The sizzling sound of the sun hitting the stone makes this room sound like a crucible and feel like one too. The room lay empty with only my decaying body to fill it. Day in and day out the heat draining my body of sweat and nutrients. I sit here stuck between my ears, trying to quiet the screams and decipher the codes and riddles. Each movement sends signals of pain throughout my body but my mind is numb to the receptors of pain. Instead, I lay here staring up to the grey colored ceiling above with my mind as my only companion.

 An enchanting melody fills my ears, my body ringing off the sweet musical waves bouncing off the walls. A beautiful voice pairs with the melody. It starts with a whisper and within a few moments, I feel a cool breeze hit my neck and it's like the voice is an inch from my ear. 

“I know what you seek. Relief, silence…. peace.” The voice whispers, 

For the first time in a long time, I felt a shiver run down my body. Scared the moment of divinity will pass if I open my eyes, a shimmer of light blinds me as my eyes widen. After a few moments of haze, then in absolute clarity, I see the figure of a goddess, she stands above me glowing in a beacon of light and the smell of rose and lavender fill my nose. I sit up slowly and rub the magic from my eyes and the image disappears in a blink. Across from me, I see a young girl, hair so light gold it’s almost white and skin kissed by the star in the sky, deep evergreen eyes.

 She sits with her legs crossed in front of me. Her ankle shackled to the wall behind her. I position my elbows beneath myself and push up to lean against the wall behind me. I sit across from the stranger, feeling her gaze at me, or rather what seems through me. The voice turned from a whisper to my side to a voice in my head. Her lips remained still, her eyes still locked on me. The voice in my head continued, 

“To silence your mind and move beyond the pain you cling to, you must make those in power-aware of their indecency. You know to whom of which I speak. Let their transgression and blasphemy have a light shone upon it, and rid yourself of the tether you have to your history. Let it be just that, history.” I move forward to get closer to this apparent angel in my life. With a single shift in my weight and a quick blink, she is gone and all that sits in front of me is an empty ankle chain, dusty and still. 

BANG the sound of someone pounding on a wooden door startles me awake. 

“Laius! Get moving, you are needed above.” The voice of a younger man trying to sound older by deepening his voice echoed in my ears as he enters the room. Beneath me a thin mattress filled with straw, with one itchy wool blanket to cover myself with another blanket folded at the end of the bed to rest my head. The man spoke again, this time pulling the blanket off my body and onto the floor, “the trial of the milenia finished yesterday and the guilty party is set to be executed today. You are being sent to the border of Athens to pick the needed herbs for their sentencing.” 

Shocked, I respond, “A hemlock poisoning? Who would be given such an extreme death penalty?” He meets my eyes with a saddened look and pauses for a moment as if gathering the strength to tell me someone killed my dog. With a small whimper, he looks at the ground for a moment, covering his face with a dirt tinted hand. 

Under his breath, he sobs, “Gadfly. He was convicted for corrupting the youth of Athens, including but not limited to embedding the belief of false gods and idols. A man who stood unafraid to pose questions to the ruling power. A man with courage and influence to move nations.” He left the room and the door slowly squeaks shut behind him. I sit for a moment and feel as I do every morning, exhausted. Knowing I have a small trek to the border to pick the herbs for the execution doesn’t uplift me in the slightest. I hike the familiar path with every few steps a swig front he jar of sweet Nectar I always keep with me. My feet start to defy me, my brain says left-right, left-right, but my feet choose left-right, protruding root, and then my jaw starts to ache and I taste blood and dirt. Laying on this dirt path with the sounds of buzzing insects surrounding me and the warmth of the sun brings me back to Thebes. My home, the place I was forced to leave behind…. I take another swig. The sweet release of bliss I continue to chase ever since I started running and couldn’t look back. 

Heading back along the road, I carry about 20 stems covered in beautiful small white flowers in my brown leather satchel. Then it hit me, a sweet sound flowing with the wind knocks the jar from my hand and it smashes into pieces.  A melody, enchanting, and familiar. Blurry I rub my eyes till I see black dots all over the landscape, I look up to the sky and take a deep breath, sharing air with such a sweet voice makes me feel special. 

Wait, I know that voice, “I know what you seek. Relief, silence…. peace.” The voice whispered. It was as clear as the first time I heard her. Instead of leaves and sticks sticking from her hair it was tightly tucked behind her ears and as straight as a needle, light almost white yellow hair. Paired with deeply rooted evergreen eyes. Fear jerks my body up and I start running from the woman. She is the conductor of my sleepless nights and encourages the voices in my head. I run what feels like hours and throw myself into the back door of the preparation chamber and lock it behind me. 

The preparation chamber has two entrances, one facing an open field that leads to the border and the second that leads to a spiral staircase that rises up to the execution chamber above. 

A few men ran in after me, and I slammed the door in their faces then I heard a demonic voice. “What’s got you all worked up Laius? Is it your wife and son? Do you think they know what you did to them? Even in hell, the dead can hear the living above.” Frozen in shock, my eyes are locked on that wooden door, my hands shaking and my brows pool with sweat. 

I scream “Who are you?! What do you want?!” I throw my bag down and grab the shovel that is leaning on the wall next to the door, wrap my hand around the handle and take a deep breath and open it. Only there is no one on the other side. Just a dusting of dirt and a pair of footprints facing the doorway. I lean forward and look to the left and the right to see no sign of life around me. I just hear the footsteps of the people gathering in the audience section of the room of death, or at least that’s what I call it, they gather to witness the great death of Gadfly. Although I never really listened to what some people said about him and his great abilities, to put someone to death for speaking their mind is something peculiar to me. During my time on the throne, I always gave voice to those with concerns. To rule fairly means to listen to your people. If only I had noticed more then maybe I wouldn’t be where I am today. But the past has to stay there, in the past. 

I pull the beautiful stalks of green covered in small white flowers out of my bag, my hands in leather gloves to prevent accidental poisoning. Above a fire sits a pot of water waiting to boil, I pull the flowers and pile them to the side then slice the stems into small bits and put them in my mortar, and smash them with my pestle. To my left, the steam from the now boiling water rises curves around the bends of the fireplace to hit the ceiling. I take the flowers and mixture and put them in the bottom of a stone cup and pour the water over it. I carry it up the twisting steps, silence fills the chamber and in the center stands the man sentenced to die. Unshackled, and with his hands folded in front of him, he looks to me with a smile on his lips. I walk forward and meet his gaze, for a moment his eyes were kind and accepting, I blink and his eyes turn blood red and his mouth fell open. His jaw looks detached from his skull, hanging to rest on his chest. Filling the gaping mouth was nothingness, pure black. Deep in the darkness that haunting melody. My ears screeched in pain. I drop to my knees and put my hands over my ears. I close my eyes tight and hunch over. Then black.

I wake up to find myself back in my room. The young man from earlier sits at the foot of my bed, a worried look covering his face. “Are you okay Laius? You terrified everyone up there. You wouldn’t stop screaming…” 

“I was screaming?” Puzzled, I attempt to sit up and ask “Didn’t YOU hear the screaming? I thought blood was going to start pouring from my ears.” 

“There was no screaming Laius. Only you, once you covered your ears. Fortunately for the public's sake, we were able to save enough of the tea to finish the execution. They were demanding blood. As much as it pained me to see Gadfly willing drink the poison, but it reassured the beliefs he enlightened me too. However you need to be careful about what you do next, or there might come questions you don’t want to answer.” 

“What did you say…? What types of questions could you possibly be talking about?” 

“Oh, Laius you must know that no secret is safe from those who can enter your mind. We enter through your dreams and can look into your very soul. And what a dark soul you have.” He stands up and leans over me. My body is paralyzed and only my eyes can move. “What a sad life you come from, running from your home to only be forced to revisit to turn in your wife Jocasta and son Oedipus for their blasmephy and sinful relationship. Watching them be put to death broke a part of your mind that has been so easy for us to infiltrate. You need only take the same path they were forced to take. You have all the tools you need just a few steps from your door.” 

I feel like a force beyond me is taking over my arms and legs, I’m not in control. Only my mind is awake and on memory repeat of the day, I was forced to meet with Jocasta and Odiepus for the last time. The two had tear-stained eyes and dirt-covered faces in each of their final moments. I felt the part of my heart holding affection and love towards each of them die and were replaced with anger and pain. My own personal hell stuck in my own mind. For a moment I am able to break the cycle of misery and realize I’ve somehow walked from my room to the preparation chamber. In my hand, I hold a boiling cup of water, and floating in it are little white flowers. I look down at the table I’ve used for years, living a false life with an immense weight of regret on my shoulders. For years, I have been the angel of death and I am tired of the restlessness and guilt I feel for the lives I’ve taken but a sheer lack of guilt for Jo and Rex. 

There it is again, that damn melody it fills my ears, then she is back, my angel of death, “I know what you seek. Relief, silence…. peace. Laius in your hands holds the same life taker as the great Gadfly. Take pride knowing you share such an intimate detail with him.” 

I stare down at the liquid and see the eyes of Jo. A tear-filled with relief as I take a sip. It tastes of parsnips and earth. I lean against the wall behind me and have full control of my body once again and for the first time in a long time the voices have quieted. I slide down the wall and let my eyes fall shut and say out loud “Free me from my demons, the ones who took the figure of wife and son but instead were the devil and his incubus. Silence in screams behind my eyes and the weight of the living. In my last breath, I feel no fear but instead welcome the silence.”