Thalia
It was a drizzly morning in December. I was standing arm in arm with my brother Jason. We watched as our mother's coffin was lowered into the grave. It took a lot of effort for me not to cry, but I was too proud. I was 16 years old, my brother Jason was 15. The other guests at the funeral were crying, looking sad, hugging someone... I hated them all. I hated them for coming here, for sharing the last time we would spend with our mother with us. I didn't want to share anything. I just wanted my mother back.
She had not been my mother for the last five years, ever since our father had left her. She had started drinking, going out with a different man every night and abandoned us. I had taken care of Jason, making him food, making sure he did his school work, stealing my mum's money to buy us food and clothes. But no one ever took care of me. One year ago I had stopped eating. I wanted to be thinner. Skinny people always got everything. I wanted to get things, I wanted to have control of something. I wanted Jason to have more food.
My mother didn't notice anything, but Jason started to worry. He knew me too well. He saw how I stole money from our mother and her boyfriends. He noticed how when he did his homework, I did my best to pay off all the necessary bills. He noticed how bad my report card was. Thankfully my mom didn't care and I had a C- in all my classes. But Jason noticed. He asked why I went from all As to this. I told him that it was non of his business. It hurt to lie to him. He noticed how I started to exercise everyday. When we were younger and our parents were still together I took ballet classes with my best friend Annabeth, but after my dad left my mom didn't pay anymore so I stopped.
Jason hadn't noticed how I started to steal things. I would go grocery shopping with the money I had and hide everything I couldn't pay for under my sweater. Somehow I never got caught. I did it for Jason. The only people I cared about were Jason and Annabeth. I couldn't spend much time with Annabeth but I ate ouch with her everyday, except I didn't eat lunch. I only drank water and ate a rice cracker. Annabeth got worried but I told her that I wasn't hungry. Every day. Annabeth didn't know that my mom was a wrack. She knew my dad had left but she didn't know what that had meant for us. I told her not to come to our flat because my mom was recovering from the shock. Annabeth had accepted that but I knew I couldn't keep her away for ever. She was a smart girl, she would have figured everything out eventually. I just hoped that it wouldn't be soon. Annabeth was very busy working for school, her parents cared a lot about her grades. I used to spend almost every day at Annabeth's house. Now I didn't have time. But now my mom was gone. I only had Jason. We had nowhere to go. We wouldn't be able to pay for our apartment. Our dad didn't care about us. I had tried to find him last year but when I called him he hang up as soon as he heard my name. I had considered calling him after the police told us our mom was dead. He wouldn't have cared though. He would have hung up again. It wasn't his problem if his kids were all alone. It wasn't his problem if his wife died in a car crash she'd caused herself.
So we were alone at the funeral. My mother's family had never liked our father so they had not cared about us either. I didn't care. We didn't need anyone to help us. We were gonna be alright.
After the funeral I went home with Jason. We didn't talk much. There was nothing to say, at least we didn't want to talk about it. When we reached our door, Annabeth was sitting in front of it.
"Thalia!",she said when she saw me. She stood up and hugged me. Then she hugged Jason. "I'm so sorry. I saw it in the newspaper this morning and then you guys weren't at school so it came here and you weren't there.", she said in a rush. I didn't know what to say to her. "You didn't need to come, Annie, but thanks.", I answered as I dug for my key in the pockets of my leather jacket. I found the key and opened the door. "Of course I came! You guys are like family to me. And also my parents said it would be a good thing.", Annabeth commented. She was such a good friend, I didn't deserve to have her. Jason looked from her to me and said "It's really nice that you came, Annabeth". Annabeth and Jason were the same age so he knew her from classes and sometimes I had taken him with me when I went to Annabeth's, but only when mom had her bad days. "Why don't you come inside?", Jason continued. I froze, Annabeth hadn't been in our flat since my mom started drinking there. Me and Jason didn't care about it but there were empty bottles and unpaid bills everywhere. I gave Jason a panicked look. He frowned, probably not knowing what my problem was. "Sure.", Annabeth confirmed and my heart sunk. I couldn't tell her no. If I didn't let her in she'd start to wonder. So I said "It's a bit messy because our mom was having a bad time lately." More like the last five years. Annabeth nodded in understanding. I opened the door completely and walked in. Jason and Annabeth followed.