I was frozen. Shocked. I had gone into mental shutdown, a rare thing for a child of Athena. I couldn't believe my ears. Percy, my boyfriend of two years, was dumping me, for a mortal. He stood a few feet in front of me, staring at the ground, unable to meet my eyes. As quickly as it has overcome me, the mental paralysis disappeared and I was overwhelmed by a wave of emotions. Betrayal, despair, and anger rose from the pit of my stomach, surfacing as a waterfall of tears running down my pale cheeks. I let out a choking sob before slapping my hand to my mouth and wheeling around to sprint full tilt towards the beach.
Behind me, I hear Percy calling for me to come back, saying that he can explain. Explain? Explain what? That all those whispered 'I love yous,' secret kisses, and talks on the beach weren't real? He had been cheating on me with Rachel Dare, a girl who I'd begun to see as a friend, for Percy's sake, for the last six months. I didn't want to hear any of the crap he had to say to me.
I was so consumed with my anger that I didn't notice I had reached the beach 'till I was already ankle deep in the cold water. Too emotionally exhausted to take another step, I collapsed into the water. I sat and cried for a good 45 minutes. Each time I thought I had finished crying, a new memory of him would flash behind my eyes and the tears would start again.
Sometime after midnight I worked up the courage to make my way back to my cabin. I opened the door quietly in an attempt to not wake any of my siblings and put off their inevitable questions until the morning. To my surprise, my brother Malcolm was sitting on his bunk reading, seemingly waiting up for me. He looked at me as the door clicked softly shut. Smiling sympathetically at me, he waited for me to say something. After a weak attempt at pretending I didn't know what he was waiting for, I slumped my shoulders in defeat. I could feel my throat pinching up even before I spoke.
"I take it you know?" I spat quietly. I stared at the scuffed floor, not trusting myself to stay calm if I made eye contact.
"The whole camp knows," he replied. "Percy and Rachel didn't exactly keep it secret. She ate at his table at dinner, and they walked around holding hands after as if there was nothing weird about it. Malcolm's expression suddenly morphed from apologetic to disgusted. "That guy makes me sick. I can't believe he did that to you".
My first instinct was to defend Percy. Deep down, despite his huge slap-in-the-face betrayal, part of me was still in love with him. Finally I looked up at my brother. Forcing a half smile that probably looked more like a cringe, I managed to squeeze out a few words.
"I really don't want to talk about this right now Malcolm, maybe tomorrow?"
"Yeah, ok. Just know that I'm here if you need to talk. Or if you want someone to smash his face in for you".
I produced another tight-lipped smile.
"Thanks…I think".
That night, I couldn't sleep. I thought hard about all of my options. Every possible revenge scenario ran through my head, and it was quite an impressive list, but I knew it was no good. I didn't want revenge, I still loved him. By morning, I knew what I had to do. When Malcolm started to organize the Athena Cabin members to walk to the pavilion for breakfast, I told him I would meet them there. He looked at me skeptically, but eventually turned to lead the rest of my siblings out. As soon as the door shut, I shot into action. I quickly crammed all of my clothes, toiletries, my knife, and my money into my suitcase. Taking one last look around, I tried to memorize this room. This cabin that had been my only home for years. Before I could change my mind, I spun around, put on my Yankees cap, and slipped through the door. I couldn't stay here. Not with so many things to trigger memories, not to mention the happy couple themselves. No. I would be better off on my own. At the top of the hill, I turned to look over the camp one more time. I tried to preserve this final image in my mind, along with all of the good memories that Percy had not tainted. Tearing up, I turned away and continued my slow march to the edge of camp. Taking a deep breath, I hesitated before stepping over the camp's border and walked. And this time, I didn't look back.