One day you wake up and realize that your life is nothing like you thought it would be. I thought that I would be married by now and living with the love of my life for the rest of my life. Instead, I am running for my life because some IDIOT set Stymphalian birds free in my museum! I don’t know whether to be impressed, pissed, or both. Instead, I’m terrified. Every time I try to duck into a room it’s locked. In the time, it takes me to try a door, they catch up with me and throw their stupid feathers at me!444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEiKl5WDZM
I should back up and explain. My name is Jessenia Marshall. Jess to pretty much everybody. I double majored in Anthropology and Ancient History in college. Then I got a job as an intern at my favorite museum and worked my way up to be the head curator’s assistant. It was at this museum I ran into a friend from high school who turned out to be the love of my life. But enough about me for now. Still running for my life, remember. I’m running down the corridor headed toward… the Greek wing.
“Oh crap,” I think to myself “WHY does it have to be this wing!?” There are zero places to hide in the Greek wing, especially right now while we rearrange it. Not to mention that it’s extra creepy on nights like tonight.
“Why did I decide to work late tonight?” I ask myself as I burst through the double doors into the exhibit. “Oh yeah, because Aleksander cancelled date night again and I didn’t want to go home to an empty apartment.”
There is nowhere to hide in the Greek wing. The Stymphalian bird feathers are coming down like rain during an English summer. Not that I know what one of those is like, living in the middle of nowhere. I bob and weave through the statues of the major Greek gods and goddesses. Feathers are shattering windows and glass encased artifacts. There’s a loud crash and this woman comes bursting through the double doors. She looks familiar, but I can’t place a name with the face. Whoever she is, she has a crossbow and a quiver stuffed to the breaking point with arrows. She’s completely decked out in brown and dark green archery gear. She shoots down most of the Stymphalian birds before I know she has even loaded her bow. The ones who don’t get shot down screech. They throw feathers at her before flying away through the broken windows.
“Are you alright? They didn’t hurt you, did they?” she asks as she helps me of the floor behind a statue of Hermes.
“No, I am pretty sure I’m alright”, I reply. “A bit shaken up is all. Who are you? How did you know I was here? Why were the Stymphalian birds after me? What-”
“Woah, woah, woah slow down! Slow down! First, if you don’t know who I am, that’s sad. We’ve only worked together for the past three years.” She says with a grin. It takes me a few more seconds to recognize her.
“Oh, my word! Brit, I’m so sorry. I’m not used to seeing you like this, I guess. I mean you look like Apocalypse Now and Hunger Games had a baby. Where are your glasses? I thought you had to have them to see.”
“No, I only wear them for show. There’s a lot of things you need to be filled in on. For now, let’s get you home. Daemon is waiting outside.”
With that she turns and begins to walk out of the exhibit. I'm stunned but I follow anyway. It's like my feet were moving on their own. What is going on? Stymphalian birds? They're not even supposed to exist! How did someone set them lose? Why did someone set them lose? WHO set them lose? And why were they attacking me when I had done nothing? They’re only supposed to attack prey. According to some sources they attack threats to their young as well, but I was neither. And why tonight? I didn’t even know I would be here until this afternoon when Aleks texted me.
Somehow, I manage to follow Brit while lost in my thoughts. We exit the museum to see Daemon, Brit’s best friend. He's leaning up against a beat-up, old car that's two different colors. He's wearing an old Journey t-shirt and blue jeans that have faded so much they are almost white. His sneakers, though, are bright red and well cared for. Daemon doesn't see us exit so when Brit yells at him to get off his phone he almost jumps out of his skin.
“Jesus woman! Can’t you pass up the opportunity to scare me!? Oh, hey Jess. You alright? You look kind of pale.”, He asks when he sees me behind Brit.
Brit answers for me. “Not sure how’s she’s doing. I asked her some questions on our way out of the museum, but she didn’t answer. I’m not even sure she could hear me. She seems to be in her own little world. We should get her home. That is, if your rust-bucket can make it that far.”
“Hey, I’ll have you know that this car is a classic! You know how rare a ’54 Belvedere is?” Daemon asks indignantly.
“Rare definitely isn’t the right word. Extinct would be more accurate.”
“Where’s Aleks?”, I ask. They both turned to me shocked. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.
“We’ve sent people to go get him. They’ll bring him home as soon as they can.”, Daemon answered. “And you’ll be there to meet him. We’re going to take you home.”
We climb in the car and headed for my apartment. I don’t know if it was a quiet ride for everyone, but it was for me. All I could do was stare out the window and think about Aleks. He is the only family I have left. I lost my parents a few years back because of a car accident. My brother blames me for their death. They were on their way to see me when they died. Aleks is all I have. I cannot lose him.
The ride feels like a lifetime, even though I know it is only 15 or 20 minutes. When we get there, I fumble with my keys for a few minutes. Brit gently reaches out, stops my shaking hands, and takes the key from me to open the door. Once we were inside the apartment Brit finds my room and comes out with a pair of my favorite pjs.
“Here,” she says handing them to me “I remember you saying these were your favorite pair during the last girl’s night we had. Go shower and put them on. I’ll make some coffee for us.”
I do as she says. I shower and put on my pajamas. While I showered Brit had made a pot of coffee. I come out of my room and am met with the comforting scent of freshly brewed coffee. Brit sits several cups on the counter before handing me one.
“Fix yourself a cup. I’m not exactly sure how you take it and if I try and guess I’ll mess it up for sure.”
“Hey, how about we turn on something while we wait for the others?”, Daemon asks. “We can turn on anything you want. Just point me to the remote.”
I open the tv cabinet to reveal Aleks’ prize possessions, a 42” tv, a soundbar, a Blu-ray player, and various gaming systems. I then open the side cabinet and reveal our DVD collection.
“Pick any movie,” I tell him “I like them all. The Blu-ray remote is on top of the player.”
In typical guy fashion Daemon picks an action movie. Die Hard, to be specific. We make it through the first movie before Brit asks to switch movies. That’s when we switch to Harry Potter. We had just finished the first movie when there was a knock on the door.
“I’ll get it.” Brit said as she starts to stand. I have my back turned so I hear whispering but don’t see who she is talking to. She closes the door and comes back to the couch. “Hey Jess, why don't you go ahead and go to your room. It looks like it’s going to be a while before they get back and it’s already late. Or early, depending on how you look at it.”
“Okay. Will you two be alright?” I ask her as I head towards the kitchen.
“Yeah we’ll be fine. Just go to bed. It will be better for you to go lay down. If you do fall asleep, you’ll already be somewhere comfortable. And I’ll come get you when they get back.”I don’t know why I haven’t noticed, but Brit has a very comforting presence. As I walk to my room, I think back to the times over the past three years that I’ve spent time with her. She was always nice, and she helped me anytime I needed her to. We haven’t seen each other outside of work in quite a while. Not just the two of us anyway. There were a few girl’s nights when we spent hours in a group laughing. I wish I knew more about her. But that can wait until morning. For now, I need to lay down and at least try to sleep. This is going to be a long night.444Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmjllvlwoU
