Anyone can make you smile or cry, but it takes someone special to make you smile when you already have tears in your eyes.
In life, we do things. Some we wish we had never done. Some we wish we could replay a million times in our heads. But they all make us who we are and in the end they shape every detail about us. If we were to reverse any of them we wouldn't be the person we are. So just live, make mistakes, have wonderful memories. But never second guess who you are, where you have been and mostly where it is you are going. Annabeth didn't realize this thought was going through her head over and over until the attendant had told everyone they were landing soon. Why had she been thinking about this? She would never wish that she could replay that dreadful night in her head again and she more than anything wanted to reverse that event. She decided to let it go for now and she gathered her things together.Annabeth stepped off the plane to find herself in three inches of snow. Good ol' Michigan. She didn't realize how much she missed the bitterness in the wind until she felt it on her cheeks. She began to scan the crowd of people for her dad.
After almost giving up and on the phone with a taxi service, she found her father waving frantically and calling her name. "Annie!" She hadn't heard that one before.
"Hey, Dad." She chuckled as he pulled her into a hug. He smelt of coffee and white-out. Annabeth slightly pulled away. "I've missed you." He smiled.
"Well, the house isn't the same without you," He replied, wrapping an arm around Annabeth's waist leading her to the car. Usually him doing that was something normal and not out of the ordinary, but this time it was uncomfortable. She didn't want anyone to touch her, but she wasn't going to make him do that. "So, how's New York? Is it everything you expected?"
Annabeth tried to act excited to move out of his arms, "It's so amazing. The people are nicer than they look," She chuckled. "And it's so beautiful, especially around this time of year. I went Ice Skating for the first time in Central Park the other day."
Her father chuckled, "I remember you always talked about doing that. You wanted to visit New York so bad, but we were never able to afford it." He sighed.
"Yeah," Annabeth mumbled softly. Never had she felt this way around her father, she was so uncomfortable. Her stomach was becoming tight and she was feeling nauseous. Thankfully, they had reached their car. She hopped in taking slow deep breaths. He father gave her a funny look, "Annabeth, are you alright?" She cleared her throat.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm not use to flying, remember?" she chuckled softly. "I need to get use to not being in the air."
Her father nodded, "Oh, right." Then started the car towards home.
Annabeth opened the door to the smell of warm apple pie and gingerbread cookies. "Annie?" Apparently, that was her knew nickname.
"Evanna, is that you?" Annabeth asked. Evanna popped her head out from the doorway between the kitchen and the living room.
"Annie!" Evanna almost busted through the door running. Annabeth had the wind knock out of her as Evanna ran into her and wrapped her arms around Annabeth's neck. "I've missed you. My sister is never home anymore!" she chuckled. Evanna pushed away and took Annabeth's hand. "Come, come, let me show you what I've made. The first of many parties is tonight." Evanna's vibrant red hair bounced while she ran into the kitchen.
Never had Annabeth seen so much food. The kitchen island was covered with every kind of dessert and appetizer; the counters were invisible underneath the plates and silverware, and the main dishes. Evanna was never this extravagant. Annabeth didn't realize her mouth was open until she began to talk, "Evanna, what is all this?"
"Do you like it?" She chuckled and clapped her hands together, in her normal bubbly way. "The party tonight is with my friends. I wanted to make sure everything was perfect."
"Oh," Annabeth was disappointed that Evanna's friends were coming. She was hoping to see her friends there too. "Y-yeah, everything looks incredible, you did an amazing job."
"Oh, thank you! I've worked on it all day. I was freaking out, I had to cook, and clean. Ugh, I have never worked so hard in my entire life." Evanna was probably right, she had barely lifted a finger in anything. Everything was always done for her, which wasn't a surprise considering who her mother was. Annabeth had to work for everything. It didn't bother her, really. But she didn't enjoy seeing Evanna's mother.
She thanked whoever was listening every day that Emma wasn't her real mother. Never would she want to be Emma Delion's daughter. Her father never talked about her biological mother very much. Annabeth only knew she left was she was young, her mother left with everything, except Annabeth.
"Well, everything looks incredible." Annabeth paused and sighed softly. "I think I'm going to sleep for a little bit, jet leg. I hate flying."
"Oh, I just love flying!" Evanna gushed. "Okay, well sleep tight. I'll make sure to wake you before the party. I want you to meet some of my friends." Annabeth nodded, dragging her suitcases up to her old room.
The door squeaked as Annabeth opened it. She turned on the lights to reveal memories. Memories she never thought she would remember again-that night had made her think it was her last. She didn't remember how small her room really was. Her small bed sat in the middle of the room against the wall. The bed was still fully made and the pillows were perfectly placed on the bed. Juanita must have been in here. She hated anyone cleaning her room, or going through her things, especially a maid.
Annabeth analyzed the room, something inside her was telling her that something was wrong. The green walls felt darker, more haunted. In the pictures of Annabeth and her friends, they were all smiling, but Annabeth's face was scared, sad. Never had they looked this way before. The pictures had shown the happiness on their faces, now…she couldn't even explain. The only thing that still seemed to be the same was her bookshelves. Every book was in the same place where she last left it. Dust was collecting on the shelves. It was the one thing no one touched, even Juanita. She never allowed people to read her books. It was the only thing that made her feel like this was her room, her home.
She opened the closet door and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. No matter how much she didn't want to ruin the perfection of her bed, she couldn't help it. Instantly, she fell asleep, only to find herself in the arms of someone she never wanted to see again.
The man's arms were wrapped around Annabeth's waist. Her breathing was heavy, a cold sweat was breaking out on her forehead. She could feel the man's arms move lower and lower. How had she wound up in the arms of this putrid man? Just like before she heard the zip of her jeans. Tears began falling from her eyes. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of her cries. She sucked them back and began fighting. Adrenaline pumped through her body, and she kicked him in the groin. The man tumbled over in pain, now was her chance. She ran. She ran until her muscles ached, she ran until her lungs were about to explode, she ran until she had no idea where she was. Slowly, she stopped to look around. A hand smacked her shoulder, "You can run, but you can't hide." Her screams filled the city, and everything went dark.
Once again she woke up flailing, thrashing and screaming. She could already tell that that night will haunt her forever-whether it is in her dreams, or thoughts. Annabeth pushed herself up off of her bed. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and could feel some on her back. She groaned and looked at the clock next to her, 6:45. Evanna's party started in a half hour, Annabeth had just enough time to shower and get ready. She wasn't one to get ready in an hour-it didn't take her that long.
Just a half hour later, Annabeth had finished getting ready. She looked at herself in the mirror. Evanna had agreed to let her borrow, one of her tops. Technically, Annabeth didn't ask for one of her tops, it turned out that she just wanted Annabeth to wear something other than a Yankees t-shirt. The top sparkled in the light. Evanna had also talked Annabeth into wearing one of her skirts. That had been one of the worst ideas in the world. Her eyes moved to the bottom of the mirror, the silver skirt looked like something that was taken off of the Christmas tree in her bedroom.
Annabeth was stubborn enough to fight with Evanna about the shoes, so what covered her feet was her fluffy, rainbow slippers. Nothing like making Evanna mad, she thought. Annabeth happily walked from the bathroom and into the living room. Once she entered, the lights were off, confused, she walked towards the door to turn them on.
"SURPRISE!" Annabeth turned around to find something she definitely didn't expect.
A/N: Well I planned on updating more than I did during Thanksgiving break, but apparently my life had other plans. Anyways I won't go into it, but I was finally able to sit down and type for a little bit, let my worries go away. Oh, I don't know if I said this already, but I PASSED MY EXAMS! I was so happy when I got the results. So, anyways someone asked me in a review if this was a Percy & Annabeth story, yes it is. I'm trying to make my stories more detailed and actually have a story, before they meet. Who knows, Percy might even be already taken…?(hint, hint.) What do you think is going to (or want to) happen?
-demigodgirl1
