Myth-take Challenge #20

Villamvihar

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Science-Fiction, Science-Fantasy, Magical Girl, Mystery, Slice of Life,
Myths and legends could be said to be the prototypes of modern novels. They are stories in their own right, tales that were passed on for generations. Even today, some elements from the old myths remain in our stories and occasionally, they serve as inspiration.

This week’s mythical element is: Medusa
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In Greek Mythology, Medusa was a legendary beast or woman, depending on the interpretation, who had a horrifying face and hair made out of snakes. Being a Gorgon, Medusa's visage was so terrifying that it could turn people into stone if they looked at her face. However, unlike her sisters, the other Gorgons, Medusa was not immortal. As such, she was vulnerable to her own image, a fact which was later exploited by Perseus, who beheaded her and used her visage as a weapon. Then he gave it to Athena so that she could wear the head of Medusa on her legendary shield, the Aegis.

Your challenge is to write a story that incorporates your own take on this mythical element. The genre and setting of the story does not matter as long as the element remains recognisable.
 
Medi Of Bluesky

An adaptation by Knight Thaniel.





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It was the swingin times of the 1950's. Jazz, liquor, vaudeville, cabaret, cigars, cigarettes, and fast times was all about the culture of the era. But with such a dark and swanky time, comes other sinister plagues such as murder, crime, and conspiracy. The 50's were also times of deep rural differences with color and race as well as women's rites and how the public portrayed them. In this generation of scientific discovery and baby boomers, there was a beautiful woman who lived alone in an old house in the middle of an upbeat and brightly colored neighborhood. The people that lived in this area which was called Bluesky Boulevard, were simple people, all with families, all smiling and enjoying their lives. Every lawn was trimmed, every house seemed to have a white picket fence, every flower was watered. But this same beautiful woman, lived in her same house, all by her lonesome, and never did a thing to make it look better. Her lawn was dead, her bushes and flowers wilted and cut down to branches and vines leaving weeds to sprout from beneath them. The neighbors made an effort to visit, but she never answered her door.

Some meddling young boys tried to take a peak at her backyard, but all they could see were stone statues and weeds for miles. One quiet night, or shall it be rephrased as, another quiet night in Bluesky Boulevard, since all nights were generally quiet, a young woman who lived directly across the street from her lonesome neighbor couldn't sleep. She stared out her window at that strange house and was disgusted. She heard rumors that the young woman that lived there was stunningly gorgeous and that she only ever came out at night for a routine stroll around the nearby park. This neighbor, whom shall be called Sue, was very jealous and enraged of this woman and the way she lived along with the solitude she proclaimed. She certainly wasn't normal in Sue's eyes. And anything not normal in the neighborhood needed to be rooted out.

Curious, Sue watched in the night as her neighbor walked out of her home in a trench coat and sunglasses when the sun was not even up and was taken aback. Sue called the police and lied out of resentment informing them that the house across the street had some disorderly conduct going on within it and was the product of loud noise distracting her from her sleep and added the young lady across the street as a threat for suspicious conduct. She then hung up the phone and waited to see her devious ways come to life. Peaking ever so vicariously out her window, she saw her beautiful and mysterious neighbor return from her nightly stroll. As she returned, a single police officer was there to greet her. In a few moments of conversation, the police officer was invited into her home, and Sue witnessed this in disbelief.

Hours went by and the officer never came out. Sue has had enough. She stormed out her front door and knocked on her neighbor's door in a rage. The door opened and Sue was presented with a petite young woman in that same trench coat and sunglasses with long, raven colored curly hair flowing down her shoulders. This woman really was beautiful. It was as if Sue was mesmerized by her presence, shocked by her beauty. In simple dialogue Sue was given an introduction by this tantalizing woman. "Hello, my dear, I don't believe we've met, I'm Medi. And you are?" Sue gasped for a brief moment and answered. "I'm Sue. My...my name is Sue. And I just wanted to find out what happened to that young officer. I saw him arrive at your home and he never came out." The matron known as Medi raised a brow and appeared confused. "Were you the one that called him dear? Oh he's fine....he's relaxing inside the kitchen. After all that trouble of coming over here for nothing, I wanted to make his trip...worth while. Come in. Come in. It's a bit nippy out there." Sue was hesitant, but didn't see the harm in explaining herself for calling the police.

Medi guided Sue to her dining room, where a large table and a few chairs lay in the middle of it. There were cob webs everywhere, and dust all over the furniture around the house, some pieces were even covered with sheets. Medi knew quite well she was definitely already out of place in the neighborhood. But she didn't care what her neighbors thought, or Sue for that matter, because she could easily make that all, go away. "Now tell me, Sue, honey, why did you have to call the big bad coppers on me?" Medi smiled in a sinister wince placing one hand carefully on her sunglasses. "First of all, Medi, I'm sorry. I really am. I guess I was just being nosey....I didn't mean to, I thought I heard something unusual and I panicked. This neighborhood is really quite quaint and very routine. Anything that's not normal is...well...you know...a problem." Medi chuckled at the assumption and responded with bite. "Not...normal? What's wrong with that baby. I mean, I guess the way I'm dressed right now, the nightly strolls I take, the unkempt house, all that jazz, isn't normal...is it?" Sue swallowed a large gob of saliva down her gullet and her eyes grew wide with fear. Medi moved closer to Sue as she walked slowly behind her and whispered. "And nosey...did you say? The nose is really not as important as another part of the body....say...the eyes?" Sue looked up and gazed over Medusa's shoulder. There was a statue that looked identical to the police man that came to visit directly behind Medi in the kitchen area some feet behind her. The statue had a terrified expression on its face and arms up in a frightened manner.

Sue reacted with a farewell. "I should get going. It's getting late. My mistake, I won't call the police again. I'm sorry." Looking away Sue stood up and began pacing towards the front door. She heard Medi behind her calling out. "Oh Sue dear, you forgot something!" Just as Sue heard this, she turned around and it was as if time itself froze. Medi's eyes were no longer shielded by sunglasses. They were now a bright and flashing green, freezing Sue in place forever more. That was the last time Sue ever saw the light of day again. That was the last time Sue ever enjoyed the luxury of Bluesky Boulevard, the warmth and comfort of her home, the joys of being a proper lady in a world demanding it. Maybe it was best that this happened to Sue, maybe it was best that she was free from the bindings and the constrictions of a cultured generation. And so, we end our story here, right where it began. In the once quiet neighborhood, of a quiet little town, under what seemed like a systematic and seamless society. And the saddest part is, nobody will ever know what happened to her. Sometimes all it takes, is an ancient being that has been living for centuries and hiding in fear of public rejection and fear of change throughout time, to make all the Sues of the world realize, how good they really had it.

There once was a beautiful young woman named Medi....her neighbors knew nothing about her.....