LIKE LOVERS DO.

iii. persephone

i. 𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝖉𝖔
act i. chapter three.
❛ persephone ❜

everyone's always told me that i'm unlovable. a monster is what they called me. a twisty dark spiral of cluttered and destroyed stairs covered in my dirty laundry that i walk down on a continuous loop, adding more and more to the pile. my life is a mess, and not those little specs of dust type of mess. my life is the type of mess that has cobwebs and my skeletons hidden deep away in my worn down closet-it's sad really. there was never anything i could do about it.

until i met him. he was the sun to my moon, the light to the darkness that surrounds me with every waking breathe. he was the warm and beautiful spring that thrived in the cold desolate winter. he was spring and i was winter.

i had to have him. but i couldn't just take him. or could i? since i'm such a monster like everyone says, why don't i just take him and force him to love me? i force what i want upon him? like the true monster i am.

but i cant. he's so pure and innocent. i would only ruin him. he's the water and i'm the drop of dye. once i change the color, it could never go back. that one drop of dye infects the water just like i would infect him. i'm poison and he's without an antidote around me.

he's as pure as the driven snow and all i'll do is pollute his white innocence.

"do you know the story of persephone and hades?" i had asked him one warm and sunny day as we sat soaking in the rays of sun. we had decided to have a picnic and i caught sight of the red fruit that he had packed.

"no, i never really learned about greek mythology." he responded meekly and i only gave him a small smile. i sat up and grabbed the alluring fruit out from the basket.

"well, there's this myth about hades and persephone," i began as i cut the pomegranate open carefully. "hades loved persephone so much he had to have her, but he couldn't. so he gave her a pomegranate."

"i don't get it." he interrupted me as he watched me open the fruit with his eyebrows knitted together. i only laughed slightly.

"let me finish." with his attention drawn, i continued. "the pomegranate represents the indissolubility of marriage. so, each pomegranate seed would represent the months out of a year persephone would spend with hades. persephone ended up eating six pomegranate seeds, and would eventually have to spend six months out of every year with hades in the underworld so winter could come." i ripped open the fruit with ease, red juice splattering on my hands.

he frowned. "why?"

i laughed. "why what?"

"why would she eat the seeds?"

"sometimes, the thought of something could be so alluring you won't be able to realize the consequences of your actions until after." i sigh. "at least, that's what it means to me." i pour a few seeds into my hands and hold them out to him. "if you had the choice, which would you choose? would you give up six months every year to be with the one you loved? or would you sacrifice your love for the greater good?"

his frown deepened as he stared at the seeds in my hand, pondering my question that held more meaning then i decided to let on. my knowing eyes pierced him as i saw the wheels turning in his head. so i continued, "would you be selfish or not?"

"i would sacrifice my love for the greater good." he concluded, his eyes moving from the ruby red seeds in my hands to my eyes that glinted with mischief. "but... loving someone isn't selfish."

"taking away spring is selfish." i explain. "and persephone gave up spring for hades. would you give up spring for me?"

i put a few seeds in my mouth. "or would you give up winter?"

i stare at him intensely as i watch his eyes fall back onto the seeds that still lay in the palm of my hand. anticipation and anxiety rushed through my veins. i have to know his choice.

my eyes light up as i watch his hand hesitantly reach out for the seeds in my hand. his fingertips scrape against my skin as he grabbed the rest of the seeds in my hand. gingerly, he dumps the rest of the pomegranate seeds into his mouth.

"i'd choose love." his answer is firm and it gives me the confirmation i need to lean in and press my lips against his, pomegranate juice mingling with our taste buds that left me wanting more. "i... i would choose you."

he was persephone and i was hades; now winter could come.