"Mrs. O'Leary, come back! No!" I called after my dog, but it was already too late. She jumped over the fence and into someone's garden. I was about to go and ask the owner if I could go get her, but then she started to rearrange their garden and on instinct I jumped over the fence as well and grabbed her by her collar already on my way back to the street, when someone grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pushed me into the house. Mrs. O'Leary was left outside alone trying to go after me, while the person, and old ugly, bald and extremely fat man, pushed me further into the house.
"I'm really sorry, sir. It's just my dog… she jumped over the fence and I didn't want her ruining yo-" He hissed at me to shut up so I did. The house was big, pretty much a mansion. A beautiful one at that. Everything was clean and in place, except in the living room there were big heaps of t-shirts with Annabeth Chase's, a famous singer's, face on it lying on the couch, many CD's with the same design along with mugs and key chains and other stuff I didn't have time to make out, before the man dragged me upstairs, where it wasn't as clean and nice, opened a door to a dark room and pushed me in.
Before I hit the ground face first I heard him lock the door with a click.
Hot pain shot through my body and as I touched my forehead I felt something warm and wet. Blood.
"My god, are you okay?" A girl asked running to my side. Her voice sounded like a choir of angles singing and really familiar. "Yeah, I'm fine…" My head hurt, there was an annoying ringing in my ears and I felt like I was going to throw up any second. That girl blindly brushed the hair out of my forehead and then put my head in her lap. "I'm sorry this happened." I heard a ripping sound and the next second she's wrapping something around my head.
"Thank you." I said when she was finished, trying to sit up only to get pushed back down by her. "Rest." She insisted before putting my head from her lap on something that felt like a sweater or a blanket "I'll go get you some water."
I waited until she was back before asking "Why is it so dark in here?" She chuckled and helped me drink the water. "That ugly dude who threw you in here is a crazy bastard." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but I didn't understand what that had to do with anything. "Oh, okay." There was an awkward silence and when she put my head in her lap again, which was way more comfortable than the blanket or whatever, and started gently stroking my eyebrow with her thumb I couldn't keep the blood from rushing to my cheeks. Luckily it was too dark for her to see me blushing.
"Why are you here?" I asked breaking the silence. For a few seconds she froze but then continued stroking my eyebrow again "I'm the maid. This is kind of like my bedroom."
I tried to make out her face in the dark but it was too dark. If I held my hand in front of my face I wouldn't be able to see it.
I shifted a bit and immediately more pain shot from my head to the tips of my toes and I felt like throwing up.
Only did I realize I was falling asleep when that girl gently shook my shoulder telling me to try and stay awake. She had no idea how hard that was at the moment.
"What's your name? I'm Percy." She stiffened and stopped stroking my brow "Like… Percy Jackson?" "Yeah, how do you know? Do we know each other?" She let her hands fall to her sides and I already missed her gentle touch "Um… Yes."
I waited for her to introduce herself but she said nothing "And… Will you tell me your name?" "I'd rather not."
Of course I was disappointed. I wanted to know who that angel was but I wasn't going to force her "Okay, I accept that." She thanked me and again we were left in awkward silence.
She didn't seem to be thinking of speaking any time soon so I asked the first question that popped into my head "Is he like an Annabeth Chase fan?" I felt her put her hand on my shoulder rubbing it gently and comfortingly "Something like that… Why do you ask?"
"It was kind of hard not to notice all the Annabeth Chase T-Shirts and all." I chuckled but immediately regretted because the next thing I know I'm throwing up all over the floor.
She gasped and pulled me to her chest once I was done "Oh my god, are you okay?" I wiped the bile from my mouth and apologized for throwing up in her room. That was awkward but with all the pain I didn't give it much attention.
"My sister is a huge fan." I said distracting her "What?"
"My sister loves Annabeth Chase. She's obsessed with her." She covered me with the blanket I lay on while she went to get me water and asked "What about you, Percy? Do you like her?"
I never thought about it "Hmmm… I don't know. She's a great girl, she's got an awesome voice and her music is really good, but… She seems kind of slutty. She's really nice, she goes to my school you know, but she's always wearing really short shorts or skirts, she's sixteen for god's sake, and her music videos are really… um… unique…"
"Oh…" she almost sounded hurt. We were both quiet for a while but then we heard footsteps, she stood up and started banging on the door "Ugliano! Open that fucking door! He needs medical attention!" the footsteps stopped in front of the door but nothing happened "You bastard! He's got a concussion because of you! He could sue you and hopefully you'll rot in prison you bastard!" The door burst open and I got blinded by light.
I let out a pained groan but I heard a girly yelp and crash and then I was being yanked up and lead out of the house. I didn't even manage to take a look at the girl before the guy slammed the door in my face.
Having to lean on the wall for support, I called my mom and with Mrs. O' Leary we waited until she picked us up and drove me to the hospital. I did have a concussion.
The next week on Monday when I came back to school the strangest thing happened. Annabeth Chase, the famous singer, approached me and asked me how I felt. How she knew I had a concussion I didn't know, but I guess famous people have their sources.
She seemed nervous but when I told her I was fine she gave me a small smile and ran to the library where she spent most of her time.
Although she's famous all over the world she doesn't have many friends. Her only friends, as weird as it is, are my cousins Thalia and her brother Jason. They have some kind of history together but I don't know what kind of. (I exchanged Luke for Jason…)
But I didn't blame her. Being famous and all people want to hang out with you for fame and money and not for who you are.
Then another strange thing happened. We were in the middle of our French lesson, when the door burst open and the principal followed by some big dude entered the classroom. The first thing I noticed when they entered was how Annabeth, who was in almost all of my classes, sunk deeper into her seat.
"Annabeth Chase. Apollo is waiting." The big guy said but she shook her head. "Annabeth." He warned.
It took them some time but finally they managed to make her leave. I was happy that the whole thing took about fifteen minutes of out lesson.
But Annabeth didn't show up at school for the rest of the week.
"Welcome students, to our yearly end of school year talent show!" Everyone applauded and the principal continued "This year we have the honor to have Annabeth Chase personally as our judge." She smiled shyly and waved and the applause was louder than ever. He introduced the other two judges who were our music teacher, Mrs. Euterpe, and the deputy director Chiron.
He gave another boring speech about how proud he was of us for making this far, but with the lack of enthusiasm in his voice it was quite hard to believe.
And then it started with my friends Connor and Travis Stoll telling horrible jokes, obviously not getting anywhere with it, followed by other students, some I've never seen in my life and some I've talked to once or twice. They were dancing, singing, acting and one was a magician. I almost wished we'd just have normal lessons. Almost.
Finally after two hours everyone was done and the headmaster had the results. He opened the envelope "And the winner is… Connor, Travis you can't write your names over the original and expect me to believe it. I can still see the other name." he glared at them but they played innocent "Anyways, without further ado… The winner is Hazel Levesque and her cover of Diamonds by Rihanna. Congratulations!"
She got her prize. A bouquet of roses, 100 bucks for school utensils and a photo with the judges and the headmaster.
When they were done I was ready to leave but Mr. Dionysus, our headmaster stopped us "Children, we have the honor to first see Mrs. Annabeth Chase's new video and song Dangerous Woman."
I watched Annabeth and noticed how her eyes widened. She looked kind of panicked. She went over to Mr. Dionysus and they talked for a few minutes until she stormed out of the room.
(I changed some of the lyrics!)
The video started with some music playing. It was black and white. It showed Annabeth sitting in the corner of a room. Baggy, grey woolen sweater and white hot pants. Her hair was loose and there were some bruises on her wrists, face and legs, a cut on her cheek, eyebrow and lip. There was broken glass around her, blood stains on the walls and a gun lying next to her on the ground.
She had an absent look on her face staring at a spot on the ground in front of her. She looked really beautiful, bit slutty, but I wanted to run to her and hug all her pain away.
They showed "Zeus production presents: Dangerous Woman by Annabeth Chase"
Then she started to sing in her beautiful voice finally looking into the camera.
"Don't need permission
Made my decision to test my limits
'Cause it's my business, God as my witness
Start what I finished"
Some blonde dude came up to her, roughly grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.
"Don't need no hold up
Taking control of this kind of moment
I'm locked and loaded
Completely focused, my mind is open"
She leaned against a doorframe and leaned her head back on it too. The blonde dude opened a beer bottle and took a gulp.
"All that you got, skin to skin, oh my God
Please just stop, boy"
She slid down to the ground a tear running down her cheek. Her hair fell in her face as the guy threw the bottle at the wall. Then she hit the ground with both her fists and looked up so fast her hair flipped back to her back and wasn't covering her face anymore.
"Somethin' 'bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman"
She jumped up and looked at her bruises. When suddenly three people dressed in black grabbed her arms rather roughly and the third one pushed her back into the room with the blonde bastard.
"Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you"
she hit the bastard's chest and he put his arms around her waist sliding them down before she tried to push him away, but he slammed her into the wall and held her hands above her head kissing he neck while she shut her eyes and looked away.
"Makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout"
She stared at the gun. They shoved a small glimpse of them laughing with friends and hugging on a beach with his arms around her waist while she snuggled into his chest. One friend of theirs took a photo.
There was another scene. She was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed looking at the photo. It was crumbled and all but still beautiful. She looked so happy on it. She crumbled it and threw it into a corner of the room while mouthing the words to her song.
"Nothing to prove and
I'm bulletproof and
Know what I'm doing
The way we're movin' like introducing
Me to a new thing"
There was a scene with her both small, bruised wrists with hundred small bleeding cuts.
"I wanna savor, save it for later
The taste of flavor, 'cause I'm a faker
'Cause I'm a goner, it's only nature
I live in danger"
She had on a blank face with tears streaming down her face and mouthing the words when he ripped off her shirt leaving her in a sports bra. I noticed all the boys staring at her breasts, but what I noticed was just how skinny she was. You could practically count her ribs.
"All that you got, skin to skin, oh my God
Please just stop, boy"
And then she hit the ground again with both her fists still in her black sports bra and white hot pants, looked up so fast her hair flew back to her back and she jumped up making the huge bruises and cuts on her stomach visible. She was dancing and singing along with four black figures dancing the same way two on each side of her.
"Somethin' 'bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you
Makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you"
She was back in the room and the guy threw a beer bottle right next to her face. A camera showed the gun stuck in the back of her hot pants while her hand was slowly reaching for it. The guy slapped her in the face and she fell to the ground mouthing the words, hair in her face.
"All girls wanna be like that
Bad girls underneath, like that
Don't know how I'm feeling inside
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout
All girls wanna be like that
Bad girls underneath, like that
You know how I'm feeling inside
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout"
He kicked her in the stomach and a trial of blood trickled from her mouth. He pulled her back to her feet and slammed her against the wall. Tears were streaming down her face when she finally pulled out the gun and pointed it at him continuing to sing.
"Somethin' 'bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you
Makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you"
He stopped screaming at her and started to laugh but then she loaded it and he stopped laughing, talking to her. She continued to cry. The black figures appeared next to the blonde dude. She was crying hysterically and pointing the gun at all of them, one after the other.
"All girls wanna be like that
Bad girls underneath like that
Don't know how I'm feeling inside
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout
All girls wanna be like that
Bad girls underneath like that
You know how I'm feeling inside
Somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout"
One black figure took a step towards her and she shot. It went right through it not harming it since it was her imagination. The blonde guy got angry and pushed her against the wall. She dropped the gun. And he hit her.
"Yeah, there's somethin' 'bout you boy
Yeah, there's somethin' 'bout you boy
Yeah, there's somethin' 'bout you boy
(somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you)
Yeah, there's somethin' 'bout you boy
Yeah, there's somethin' 'bout you boy
Yeah, there's somethin' 'bout you boy
(somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout, somethin' 'bout you)"
He started to kiss her neck holding her hands that were trying to push him away. The song stopped with a shot of the bed and the she got pushed onto it still crying and a shadowy figure standing over her. Then she closed her eyes and looked away.
Everyone started to clap, but I ran out of the room. There she was.
She was in the hallway, pacing, crying and shouting at someone through the phone "…yes! I never agreed to that! But now they did! They did, you mother-fucking asshole!" She angrily hit the end button and slammed the phone on the ground making it shatter.
With a heart wrenching sob she put her arms around her chest and slid down the lockers to the ground. Without hesitation I ran to her side and pulled her into a tight hug and let her cry into my chest.
I heard the headmaster talking again but then she started talking and I listened to her only "It's not always easy, you know Percy… I didn't choose this. I really didn't. It just… After she… After he… I… I'm sorry." And I held her tighter. I didn't understand a word she said but I knew she needed it.
"Bethany, hurry up!" We both looked up and saw the guy that had picked her up two weeks ago. She choked down a sob and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand "Thank you, Percy." With a small smile I nodded.
I watched as she ran to her locker, grabbed her things and turned to look at me "Please tell them I'm sorry…" and then the guy lead her out of the school.
I had no idea who them was or why she was apologizing until the next day, when Thalia and Jason burst into my room almost breaking down the door. "I can't believe she left without telling us. Without explaining or saying goodbye! How could she, Percy?" Thalia slammed her fists onto my table making Jason and me jump a bit.
"Who left?" Jason scowled at the ground while Thalia screamed into my pillows. Jason was too upset to talk so after Thalia calmed down the slightest bit she explained "Fucking Annabeth selfish bitch Chase!" I said slightest bit.
"What do you mean she left? Like ran away or something?" She sighed and shook her head "No, she moved to San Francisco. She's going on world tour in a month." Jason put his arm around his sister's shoulders and I let it sink in. We weren't going to see her for two years at least. Not that I've been her friend or something. We were acquaintances. But after the incident in the hallway I felt different towards her.
I felt like there was more behind it than just the fact that she didn't like the video. I felt like there was more to her life story. I felt like she needed help, like her whole being was screaming 'HELP!' but no one noticed. Not even Jason and Thalia. Or maybe they did but for her sake kept quiet; maybe they don't know the whole truth.
'Bruises revealed during The Ellen Show', 'Annabeth Chase seen leaving hospital again', 'Sweetheart's outburst during interview', 'What is wrong with Annabeth Chase?' I read all of those articles and wondered if this was the reason for everything. It's been a year and a half since she went on tour and today was the day she was returning to New York to end the Demigod World Tour. This was the day we were going to find out the truth. The whole truth.
Thalia's bought the tickets for this concert the second they were out and since she bought four and I wanted to be there and support my friends, I accepted to go. The fourth was for my sister who was only allowed to go if I went too. We didn't really mind we had a really good relationship. I was an overprotective brother and she was my sweet baby sister.
Anyways, somehow Thalia got us in hours before the start and we were there when they were still setting everything up. Ocean, my little sister, was clinging to my arm excitedly and jumping up and down.
There was an elfish looking guy on the stage working with some cables and a sneaked a glance at Jason and Thalia to see that they were both nervous and excited. We stood right in front of the stage and the elf boy gave us a wicked grin when suddenly a girl with crutches walked onto the stage "Leo, have you seen Frank, Hazel's looking for him." She stopped in front of him, put both crutches in one hand while he supported her and pulled a screwdriver out of her back pocket giving it to him.
"Iguana Boy went to the Liquor Store. Boss' orders." He started working on his mechanic stuff again and she snorted. "Of course he is." We were all too shocked to speak but luckily as she was about to leave she saw us. She looked shocked but then my sister squealed and she gave us a small smile for her. Annabeth Chase limped to the front of the stage and sat down with her legs dangling off the edge. She was pale and looked really tired, but then Thalia lost it and started screaming at her.
Annabeth just sat there tinkering with one of the loudspeakers, nodding from time to time. She wouldn't look at us. Once Thalia was done screaming and panting, catching her breath her attention finally went to us and she put away the extra screwdriver and rubbed her eyes tiredly "You done?"
No she wasn't. Thalia caught her breath and started screaming once again and before I could stop her Annabeth did "Fucking shut up, Thalia!" We were shocked. That elf boy, Leo, handed her a stack of papers and then left. She didn't look at them "I fucked up! I know and I'm sorry! But if you came just to scream at me how fucked up friend I am and tell me that I deserve to die in a hole, then thank you very much you may as well leave, because I have enough of that without you too!" Tiredly she rubbed her face and calmed down. We were even more shocked,
She stood up and started walking away, but halfway she stopped and not looking at us she muttered loud enough for us to hear "You shouldn't have come…" then she walked away. For the first time in my life I saw Thalia crying. Not when her mother died nor when Annabeth left. Now. She was crying and she didn't seem to care that we saw her. Ocean, the sweet girl she is, pulled her in a hug and led her to the bathroom leaving Jason and I alone.
We sat in silence, both of us deep in thought, when Jason broke it "I have a bad feeling, Percy." He was staring down at his hands sadly "Something's going to go very wrong."
An hour later the girls returned looking as if nothing happened although the length of their stay in the bathroom meant that nothing was okay. The whole Madison Square garden was getting crowded and soon the concert started.
The first thing that shocked us was that she wasn't using crutches anymore. Though, suspiciously she wasn't moving around that much. And things went wrong…
At first it was just limping. Her leg was hurting. Then halfway through The Edge (originally by Tonight Alive), she leaned on the guitarist for support. She stopped singing and he stopped playing trying to grab her as she fell, but he was too late and she hit the ground. Everyone stopped cheering and dancing and gasped and immediately security guards took her away. We were left waiting worriedly.
My sister the optimist dismissed it with a wave, but with a worried look "It's a trick. She's just dressing up. Katy Perry did that too…" (I at first wrote Katy Perrcy and couldn't stop laughing) No one actually believed that, but some people heard us and soon everyone believed she was just changing.
And finally after a few minutes she was back on stage, smiling. She apologized and started singing again as if nothing happened. But there were thing I noticed. There was a blue-ish mark on her cheek, she was as pale as ever and she was wearing the same clothes.
She made it through two songs when things were getting worse. She was standing right in front of us on the stage but not looking at us and I noticed that she looked kind of disoriented and stumbled a bit. "Somethin' 'bout… You… Makes…" She was making breaks after each word and her voice was getting weaker and weaker until she stopped singing completely and looked around confused before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell off the stage right into my arms.
Immediately everyone shut up and started panicking trying to get to us, preventing real help from getting to her. I sat down on the ground, placing her in my lap while Thalia, Jason and Ocean were shielding us from the crowd. Where were the bodyguards when you needed them?
I felt a pressure behind my eyes and didn't realize I was crying until my tear landed on Annabeth's flaming cheeks. As I went to wipe it away, I felt that she was burning up. I brushed hair out of her face and used my cold hands to try and cool her down a bit, but when I took away my hand I watched in horror at all the make-up I wiped off. But the thing that shocked me wasn't that she was ugly, because she really wasn't, but the large bruise covering the whole right side of her face. Finally the bodyguards pushed through the crowd and brought her on stage where medics took over.
As they placed her on the gurney her eyes fluttered open for a second and she leaned over the side and threw up stomach acid.
They took her away from me when she needed me most. My suspicions were right. I just wish they weren't.
'Annabeth Chase faints twice on last concert of Demigod World Tour', 'American Sweetheart in hospital again' I couldn't look at those magazines anymore. They wouldn't let us see her, but we needed to… I needed to. If I wanted to help her I needed proof first.
I found out where she lived and my blood ran cold as soon as I realized she lived in the house where the old guy had 'imprisoned' me. So that girl with the angelic voice was her. Meaning I was right. No way in hell was there another explanation for all this. She was being abused.
I waited until the ugly man left before sneaking into the house. Everything was clean and just like a year and a half ago when I was first here. There was no one there. I quietly ran up the stairs and no it wasn't clean. Not at all. There were old beer cans, dirty clothes and pizza cartons everywhere. The walls were splattered with red stains that could either be ketchup or blood and I kind of knew it was the latter. Also there was a horrible smell in the air. It was sweat, cigars, alcohol, blood and sex. I shuddered at the thought of hat he was doing.
I walked to the only open door and gasped at the horrible state it was in. Clothes ripped and thrown on the ground, bloodstains and holes in walls, broken beer bottles, ash and cigar butts everywhere, bloodstained and ripped bed sheets, bloody handcuffs hanging on all four bedposts and a huge puddle of blood leading into another room.
I wanted to tell myself that I was at the wrong house and Annabeth was perfectly fine. But I knew that was a lie.
I followed the trial of blood into the other room that I recognized to be a bathroom. I gasped. Broken mirror, bloody razor, beaten up, half naked beauty on the ground covered in dried and still flowing blood.
"Annabeth!" I choked out and covered her with my hoodie, already calling the ambulance. I tried to stop the bleeding using an old towel, but I was no expert. I started to cry and held her close.
"I didn't want this, Percy…" she croaked out and I was delighted that she was awake. I looked at her and wiped away a tear that slipped down her cheek. "I hate those skirts and crop tops and hot pants…" she started coughing and although I told her to save her energy she continued "I had to wear them all the time. Summer, spring, fall, winter… I was always cold, but he didn't care, Percy…"
"Please stop… I know it. I understand and I'm really sorry. I never meant to call you slutty, I'm an idiot, Annabeth, and I'm sorry. This is my entire fault I should have known sooner. I'm so sorry… The truth is Annabeth that I love you. I love you with all my heart and I guess I thought that you were just seeking attention, although I knew you have a good heart. And I love you Annabeth! Heaven's sake where is that damn ambulance! Hang on Annabeth. I promise you that everything's going to be fine." She closed her eyes and lost consciousness.
But everything was fine. They saved her and I couldn't be more thankful.
The police arrested Gabriel Ugliano and he wasn't getting free in the near 300 years.
And to make this short; Annabeth thankfully with Thalia, Jason, Ocean and my help recovered, gave up her singing career and gave ¾ of all her money to charity and abuse recovery clinics and all my wishes came true when she became Annabeth Jackson after three years of dating.
I know it's terrible but it would mean the world if you reviewed… I really want to know if I'm terrible or just slightly terrible at writing. Also, the best of luck to those going through hard times…