Just a heads-up, this is my first try at writing a story for people to read, other than my teachers. I hope you enjoy my story!

-Athena'sOwlet

Kristen POV

It was 2:30 in the morning when it happened. The ground started rumbling, and the floor started shaking. It felt as if the whole world was vibrating in unison. I didn't know what it could be, until one thought came into my mind: EARTHQUAKE!

"EARTHQUAKE!" I yelled frantically as I ran around the house, trying to wake up everyone. No such luck. My siblings knew better than to listen to what I had to say, since I had played so many pranks on them. "I'm serious this time!" I tried to prove that I was telling the truth. "Can't you feel it? The earth is shaking violently!"

"Shush it, Kristen; some people are trying to sleep here!" A tired voice came from my siblings' room.

Now, the earth was shaking more violently, and I decided that I would just let them be, as they wished, and save my own life. There was no time saving anything now, except for my life. If my parents and siblings didn't listen to me now, I would never be able to get them to listen to me ever. At home, I was the troublemaker, the one who should never be trusted. How come when I play pranks on them they believe what I'm saying is true, but now they don't? I thought to myself as I ran for my life out the door.

As soon as I was out the door, I sensed that something was wrong. I looked toward the ocean, and I saw a wave coming straight at the land. It could only be one thing: a tsunami. Oh no, this is very, very bad. Not only is an earthquake happening, but a tsunami, too! I'm definitely going to lose my family in this natural disaster. How bad can my luck get? I said to myself.

I rushed to the only safe place I could think of: a barren field that was very high up. I learned all of this information from school, during the "Natural Disasters and How to Protect Yourself During One" video we watched in science class. I was lucky that I lived very close to that field. I ran as fast as I could to it, as if my life depended on it, though my life did depend on it.

I arrived at the field just in time. About 5 seconds after I arrived at the field, the tsunami hit. It was a 120 foot wave crashing down onto my beloved town. Tears formed in my eyes as I watched houses being swept away, some collapsing from the earthquake, and some going up in flames. Someone then gently tapped me on the arm.

"Who?" I turned around. "Oh, it's just you, Mr. Shethet." Mr. Shethet was my handicapped English teacher. I was failing his class because of my dyslexia, making it hard for me to read the tests, quizzes, books, handouts, everything. It felt weird meeting him in a crisis situation, but he was my teacher, so he deserved to have respect from me, right?

"I saw you running here, but I didn't see the rest of your family. Where are they?" Mr. Shethet asked.

A teardrop uncontrollably fell down my cheek. "Well… I tried to get them to wake up and evacuate, but they wouldn't believe me."Another teardrop and another started falling down. I couldn't help it. I started crying. Despite the fact that I hated my siblings, I knew that I still loved them in my heart.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Mr. Shethet was sympathetic. He led me to his car. "It's about time I've taken you there." He muttered to himself.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing, Kristen," Mr. Shethet replied. "I drove my car here; it was faster than rolling my wheelchair here. I wasn't affected that much from the earthquake, but I thought it would be safer to go to the field, anyways."

Once I was in the car, Mr. Shethet started to drive away. We drove away from the destruction towards New York. New York? Why there? I don't know why, but I just tried to avoid New York as much as possible. I guess it's just because of the mean people or gangs. I kept wondering about that. Maybe he's going to go off an exit leading somewhere else. I thought to myself. I kept trying to reassure myself. I kept believing that we weren't going to be going to New York until we reached the Holland Tunnel.

"Where are we going?" I inquired.

"Camp Half-Blood," Mr. Shethet answered in a small voice.

"What in the world is that?" I was starting to become suspicious. Was this a torture camp for kids who failed classes?

"Oh, I'm sorry for not explaining to you. I'm pretty sure you'll understand one you get there," Mr. Shethet was giving cryptic answers.

I guess I was going to have to wait for a straight-forward answer. We finally arrived at the base of a hill in Long Island Sound. Mr. Shethet started up the hill, so I guessed that I should follow. As we neared the top, Mr. Shethet said something that sounded like, "Maybe we'll be lucky this time and won't get attacked."

"Attacked by what?" Another one of my questions that I was burning to know the answer to. Just as I asked that question, a deafening sound rang in the air. I turned around only to find a monster that I could not name. Just by the looks of it, I guessed that I wouldn't want to meet one of these things again. It was this ugly-looking beast with horns and it was all hairy, but once I looked down, I realized that it was half-man, too. I nearly fainted at the ugliness of the creature.

"Not again!" Mr. Shethet exclaimed. "It happened once to Percy, and now to Kristen." I knew better than to ask who Percy was. All of a sudden, the bull-man thingy started charging for me. I started running and screaming for my life. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Shethet getting out of his wheelchair. Was he crazy? He was handicapped for God's sake! But, I realized that once he got out of his wheelchair, the body of a horse appeared. I forgot the situation I was in and stopped running to admire the body of a white stallion emerging. This mythical creature started shooting arrows at the monster. The monster! I had let myself get distracted, and the bull-man thing crashed straight into me. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was an arrow going directly into the thing's chest. Then, the odd creature disintegrated into golden dust.

When I woke up, I was in the infirmary being tended to by these guys whose names I didn't know. Somehow, I was sopping wet. I was being force-fed small squares of something that tasted like my favorite ice cream. When he realized that I had woken up, he said to someone else, "She looks good enough to go to the Big House." I was then being wheeled into a house with some random dude playing pinochle with Mr. Shethet.

"So, we have another demigod camper in our hands," the strange guy announced. I was puzzled. What did he just call me?

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Please review and tell me what you think!

Nota Bene: This chapter was based on the tsunami and earthquake in Japan. Please think of the less fortunate!

-Athena'sOwlet