When Roosters Crow At Night

by Eleanna

Preface

According to the ancient Greek mythology all men’s fate was governed by three women, the three Fates or Moires in Greek. They were the goddesses of fate who personified the inescapable destiny of man. They assigned to every person his or her fate or share in the scheme of things.

Klotho, whose name meant 'Spinner', spinned the thread of life. Lakhesis, whose name meant 'Apportioner of Lots'--being derived from a word meaning to receive by lot--, measured the thread of life. Atropos (or Aisa), whose name meant 'She who cannot be turned', cut the thread of life.

No human being could go against what was determined for them by the three Fates, and even if they tried consciously or not, the Fates would fall on them bestowing harsh punishments to them or bad luck as we call it today. Of course the human heart wouldn’t give up so easily, impulses and emotions were difficult to control but the Fates would be unstoppable until the course of things would return to where it was stopped...

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Chapter One: One night in the theatre....

Up high in the mount Olympus, in North Greece....inside a dark cave, three creatures that looked like time had forgotten them, were staring at the cave’s wall...

- Come on already!!!, said one of them with a high pitched voice that resonated deep into the cave. She was painfully thin, her skin distorted by a thousand old wrinkles, her silvery hair were falling very long and limp down to her hips.

- Wait a second!!!! By God, Klotho you are getting on my nerves more and more the past few days!!!, I told you, there was something wrong with the reception lately...I’m trying with my wand and I get nothing!!! And my old bones don’t help me either...Lakhesis said looking extremely irritated.

She moved painfully slow putting a lot of effort into walking towards the smooth wall of the cave. Her bones were making cricking noises; one would’ve thought that she’d fall at any minute into a pile of bones on the cave’s floor. Her eyes were half closed; the old eyelids were falling heavy on them. Her old gray robes were sweeping the cold cave surface. She was gripping an old wooden wand; it looked more like a useless piece of mouldy stick. She turned and glared to her sister.

- What’s happening with that fire, you set up to start two hours ago? I’m hungry and I’m freezing!!, she shouted angrily to the third sister that was sitting silently at the back of the cave, quietly trying to blow air into a small ball of kindling, a weak flame was burning in the middle. Aisa pulled her head up, looking at her sister indifferently.

- You come and do it, if you want!!, she cried from the back. She blew once more into the ball of dry hay; thick dark smoke covered her face. She started coughing violently, cursing between her teeth.

Klotho left a frightening scream that shutted her two sisters up the second it reached their ears.

- DO YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE???, she shouted now angrily to both of them. WE ARE THE THREE FATES!!!, she continued as she widened her eyes as much as she could, heavy grey eyebrows falling on them. AND WHAT DO WE DO?, she cried loudly to her two sisters that looked at her silently.
- We...make....people’s fates..., Lakhesis whispered embarrassingly and pulled her face up looking at her sister with the look of a scorned schoolgirl.

- Will you please come here at last to enchant the rock with your wand then?, Klotho said with a commanding tone in her voice.

Lakhesis without a word, reached the wall, her wand touched the smooth surface of the cave wall, a loud cracking noise was heard, bright sparkles were coming out of the wand, illuminating the insides of the dark cave. Slowly the wall was changing, as if coming to life, it transformed gradually to a huge window to the world...

- At last!!!, Klotho said excitedly and all of them approached closely to the image that was taking form in front of their eyes.

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It was late night and in the silence of the empty theatre a strong voice was heard.

- But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon..., Terry spoke with a passionate voice.

His lean silhouette was spreading tall and dark on the curtains behind him as he was facing the bright theatre spotlight.

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Klotho was looking at Terry’s image on the stone wall intensely.

- Ahhhhh.....young Terry Grandchester...., she said and let her head fall back, her eyes turned upwards with only the white showing through their sockets.

As if in trance, her head quickly came back down and from a pile of different coloured threads, she picked slowly with her long bony fingers, a silk golden thread. She started spinning fast the gold thread with her spindle.

Lakhesis was sitting next to her sister, picking the spinned thread, measuring it continuously as it passed from her hands.

- Beautiful Terry still has a long life in front of him, she said and smiled satisfied.

Terry’s fate was her favourite fate. They had thrown love in his way, and Lakhesis had put her foot down insisting that for her favourite mortal, to give him the biggest gift of all, eternal and complete love. Lakhesis eyes brightened to the thought.

Aisa was the last in the line, she was touching the gold thread of Terry’s fate and was brandishing a heavy pair of silver scissors on her right hand.

- Watch it with those scissors, Lakhesis whispered to her sister and gave her a nudge with her sharp elbow.

- Ouch!! I’m watching, I’m watching, she spoke back to her sister. If you don’t stop messing up with me, my scissors won’t cut any threads, but something else all together, she hissed and snapped her scissors with a quick move close to Lakhesis fingers.

Klotho made a big shush sound and there was silence in the cave once more.

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- ... Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon..., Terry’s voice sounded passionate in the silence.

He stopped and glanced back at his script.

- No, no, no...., I need to be perfect....my Freckles will be watching..., he murmured excitedly to himself. His thoughts were cut abruptly by hearing his name spoken.

- Terry...?, a weak voice has heard from his left coming from the curtains.

Susanna made herself present, looking at Terry with a shy adoring look in her eyes. Terry looked at her feeling surprised and annoyed. “What is she doing here?”, he wondered. “I have to get on with the play!!”, he gritted slightly his teeth.

- Susanna? What are you doing here?, Terry asked her with a firm voice.

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Klotho turned her head suddenly and looked at her two sisters holding Terry’s thread.

- What is she doing there?, Klotho asked angrily.

- I don’t know!!, Lakhesis said with a frightened tone in her voice and shrugged her shoulders. Do you know?, she turned and asked the youngest of the sisters. Aisa’s eyes sparkled.

- How should I know? Why do you always assume that it has to do with me!! Just because I’m holding the scissors, it doesn’t mean that I should know what that dumb blonde is doing there!!!, she shouted back.

She had it up to there with her two sisters and their moods.

Klotho looked nervously at the pile of threads that were laying all jumbled up on the floor. She picked up with trembling hands a sickly yellow thread and started straightening it with fast moves. After a couple of seconds, she left a worried shriek. Terry’s and Susanna’s threads had mistakenly got tightened to a knot.

Lakhesis eyes sparkled in the dark.

- Oh no!!!!, what happened there?, she shouted loudly. Her Terry!!! With that dumb blonde!!! She couldn’t believe it!!

- Damn, damn, damn, she cried and started punching her lap. Aisa got her sister from the shoulder.

- Don’t panic, will short something out, I’m sure....isn’t that so Klotho?, she said and looked nervously at her big sister.

Lakhesis was close to the edge of a nervous breakdown. She adored Terry.

Klotho’s eyes were glued to the wall, widening ever so much when she heard Susanna confessing her love to Terry, his script falling to the floor.

- Ohhh....crap!!!, she whispered between her teeth. She turned to her sisters.

- We can’t undo the knot ourselves!!, she cried to her sisters that looked at her solemnly.

- I can cut that pukey yellow one!!!!, Aisa said excitedly and snapped her scissors.

- Noooo!!, we can’t do that, Klotho said urgently, we are not allowed to cut the thread before its time. Only Susanna can undo the knot with her will unfortunately, she said and lowered her face looking at the floor.

Lakhesis sobs were filling now the cave.

- Terryyyyyyyyyy.....she cried as tears were coming down her eyes. My eternal looooooveeee..., she was wailing desperately.

Klotho pulled her head up slowly and her lips broke into a wide smile.

- We can’t undo the knot ourselves..., but...we can give a helping hand to her!!, she said back with joy in her voice as she pointed her finger quickly to Susanna that stood silent in front of an angry Terry.

Lakhesis stopped crying. She dried her eyes quickly.

- What do you mean...help? Look at him!!! Do you think that any girl would leave that man on her own free will?? He is like the son of Zeus for goodness sake!!!

Klotho left a chuckle and Aisa held her breath.

- Let’s just say that meeting Terry won’t be the best thing that happened to her life..., she said with a mischievous smile on her face. In fact...it won’t be any good at all..., she continued and left a crackling laughter.

Chapter 2