The Dark Side of the Moon
By: Juliana Garcia
Cycris was I young girl known throughout Greece as “the trouble maker”. She was a very cold-hearted, cunning, conceded child. Nobody really liked her but they didn’t want her to be rude to them, so they respected her as much as they could. She was very selfish.
One day as Cycris was walking home from school, she overheard somebody talking about the goddess Artemis. The girl was talking about the story of Artemis’s palace on the side of the moon. “If this is so true, why don’t you prove it to me?,” Cycris asked the girl rudely. “Excuse me? Who are you to talk to me that way? I am Thaleia, one of Artemis’s good friends. Do not talk to me as if I were some piece of trash on the street. Plus if any human were to go near her palace she would kill them. Even me,” Thaleia responded. “Ha! I doubt she would kill me! She’s probably too scared of me anyways!,” Cycris snickered. “I wouldn’t say those things if I were you young lady. She is listening to us right now and she might kill you right here!” “Watch me!,” Cycris shouted. “I will go to Artemis’s palace AND steal a brick of her gold!” “Don’t do it! Foolish girl she will crush you with her bare arms!,” Thaleia warned Cycris. “No! NOBODY tells ME what to do!” Then she set off to find a witch for a spell or potion to make her jump millions of miles up to the moon and down from it.
“What can I do for you ma’am?,” kindly asked the witch. “I need a potion,” demanded Cycris. “To jump to the moon and steal Artemis’s gold.” The witch looked at her in confusion. “Steal Artemis’s gold?!? HA!! Foolish girl!! She will kill you before I even hand you this potion!,” the witch burst out with laughter. “STOP IT! Don’t tell me what you think old lady because I didn’t ask you! I just want the stupid potion!” The witch suddenly became serious. “I usually wouldn’t get you the potion, but with that attitude, you deserve to see Artemis’s fury.” She found the potion and handed it to Cycris. “Just a warning, don’t drink it alone. It can drain your energy and make your heart beat increase. Mix it with some water or food maybe.” Cycris set off to her house without saying thank you or anything.
The village she lived in was very crowded. It was dusty, dry, and poor. There would be beggars on the streets in every corner. People would fight for food and even sometimes get serious injuries from fighting so much. The ground would cry out in pain as hundreds of villagers would step on its dusty face. As soon as Cycris got into her old, falling apart house, she chugged down the whole potion, not following the witch’s instructions. ”I don’t feel any different” she said to herself. “Maybe if just jump u- AHHH!!!” all of a sudden she flew through her roof straight to the moon.
She landed on the moon with such a huge THUD! , she thought Artemis had already heard her land. She looked around the cold, quiet, mysterious moon and finally spotted Artemis’s beautiful, humongous palace. It looked as if it were made entirely out of sterling silver. “Okay. I have to make this quick,” she whispered to herself. “Just run in there and grab the stupid gold so I can prove Thaleia wrong. It looks like nobody is in there so this should be easy.” With her heart beating as fast as it could, she ran straight through the heavy wooded up silver doors and grabbed the first brick of gold she saw. She ran and ran and ran from that palace just hoping nobody was chasing her. She had made it all the way to the other side of the moon when she all of a sudden felt very weak and tired. She was so weak that she nearly passed out right there! But then she remembered she needed to prove Thaleia wrong. So she jumped back down to earth to look for Thaleia.
She landed right where she had jumped up to the moon and as soon as she caught her breath, she went to go find Thaleia. As she was walking through the dusty village looking for Thaleia, she thought about how easy it was stealing from Artemis. “Wow. Artemis didn’t even notice. Haha, she’s not a very bright goddess.” When she found Thaleia, she shoved the gold brick into her face and shouted “SEE?!? What did I tell you?! I went to the moon, broke into her palace, AND stole her gold. Ha! I told you I could do it!” Thaleia looked at her very seriously. “Umm… I wouldn’t have said that so loud like that. Look behind you” “Huh?,” Cycris asked. Just then, Artemis with her silver bow hanging off her shoulder grabbed Cycris by the shoulder.
“I heard this piece of gold is from my palace young lady. Is it? Because last time I remembered I ALWAYS close my palace doors before I leave the palace and this time when I came back, they were wide open. Hmm I wonder why…,” Artemis said sarcastically. “W-w-what?! Ha. N-no I d-didn’t take this g-gold from your p-palace. I uh… F-found it somewhere!,” Cycris nervously said with tears in her eyes. “Do not lie to Artemis! She’s as smart and deadly as a wolf!,’ shouted some random villager. Cycris gave Artemis a nervous laugh. “Sorry?” Right then and there, Artemis turned Cycris into a snail and threw her off a nearby cliff.
“Now I want you all to do me a favor,” Artemis told the crowd that had gathered around her. “Do not tell ANYBODY else about my palace. From now on, nobody will ever see the side of the moon my palace is on. It will be known as the dark side of the moon. Understood?” Everybody nodded their heads in agreement. “Good,” Artemis picked up the brick of gold Cycris had dropped. “Now I must go return this to where it belongs. Goodbye mortals!” everybody waved Artemis a goodbye and wished her good luck on fixing her palace doors. The village was finally at peace without Cycris’s negativity.