Percy Jackson pounded his head on the desk in front of him. He couldn't do anything right. He had no inspiration, no words dancing in his head, the cursor on the screen blinking on the blank page. He sighed and switched his computer to sleep mode and shuffled to the bathroom. It was a sterile white, as it had been for ages. The tiles were white. The walls were faded white. Everything was blank. Like a piece of paper or the easel in the corner of his bedroom, covered in a tarp, unused since it had been given to him all those years ago.
Percy sighed and looked at himself in the mirror. He had changed. He could tell. He had a seven o'clock shadow, bags under his eyes, his hair was a dull, rumpled mess. Shaking his head, Percy turned the shower on and stood there, the water pounding his back. Water always made him feel better, but why Percy would never understand.
Switching the hot water off, Percy cleared the steamy window and looked in the mirror again. He felt more reenergized, but something was still off. At twenty, Percy looked more around the age of fourty. Gently, he touched the scar on his forehead. It sliced from the middle of his hairline, swooped downwards above his eyebrow, and ended at the hairline on his right temple. It was a faint pink line, like someone had taken a pink marker and swooshed it across his head. Percy couldn't remember how it got there, or anything before than. Or atleast, not large memories. He had some patches of his memory, a white smile here, a golden laugh. Battle cries and the screams of dying creatures. His most favored memory was a happy one.
In the memory, was a young man, about the age of sixteen. He had navy blue eyes and messy black hair, and he was smiling. Next to him was another young man. He seemed older than the teenage boy, maybe in his early twenties or late teen years. He had curly brown hair that stuck out from a baseball cap that said Save The Planet One Tin Can At A Time. He was chewing on something shiny, metal maybe. Across from the first boy, was a girl the same age as him. She had long light blond hair with two stormy grey eyes that sparkled with happiness. Love perhaps. She was laughing, a grin that stretched across her tanned face, revealing white teeth. The three of them sat on a picnic blanket, the girl reaching across the blanket, the first boy's hand covering hers. They were in a clearing, a basket next to the boy in the middle. Percy sighed.
He knew these people. He could tell. But he couldn't remember. Leaving the bathroom, he got dressed and slipped on a pair of sneakers. Shrugging on a navy jacket, he grabbed his keys and walked out of the apartment door. Before he closed it, he looked back at the easel. He didn't know who it had come from, but he had received it on his eighteenth birthday, two years ago. He had found it on the fire escape outside his window, his name on an envelope. Inside had been a sea blue card.
Paint what comes to you Percy. Paint what you love.
That was all it said. Percy had left it in the corner of the living room every since, changing the tarp every so often. It was signed with a stamp of a trident. Percy left the building, and headed towards Central Park, a few blocks away. While crossing the street, he saw a young woman getting out of an odd looking grey taxi in front of the park. A pair of rollerblades hung around her neck, and she was leaning through the passenger window, paying the taxi driver. Her blond hair was pulled into a high ponytail on top of her head. Percy watched from the entrance of the park as the taxi sunk into the ground and the woman turned around. Her dark tan skin made her grey eyes seem a shinning silver. Her strong muscular legs stretched as she bent to untie one of her shoes. She was sitting on the curb now, pulling her shoes off and slipping into the rollerblades. She stood and began to skate into the park.
Out of nowhere, Percy had the sudden urge to call after her. He ran into the park, the woman speeding ahead on her blades. It was summer, and it was hot in New York.
"Wait!" Percy called as the woman rounded a corner and disappeared into a throng of people who moved aside to let her through. He pushed his way through the crowd, who had gathered around a young woman in a bright blue dress with strawberry-blonde hair who was singing and dancing with other street performers. A man in a business suit sat on a bench with his face hidden in his hands. Percy broke through the crowd, and burst back to full speed, chasing after the woman.