling off.
We stopped a few more times after that, with a different crowd developing at each stop.
Some were smaller than the first, some were three times the size, but they were all pretty happy to see Zee.
And, with each stop, Zee made sure to put on a show with his bike. Along with wasting more than half his tank of gas.
Now, with my heart permanently relocated to my lower intestines, we pulled up to the best restaurant in our town.
Burger Boy!
Just the thought of their juicy warm meat patties, stacked delicately on top of one another with a piece of melted cheese adorning both of them. They would both be settled between two soft buns with the perfect balance of mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise guarding the enticing beef.
On their right would be a large blue and red container, which would hold a golden treasure. Fries, cooked to perfection, with a crunchy outside, but a soft tasty inside made of the best potatoes in the world.
To their left would be another treasure box containing ten bronze chicken nuggets. I could just picture the steam flowing out of them, and the chicken meat warming my mouth as I gobbled them up.
Tying all of them together was the heart of this quartet. A large cup with little droplets of water slowly creeping down it, which you could endlessly fill with the drink only gods should be allowed to consume. Cola!
The image of this culinary combination made my heart race with excitement and my stomach scream with hunger.
And the best part?
For the past two years they have had a deal where, for just ten dollars, you can get a 50 burger big boy meal. Small coke included.
I am personally proud to admit that I have had the honor of enjoying this noble privilege on more than one occasion. I just wish they'd put more burgers in the bag.
With my memories held safely in my heart, I armed myself with the mental image I had just painted, and boldly charged for the glass door of the fast food joint.
Unfortunately, the fates have deemed it necessary to only allow the worthy into this holy domain and have sent a challenger to test me and Zee.
"Excuse me" a deep voice boomed out behind us, "are you Zee?"
We both turned around to find a large being looming over us.
They stood several heads taller than us with bright orange hair covering their eyes, while also casting a shadow over their green skin.
I could see four long fangs sticking out of either side of his mouth, and two small horns resting on the sides of their head.
Even without being able to see his eyes, I knew the troll was looking at us. Mostly because he was standing right in front of us and had more or less yelled Zees name, but still.
I felt a large lump form in my throat as my brain began to recognize the situation we were in and form a strategy that would insure our survival.
We couldn't ignore this opponent, however it would be impossible to take him on head on.
It was also impossible to pretend we hadn't heard his challenge do to our poor choice of turning around.
I came up with twenty four more possibilities when Zee, with no concern for his own safety, stepped forward and bravely spoke to the troll.
"Well I ain't Ab Lincoln, or the dude on the penny" he said, smiling happily at our challenger, "what's up ma dude?"
There was silence after that.
A deathly silence which consumes your soul and can drive one to madness if they were to drown in it for too long.
Then, the troll reached his massive hand into its pants pocket and drew from it, his phone.
"Can I have a picture with you?"
"Heck yeah!"
The little boy's green face became covered with an ear to ear grin of joy as he nervously positioned himself around Zee.
To match the kids height, Zee floated off the ground and hoovered so that they were shoulder to shoulder together and he happily held the phone for the nervous troll who's joyful smile seemed to grow with every second.
Their goofy grins glued to their faces, the two of them took several pictures together
Most of which were just them being goofballs.
It looked like a lot of fun.
Eventually the little kids mom called for him, a green woman with chocolate brown hair and who was twice the height of her son.
Reluctantly, the troll said goodbye to his personal hero, but not before Zee handed him a small scrap of paper with his signature on it.
With tears of joy streaming down his face, the little boy wrapped Zee in a bone crushing hug and ran to his mom with his new prized possession in hand.
Zee gladly waved goodbye to the family as they drove off, his award winning smile never leaving his face.
"Nice kid" he said before floating back down to the ground and turning in my direction, "now, shall we dine at this fine establishment filled with grease and several health violations."
"Yes' ' I responded, as I felt my stomach begin to devour itself out of hunger, "let's eat, right now. Like, right now, right now."
"Dude, you're talking like you haven't eaten in days."
"I'm a growing girl. I need my burgers."
"Well, you're growing in some places."
"Thank you… hey, what does that mean?!"
"To the Fast food!"
With his playful smile still glued on, and avoiding my annoyed glare, Zee pushed the door open and the aroma of deliciousness that filled the air made my mouth water, and my eyes tear up from the beauty. That, or it was the pollen in the air.
In a few minutes we managed to place our orders, with Zee paying for it because working at a library didn't net me much in the way of money, and we made our way to the booth we'd always sit at.
It sat snugly in the corner where there were no windows and was kind of unnoticeable. All things considered, it was rather small and cramped and a little far away from the exit. Still, it was our little slice of heaven.
We plopped ourselves into the plastic seats and sat our number onto the table. The restaurant was noticeably busier then usual with several, now high school graduates, taking up most of the booths and tables.
The poor overworked teens who regularly ran the registers looked ready to faint out of stress.
I slumped onto the table. impatiently waiting for our meals to get to us.
"Why did they have to be busy today?"
"Because it's the second day of summer and they need business."
"Yeah… but does that really mean that so many people need to be here?"
The more I looked around, the more I realized just how packed it was, and the more I just wanted to hide under the table so that nobody could see me.
It didn't help that, about every ten seconds, someone would come up to Zee and talk to him. And, every time, I didn't know what to say or do with myself.
Once, I managed to squeak out a hello… which sounded more like a catatonic kitty cat dying of hunger.
Shoot, I just made myself sad with that. Poor kitty.
Eventually, the amount of people dyed down, and Zees fans seemed to leave us alone.
"Hanging in there alright blondie?"
"No" I responded to his teasing, feeling physically and socially drained, "it's been hours, where's our food?"
"It's been twenty minutes."
"Still, that's a long wait."
My eyes lit up as I suddenly remembered something important and I sat straight in my seat.
"You remembered to get Clair something right?"
"Apple pie and a chicken sandwich. She should be here soon by the way."
I sighed with relief and slumped back into my seat as the guilt I felt was somewhat lessened.
We had originally made this plan without talking with Clairabell, and just kind of assumed that she would be too busy. Turns out, she had already been out of school for summer and had just been waiting for us to call her.
"So" Zee said, pulling his phone out for a second, "how much you wanna bet she's gonna talk to you about what classes you should take together?"
With that, another wave of guilt washed over me as I remembered the application Clair had given me for the college she was transferring to up in Europe. And, how I had to hide it from my mom who was already telling me how great the local schools were.
"Oh, well, I'm sure she's not that serious about it."
I tried to let out a giggle to ease my conscience. It didn't work, I was still a trash human being.
Zee responded with a confused look.
"…We're talking about the same girl right? The one who has spent almost every waking moment finding us a place to live that's near campus?"
"Yeah, but still."
I tried to find the best words that would justify what I had said, but nothing came to me.
There wasn't really a right way to tell him that I probably wouldn't be going to the same school as him and Clair. Not with how excited she had been when she told us that we could all go to the school together again.
Almost on cue, the door to burger boy opened and in stepped a tall young woman with caramel brown hair, and violet colored eyes. She looked around, almost as if she were a wild animal searching for her prey.
Soon, her eyes fell onto our booth and…
"Guys" she cheered before running towards us and leaping into the booth.
Not wasting any time, Clair promptly wrapped her arms around Zee and planted her lips against his.
"H-hi Clair" I managed to stammer out, feeling kind of like I should give them some space.
"Hi Skee-skee" she said with a warm smile, "so, what have you two been up to?"
"Oh you know" Zee said, apparently not bothered by Clair pressing her body against him, "driving around, fighting evil, summoning giant monsters, talking like batman."
"You know " I added, "the usual stuff."
"You two really need to work on your comedy act" she responded, still smiling, "oh, by the way."
She let go of Zee for a bit and reached into her tan purse.
"Ta-da" she said, proudly holding out some papers to me, "I managed to get the class list for next semester."
"Oh" I said, the guilt settling in again, "th-thanks."
"…what's wrong?"
I lifted my head, and swallowed the lump in my throat.
"Nothing. Just super hungry."
"Gods" she said, a little disappointed, "they are always so slow here."
"Hey" Zee said, "it takes time to fry up horse hooves and pig guts."
"You know" I said, "if they hear you talking like that, they'll probably spit in your food."
"Ooh, yum, spit."
This continued for a while. Each joke becoming worse than the last, until, finally, our food had found its way to our table.
Before me was the delicious meal I had awaited a half an hour for.
The burger, fries, and chicken nuggets were all so tantalizing, with the sweat scent of each of them teasing my nostrils so much so that I had no idea which to bite into first.
Clapping my hands together and unable to get rid of the smile on my face, I thanked whichever god had blessed me for this delectable gift and dived into the feast.
Two minutes later, I was downing my soda to wash down the remainder of my meal.
Meanwhile, both Clair and Zee had barely touched their food. It was fine, they've always been slow eaters.
"Skee skee" Clair said, "at least enjoy the food before you gobble it up."
"Huh" I looked at her with confusion, "but I did enjoy it… hey, how much do they charge for seconds."
Clairabell then promptly slumped her head in defeat.
"Ah, it's not fair. How can someone look so cute but be such a huge glutton at the same time?"
"Simple," Zee said, "her stomach's a black hole."
"Some say it can teleport you to another dimension" I chimed, "but in truth all it does is devour any surrounding matter into its empty void."
"Hey" she demanded, "you know i can't keep up with your science mumbo jumbo."
It was really easy science though.
With a huff, Clairabell threw her hair back and proudly picked up her sandwich.
"Alright then, black hole stomach awaken!"
She proceeded to take a big bite out of her chicken and chewed it all up.
Then her lips recoiled and her eyes got a pained look.
I offered her my drink and she quickly used it to wash down the terrible flavor that, I'm assuming, was garlic.
"Ew" she proclaimed, "when'd they start putting garlic on these things."
"It might be an attempt to keep you from coming here" Zee said, "that, or they screwed up our order."
She chugged some more of my soda before and Zee cracked a few more jokes while I was reminded of how out of place these two looked here.
With her make up perfectly placed on her face, and her tan shirt and black skinny jeans hugging her body, Clair looked like a supermodel who had just wandered in to wait for her manager.
Zee meanwhile, with his strong jaw and muscular build and v-neck that emphasized his collarbone, looked as though he had just got done staring in a superhero movie.
In short, they looked cool.
Personally, I'd like to describe our small group as being similar to Neapolitan ice cream.
Zee was chocolate, the one everyone goes to and loves. He's a hit at parties, goes great with everything, and is always there for you.
Clairabell's strawberry, the better second. She's sweet, pretty to look at, and has a slight tang to her that makes her endearing to everybody who meats her.
I, meanwhile, was vanilla. Not necessarily a bad flavor, just one that doesn't stand out without the other two. I'm boring to look at, only taste well for a short while, and would probably make chocolate and strawberry look better if I wasn't part of the dessert in general.
Any who, Zee and Clair headed over to get her chicken sandwich changed out, while I went to refill my sody pop.
As I watched the fizzy, dark brown liquid fill the cup, I contemplated how I would explain to them that I couldn't exactly go to the college Calir wanted us to attend. Or, how I couldn't go to any college.
Then, I tried to think about how they would react when I told them the reason. How they would be just as mad and disappointed in me as my parents were. How they'd both probably not want to see me again.
Then, I thought about how my soda was overflowing and spilling out.
"Oh no, no, no, no."
I pulled the cup away, splashing soda all over my hands and the counter.
With a heavy sigh, I turned to grab some napkins and clean this mess up. That's, when I noticed the person standing outside, staring up into the sky.
They were standing right next to the door and wore a large, baggy, gray hoodie that made it sort of hard to tell who they were. I wasn't even able to make out what their face looked like because it was hidden beneath that giant hood they wore.
The only thing I could make of them was that they were rather short.
I'm sorry for how that might sound but it was the only thing I could think of that could describe them. There really were no other describable features which this individual offered me.
And, for some reason, I found myself staring at them with an odd sense of curiosity.
Well, actually, I suppose curiosity isn't the feeling they caused me. Truth be told, they scared me.
I am aware of how awful that is, to say that you are afraid of a stranger you just happen to look at. It's something a little kid would say about the grouchy old man living next store whom they had never talked to but have seen enough to have nightmares about.
Yet, that was how I found myself feeling. A scared little girl, terrified by a person simply stand outside watching the clouds go by.
And then, they turned into my direction.
For a while, we both just stood there staring at each other. Their hood hid their face under complete darkness while I was left exposed to be examined.
I tried to think of a way to approach the situation. How I should greet this total stranger who was just staring at me, eyeing my appearance, examining the way I breathed, wondering why I looked the way I did, questioning how I can exist the way I am and simply wishing that I would just disappear. That's what most people tell me to do anyway so it makes sense that they think that.
My heart began to race and a giant knot started forming in my stomach.
I wanted this to end. To crawl into a hole and wait until this person stopped looking at me like some strange anomaly which didn't belong in this world.
"Skye?"
I turned around so fast to meet Clairs voice that I tripped over my own feet and fell flat on my butt.
"Are you okay" Clair asked, kneeling down to make sure I wasn't hurt.
"Y-yeah" I stuttered out, "I'm f-fine."
She continued to look at me with concern clearly not believing what I said.
"S-so, what are we doing after this?"
"…we were going to go to the arcade. But, we could just call it a night-."
"Let's go."
I hoisted myself off the ground, hoping that I didn't look as freaked out as I actually was.
In doing so I accidentally placed my hands in the sticky soda mess I had made. So, there was also that.
"Oh, okay."
She kept looking at me with a worried look even as we made our way outside.
"Alright" Zee said, "who's driving, who's riding, and who's drinking? I'm doing all three."
He then promptly pulled out a flask and started chugging.
"Zee!"
"No worries, it's sprite. I ain't an alcoholic just yet."
I was about to step forward and hop onto Zees bike, but Clair quickly grabbed my shoulder and turned me in the direction of her bright red corvette.
"Me and Skee skee are gonna have some girl time" she said while pushing me to her car, "meet you there."
"Okay, I'll just have some time to myself. Maybe I'll race a bald guy and we'll make over eight terrible moves together."
"Dude" I responded, "what do you have against Vin Diecell?"
"He didn't let me be the dungeon master when we played D&D together!"
And with that, Zee revved his motorcycle and drove off on a wheely.
". . .how does he not have a single driving ticket?"
"His dad's a god" Clair answered, "plus, my babies hot."
"If you say so."
We then got into Clairs car.
Her cream colored seats were warm from the sun, and the dashboard had a nice vanilla smell to it.
Clair put the key into the ignition and an upbeat pop song began blasting out of radio.
"Woo" she cheered, "let's go waste quarters!"
We both laughed and sang along to the music.
And, out of the corner of my eye, I could see the person in the hoodie standing on the sidewalk. Still staring directly at me.