It's true my stepfather abused me and didn't love and protect me the way he should have, and at times it seemed no one would ever help me and it would never end. But God always had a plan for my life, and He has redeemed me. -Joyce Meyer

PERCY'S POV

I grabbed my sharp blade from my nightstand, and I pushed the sleeves of my shirt upward to reveal a whole bunch of white scars I had previously cut days before. I stared at them in wonder, remembering that each scar had a beautiful story behind them.

My blade hovered over my arm for just a moment, before I took a deep breath. I slowly, but cautiously, placed it over my cool skin, before I started to run it over my arm. I gritted my teeth, feeling the pain overwhelm me. The blade immediately clattered to the floor, and I grabbed the part of my arm where I had just cut, and I closed my eyes, moaning in pain.

What seemed like forever, I opened my eyes, and I realized my arm was turning white. I was squeezing it too hard. I let go all of a sudden, and I felt blood trickle down my arm, and splash onto the floor. I knew I had to examine my injury now or later, so I turned my arm over, inspecting it.

It was much worse that I would have thought it would be. There was a slight dark line that wasn't there before, and I watched the blood come in contact with my skin. I stared, fascinated, as it rolled down my arm before splashing onto the floor once again.

This was the taste of my life.

I opened my eyes, and almost immediately, a huge pain crossed over my eyes. I yelped, closing my eyes once again. Once the pain had subsided, I opened my eyes more slowly this time, and thankfully no pain came to me again. I squinted in the light, as I take in my surroundings.

There was a small bed in the corner, and the blankets were hanging halfway over the edge of the bed, threatening to fall. My eyes ran over to the other side of the room where my nightstand stood. There was absolutely nothing on top of it except for a box of blades I had kept over a year now.

It has been almost 2 years since I have started cutting. My mother was dead, and now my stepfather, Gabe had started to take care of me. But I wouldn't say that he took care of me in a positive way. Ever since my mother's death marked my life in a terrible way, my stepfather had started to be a little bit more rough with me. Each night when I come home from school, I would receive a good beating for no such reason. I remember screaming and pleading for him to stop, but all Gabe did was shake his head and laugh.

That's when the cutting comes in.

I needed the pain to hurt myself, to relieve myself, to give me a taste of pure freedom. I would never forget the first time I had started to cut myself. I was just fifteen, and I had received a huge beating, because I had brought Gabe the wrong brand of beer he had wanted.

I limped into my room, and I spotted in the corner, something glinting from the sunlight which was pouring into my room from the drapes that were slightly open. I stride across the room with such difficulty, I thought I was going to faint from the pain. I reached down, and my hand grasped on the metal. I winced, and let go of it.

Instantly, blood flowed from my fingers. The pain was incredible, but for once, it felt like I had needed it. Something to escape from my life. To escape from my problems. To escape from Gabe.

Ever since then, I have been cutting myself. I would cover myself up by wearing long sleeves or a hoodie. I didn't want anyone to be suspicious. It was bad enough to have a stepfather who would physically and emotionally abuse me. I don't want other kids to laugh at me, whispering behind my back of what a loser I am.

I shook my head, erasing the past from my mind. I used my arms to get up from the floor, and I winced, feeling a huge pain coming from my arm. I gritted my teeth, and once I finally got up, I checked my watch to see what time it was.

My eyes widened as I realized I was going to be late for school if I don't get going. I walked toward my dresser, and I grabbed a concealer from my draw. I twisted the cap, and it popped open. I dug my fingers inside, trying to find any last remnants of the cream, and when I took my fingers out, barely any cream was covered onto my fingers.

I sighed, as I started to spread it over my cut. I was running out of cream, and I needed to go to the store after school today. I remembered I didn't have any money in my pockets, and I knew I had to ask Gabe. The last time I had asked him for money, he almost killed me.

After I finished spreading concealer onto my arms, I grabbed my backpack from the corner of my room.

I exited my room, and walked down the corridor as softly as I can. I didn't want to wake Gabe up again. I already learned my mistake from last time.

I crept downstairs, making my footsteps go as light as a feather. I entered the living room, and almost at the same exact time, a foul smell wafted towards me. I crinkled my nose, trying to get rid of that smell. It was the worst scent I had ever smelled before. And I knew where it was coming from.

Gabe.

He was lying on the couch, his mouth parted slightly open, and drool dribbled out from the corners of his mouth. His black hair was messily unmade, as usual, and his feet were hanging off of the couch. His chubby hand was grasping onto a bottle of beer, but it looked like his fingers were loosening, and the bottle was going to drop any second.

As for the rest of the room, it was much worse than Gabe himself.

The TV was blaring ESPN, and bottles of beer littered all around the room, making it difficult for me to go pass Gabe without making any noise. The brown walls all around me, well, the brown paint was peeling off, making the room look much uglier than before.

As I stepped aside the bottles, making my way towards the front door, I accidentally stepped on the corner of one of the bottles, making it crack slightly. I froze, my eyes running towards Gabe. I detected any movement, hoping my fears weren't confirmed, but thankfully, all Gabe did was snore even louder.

I held my breath in, and this time, I felt my eyes scanning all around the floor, definitely to not make the same exact mistake once again. This time he didn't wake up, but the next time if I repeated that mistake... I shake my head, dissipating that thought instantly from my mind.

Once I've gotten past Gabe, I walked towards the front door, relief spreading over me like a warm blanket.

I did it, I did it, I've gotten past Gabe without waking him-

Without me noticing, my foot walked over a bottle of beer. The whole bottle smashed, creating a huge catastrophe to erupt in the quiet house. The relief I had a moment ago, disappeared just like that. For just a moment, I strained my ears to detect any sound.

When no sound came from Gabe, I let out a breath, sighing heavily. Thank the gods he didn't wake-

"Where do you think you're going?"

My blood ran cold.

ANNABETH'S POV

I entered Mrs. Dodd's classroom, and I quietly took my seat in the back of the classroom. I placed my backpack on the floor right next to me, and I unzipped it, taking out my math books that I will need for this class. As I place them on the desk, out of the corner of my eyes, I saw three other students enter the classroom.

I instantly recognized them. The girl with the black spiky hair and electric blue eyes, her name was Thalia Grace. She always seems to be one of those rock star girls, with an electric guitar and everything.

Right next to her, was her cousin Nico di Angelo. His black bangs were covering his eyes, and his face was very pale, as if he came from the dead of the unknown. He has this glare which would scare a lot of people out of their wits, but sometimes I would catch something flicker on his face. I knew what it was though. It was pain. Ever since Nico received the news that his sister had died in the car crash, he has never been the same again. He used to be this fun and loving kid, with energy bubbling inside him all the time, but now it seemed that all the energy he had before had dissipated in an instant.

The other student who was crippled, using crutches to help himself walk, his name was Grover Underwood. He was always nice but he would always get bullied just because he was crippled, but Thalia and Nico stand up for him.

Okay, so you're probably wondering how I know those students, even though I have never developed a friendship with them. You see, they all have the same classes with me (pretty bizarre right?), and they always sit by me. They also cast attention from themselves by always getting in trouble with the teacher. Almost everyone knows who they are.

"Hey, have you seen Percy?" Thalia asked curiously, taking a seat a few desks away from me. Her voice was loud enough for me to overhear their conversation.

Nico shrugged. "I haven't seen him lately." he muttered, sitting down right next to her.

"Maybe he's sick!" Grover suggested, placing his crutches on the wall right next to him.

"I don't know, maybe he decided to ditch school today." Thalia clarified.

"I doubt that," Grover says, taking out his pencil bag. He unzipped it, and dug inside for a sharpened pencil. He grabs a hold of something, and he pulled the pencil out of his bag. Next, he worked on searching for his eraser. "He just doesn't seem like the guy to ditch school, unlike you."

Thalia rolled her eyes, watching Grover with her steel blue eyes. "Yeah right," she scoffed. "I do not ditch school."

"Grover is right, actually. You do skip school a lot." Nico pointed out, after being silent for a few moments.

Thalia turned towards Nico to chime in with a retort, but the bell ranged, signaling first period has started.

Swarm of students hurried back to their seats, hoping to not be caught by Mrs. Dodd's.

Mrs. Dodd's was a... very interesting lady, you might say. She teaches Math and she has eyes like a hawk, so if any misleading stuff has occurred in class, Mrs. Dodd's would know instantly who has done it. She is one of the most hated teachers in the school. No one wanted to get in trouble by her. There were rumors saying that one time, there was this student who accidentally arrived late for her class, and the student had received a punishment. But the weird thing was, the student had never returned to school again.

Mrs. Dodd's stride into the classroom, and all the students' hushed voices quieted down by her glare.

"Alright everyone, listen up," she announces, her eyes scanning each and every student occupied in the classroom. "Today, we are going to review probability once again,"

Everyone groaned, but quickly it returned back to silence when Mrs. Dodd's cleared her throat. "Anyways," she continues, turning her back towards us. She opened a yellow folder and took out a stack of worksheets which made a few students muttered underneath their breath. "You all are going to be in pairs with your partners, and today, just for today, I will let you all pick your partners."

There was a murmur of excitement between the students, before they set off to find a partner.

I sighed, knowing that I will be working by myself once again.

Things just never change.

Alright, so everyone can agree that the first chapter is nothing like the first chapter of my previous story. Anyway, I decided to make a few changes in this story, and I hope you like the changes I had made.

I totally didn't have this chapter ready by last week, which I am terribly sorry for, but if you can all give me any ideas, that would be wonderful. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I had enjoyed typing it up.

Reviews are welcomed.

~GreekMythologyFreak12