Well, I found this tiny chapter on my computer and I decided to publish it - again, I don't know when I'll be able to post the next one, but I'll definitely continue this story :)
Hugs,
Vicky
Percy's POV
People think I have it all. I mean, I'm the son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three. What else do I need? Truth is that I've got nothing and I am nothing, as pathetic as it might sound. I shifted positions on my bed and laid on my back and breathed out. I tried to remember Annabeth's face and her big blue eyes popped in my mind, so vivid that for a moment I thought she was looking at me. I opened my eyes. When Annabeth and I first met we were two kids, we would laugh at loud, dance all night, plan our life, even if we knew that demigods didn't usually grow into adulthood. We had hope it would be different for us. But it wasn't, at least not for her. And now, I felt like I was living on borrowed time, that it was not really mine but some was lending it to me, allowing me to live one more day.
"Tyson, are you awake?" I asked to no one, staring at the dark roof above me
"Mhm..." I heard from across the room.
Even though our cabin was big enough for us to have our own rooms, we had decided to share. Tyson had been alone most of his life, and he had been a good brother to me; he was, with no doubt, the only good thing Poseidon had given me.
"Tomorrow is one month from her death," I let out.
"Yeah...?" He said, not sure if I meant it as a statement or a question. "You can't sleep again, right?" My brother asked me, turning on his side to see me. He rested his head on his flexed elbow. I just turned my face to face him.
Even with the lights were out, the moon brightened the room enough for me to see him. Tyson had that worried face again. My brother was concerned about my health because I looked like a sick person, or so he said; I had lost an unhealthy amount of weight and muscle tone because I had decided to stop training, my eyes had huge gray bags under them from lack of sleeping and I barely talked to other people who were not Tyson, Grover or Thalia. Long story made short, I was a zombie, a walking dead.
But I couldn't do anything to feel better, I had pictures of the life that Annabeth and I had planned burning my brain and they would pop everytime silence surrounded me. I think no one who hasn't lived a disgrace can really understand how having all your dreams and hopes crushed hurts every cell in your body. I knew I had my brother and my friends, but I also knew I had an emptiness on my heart and I had started to fear that no one would ever fill.
"I just wish I could have said bye before she left," I broke the silence.
Tyson, as the good brother that only he can be, stood up and walked towards my bed. I sat on the edge and he sat next to me.
"She didn't leave," Tyson said with a smile, "she'll always be here," he pointed at one side of his forehead, "and here," my brother added pointing at his chest, where his heart was.
I smiled at him and laid back in my bed, he returned to his. I pretended to fall asleep, closing my eyes slowly and my brother followed my actions in no time. I laid still until his snores echoed on our cabin's walls, it was then when I decided to stand up and go for a walk. My back already hurt from being on bed the whole day.
I looked at my brother for a while. He drooled when he slept, just like I did according to Annabeth. I smiled at the memory of Annabeth telling me that. It must have been the first time I had smiled in a month.
Before leaving the cabin, I put on a hoodie that my mother had bought me on a trip she made to Harvard. It made me feel smart, and somehow closer to Annabeth. The chilly breeze started to play with my hair as soon as I stepped outside the cabin, it was a windy and cold night. Suddenly it smelled like sea-water, the wind must have probably carried the scent from the shore that was not far away. I breathed in the aroma, Gods how I loved the smell of water.
"Going out for a moonlight walk?" I heard someone ask me. I turned around to see who was it, but I didn't see anyone. However the voice seemed rather familiar.
"I can't sleep," I explained to the air.
Then someone jumped from a tree. I recognised a slim but tall figure. And, as the person walked towards me, the moon's light made it possible for me to identify who was my company: it was Clarisse.
"Well, that makes two of us," she stopped few inches in front of me. "Tomorrow is one months since her death,"
Her death, Clarisse couldn't even mention Annabeth's name. It was kind of upsetting. Even though it had surprised me that she remembered the date.
Now that she was close to me, I could notice details on her face. She looked tired, not as much as I did, but it was obvious she couldn't rest either. Her hair, usually combed into a half braided pony tail, was put up in a messy bun that made her look like she just woke up from a bad dream. But she hadn't lost weight nor muscle tone, probably from her trainings with Thalia. My cousin had invited me couple of times to join them, but I couldn't be bothered by it. Annabeth was my training partner, not Thalia and definitely not Clarisse.
"I'll walk with you," she said, snapping me out of my thoughts, and started walking towards the lake where we had met couple of days ago.
"Oh, now you want to be with me?" I asked her slightly annoyed. This whole time I had tried to become friends with her, to try to have a normal life, but every time she had shut me down. As if I was a dead weight on her shoulders.
She stopped and turned on her heels to face me "I want to be sure that if you do something stupid, I'll be there to make fun of you," she replied. I wondered if that was the real reason, or if she cared about my wellbeing.
I rolled my eyes and walked towards her.
"By the way, Clarisse," I said when I caught up with her, "you look like shit," I commented. A thought of what would my mother say about that comment popped into my mind, specially since I had addressed it to a girl, but I shook it off. Somehow I knew Clarisse didn't really mind - she was not like the other girls, and that's what I liked about her.
"Yeah, well - I guess you haven't looked at yourself on the mirror lately, Jackson." she replied before we started walking in silence towards the lake.
It was not an awkward silence, it was surprisingly a comforting one. We reached a clearing next to the lake, where we decided to sit for a while, neither of us saying a word.
"You know she wouldn't want you to live like this, right?" The daughter of Ares asked breaking the silence, still not mentioning her name.
"It's none of your business," I said grabbing a rock and throwing it to the lake. "It's not like you cared about any of us,"
"Is that what you really think?" Clarisse faced me, her eyes locking with mine. "Just because I don't want to be your best friend doesn't mean I want to see you throwing your life away." she sounded angry, "And just because Annabeth and I fought all the time doesn't mean that I'm happy that she died," she added, saying Annabeth's name for the first time.
"I -"
"We start training tomorrow at 9 a.m.," she interrupted me and stood up, "Don't be late or I'll make you regret it," Clarisse warned me and walked away.
I stared at the lake, the water somehow calmed me. I sat on the floor and laid my back on a rock that was near by. The soft sound of the waves were like a lullaby to my ears, and before I knew it, I fell asleep.
