A Nemean Encounter

Dear Diary, it’s Leon again. I had the strangest study-abroad trip. I’m just going to tell you what happened step by step.

I’m in Greece studying abroad, and my teachers decide to stop by the Nemean ruins. I sit by a window on the bus. The scenery is beautiful, so I spend the whole ride looking out the window. At some point, there’s a flash of gold through the trees. After asking Journey and Alaric, my classmates, if they had seen the flash, I decide it’s my imagination.

We look at the ruins and we’re about to leave when the site manager runs to talk to the professor.

I look at the ruins again and that is when I see it. It’s a golden lion standing twenty yards from the edge of the ruins. It’s staring right at me, until it turns and dashes into the thick forest. I decide to follow it. Who’s going to miss me? Besides, the professor and the manager look like they’re going to be arguing for a while. So I jog toward the woods to follow the beast.

I’m lost. I’ll admit it. All the trees look the same; it’s hard to tell where I’m going. I decide to head in one direction. Eventually I come across a little stream. I follow it to where the water pools and then I see it. The lion!

In a trance, I walk toward it and extend my hand. Then I snap back to reality and remember the Nemean Lion from Greek mythology. I quickly withdraw my hand. I barely remember what happens next, it’s so surreal. A man, wearing clothing that looks like a toga, melts out of the nearest tree and talks to me. Out of shock, I can’t answer him. He’s frustrated. He snaps his fingers, and I black out.

I open my eyes and am sitting in my seat on the bus. My classmates are getting on, so I quietly look out the window. Two golden eyes stare back at me from between some columns. Then they slowly fade into the forest.