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emotion_ghost Day #5 emotion_ghost
Theme: Jupiter
They call him a god.
He had started as a prince, with everything set against him. The youngest of six children gets his mother’s love, but his father’s attention? Even the eldest son can barely keep his interest until he starts his descent to an earlier grave. Him? He could have been a rock and his father would have hardly known the difference. Not that he was around his father that long - his mother up and left town when it became clear that family was this man’s last priority.
School was hardly any better for him. Connections were everything then, and his web was so weak that a single snag would cause it to break apart instantly. Not to mention that there was nothing truly exceptional about him then. Sure, his father was a hotshot, but when you aren’t the heir and everyone has at least one parent who’s a big deal, that isn’t enough. Where other’s had their beauty, intelligence, strength, charisma, and ingenuity, all he had was his vendetta.
Sometimes a single ripple is enough to cause a tsunami.
Before you could tell, out of nowhere came this kid who seemed to have all the answers. Where there was dying wheat, he struck gold. If there was a storm, he would bring the lightning to strike everything in his path down. He was a force to be reckoned with, and yet no one even had a chance against him. His transformation was electrifying - a forgotten prince he was not. But he was more than a king.
Back then I had been his queen. There from the start, I was his constant and often only, companion. I knew from the start that he was going to make something of himself, even if others didn’t. He was always five steps ahead of the crowd, and I was always by his side. In times of trouble, I would offer whatever I could - a shoulder, my wisdom, even my bed. We planned everything together, bound first by the blue and green sheets of my bed, and then by our vows.
My parents tried to warn me not to throw away my life at 19. That I was moving too fast and had my whole future ahead of me. But I was young and in love and being apart from him was like being cut off from oxygen. And we had been through so much by that point - the white sheet over his mother, the teetering tower of rejection letters, glaring red epithets on his locker, car, and house - it just seemed too cruel to leave him. I had faith that our love would beat the odds. That if every other couple were to divorce and hate each other, that we would be the one happily married until we died old, hand-in-hand, surrounded by family.
Of course I had been foolish. Who isn’t foolish when they are 19 and in love? Back then, I knew he felt the same way. He would have done anything for me. It wasn’t too much to give up my choice school so I could stay with him. We had planned for this, all would be well.
I’ve often wondered if things would have ended better for us if we had not got married back then. If we had stayed together but went to separate universities. Maybe our love really would have lasted, and we wouldn’t have four kids who don’t get the love they deserve, because their parents have grown to loathe each other. The only thought that’s plagued my mind more was where it all went wrong.
I think he hates me because I am a constant reminder of his past. That he wasn’t always the god people see him as now. And that one day, all that’s he’s gained will be taken from him just as fast as it was taken from his father. And I hate him for wanting to be rid of his past, of everything that made him who he was. Even after forgiving him for all the lies, all the women behind closed doors, I can't forgive him for this. Because rejecting his past is rejecting me, and I finally know now that he isn't a god, and that I don't revolve around him.
But as much as I wish that I had listened to my parents, that I had been willing to separate from him before all the pain, betrayal, and heartbreak, if I had to do it all over again, I would. I would do it every time, because I've gained too much from all of this. I couldn't imagine my life without our children, and I know he feels the same.
Maybe he isn't a god, but if there is one thing I can say for him, it's that he isn't his father.
Comments: I know this isn't my best work, but I thought it would be fun to do a sort of character study on a modern-day Jupiter/Zeus figure told from the point of view of a Juno/Hera figure.
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