Member-only story
The Trials of Athena’s Daughter
Did you think she was charmed from birth?
Diana. A pretty name, perhaps, but she did not feel it suited her. All too often she looked in the mirror and didn’t see a beautiful young woman’s face looking back at her. Instead, she saw someone who was broken in their hollow skin.
Sometimes she dreamt she was a man. In those dreams, things were easier. Men didn’t stare at her legs for an inordinate amount of time. Men didn’t stop in their tracks just to get a picture of her when she wasn’t looking. Other girls didn’t stare at her with envy striking them green in their hearts.
There were days she looked at herself and didn’t recognize who was standing there. The body was too thin, maybe, the cheeks too gaunt. If she were a shapeshifter, she would have adopted muscles and abs worthy of the best athlete in the world.
And then she’d pucker her lips, apply the lipstick, and give herself a kiss. It was so easy, too easy, to do that. She wanted to become the kind of girl she would have wanted if things had been different, if her body had come out the right way in the process of creation.
On and on it went. Her mother bought her frilly, feminine clothes she despised wearing even though everyone always told her how lovely she looked. Her father always bragged about his…
