One-shot. Death (You Forget Everything.) Inspired by Ólafur Arnalds. Dedicated to every kid that died too young by unnatural causes.
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Annabeth wrapped the bandages around my arms, a little too tight. I grunt, she turn toward me with an downhearted expression. "It's okay," I said.
She nods and continue burying my wounds with the tape. "Percy?" She asks. I look up at her, the grey orbs seem to be in constant war between fear and anger. "Yeah, Princess?" Her hands felt limp in mine but still warm, I rub my thumb across her knuckles.
Her question caught me off guard, horrified almost. "What happens when we die?" She sat down beside me on the bed, balancing the weight. "Why would you ask that?" I raise an eyebrow, nervously.
"Just wondering, you know? When people die, others say they're somehow, like, free." Her face paled, I could easily notice how she was biting the inside of her cheek. "How could they be free when their hearts are stopped and their bodies collapsed?"
"For your first question, when we- things die," I started. "They just, forget." Her head rest on my shoulder, "Everything?" I nodded. "Even the people they love?" She asked.
"Even the people they love." I answered, and rest a thumb over her cheekbone. "What's so great about forgetting? I mean, like, when people get amnesia while they're living and it's becomes the worst possible way to live." She whimpers and lays her back onto the bed.
"You ask a lot of questions." I chuckled. "I get that you're a blonde and all but-" She scowls at me and smack my chest. "Shut up. Answer my other questions, please?"
I smirk, and lay down beside Annabeth. "Sometimes, forgetting is for the best. It erases the memories of a tragedy or the wrongs they did in life. Its kind of why people commit suicide and self-harm. They want and try to forget."
She sighs, "True. But I still think its stupid and unfair." I laughed, "How so?"
"Its has no time stopping and random. When you die, you die. When you survive, you survive. Its just wrong. When a person doesn't want their life they end up killing themselves but when a person who want to live their life to the fullest they get killed and die anyways." She breaths, "Its so unfair."
"Life's unfair. Its just how it is, believe me. Plus, death has reasons to happen." I explain. She lifts herself up and faces me. "Then what are the reasons?"
"I mean, like, there are lots. One reason is that it imprints on a lot of other people. One person death can affect so many lives without even meaning to. It's just how it is. It can leave parents childless and change their effect on other people. It can leave friends speechless or led them into depression. But whatever it is, it affects everyone and everything." I pick up a strand of her hair, and twirl it around my finger.
"So, like, there's both a good and a bad side to death and forgetting?"
"Like everything else in the world, yes." She huffs and rolls over, her back to my face. "Everything has a dark side and a light side, cons and pros. Example, food-" She laughs, raising an eyebrow.
I shush her, "Just listen." She rolls her eyes, but stayed silent. "The good side of food is that it keeps you from starving. The bad side of food is that you could choke, which, of course, could result as death."
Suddenly, she sat up and push a tray farer away from us on the desk aside from the bed. "Like," I started. "Everything in the world is a balance between death and life, Annie. You can't stop it."
She crosses her arms, "Well, its just, when I die." Small, soft hands caress my cheek, slightly. "I don't want to forget everyone I love." I pull her onto my lap and bury myself into her neck, and whisper into her ear, "You're going to have to."
She exhale, for what seem like the hundred time today, and mutter back, "I don't want to forget you."
...