Free Fruit of Misfortune by Nely Cab

I’m
unconscious.
    ***
    It was so stupid of me to be preoccupied with
Eros when I knew what I had to do. If my father couldn’t or
wouldn’t tell me what I was becoming and we couldn’t stop it, then
the decision I had just made would settle it all. I didn’t know how
I would achieve it, but I would stop at nothing.
    Biting at one end of the pen, I decided it
was unnecessary to rant over Eros in my journal. He wasn’t worthy
of being documented, especially not when I would hand this journal
over to either my mother or David in the end.
    ***
    June 6, 1:32 P.M.
    I’m certain that my dreams are visions of
what I am. I’ll find a way to deliver myself to the Council, and
they’ll put this wretched thing inside me to rest. Because if I
don’t exist, then David will never become what I could one day be—a
killer.
    ***
    I returned the notebook to its resting place
and sat on my bed, staring off into nothing, wondering why I was
born this way. I wanted an answer.
    Claire would be devastated if and when I
didn’t return to her. Here I was, pitying myself, when she would be
left alone. But I would rather that she lives than she dies at my
hand.
    I rested my head on the bed and clenched a
pillow as I felt a burst of nervousness. I hoped that both David
and my mother would forgive me.
    Minutes later, David arrived. Paulina called
us to lunch on Camilla’s order. In David’s presence, Paulina
avoided looking me in the eye and having any contact with Eros. I
didn’t blame her.
    I took a seat next to David, across the table
from Eros at the kitchen table. David wrapped his arm around my
shoulders and kissed the side of my head.
    “I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to
see you so in love, brother.” Eros smiled so genuinely that I would
have eaten a poisoned apple had he offered it to me. “You two are
perfect together.”
    The hypocrite!
    “Thank you,” David said.
    “Here’s to finding your perfect love.” Eros
raised his glass of wine to us.
    I rolled my eyes at him, and hoped David
hadn’t noticed.
    Camilla smelled of olive oil, cooking herbs,
and dishwashing soap, as she served our meal. I thought it was
interesting how the scent of a person told so much about their
lives.
    When I was little and Claire used to work as
a waitress, she smelled like a mixture of cooking oil and shampoo.
Now, she smells lightly of caramel from the coffee at her office
and like the notes of myrrh in her perfume.
    The last time he hugged me, my dad, Hector,
smelled like cigarette smoke and aftershave. His shirts always
smelled like that, washed or unwashed.
    I wondered what I smelled like, being that
we’re supposed to be immune to our own scents. I also wondered what
S. Leumas, my biological father, smelled like. And with that
thought I was reminded that I needed to set my plan in motion.
    “Do you think we can make the trip to
Kyparissia tomorrow?” I asked David.
    “No,” David said, twirling a fork into his
homemade Italian noodles. “Not until I know you’re well enough to
travel.” He looked at my untouched portions of food. “Aren’t you
hungry?”
    “I am.” I wasn’t, but I ate a little anyway
to please him. The thought of what I had decided to do was
suppressing my hunger.
    ***
    An hour past sundown, Balthazar arrived with
Nyx, Galen, and Eryx. They were able to catch an earlier flight.
The twins would have been in Athens in a couple of hours had Nyx
not been the one that was most needed. She didn’t have wings like
they did, so they had to fly the human way, via a commercial
airline. David also told me that on a long flight like that, using
their wings was exhausting. Not to mention, Nyx didn’t believe in
traveling light. She had brought three large suitcases, two of
which Balthazar was struggling with in the driveway. Eryx carried a
third, along with a smaller one.
    “My dear.” Nyx hugged me. “How are you
feeling?”
    “I’m okay,” I said. “Your trip might’ve been
unnecessary.