CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
“OH! MY AMbrOSIAL ER?S, THERE you are!” A melodic voice lilted on Elliott’s way to see Finch.
He couldn’t see Kitty yet with all the media attention provoked by Céline Montclair, but the infirmary remained left alone.
Neglected. Therefore, Elliott could visit the student that would’ve been the honorarium.
Only Finch knew what that was like. Only Finch knew the Acheronian depth of depression, barren and disconsolate.
Elliott had to visit Finch to commiserate with him before he met with Warner Hammett.
The blazing sun burned across the manicured campus green, lush with orchids and fresh bluegrass.
AEscwulf College was sleepy, and rather paradisal in the summer, it all felt like a dream of nature.
He hadn’t stopped on his walk, because he didn’t realize the person was even calling him.
“My nectarean Er?s! Are those letters for me?”
Elliott was surprised when an airy woman approached him, her light hair strewn with botanical leaves, her cheeks brightly rouged like a sprite, her myriad necklaces beaded in fine jewelry, her gown flowing over the orchids. She was ethereal.
“Oh, I don’t think I’m who you’re looking for. I’m a science student.”
Elliott’s mouth parted as she grasped his cheeks. She took hold of Finch’s get well cards as if they were her own. She kissed him.
“You will be attending my banquet for you on the night of the thirteenth, yes? You must celebrate the anniversary of Julius Caesar’s birth with me, I insist. Shall I expect you and a friend?
” She asked, stroking his pinkening cheek.
She studied him from an inch apart. “Elliott Archway, you are heterochromatic. How curious.”
“Sorry? You know my name?” Elliott asked, surprised.
All at once, it dawned on him. She was the woman from the letters.
Professor Ilaria’s eyes always glazed over him whenever he stood next to James.
She gazed upon James as though he were the sun above her.
Elliott was merely the inconsequential wind.
Now, Elliott was the fiery sun above her.
Her eyes were emblazoned with heat. “Yes, of course, I know the name of all my students,” she said decorously.
“Why, I heard the tragedy of what happened to you and the Montclair boy who sacrificed himself for you. I wrote to the provost at once to admit you into the theater department. I initialized everything on your behalf with complete authorization immediately. I hope this is alright with you?–” She handed him paperwork with his signature pre-signed on several pages, requesting a degree transfer out of the chemistry department.
As of that day, he was a theater department student.
“I only imagined you’d want to return to normalcy–”
Elliott stammered, “Thank you–except–I’m headed to another college–” Was she the reason the provost allowed him to be spared?
Was she why he could return to his college education at all?
Elliott scratched the back of his head. “Thank you so much, really. I’d be happy to be a theater student, I think.
You’re so kind for all of this. Thank you. ”
“My heart is full of love. Most of all for you, loveliest Er?s.”
“Eros?” Elliott repeated, blinking a bit in confusion. She actually was referring to him as Eros after all, but why?
“The god of love and sex,” she explained, “the son of Aphrodítē herself. I feel motherly towards you in a way I cannot possibly explain.”
Elliott flushed. He wasn’t any sort of god of love and sex. He was too affectionate. Every time he fell in love it was monumental and impactful to him. He fell at their feet. If anything, he would be the arrowed victim of Er?s.
He swooned for everyone.
“Why Eros, if I can ask?” He scratched his head again. He didn’t understand the reference in the least. She wasn’t old enough to be his mother either. She wasn’t much older than him to begin with.
“Well, your arrows seem to graze the chest of those around you inexplicably. They’re bound to you in devotion.
I’ve studied you well.” I’ve studied you well.
Professor Ilaria looped an arm around him, informing him there was more.
He was her muse of the winter. “I am scripting my new play for the winter recitation in December, and I would be delighted if you were my star thespian, Er?s.”
“You can call me Elliott, everyone calls me Elliott.” Elliott smiled at her. “I can’t act to save my life or remember my lines. I don’t think you’d want me.”
“Once more, think of it as practice returning to the normalcy of everything again. A new adventure. You won’t need to even audition, which is very rare for me, I must say. You should feel very honored.”
“I-I am honored.” He sounded ungrateful, he realized, but he was honest. “I don’t want to take anything from someone who can bring your screenplay to life, that’s all–”
“Stage play,” she corrected. “Please. I insist. Perhaps I was too quick to offer you the spotlight? Perhaps I shouldn’t have written the provost to spare you after all? Have I overstepped?”
“No, never mind.” Elliott assured her, noticing a forlorn despondence in her eyes. “I’ll do my best for you, Professor Ilaria.”
“Wonderful!” She grasped his hands. “You must know I’ve removed a pesky reporter on the premises. He claimed to have an interview with you. Warren Hamlet?–”
“Warner Hammett?”
“Ah! Yes! He will no longer be badgering and pestering you. He has been staking out the visible campus and interviewing students regarding you. He even requested to speak to my technicians and actors, which I find intolerably intrusive. I made it very clear he was mistaken on any fabrication he might believe.”
“He wasn’t badgering me, I promise. He only wanted the truth.”
“He received the truth. I referred him to the official statement of AEscwulf College: Lucien sacrificed himself to spare you.” She waxed poetic on the modernity of lawsuits.
The justice system of America itself heavily borrowed from the Greeks, particularly Aeschylus, and she relished its effectiveness.
It was a very rare praise of modern practice from her.
“He seemed rather adverse to the hefty expenses levied against him, you are freed.”
“Professor–” Elliott tried.
“You may call me Aphrodítē. You are a sweet son to me. I can’t explain my affections. I quite adore you. Your life has been such sorrow. In fact, you inspired the titular role. I’ve titled it, The Tragedy of Er?s.”