Apollo never really liked the taste of mud. It was grainy, bland, and no matter how much he wished to wash it out of his mouth the process was always long. And yet, eating it had become a normal part of his daily routine at this point. Spitting out the mud from his mouth he attempted to save his school books and papers that scattered onto the ground once he was harshly pushed. A group of boys sat there, laughing and pointing at him calling him the same thing they had been calling him for years.
"Thought we told you not to come back, freak."
"Nobody likes looking at you."
"You're so ugly, why don't you just go and off yourself already."
Insult after insult was spat out at him as they kicked him. He curled himself into a ball, covering his vital organs and waited for them to grow bored of beating the shit out of him. Once they did he sighed, rising to his feet slowly and picking up his now dirtied things. He shoved them into his bag and begrudgingly made his way to the school bathroom where he spent the rest of the day, alone and crying.
Before he knew it, it was the end of the day. He left the bathroom stall and left the school only to be met face to face with the beginnings of a thunderstorm. Ah gee, God must have hated him today. Walking home in the cold rain was, as one would expect not very fun. As he was sloshing along down the street, looking down at his feet he almost didn't notice the car that was racing down the road directly at him. Yelping and jumping out of the way Apollo's heart jumped out of his chest as he watched the car screech down the street, missing him by only a few inches.
His eyes were most likely the size of saucers as he clasped his hand over his chest, trying to calm himself down. Once he was no longer shaking he rose to his feet and continued his trek, this time a bit more carefully. He hugged himself, now shivering from the cold, his teeth chattered as he turned onto his street.
Just as his house came into view his view was obscured by blinding light, once again jumping away and screaming like a scared kitten Apollo was faced with the realization that lightning had just struck mere meters away from him. What the actual fuck? Thought Apollo, was God really trying to kill him today? This was oddly coincidental, being nearly hit by a car was completely believable but nearly being struck by lightning, that was less common. Now he was full on running home, scared shitless as he tore into his house. Yanking the door open he scattered out of the way like a scared mouse as a couch came barreling at him.
"What the fuck?!"
"Language!"
He heard his mother yell as she and his brother popped their heads out of the front door.
"Sorry about that honey, we were moving the couch downstairs."
"In the middle of a thunderstorm?"
"It wasn't thunder-storming when we started."
Shaking his head in disbelief, he was completely exhausted and Apollo didn't care enough to argue so he went into the house and straight to the kitchen. He had earned a sandwich. He grabbed some bread and slapped some peanut butter on it and rolled the bottom of it in a paper towel as he snatched a coke from the fridge. Popping open his can of cola he sat down, the seat making a squishing sound as he did so but at this point Apollo had no brain capacity to care. He took a nice drink of his cola and dug into his sandwich.
Damn that sandwich was good… until it wasn't.
A piece of that delicious sandwich got lodged in his throat. Coughing and sputtering the boy immediately went grabbing for his coke but if this day had proven anything it was that Apollo had neither luck nor God on his side. And as God would have it he knocked his can to the ground, spilling it all over the floor as he could feel himself already getting light-headed. He banged his hands on the table trying to alert his mother or brother to the predicament he found himself in but those two were unfortunately not what Apollo would call reliable.
"Quit all that banging Apollo, we're trying to redecorate."
Apollo with all of the strength he could muster flipped the table over, that seemed to be enough of a reaction to make his mother come stomping into the room.
"Yes, Mr. Drama quee-"
Apollo crashed to the floor, holding his throat as his vision started dotting over. He heard screaming and he felt, what he assumed to be his brother trying to do the Heimlich maneuver on him. But by that point it was already too late, Apollo was gone, completely passed out.
Apollo felt cold, insanely cold and yet also numb at the same time. It was a very strange sensation to say the least. His eyes fluttered open and he was met face to face with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had blue skin with sapphire eyes and long midnight blue hair. Said hair reached her knees and was wavy and looked like silk. She had all kinds of gold jewelry and chains covering her tall slender form as well as a thin, flowing silver dress. Her face was gentle, beyond gorgeous with a silver crescent moon adorning her forehead. She rose her hand up and caressed his cheek ever so gently, her touch was warm and he instantly moved closer to her, wishing for her to share it.
"Hello, little one."
"Who… who are you?"
"My name is Nelle, I'm a Goddess."
Apollo looked around.
"Where am I?"
"You are in limbo, a bridge between worlds. You should have gone to your worlds' underworld when you passed but instead your soul wandered here."
"Wait, passed? Like dead?! I'm dead?!"
Apollo sat up, now very confused and panicked. Dead?! How could he be dead?! He hadn't even lived yet! He hadn't had his first kiss; he hadn't had the chance to graduate, get out of the hellhole known as his hometown. Apollo felt tears prick his eyes, how unfair. Why did he have to die like this? Why was he even born if he was just going to live a completely meaningless existence and then die from choking on a sandwich of all things. Before Apollo could go full crybaby mode Nelle gently grabbed his chin and turned it to face her once more. She gave him a small smile, one that set his heart at ease.
"Would you like a second chance?"
"What? What do you mean? You'll return me to my world?"
Nelle shook her head.
"I don't have the right to do that, it's not my world. But since you have wandered here you no longer have to follow your God's rules. If you want you may return to your world and die, as your God intended or you may try again in mine."
"In your world? What's your world?"
"A world of magic, mysteries, and adventure but also terrible darkness. The choice is yours, young man."
She rose to her feet, now towering over him at a full eight feet tall. Apollo thought for a moment, even though there was no real choice. If he had a second chance then he should take it, he wanted to take it. There had to be more for him then being bullied and crying in the school bathroom. A world of magic and adventure? How much worse could it be then his world?
"I would like a second chance."
Nelle gave a big grin, which was by far the most beautiful thing about her. She rose her hand up and Apollo wasted no time in taking it as she led him to a large ornate door, along the door was sliver vines that slithered along each other like snakes. On that door was a crescent moon, just like the mark on Nelle's forehead. Nelle opened the door and turned to Apollo.
"I pray that you make the most of this life Apollo. You will not get another chance."
Apollo nodded, swallowing thickly. She cupped his face in her hands and brought him close.
"Promise me something, won't you?"
"Any-anything."
"Promise me you'll try harder, be more courageous, live this life to the fullest. Don't let a single moment pass by. Promise me that you'll be passionate and daring, no matter how awkward or nervous you are. Promise me that, because if you don't then you will just be repeating the same life again. And you don't want to do that, do you?"
Apollo shook his head vigorously.
"Promise me."
"I promise."
Nelle placed a sweet kiss on his forehead.
"Good, now go. Live, enjoy the chance you've been given."
She gently pushed him forward and in his normal awkward fashion Apollo stumbled his way into this unknown world.