She Just Wanted to be Loved

She Just Wanted to be Loved(Jason) Persephone was named after the woman who in Greek mythology was tricked by the king of the underworld to be his wife. She would over time come to care for him, to love him even, yet here this modern rendition of Persephone was alone and unknown in the world of men.

Persephone was a quiet and cute girl turning eighteen. A rite of passage for women. Now she could bask her loneliness in the warmth of hard liquor and beer. Now this may sound like a sad story for dear Persephone, but once she was at her weakest her world changed. Whether or not it’s for better or worse is up to the reader to decide.

Persephone wiped her tears from her face. A residue left in her pillow hidden within the crease her weeping face left. She stumbled down the stairs and out the door to the corner bar found near her school. The bar was dimly lit and the sounds of drunken dares overlapped the music. She took a seat on one of the stools by the bar. If she sat at a booth than she would look odd. She left her elbows on the bar and gripped the double scotch the bartender gave her. The glass touched her lips and the cool sting of the liquor’s kiss trickled down her throat.

Even this could do nothing to make her happy. Happy... what a word indeed. Suspect in her mind because those rays of sunlight covering others have left her dark in her despair.

“I just want to be loved,” quivered out her lips: a hope, a dream, a plea to whomever took notice, and indeed someone took notice. The setting froze. Persephone looked around. Everyone was immobile, glued in their spots as if time ceased for those happy individuals.

“You just want to be loved. Oh poor sweet girl. I can give that to you if that is what your heart truly wishes.” Someone whispered hidden within a smoky darkness.

Persephone’s heart, was a weak muscle with little tolerance. Was it the alcohol affecting her? She gathered her thoughts again, testing to see if she was mad in her drunken state. She checked everything and her thoughts were still her own, then who was that who questioned her? The person in the darkness, the person who would give her the single thing she wished for more than anything.

“I just want be loved!” She yelled, her throat opened like never before, echoing her truth throughout the time stopped bar.

“As you wish. May your life be everything you want it to be.”

The bar came to life as it was before. Persephone’s lips suckled again at the sweet scotch. It must have been an illusion, something brought on by her incredible state, but then a young man sat beside her.

“Hi I’m Aaron, what’s your name.”

“P-P-Persephone, nice to meet you.”

“There was just something about you that brought me here, a certain draw to get to know you. I know I must sound a little crazy.”

“No—no of course not, it’s just not a lot of guys talk to me.”

“A shame, you seem quite delightful, if only you showed that beautiful face hidden behind all of that hair.”

Persephone blushed a rosy red, signaling to him that a nerve was struck. Her lips made an unfamiliar form, a smile, something lost to her in the annals of her eighteen years. Her heart was fluttering and breath quickened its pace. Did she find someone? Maybe she did.

“I think I love you Persephone.”

“I don’t know what to say, you don’t know me.”

“But I do, I do so, Persephone, you are a trap created with the purpose of catching my heart. A benevolent seductress who now holds me in her hand.”

“I’m sorry.” With that she left in tears. The somber realization of that dream being real overcame her with sadness. Down the sidewalk she traveled with many open stares. She waited at the crosswalk, but as she did a great number of men came. Taking her hand and dotting it with their kisses. Taking her ears with their poems all to take her heart. In some tragic irony she now avoided them, dismissed them as forced in their love. They were under some spell to love her. A love impure and improper that she could never accept. After a few minutes she was again in her apartment struggling with these events. She took a bath to collect her thoughts. The hot water and the smell of posies quelled her throbbing heart.

The problem was largely unchanged, nobody loved her for her. A simple change in the rules changed very little. Perhaps she could live her life without being alone with a man who would worship her, but was that better? To live in such a falsehood would cause her personality to wane. She decided to live alone, no one could love her in the way she needed. Alone for the rest of her life until the grim reaper touched her heart, a delightful relief for a woman chased and sought. A prize for a shelf and nothing else.

The setting faded. Back to the bar, the beginning of everything. The scotch still in hand, the stool still her only ally in this place. She heard that shadow’s words again.

“You just want to be loved. Oh poor sweet girl. I can give that to you if that is what your heart truly wishes.”

“No, please don’t, a world filled with paper thin love is a world in which love, the true meaning of the feeling doesn’t exist.”

“But then you must wait, for the strings of fate to deem your heart ready. To live a life of pain mixed with sadness.”

“That may be true, but there still is and always will be a chance at happiness. The chance to find him, the love that will hold me when I’m sick, the love that will listen to my sad words, the love that will love me for what I offer and nothing more and nothing less. I will wait for that love.”

“I wish you luck Persephone.”

The bar came back to life just as it did before. The pale elixirs spread throughout. Persephone stayed for a little while enjoying her drink and relishing her time alone. A piece of her of course wished for a man to sit next to her. To talk to her, to love her, but now after seeing everything she appreciated their absence. She left the bar once her glass was empty. Out onto the street a different woman. She waited for the green man to flash so that she could cross the street.

“Excuse me. Miss you forgot your phone.”

Persephone cocked her head to see a man clutching the small prize in his hand. Her life was in the palm of his hand. She reached out for it and he gave it to her without resistance and with a smile.

“Thank you so much.”

“My pleasure. when I saw you leave I knew I had to give it to you.”

“How did you know it was mine?”

“I was watching you, like a coward. I tried to will myself to speak to you, but my nerves took over. I was left cemented in my seat. When I saw you leave my heart dropped, until I saw your phone. An excuse to talk to you and maybe, just maybe take you to dinner. To meet the real you.”

She was hesitant to say yes to his offer. He seemed sincere and true to his demeanor, but that world she saw hindered her. She couldn’t tell if any of this was truly real. Should she risk it all for some glimmer of hope? If others could find love then couldn’t she? She would take this small chance.

“I would like that.”