One day, when life was reflected

Unlike my mother, my father has an intense dislike for cities - instead, he prefers to live in the suburbs. He has a house tucked away in a remote corner of the woods by his home. On the weekends I'd go there - I have a feeling that my mother did that to be rid of me, at least for two days - and spend the night at his house. There was something about my father's house that relaxed me, unlike my mother's home, which was always chilly and cold.

On the day I arrived at the house, I'd always go swimming in the nearby lake with Father. It was clean and clear, so much that you could see the bottom from the surface. Even more than that, we always seemed to have the entire lake to ourselves. Nobody was there to intrude. It was great.

One time, Father broke his arm - that meant no swimming. However, I still visited him as usual that weekend. Instead of swimming in the lake, we just sat by it, watching the sun set. In silence, I reflected upon life. This, by some coincidence, was in the same week when I had met Eris. Naturally, I thought about her and what she said to me - it had been nagging on my mind ever since.

There was something about the woman that was captivating, something that stuck in my head and surfaced at the oddest moments. It was like I could not forget her, nor the strange conversation we had.

I wished to meet Eris again - see her face, ask her more questions. Which I still do today. However, I had not seen a trace of her ever since our original meeting.

I lost myself in my thoughts, and before I knew it, the sun had started to set. I snapped back to reality and stared through squinted eyes at the sun in the lake's reflection. The sun seemed much brighter, much hotter than usual. I became aware of the burning on my neck once more. It was uncomfortable, yet thrilling. I hated it, yet I wanted to feel it more, wanted to experience the pain in more pronounced detail.

I don't know why - I don't think those thoughts often, and usually I hate all kinds of pain. But this pain was exhilarating. It was like a gift given to me by Eris - after all, it had started on the day we met.

When the sun set completely, an emptiness engulfed the pain, and it went away. Everything seemed darker than it usually was, more saturated and gray.

I went to bed shortly afterwards, my sleep filled with dreams of Eris. She was telling me that I could know everything. All I had to do was shake her hand. When she extended it to me, I reached over to shake it - however, I couldn't extend my arm far enough to touch it. When I moved, she moved, never letting me shake it. My entire body burned, feeling a fire that wasn't there. All throughout this I was acutely aware of the coal-studded ring - made of iron, looking more like a chain - on her right hand.

When I woke up, I felt like I had gotten no sleep at all.

One day, when a mother was loathed

As I have said already, my name is Misery. My surname is Londbery. It is a name that I hate, no, loathe with burning passion. What kind of name is 'Misery'? Why would you call a child that?

I suppose my name was a projection of what my mother was felling - misery, sadness, despair, the last flames of loving passion snuffed out from her. According to Father, the mood she was in started months before. She drew away from the world, from people, from life. When she had to speak to people - mainly my father - she had a chilly personality. Eventually she threw Father out, divorced him, all of that. Then she raised me alone - I only got to see Father on the weekends.

My relationship with Mother was a... strained one. We didn't get along very well after I started seeing my mother for who she was, seeing past the facade she put on. I started asking my father why Mother was this way, when did it start, did she not like me? He answered them to the best of his abilities.

Today I don't care about the reason for mother's behavior. I have come to realize that not everything has a cause that makes sense. Things just happen, without any rhyme or reason. The thing is, we - humans, that is - are quick to blame things, investigate deeper when in reality it's futile. It's like we can't comprehend the random, the chaotic.

I don't hate Mother anymore - just feel a sadness for what could've been a happy upbringing if it weren't for things outside of my control. Besides, she died two years ago.

They say she died of hypothermia in the winter.

One day, when the rays shone

Time and time ago, years before the world was a serious place, when the sun's rays enchanted me and filled me with young vigor, I met a woman upon a city bench when I was waiting for the school bus to arrive. I was the only one at this stop; the sole child at this corner of the street that went to Noonday Elementary. Her presence invoked a feeling I hadn't felt before, a feeling of wideness in the world, a feeling that made everything seem possible.

The woman regarded me carefully, stroking her chin with an eyebrow raised, as if she was feeling a kind of curiosity that marked interest but not confusion.

For a while we sat there, the woman just looking at me with interest. People passed by, looking as if they did not know the woman and I were there.

I was the first to speak, asking a question that had been on my mind since I had got there: "Who're you?"

The woman seemed pleasantly surprised that I had asked a question, almost as if she wanted that to happen but was not sure if I would. Despite her surprise, she managed to answer right away: "I have many names. Many different appearances. However, now I am Eris."

As she said that name, her simple gray jacket - unzipped so that you could see the plain white shirt underneath - appeared to glow with a gleaming yellow-orange aura. They vanished within an instant, as if they were simply artifacts of a wild imagination. For a brief moment afterwards it felt as if someone had shackled my brain.

"You look funny." Oh, what a charmer my past self was. Not that today I'm any better.

"What about me looks 'funny', as you say?"

I scrunched up my face, trying to place my finger on it. "It's something about your eyes. They're all weird and shiny. Where're you from, Miss Eris?"

"Mrs. Eris, to be more precise. Just 'Eris' is fine, however."

"Okay, just Eris. 'gain, where're you from? Where's your home?" For some reason, every time Eris didn't answer my questions, I got a tingling burning sensation on the back of my neck.

"Oh, around." That answer didn't help me much.

I balled my hands into fists, as if I could possibly do some damage to this tall woman. "Please, Eris, answer my question. I can't stand this-"

 "In the caves of luminescence."

Though the tingling on my neck started going away, my confusion just increased. "What's that? Where's that? You ar'n't making much sense."

Eris repeated, "In the caves of luminescence. Its meaning would be clear if you were one with light."

"No, it wouldn't," I argued, a familiar feeling of anger and frustration building up within me. "Trust me, I know a lot, and that doesn't make sense. It's just gib'rish."

"Light spreads far across the world, piercing through even the darkest shadows. Through this light I know things, facts and feelings." Eris smiled joylessly. "I know things that are best left unknown. Feelings you don't want to feel. And I'm fine."

"What do you-"

"Time is ticking, you know. Time until the choice. Time until you're at the Decision Point. What do you want to feel, Misery? What sensation do you want burning through your pretty little skin?"

I spluttered, "I don't- How did-"

"Your bus has arrived."

I looked away from Eris. Sure enough, a yellow school bus had pulled up to the curb of the street, right in front of the bench. I turned back to look at Eris one last time, but instead all I saw was a fading outline of her body, of her facial features. She was smiling broadly.

For the rest of the day and some time after that, I felt the burning on my neck, an ethereal sunburn that seemed to never heal. It only got a little better when, years later, I discovered a wonderful religion called Discordianism. It's only half-serious, but since the day when I converted, my neck has been feeling a little better. I suspect that the woman I met was a Discordian as well - that would make sense, what with the name she went by and the non-answers she gave to my questions.

I long to meet the woman named Eris once more. Then, I could get some real answers.