5 Years old

Percy laughed, a light excited laugh. His mom had taken him to the small Knoll Farm an hour away that was having its annual pumpkin festival today. And, Smelly Gabe wasn't here! It was just him and his mom.

"Come on, Mom!"

Percy, in his big warm jacket, ran on his little five year old legs, past the pumpkin patch, past the tractor rides, and into the long tall cornfield, laughing and taking a bite out of the uncooked corn before spitting it out. Sally chased him around, laughing too, and tickled him when she caught him. By then, the sun was setting.

"Look, Mom, the sky is gold."

"Just for you."

"Mom, why do the leaves turn yellow and red?" A sleepy Percy asks as he grabs an orange leaf gently floating down from the tall tree above.

"Because the trees are tired, Percy. They go to sleep for a little and they turn orange so nobody disturbs its sleep during the winter."

"Like 'Do Not Disturb' signs?"

"Yes, exactly." Sally looks tenderly down at the little boy hugging her legs, mostly for support as he falls asleep.

And he does, right on the way home.

Sally carries Percy into his room and tucks him in as he sleeps. When she closes the door behind her, making sure not to wake Percy, she sighs and looks up to see the furious eyes of her husband.

"You said you'd be home by two!"

"It was so pretty outside and then there was traffic on the hour ride back..."

Sally reeled back as Gabe slapped her, reminding herself, once again, that it was for Percy's good.

"Come on, you've gotta work extra shifts tomorrow," Gabe growled.

She breathed in and out. Remember what Percy says, she thought. I'm not scared of anything at all. Not for him.

13 Years Old

Percy trudged into Meriwether College Prep once again.

Just a few more days until the end of school, he thought, and the start of camp. He grinned at the thought.

"What are you smiling about, punk?" A large kid hand walked over. Percy was surprised he could walk at all, with the size or his big head. It was Matt Sloan, the school bully.

"Nothing," He says quickly.

Percy manages to get through the rest of the day with Tyson and only one fight with Sloan that left him with scrapes and bruises everywhere. He walks home, more depressed than usual.

When he walks in, he remembers that Gabe is gone with a smile, but then thinks about how his day had gone, which his mom is sure to ask about, and frowns again. Surprisingly, his mom isn't home, so he goes into his room to struggle through his homework.

When his mother finally walks in, she takes one look at him and asks, "What happened today, Percy? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Percy says. His mom looks at him doubtfully.

Percy takes a deep breath and turns to face his mom with eyebrows scrunched up. "...Mom? Why are people so mean? Sloan? Gabe? Why are there bullies?"

"Oh, Percy," his mother replies, walking over quickly and hugging Percy, "Some people don't feel good inside, maybe around himself, and they aren't as strong as people like you. They hurt other people to feel stronger because they know they aren't strong themselves."

Percy looks up and smiles weakly. "Thanks, Mom."

"I know what will make you feel better," she says, letting him go, and grabs the keys.

They drive to a small town far away from their own and stop at the first game store they see. Two hours and 3 new video games later, Percy had forgotten everything that happened today.

"Thanks, Mom," he says on the car ride home.

"You'd better be thankful, that I let you buy those violent games!"

"Mom! Its not even that scary! They don't even show that much blood!" But he's laughing.

"That was the best day ever," He says.

Sally just smiles and looks at him fondly.

14 Years Old

School was going to start the next day. Percy lay in his room and just thought. Surprising, I know.

His mom walks in and smiles. "Whatcha doing?"

He turns his head to look at her. "Thinking." Sally fake-gasps and puts a hand to her heart, then sits at the edge of his bed. "What are you thinking about?"

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Is dad...a good person?"

"Of course he is, honey. He's strong, and he'd always hold the door open for me and hold my hand out on dates. He was great."

"Then why isn't he here?"

"He didn't choose to leave you, Percy. You know that."

Percy was silent for a minute, then said, "Thanks, mom. You're the best." His mom patted him on the leg and smiled, then got up and left.

Percy thought about Tyson, how he was so much better than Percy and how Percy should've loved him as a little brother in the very beginning. He was just like Sloan, not wanting to hang out with Tyson in the beginning, who was better than Percy, inside and out.

And he loved his mom. There was no doubt about it.

17 Years Old

Percy was looking around the house. He was just back from the Giant War, and he was all scraped and bruised. Paul had gotten them a bigger house, and they had just moved in. Percy dug through a few boxes and found some old dvds.

He popped one into the player and smiled. A little innocent three year old Percy was toddling around the room, the kitchen they had in their old apartment. His mom had put up a paint set. Back when everything was simpler. When he didn't know about his dad. When Gabe wasn't there yet.

"Percy, what are you drawing?" A voice came through the player.

"I, I draw a pirate ship," Said little percy in a pirate hat and a gold belt. Percy saw with a shock that the pirate ship was the one he had sailed on after Circe's Island...Queen Anne's Revenge.

"Who's that girl?" The drawing had a blonde girl with grey eyes in it.

"The princess."

"Then who's the prince?"

"I dunno."

"Wanna watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?"

"No!" Sally laughed at that.

"What do you want to watch?"

"Nemo!"

"You already watched that three times, Percy,"

"Again! Again!"

"Like father, like son."

The video ended there, and Percy smiled with that feeling in his heart, the one with a touch of sadness and a bit of longing of the times past.

Percy found other videos, of that one day when he went to the pumpkin patch with his mom, when he went to his mom's candy store, when he bought three video games and they were laughing at a My Little Pony game a little girl had handed him.

Now he knew why the leaves changed in the fall. He knew how his mom had laughed wth him, when she should have been laughing at him.

He watched another video, his mom leaving him at camp yet again.

His mom had left him every single year there, as he wanted, with no idea if he was coming back home at all, or if he was even still alive.

Percy's mom came in and smiled when she saw what he was watching.

"I love you, Mom. I have the best life. With you."

"I love you too, Percy."

Inspired byTaylor Swift's The Best Day.

Update:I went back and fixed most of the mistakes and word flow!