All I heard for an hour was moaning.

"J-J-Jason"

"Mmmmhhhmmm yes."

I rolled my eyes and at looked at the odd colored dogs. The gold dog had its head on the silver ones back sleeping. The silver dog was staring at the door with his ears folded down whimpering. I got up from the very plush (yet uncomfortable) pink chair and walked to the door. When opened, a very tall woman with a leopard dress on with a nice gold necklace was leaning on the door.

"Is this were the parties at," She asked with slight Spanish accent, "Oh who are you, cutie?"

"Leaving," I say quite harshly.

There were a few other people behind here. One was an African-American girl that was wearing a purple dress that brought out her golden eyes. Her arm was linked with a Chinese man. He wore a fancy pair pants and shirt. There was a short man (Taller than the first girl but shorter than the Chinese man) beside them. His eyes were blue and bloodshot and his lips were bright red. If I stared at his eyes too long, the world seemed to lean.

"Hylla!"

The girl (I guess Hylla) walked in and ran into Reyna's open arms. Jason walked in from the other room adjusting his pants with a giant grin plastered across his face. He looked at everybody and his eyes finally landed on me and he narrowed his eyes in worry.

"Where you goin' Nico?"

"Home," I said as I walked past the rest of the people into the hallway.

"Wait. Buddy. Why are you leaving?"

I turned and I gave him the best death glare I ever had, "You're cheating on my cousin."

"She doesn't know."

"I have feeling she does."

Jason sighed, "Just come back into the party. You left Hylla just so alone. That is quite rude."

I stared at him.

"Fine."

*Line Break*

I've only been drunk twice in my life. That day was my second time.

Jason had brought some of his special whiskey and we all drank like there was no tomorrow.

I learned that Hylla was Reyna's older sister and that they're from Puerto Rico.

"Puerto Rico was beautiful country back when we were younger with our dad and mom. But my dad felt we needed to leave so he could…let's say…find people," Hylla smiled in a dreamy fashion.

"What do you mean by find people," My voice showing the first symptoms of drunkness.

"He was a …boss."

"OH."

The African-American girl name was Hazel Grace and she was supermodel and her Chinese husband was her manager/photographer. The man with the bright lips was Dakota. He owns one of the best car dealerships in NYC. His lips were red because he drank that illegal wine made by desperate people who want cheap stuff.

"You know, they hate people the married."

"What?"

Hylla rolled her eyes as if it was obvious, "They hate the people they married."

I guess at that time I was too drunk to defend my cousin.

I turned to her on the couch and she smiled at me.

"So," Hylla whispered, "Where you living?"

"Across the bay from Jason. By Jackson. "

Hazel looked up from her conversation with Dakota, "Percy Jackson?"

I nodded.

She squealed, "Oh my gosh. He has the best parties ever. I was just over there last month."

"I haven't been to one of his parties recently but they are loud and bright. You can have as much alcohol as you please and dance with the most beautiful girl in NYC in one night," Dakota jumped in.

Eventually people talked about the parties they recently attended to and how some didn't even come close to Jackson's parties. I drank more of the whiskey and everything started to blend together.

Reyna looked over at me, "You said you live across the bay from Jason."

"Yes."

"Have you met his wife Annabeth?"

The room grew quiet. I was going to answer with 'yeah she's my cousin' but Jason jumped in.

"Why do you want to know," Jason asked, raising his voice.

"What's wrong with me asking?"

I dropped their conversation and went out the fire escape and look out the city. It was so nice. The cool air was blowing and the lights of tall buildings were bright. Across the street was another apartment building. In one room it was a couple yelling, pointing accusing fingers at each other. Another was man smoking and watching a TV show. Another had a kid sleeping with lamp on his book on his lap. There was another with a black man playing the saxophone outside.

"SHUT UP REYNA! Say Annabeth's name one more time and you'll regret it."

"ANNABETH! ANNABETH! ANNABETH! What are yo-"

I heard a thud and wailing.

I turned around and say Reyna lying on the floor, crying covering up her bruised cheek.

Fortunately the sax-man played louder covering her cries.

Looked over at the apartment again and saw an old man watching me from his fire escape. He looked like an older version of me but his eyes looked hard like they seen things, things that should never been seen. Like he went through Hell and came back.

He looked dead at me. With a light nod, he walked into his apartment room and closed his window. On his windowsill, there was the brightest blue flower I've ever seen.

A sign of hope in this corrupt world?