CHAPTER 1

Beta Reader:

Chazaq

A/N:

I know what you must be thinking—if you already know me. 'Another story? Finish one and then publish another one'. I'm sorry, but I can't help it! If I don't write the ideas that come to my mind the inspiration goes away and I regret not writing it. So I'll just leave this here and hope you like it!

"You're such a beautiful girl," a nearby voice says. I can tell it belongs to a boy. But I can't see anything; everything is dark. I can barely hear him along with a strange beep, beep, beep… "You don't seem like a bad person. I don't know why bad things always happen to good people. But you'll be alright. You'll get out of this and go back home with your family. They miss you a lot, you know? And your boyfriend must miss you, too. I'd guess you have a boyfriend, right? Because you're just too beautiful to not have one. Shit! I'm crazy. Why am I asking you things as though you could answer? Perhaps I'm hopeful you will do it and you'll wake up."

The boy sighs―I can hear him do it, but the sound is covered instantly by another; the sound of a nearby door opening.

"Here again, Perseus?" a second voice says, and the anger is evident. Who is Perseus? He must be the boy I hear talking. But who is the second person? "How do you expect to be a doctor one day if you keep abandoning your duties to talk with her? She can't hear you. And she can't answer you. She probably won't be hearing anything again. Ever. Getting out of a coma isn't easy."

"Her parents and my parents are best friends," says Perseus. "They asked me to check on her whenever I have an opportunity to do it, because I work here."

"Okay," says the second voice after a long pause. "I will let you check on this patient whenever you want as long as you've finished your duties. And right now you haven't. Dr. Farrell asked me to tell you that Mr. Johnson's body needs to be washed, and you've got to take care of that, okay? When you finish, your turn will be over, and then you can check on her. Understood?"

"Clearly, doctor. I'll take care of Mr. Johnson right away," Perseus says. After a big silence I can hear the click of the door being closed.

"Ugh, I hate having to wash that old man. He's very nice and I like him, but not without clothes. And I'm being crazy again, because I'm talking to you and you can't even answer. I'll be back in an hour or two. Uh, what's your name? I forgot it. Let's see. Your name's Annabeth. I'll be back, Annabeth."

The door opens once more, and I can hear it being closed again. Everything remains dark, and the only sound is beep, beep, beep…―which is starting to annoy me.

My mind can't think clearly. There's something strange going on, that's obvious, but my desire to know what it is starts vanishing at the same time as the beep. It's as though the annoying sound were miles and miles away from me now, and then, I can no longer hear anything.

. . .

"Dr. Jackson, I don't know what the point is of keeping this patient alive," a strange voice says. "She's been here for a time now, and there haven't been any good results. Why don't we just unplug her and let her die naturally? She doesn't deserve to be suffering like this."

"Her parents asked me to keep her alive, Dr. Farrell, before…well you know what happened," a familiar voice says. "They've got hope that she can wake up one day. And you know what? I have hope, too. I don't know why you care. I'm using my own money to pay for her treatment, not the hospital's."

"I care because she might never wake up again, and she doesn't deserve to be suffering like this! You're only chaining her to this world when it's her time to go. You're wasting your money in vain."

"Believe what you want. I'm paying for her treatment; I'll do what I please. Now, I need to ask you to leave this room. You're disturbing my patient's peace."

"She's not having peace until you let her go! Stop being in love with a person that's dead alive!"

I hear the door slam closed.

There is silence in the place, and a familiar beep, beep, beep… can be heard. I can hear someone walking, getting closer to me.

"No one believes in you," the familiar voice says. "But I do. I believe that you're strong and that you're fighting to come back to the world. You're doing it, right?" Silence. And I can hear the person sigh. "Three years have passed and I still talk to you expecting to hear an answer. I know that you'll soon give me a signal that you're alive. Now that I'm a doctor and not a simple nurse I'll make sure that you're okay. Alright? You know, you're as beautiful as the first day I saw you here and..."

The voice continues talking, but I can barely hear it now. It's as though it's far from me. Soon, everything becomes silent.

. . .

"They want to unplug you, you know," a strange―but familiar at the same time―voice says. "But I won't let them. I keep my promises, and I'll keep you alive. Besides, I've got hope that you'll wake up one day. You know, it wouldn't be bad to give us a signal that you're alive. Like… Right now! Surprise everyone. Make them fall off their seats by waking up. Come on. Show us how strong you are. Make everyone see how wrong they are."

I can't see anything! Just darkness. What is this person talking about? I struggle to move, but it's as though I didn't have arms…―I do have arms right? Right?!

Then I see a little light spot, which becomes bigger and bigger, until I'm blinded by it.

Now everything's too shiny. It takes me a minute to adjust my eyes, and the first thing I see is a pair of green orbs staring back at me.

The place surrounding me is a squared room. There are plugs everywhere, and there is a machine beside me doing a familiar and annoying beeping sound. Blue covers are coating my body, and it seems that I'm wearing a turquoise-colored robe.

"Holy shit―" the owner of the green eyes says, jumping backwards and falling on his butt. His back hits a nearby metallic table, causing a tray to fall from it and onto his head.

I would laugh, but my mouth feels as though it's been sewed shut. What's going on here? Clearly, this is a hospital, but what's happening? Then, it hits me. I can remember going to the movies with my best friend Thalia. She drives like a madman. I remember that she lost control, and, and I remember the car spinning. Then…then…everything's blurry afterwards. I don't remember anything at all after that.

The man on the floor takes off the tray from over his head and comes to stand beside my bed. His eyes are wide open, and I can see how beautiful his green eyes are. He's really tall, with a sculptured body, and he's wearing a white coat over a marine-blue t-shirt. I can see his dark hair and his freshly shaved chin.

Despite I'm only seventeen and that I've never been very interested in guys, I can't help admitting that this man, older than me, is good looking. But that doesn't answer my question! What's going on here?

"Your pupils look normal, which means that this is not an involuntary movement and you're actually awake!" The man beams at me, but I don't know what he's talking about. "I knew you were strong! You listened to me! You fought the coma!"

The coma? I was in coma? I try to move my arms again, but nothing happens. I can only hear myself grunting as I struggle to do it.

"Don't move. You'll get tired, and you need to rest," the man says, walking to the end of the bed and taking a clipboard from it. He stares at it intently and then his stare returns to me. "I need to ask you some questions to make sure that your mind is working properly and you don't have amnesia or whatnot. I see that you can blink, so since you can't talk, you'll blink. One blink means yes, and two mean no. Okay?"

I blink once, and suddenly start feeling my eyelids heavy. They start joining slowly, until I'm back in the darkness and everything's becoming silent…

"Don't close your eyes!" the man's voice startles me, and I open my eyes instantly. "You've fought against the coma very hard. Don't let it win! Try to remain awake so your systems start working again. Understand?"

Once again, I blink, but this time I try to remain awake. It's hard to keep my eyes open. Remaining awake is exhausting. Don't close your eyes. Don't.

"Okay. So let's see what you remember. Is your name Annabeth Evans?" Annabeth Evans? Yes, it is. Wait. No it isn't. I blink twice, and he smiles. "Annabeth Chase?" I blink once. "Good, you know who you are. Do you remember the accident that brought you here?" I blink once, and suddenly I feel worried about Thalia. Is she in coma, too? "How old are you? One?" I blink twice. He continues reciting numbers, until he reaches the number seventeen. I blink once. His lips are pursed and he stares at the clipboard again. "Okay, that's right. Are your parents Athena and Frederick Chase?" I blink once and start feeling a strange sadness inside. For how long have I been here? I hope I haven't been here long; hopefully less than a year. Has anyone missed me?

"Okay, it seems that your mind is alright. You don't have amnesia. Has someone ever told you that you're really beautiful?" He smiles, and I blink twice, feeling embarrassed. "Well, you are. Very much so in fact." A wide grin spreads on his face. "Great! You're blushing. Your systems are working again." If I wasn't blushing already I would probably turn red.

The man stares at the clipboard once more and puts it back in its place. His green eyes stare back at me, and he starts walking in my direction slowly, placing his hands in the pockets of his coat.

"Well, it's time to bring you up to date." He sits beside me on the bed and takes my hand, though I don't feel a thing. "Annabeth, I want you to take everything easy. You'll start recovering slowly. You've done what not many people can do. You just woke up from the coma after five years. Understand?" Oh. God. I've been in coma for five years? Thinking it's a joke, I see a calendar hanging on the wall. It's true, five years have passed while I was in coma. I blink once. "My name is Perseus Jackson. I'm your doctor and the son of your parents' best friends. I don't think you remember me. We met once as little kids." He grins.

I try to move again, but my body remains motionless on the bed as a sweat drop glides across my temple.

"I told you to relax, Annabeth." The Perseus says. "If you remain as strong as you were while fighting the coma I suspect you'll be able to talk a little by tomorrow. Then, we'll start helping you to recover the mobility of your body. While you recover and eat again you'll start changing until you get the appearance of a twenty-two-year-old woman. That's what you are now; you're twenty-two. Okay?"

I blink once, feeling tired and surprised. I'm twenty-two already, and I wasn't able to enjoy my birthdays with my parents like we used to do before the accident. I didn't get to graduate from high-school. There are a lot of things I missed.

"Great." He grins. "I'll go and tell everyone that you're awake. They'll have to come here and apologize for thinking that having you alive was a waste of equipment and time. Try to remain awake, okay? Don't let the coma defeat you." I blink twice, and he smiles, reaching to touch my chin―again, I don't feel anything. "I'll be back, beautiful. It's good to see that you're alive again."

And with a grin, he leaves, making me feel embarrassed with his compliment.