Eyes of Stone

[Wednesday]

Prologue

Medusa, a beautiful woman born into family of gorgons, asked the Goddess Athena if she could venture to the south to see the sun. When Athena refused Medusa claimed that the reason behind her answer was because she was jealous of her beauty. Outraged Athena cursed Medusa to be a gorgon, to have hair of snakes and eyes that could turn a man to stone. Then later Perseus was sent to kill Medusa and he was successful.
But there is a part of the tale that is untold. After Medusa was cursed she conceived a daughter who was kept secret from the world. This Daughter also carried the curse that slowly over the years began to change. Except for three to five days a month we looked normal, even though we still needed to cover our eyes to keep from turning people to stone. But those other days, our hair turns to snakes and our skin turns green. We become the ugly form that Medusa once was.
Thousands of years later my father was born. All living family members rejoiced at his birth. For he was the first male to be born into the family and he was not effected by the curse. The family believed that the curse was finally over. Then I was born. It turns out that he still carried the curse in his genes they just didn’t effect him because he was a man. I was born with the curse just like every other woman in the family and now I carried the burden of thousands of years of punishment.

[Wednesday]

Chapter 1: Seen and Unseen

I grumbled as I pulled my shirt off for the thousandth time and threw it into the growing pile of rejected clothing. It was utterly impossible for me to look unattractive and even though I knew this I still tried to look my worst. Finally giving up the fight I pulled on a plain red shirt that fit snuggly and my favorite pair of faded jeans. I then proceeded to place a red mask over my strikingly silver eyes. Even though the mask did not have eye wholes and normal human eyes could not penetrate the fabric I saw myself easily in the mirror.
I began to think about the day ahead of me. It would be exactly like the last hundred times I had moved to a new school. Guys would stare, girls would glare, and I would try to be invisible. And when that didn’t work I would act like the snobbiest rich girl on the planet. I would do anything to keep the people around me safe. None of them knew what could happen to them if they looked into my eyes for even a split second. No one knew how truly dangerous I was.

[Wednesday]

“Kori! Breakfast is ready!” My mother called from down stairs, her voice chipper as usual.
“Coming Mom,” I said combing through my long brown hair one last time. My mother was lucky, she was part of this family by marriage. So she, unlike the other woman of this family, was not cursed. Cursed with the striking beauty, flawless figure, and eyes that could turn any living person to stone.
“Good morning Mom,” I said as I entered the kitchen. I gave her a weak smile trying to seem like I was happy about life. She read me like a book.
“Honey, please don’t be sad. I know you have been through a lot and the last thing you want to do is go to school, but-” I cut her off.
“Then why are you making me go? It would be better if you just locked me in my room for the rest of my natural life.” I said dropping my smile. I knew the answer to this question. She gave me the same one every time we moved.

[Wednesday]

“Because your father wanted you to have a life Kori, he didn’t want you to miss out on life just because of your heritage.” She answered. “You promised him Kori.”
I wish I never promised him that day, but what was I supposed to do, he was dying. It would have been easier if I hadn’t made that promise. He died a few days after I made that promise. We would have been able to live in the house that I grew up in and no one would have died because my father would have kept me from making the horrible mistakes I have made.
I sat down at the table and began to eat keeping my eyes off my mother, who I knew was watching me. I could feel her pity and I hated it. “I’m going to school,” I said getting to my feet and leaving the room without finishing my breakfast.
“Kori I…” She began.
“I’ll see you after school,” I said ignore whatever she was about to say. I grabbed my bag by the door and my keys on the stand then left without saying anything more.

[Wednesday]

Every first day of school for me went the exact same as this one did. Wake up, take forever to get dressed, fight with mom, leave without finishing breakfast and then regret everything that happened. I had finally reached the last step as I got into my Dad’s black 1970 Chevrolet Malibu Chevelle SS Clone and pulled away from the house.
I felt the tears welling up as I drove down the street at a slower pace then usual. I looked into the rear view mirror seeing the silver streaks running down my cheeks. These were the tears of a gorgon. I whipped them away and decided not to think about what happened at the house until I returned home from school.
La Conner was smaller then all the other cities we moved to. Which meant that keeping to myself was going to be harder then usual. The high school itself had 700 students total and I was used to at least 500 in my class alone. Even with my house on the out skirts off town it took only fifteen minutes to get to the school.

[Wednesday]

When I arrived there were only a few cars in the parking lot, most of which paled in comparison to mine. Many times I thought about trading in my car for a more recent car so that I didn’t stick out but this car was one of the few things that I had of my fathers. He loved the car and I could never get rid of it.
I parked with ease and stopped the engine. I sat for a moment, my eyes closed, thinking about my objectives for the day. Most important of all, I needed to keep my distance. I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes I made in the past. I took a deep breath and opened my door.

[Wednesday]

((Just so no one gets confused I changed Ariane name to Kori.))

[Repo Man]

(nice start Becca. Keep going!! Must know more!)

[Wednesday]

It was cool out side and there was no trace of the sun through the shroud of clouds in the sky. I took my time getting to the front office and once I was there went to the front desk.
“Can I help you miss?” The woman behind the desk said. Her name plate read: Mrs. Kents.
“Yes, my name is Kori Aglaia. I’m new.“ I informed her.
“Right, right. Here is your schedule and a map of the school just in case.” She said with a cheery smile. She also handed me a sheet of paper with eight lines across it. “Make sure you get this signed by all of you teachers and get it back to me tomorrow. You have your first four classes today and the last four tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” I said turning for the door.
“Have a nice day Miss Aglaia.” She said as I walked out the door.

[Wednesday]

By the time the first bell rang I had circled the entire school finding all of my classes and memorized my schedule. My first class was Physics with Mr. Glen.
I was the first in the class room and walked up to Mr. Glen holding out the paper. He was a tall man with thinning brown hair and a bit rounded out. He took the paper and signed his name.
“Welcome to the class Miss Aglaia,” He said eyeing me. “Sit anywhere you like.” I could tell he was curious about the mask across my eyes but I just smiled and sat down in the front row.
The other students slowly made their way into class giving me an inquiring glance as they went to their seats. The bell rang for class to start and Mr. Glen stood up introducing me to the class. Thankfully he left it at that and continued on with class without another word. I tried my best to ignore my fellow class mates who I felt staring at me the whole class period. That made for a long hour and thirty minutes.

[Wednesday]

Pre-Calc with Mrs. Canten was a nightmare and it didn’t have anything to do with Pre-Calc. She made me stand in front of the class, tell them my name, and answer any questions the other students asked. The first six hands in the air I realized where all from my Physics class. I pointed to one in the front.
“How can you see with that mask over your eyes?” He asked. I clenched my teeth together, wrong question to ask. Since it was always a frequently asked question I had concocted my own very simple explanation.
“It’s a fashion statement.” I said simply.
“Then how can you see?” He asked ignoring the twenty other hands that shot up when I answered.
“One side of the fabric you can’t see through and the other you can.” I answered. He seemed confused by my answer but left it at that.
Mrs. Canten only allowed a few more question and after someone asked me for my number she cut him off and told me to sit down. When she finally started class I realized that I probably wouldn‘t like this class. She taught the class like we were six year olds and that just aggravated me farther.

[Wednesday]

I was relieved when the class finally came to an end, and as an added bonus I got to go to lunch. The school’s lunch schedule confused me a little. I couldn’t understand why there were two different lunches in such a small school. My other schools had many lunches but they had students numbering in the thousands. My question was answered when I saw the cafeteria.
It was small and would only fit half of the schools students. I had the first lunch both days which would make my days much easier. I bought my lunch and sat down at an empty table, it wasn’t long before guys were asking to sit with me. I could feel the fiery jealousy of the girls starting to build, it didn’t bother me it was normal. I turned down everyone that asked.
I thought that I was finally free of the line up when no one bothered me for a few minutes. Then out of no where someone sat down.

[Repo Man]

("Its a fashion statement." Lol. Priceless. Love that line. XD

And uh-oh. Someone sat down! MORE!)

[Wednesday]

“It’s very rude to sit down without being invited,” I said annoyed. I could feel the eyes of others in the room staring down on my table. Curious whispers filled the room.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize someone was sitting here.” He said sincerely looking up from his food. I was appalled, was he really that oblivious. His dull green eyes looked at me with indifference. “May I sit here?” He asked politely.
If it wasn’t for that fact that he was extremely cute I would have said no right away. His dull green eyes were very interesting a color I had never seen before. His brown hair was a tiny bit longer then most and very messy looking but it suited him. He had the slightest muscular form and a very calm atmosphere around him.
“Give me one good reason why I should let you stay.” I said after a long moment.

[Wednesday]

“You will be a very lonely person if you keep sending people off without giving them a chance.” He answered staring at me, his calm attitude amazed me.
“Maybe I like being alone,” I informed my annoyance reaching my voice.
“I seriously doubt that,” He said plainly.
“All right, if your not going to leave then I will.” I said. I couldn’t believe her had the nerve to say something like that. Whether it was true or not.
I went to get up and his hand catch mine. “Let me go!” I growled trying to pull my arm away. He was surprisingly strong.
“I’m sorry,” He said. “That was rude. Give me one more chance?” He pleaded releasing my hand. I sighed and sat back down. The room around us released a breath as if they were watching an intense soap opera.