Apollo's 11

by Anna Collins

  She looked so much like Callie. I was going to have a hard time keeping all the dumbass boys from chasing after her.

  I would probably have to invest in a shotgun.

  “Here’s your little boy,” the nurse cooed, and they carefully tried to teach me how to hold the both of them together.

  This little guy, on the other hand, was like a perfect mix of me and Callie. He had my hair and Callie’s fair complexion, my eyes and her nose, all beautiful.

  Callie and I had just created the most beautiful children on the planet, and I couldn’t be more proud of how strong my wife was for bringing them to the world.

  Callie

  They were the most beautiful things I had ever seen, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of them.

  I couldn’t believe that after sixteen hours of labor, after nine months of carrying them inside of me, they were finally here, and they were perfect.

  And they needed a name.

  “Are you sure you still want to keep up with your family tradition? I mean, you already named Ares. Don’t you think we should cool it with the Greek names?” I asked him, and Apollo shook his head.

  “You’re named ‘Calista’. How could you even say that?” he asked, and I rolled my eyes.

  “I go by “Callie” most of the time, and that’s about as modern as any other name,” I told him. “How about a compromise?” I suggested, and he raised an eyebrow at me.

  “Alright. I’m listening,” he said.

  “You give them the Greek names, but they’re getting normal ones for a middle name. That way when they get older, they’ll get to choose which one they like better. How’s that?” I said, and he pursed his lips in contemplation before nodding.

  “I think that sounds fair,” he said, and I smiled.

  “Okay. What are we naming them?” I asked.

  “Well, for the girl, what do you think about naming her, ‘Andromeda’?” he asked, and I looked at him in shock.

  “Are you setting our daughter up to be bullied?” I asked him.

  “Her nickname would be ‘Andy,'” he placated, and I mulled over the nickname in my mouth. Yeah, Andy was cute. My daughter did look kind of like an Andy…

  “She’ll have it as a middle name. She’ll be safer that way,” I said gravely, and he shook his head but didn’t fight me on it. He was learning not to mess with me. Good man.

  “Then what’s her first name?” he asked.

  “I like the name ‘Rachel.' What about you?” and he smiled.

  “Yeah, I like it,” he said, and I grinned.

  “What about this guy?” he said, adjusting our little boy in his arms as Apollo looked at him with the face of a father who had all the love in the world for his kids.

  “You can name him, ‘Orion,'” a voice said, and Apollo and I looked up to see Ares peeking his head in the door, looking us at with an uncertain smile. “Sorry, I couldn’t wait to see my new siblings. May I come in?” he asked, and I nodded, smiling widely at him.

  “Of course you can, sweetie! Sit over here with me,” I said, and he walked over and sat on the bed, looking at his little sister in awe. “What were you saying about your brother’s name, sweetie?”

  “I said you could name him, ‘Orion.' I mean, if you want,” he said, looking at his father nervously.

  “It’s a great name,” Apollo said, and I nodded in agreement.

  “Yeah. I think it’s really nice. What about a middle name, Ares? Got any good ones?” I asked him. He bowed his head and pursed his lips in thought, and he looked so much like his father at that moment that I had to kiss him on the head, making him smile at me.

  “What about ‘Lucas’? That way I could call him ‘Luke, ’ and I could pretend I’m Darth Vader,” he said, and I had to laugh at the handsome, dorky boy I’d grown to love like my own son.

  “It’s perfect. Just like you,” I gushed at him, and he blushed, beaming.

  We spent the next few minutes just staring at Andy and Orion, marveling at the bundles of miracles we were blessed with.

  “So, do you think we have enough memories made to make another book?” Apollo asked, and I smiled.

  “Sure, but we’re going to name this one ‘California Spider.'”

  THE END

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  Also by Anna Collins

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  Prologue

  "I chose him over everything, now I must do everything to keep him."

  Her blood red lips kept murmuring these words like a chant as she stepped her bare foot into the wet sand. She was surrounded by the dark and mystic woods, but still no hint of fear could be seen in her glassy eyes. Her eyes were only filled with want and determination.

  The soothing smell of wet sand got overshadowed by the intense fragrance of her body. She kept walking ahead as if the darkness was her long lost mate. Her loose long black curls were lost somewhere in the black cloak that was proudly shimmering on her tall frame. Her milky white skin and well sculpted feminine figure were an unnatural sight in that gloomy environment.

  Though her beauty was very much eye-catching; but there was still a hint of lifelessness in it which was difficult to ignore. She was suffering, she was in pain, she was restless to achieve something. Those blood-red eyes had an unending quest in it.

  The animals that must have been sleeping till now got up in alarm and started making noises of protest. The loud cry of the animals deepened as the cool breezes soon transformed themselves to a vigorous storm. The leaves of the trees made noises as if they were trying to show some signs of a bad omen. A strange kind of fear had surrounded the atmosphere.

  The sky growled loudly and all of a sudden, the animals calmed down; scared by the sound of that unusual thundering. But Nothing managed to change her blank expression, there was nothing on her face, no fear, no rush to get back home; absolutely nothing. She kept marching forward with her bold steps; the whistling winds made her long hair fly high in the wind like a dark shadow.

  Her feet did not rest till she had reached in the middle of the forest, then she took a halt outside something that looked like a cave. She crouched and went in there. The inside of the cave only lit by the flames of six big candles; which were placed on the outline of a big chalk drawn hexagon.

  She took a deep breath and stepped inside the hexagon "Oh Devil! Enlighten me with your darkness" she cried out in her sharp ear breaking voice. Then she sat down and started chanting. Her words were like thunders which were hitting the stone walls and were shaking every bit of it. Suddenly some other cloak covered figures stepped in there, they also joined her in the ritual; all of them were wearing the same black cloak like hers, but their ones were hooded to cover the faces. The group kept chanting like there were no tomorr
ow, their voices so strong that it could break the eardrums of any living being.

  Suddenly a cool air blew in there, carrying a puff of white smoke along with it and the flames went off with a pop sound. She yelled again, this time with frustration "No! This can't happen, my spell has back fired again," she dig her long nails into the soft flesh of her hand, causing it to bleed.

  Her other companions were just about to make an attempt to calm her down, but she looked at them angrily "you all are useless! Just get out of here, leave me alone," she yelled angrily, blood was dripping from the corner of her eyes. The group shook in fear and went out as fast as they could.

  She tore some of the long locks of her hair and kicked away the candles roughly in frustration. "I am not going to give up on it; it's mine! I am the rightful owner of it! And I will achieve it, by any way! And if the way crosses through bloodshed…" she paused for a while and ran her hand over her forehead, wiping out the bits of sweat "It will be more fun if it will be difficult! I am ready to sacrifice anything and anyone for it!" she promised to herself. She stood up and waved her hand around like she was catching something. Suddenly the chalk drawn hexagon produced big flames of fire; the sight of fire made her blood red eyes glow. She laughed like a winner and then looked again at the flames. Her eyes found the six glowing stars that were lined up together. "SIX! Six is the number of the devil! The Devil will have to bless me…. with his… everything!" she uttered as she laughed in a loud tone, making echoes of her powerful voice all over the silent woods.

  Chapter One

  Freya

  "I hate you! Can you hear me?"

  I shouted at the top of my lungs aiming for the uncaring roars of thunder that were dancing above my head. They responded by producing several flashes of light into the heart of the night sky.

  "Stop it Freya! We are stuck in a traffic jam, my head is already paining due to the honking sound of the cars and on top of that your shouting is not helping; accept it, darling, we will not be able to make it for the annual meeting" Kate frowned twitching her oversized lips which were overflowing with shiny red gloss.

  No, she was not over dramatic; the heavy makeup was done purposely in order to impress the channel head. Maybe the ‘fuck-me' look that she had adorned by wearing those skinny black slacks and corset top and buckets of face powder and lipstick would not have been wasted if the damned storm had not caused a big eucalyptus tree to fall down. The tree was so big that the road workers needed a lot of time to remove it and as a result, we were stuck. It was 8:23 pm, the meeting should have been started at 8 and if I was present there by this time, I would have bagged my promotion and Kate would have been warming the bed of Mr. Kent. He was the head of the news channel where I and Kate were worked.

  Mr. Brad Kent was a handsome man in his early forties. He had a body like one of those baseball players. His weight was no less than 300 pounds and none of that was fat. Once I had suggested him about taking part in a weightlifting competition. Kent had laughed it out, but I was serious. His mother was from South Africa that gave him a chocolate brown skin color. But he was bald; there was no single hint of a hair from his forehead upwards; that somehow made him look a bit unappealing to me. Not that I ever looked at him in that way, I had been working in his channel for about a year and I have always respected him as a boss, nothing else ever came into my mind, and I had a strong belief that he saw me as a naughty child.

  Come on I was standing at the age of twenty-three so a little bit of mischief like whistling and hacking email accounts and sending love messages to another using that account was not that of a heinous crime. Sometimes my acts used to tie hearts, but most of the times it used to create rifts; whatever! It was none of my business. My intention was only to enjoy myself, which I did fully. This was my way to give it back to those nosy peoples who used to obtain a sadistic pleasure by taunting my work.

  The first time when Kent had found out about my hacking activities he had rebuked me lightly by saying "you have a lot of potential, don't waste your time on these silly things" but when it became routine, he did not bother to word me about it. That gave me license to do whatever I wanted, but I used to use my liberties on a minimum level. And after a certain time, everyone became immune to my harmless pranks. They used to laugh it out unknowing that I only did those pranks out of boredom.

  Kent was unmarried, and the owner of a popular news channel. That was the reason which made girls roam around him like ants trailed around a drop of honey. Their main intention was to slide the swollen member of Mr. Kent inside them so that they could improve their world with his expensive gifts. And Mr. Kent never disappointed them, he would spend the night with those bimbos and in the next morning he would send them something sparkling and that would be the end of their story.

  The only thing I admired about that man was that he never used to mix business with pleasure. I had never seen him promoting someone on the basis of their performance under the sheets of his bed. He only used to give the opportunity to the one who truly deserved. That was the reason I was counting on an opportunity to be promoted to an actual news reader, who would sit in front of the camera and grace the TV screens of millions of viewers. I had not obtained my degree in journalism to read weather reports and to ask people to carry an umbrella while going out of their homes.

  And now I was suffering because of that umbrella thingy! I was the type of weather girl who never applied the weather details in her own life. Silly me, no I was not silly I was hopeless.

  I looked up at the sky in a hope to see any signs for the rain to stop but I was disappointed again. Luck was not with me tonight. Not only tonight luck was never with me.

  While struggling at the passenger seat of Kate's car, I checked my phone only to find out that the meeting might have started an hour earlier. If I made it, then I could easily blame my delay on the rain and Kent would take it, hopefully.

  I moved my eyes down to my feet and my face lit up immediately, I was happy with my choice of shoes. I was wearing a pair of black converse shoes, blue jeans and a shirt of the same color. Thankfully the material of my shirt was pure cotton; therefore, I was certain that it would not show any signs of transparency. I looked around but did not rethink my decision because I knew that the logic board inside my brain would never agree to it but desperate times called for desperate measures. I tied up my wavy brown locks of hair in a messy bun and started to fold my jeans.

  "What the hell are you planning to do?" Kate's voice was loud and pinching.

  "Don't burn by ears" I threw her an almost angry look and reached for my laptop bag as I carefully wrapped it inside my white jacket.

  Then I took a deep breath and jumped into the rain.

  "Hey, you crazy girl! Come back here, the channel office is about 10 blocks away and you will not be able to make it in this heavy rain" Kate warned, shouting.

  I already knew the consequences that my red-haired skinny friend was trying to warn me about, but at that moment, nothing else mattered to me. I could not afford to lose this opportunity; I could not afford to be a weather girl for another year.

  With great difficulty I managed to pass the road, the road workers were looking at me like they were seeing an alien. I wondered if Aliens used to jump and run in the rain as I was doing at that moment.

  "Please don't leave, I want to say something" I requested while panting as I pulled the glass doors of the conference room, making a dramatic entry.

  For the first few seconds, Kent looked at me with wide eyes, then he nodded and gestured me to sit down.

  It was 9 pm when I had entered the conference room of ‘rising news'. People were throwing weird looks at me and for a moment, I felt like I was naked. I quickly looked down at myself, my hair was wet and the clothes were clinging to my body, but as I had expected they were not transparent.

  "Frey! Are you out of your mind? Who comes to the office straight from the shower?" Gloria's face had formed an ‘O' shape as she gazed me from top to botto
m.

  Gloria was Kent's personal secretary, no need to say that she looked exactly like a Barbie doll in a skimpy dress. She was a bimbo whom Kent just used as an eye candy.

  I shook my head "just trying a new look"

  Kent and some other people laughed at my answer. Obviously, they had understood my situation.

  Rick, the morning newsreader wrapped a towel around my shoulders. "Thanks," I uttered, feeling extremely grateful. He gave a warm smile in return.

  Rick was a sweet and genuine guy; he was only two years older than me, maybe that was the reason we always used to share a good rapport. Rick was an average looking guy, with olive colored skin and brown hair; he was a bit over weight and was always shy around girls. I found him cute and kiddish, he fulfilled the role of a brother in my life.

  "Freya are you all sorted?" Kent asked.

  I nodded "Sir, with due respect to all of you seniors out here, can I say something?" I asked politely.

  They gestured me to go ahead with my speech.

  "Thank you, a lot has been going around about the new show that we are about to launch in the next few days. I know everything has been finalized, except for the main host who will interview the guests" I spoke hesitantly.

  "Yes, we are still in talks with some people over it so what about that?" Kent asked.

  "The concept of the show is new, there will be live interviews so the host must be smart enough to handle the ups and downs regarding the content. I know I can do it with perfection, so I would like to suggest my name for this position" this time my tone did not fluctuate, I was confident.