The Guest

You voted, and PAY won. You sent him onto his brother's channel. November fourth, 3:40 p.m., Apollo's golden villa: in the guest green room, his mother is waiting. On the mirror sits his phone, its camera icon grey since Sunday, when his live streaming was turned off. All of it, sweetheart, Maia says. Even the two you ate. Relax, Mom, Hermes says. It's his live. I'm just a guest.

At 4:04 p.m., on air, he confesses: fifty cows, two eaten, one lie to Zeus. Apollo keeps his word. Request retracted, little brother. No strike Thursday. Olympus loves a confession, and three thousand new followers arrive. So why is Apollo still smiling?

At 5:12 p.m., two messages. YouTube: circumvention, his account may be terminated. Apollo: off since Sunday, little brother. I checked. Here is the trap: on YouTube, if your account has been restricted from live streaming, you're prohibited from using another channel to live stream. Violating that restriction is circumvention, and it may get your account terminated. Three thousand years of lies, Hermes laughs. One truth, and that's the violation.

Here is what Hermes doesn't know: Apollo never checked. At 10:58 the night before, someone told him. Now the choice: expose Apollo by posting his text, and both channels may burn. Or forgive him, and carry it alone.

And at 11:58 p.m., the account with no face goes live again. Tonight, the face is his mother's.