Craig Whiteman, a name which no one in the 9th Street, even in the peaks of drunkenness, takes out of their mouths, lest their vocal cords may corrode or something more dramatic than that may happen. As a matter of fact, most of the people do not know why his very existence is a taboo topic, nor do they care anyway. They just know that even asking about him is just as convenient as maybe asking for an adventure trip to the centre of Mount Etna. Again, no reason as to why that is the case.
He isn’t any sort of madman or freaky looking or anything that may come to one’s imagination on listening to the grim tones or the seeing the strange warning, and a bit frightened expressions when he is out of his house, or when some ‘too curious for his own good’ outsider makes the blunder of asking about him.
There is a popular pun that as many haven’t even seen him, or maybe haven’t recognized him while crossing him on the street, there may come a time when “he will be actually with us and we won’t even know until we meet some of our then ‘gone for good’ neighbors.”, as said by Gordon Cook, the local baker, the one of the rare few persons who meets and talks normally with and about this Craig guy, and the ONLY person who actually laughs on what everyone says warily about him.
“You are just one of those geezer sheep who cannot see what’s going on in front of them and just stay behind the closest sheep you can see”, that’s what he told to Brian Crown, an aged local, only to hear an earful of “Who you calling a geezer” decorated with a variety of local and exotic swear words.
But who is this Craig Whiteman? Well he is the one who was at that moment exiting his house, formally, yet simply dressed, with an ‘I know where I am going’ air, one which he usually lacked. A bit taller than 6 feet, well built, with a strong, handsome but weathered face, slightly short hair, cut in a disciplined style with a trimmer. He was born in ‘only he and God knows where’ and ‘God knows when’, but came to study in the local school, living with an aunt of his, who died 4 years ago, the time when he had to abandon the idea of pursuing his studies due to financial problems, and had to work as a laborer for 3 years, when he finally got a job at, according to his neighbors, “only he and God knows where”, a phrase, as you might have observed, VERY commonly used in his context. He, in his seemingly early twenties, has an aura of a ‘once upon a time cheerful’ guy, living in restraints due to his circumstances, or due to the stigma.
Now the first abnormal thing about him is his eyes: grey, actually very light grey, as if the black color was just sucked out of the iris, traces of which are all what remain. And to a close observer, what is slightly strange is the way the eyes focus on anything in vision , a very penetrating glance, as if seeing much more than what is there – one of the few things that they guessed right…
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A few thousands of miles away from Craig Whiteman , was a girl , wearing a white t-shirt saying “Look who’s behind me, sucker” on the back, and tight denim shorts, running at a speed through , what was up till that moment, a calm street, which could give even Usain Bolt a run for his money(no pun intended). Now that isn’t so astonishing, you would say, seeing the 3 hounds chasing her. Two things where you would go wrong here – Firstly, even with hounds behind you, it isn’t exactly so easy to run that fast, so you should be astonished, and a bit ashamed of your own sloth like self indulging too much in superhero movies and comics. And secondly, you don’t call rhino sized creatures hounds, just because they happen to have a what could somehow appear to be a dog like snout….
Suddenly she stopped, as in F1- brakes-stopped , turning with a slight smile on her face, closed eyes and an irritated air, ”Let’s take you on then, for spoiling my date” , and vanished , just as the ‘hounds’ reached the spot where she stood for moment, growling, clearly infuriated , the resentment shining In their crossed-iris black eyes, on having to make such a long chase, burning ‘precious’ fat (Note : sarcasm) , only to fail in the end.
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That was when the girl reappeared, 30 meters behind the trio , opening her eyes, a pair of very light grey eyes, shining with excitement, reflecting the blade of the sword she held in front of her.
“I think I killed you Aufhockers. You are allowed to disintegrate” she whispered, as the trio disintegrated, burning in a black flame at the same time, as she thought to herself,
“ I looked cool, didn’t I??”
The girl is Athena , and before that thought starts to spark into existence, she , in her own words, is “ … fed up of stupid derps asking about her relation with the Greek Goddess” , some even going as far as asking her whether she is the goddess herself or not, only to find the answer in the form of a barrage of profanities which clearly one would not expect from the Goddess of Wisdom. Well, in her defense , the 6 ft , dark haired beauty does not usually flip out on other topics , although , seeing her condition of generally being covered with gashes and bruises, as well as the presence of the 2 swords makes it quite hard for people to find her to be ‘approachable’.
Not knowing who her biological parents were, she was raised in Brussels by an Indian woman, named Drishti, who worked as a teacher in a school . But she knew right from early childhood that she was a bit different from other children, and even though she didn’t face any supernatural phenomenon as you might expect by this time, she could feel the alteration in perception that others had no clue about. That lasted for a few years, until Drishti decided to reveal herself truly to her adopted daughter, on an evening after a brief discussion about the day that went by.
“Athena, what do you think about God?” asked Drishti
A bit surprised by the sudden question of such a nature, one that they never bothered discussing ever before this time, she thought for a moment before replying,
“I haven’t seen any evidence of God’s existence, but just for sustaining hope in life, I guess I don’t want to deny it either.”
“What you look for as evidence for God’s presence is based on your assumptions about Its nature. Let’s say that there is an existence, a being we cannot even describe in the limited vocabulary we have, which is responsible for whatever exists. You can call It God, you might call It whatever you want to. But what makes it hard for someone like us humans to understand It is the fact that the kind of direct contact required for that understanding to start to be developed has never happened.”
“So you mean to say God’s real?, the young girl asked with a slight curiosity shimmering in her pale grey eyes, “Then why ….”
“Let me tell you some important things that you need to know, as the time for you to venture out into the world could come at any time in the not so distant future.” Maa, as Athena came to call her, interrupted her.
Source - HTLN Blog