A/N: This chapter showed the second genre of this story, so please consider this a hint and be prepared before you read on.
_Fonts' variation will appear before every chapter on this same spot_
Bold - A/N
Underline - setting/time
Underline + Bold - sub setting
Italic - flashbacks, letters, notes, song lyrics
Italic + Bold - texting
Italic + Underline - texting
Bold + Underline + Italic - third person in text, extras
Recap - "I wanted to ask you about… This."
{}
She handed the letter to her. Annabeth didn't have to open it to know what the letter was, and where it was from. It was the letter she gave it to Sally the first time she went over for dinner. It was a letter from her mom, Athena.
Annabeth took it from her out stretched hand, and opened it slowly and hesitantly under Sally's encouraging, meaningful gaze.
Dear Sally Jackson
It's been a long time since we've seen or even mailed each other. We had a deal remember? But, it turns out that, none of us had kept the promise. Ironic isn't it, we used be so close. Ever since we got out from school and went to different corners of the country, we didn't keep up for long in contact. I don't know if we will have any chance to meet again, and as horrible as it is, this letter is probably the last thing you will receive from me. Whether you want it or not, you will not see me or hear from me again.
After we graduated, you went back to New York, and I went back to California, and after that, we haven't heard from each other since. I apologize for getting into your personal business, but I needed to do this so that I can at least know a bit about your life in nowadays, so I had tracked you down a year ago. I am sorry for doing that again. However, I didn't gain much information, because I didn't want to intrude and actually pry. All I got was that you had a son with Poseidon, called Percy. Little did you know, I got two children as well. The older one called Malcolm, and the younger one named Annabeth. I am telling you this because one of my purpose of this letter is to ask you one last favor, and it is that, if, by any chance, you meet Annabeth, tell her that I was sorry, and I regret my decision. And also, please, if you can, give her a hand if she needs it.
Annabeth was been left on the doorstep of her father's when she was an infant. I didn't take responsibility in taking care of her. I know it was an irresponsible decision, but her birth was too much for me. I never intended to have kids, although I really loved Fredrick, I didn't want the result I had in my last relationship with Malcolm's dad. When I had Malcolm, he asked me to marry him because I had his kid, but I refused, so I left him. I made the same mistake when I was with Fredrick, I didn't tell him in person this time, too afraid to be proposed to, because I'm not ready, and don't want to be that kind of woman. I left a note along with Annabeth at his doorstep, he never knew I was pregnant, because I made up a lame excuse and left America. I went to Greece for a year or so after delivering Annabeth to him anonymously. I came back on her tenth birthday, and that was the first time to ever talk to her. She didn't know much about me, and we didn't have a smooth mother-daughter relationship, we were fine the first few times when I visit, but I made a huge mistake by disowning her the last time I visited her, and that was also the last time I've talked to her. I was a coward, and I chickened out every time my own fear got in my way. I just couldn't get over my own terror. I concealed my illness to my daughter because I am afraid that she didn't want to see me, and after what I've done to her, I am afraid that she would diss me. I didn't inform her about my inevitable death nor my illness, and I don't know what I should do, I am too afraid of knowing her thoughts and attitudes towards me.
You might not've know something about me, I didn't tell anyone about it. It was not because I didn't trust you, but it was because I didn't want you to stress and worry. I wouldn't tell you this right now if this wasn't the end of me. I have Aneurysm. It had been detected and diagnosed years ago, and I knew that already when we became friends, I don't know why I still befriended you because the more time we spent together the harder for me to tell you the truth. My parents died when I was really young, and I didn't have the money to afford surgical treatment. I told you that my constant headache was because of stress, but that wasn't true. I disowned my only daughter because of a little misunderstanding, and I believe that she was now in middle school. And that was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my whole life. All the things that I wanted to give to her was given and stored at my son's, and I hope this letter will eventually reach you.
I know that I've done too many unreasonable things in my life, and I hope that you do forgive me for not contacting you and writing an emotional letter to you after so many years of friendship, and being the first letter you received from me since our graduation. I've read all the letters you mailed to me, but due to the severeness of my illness, I was afraid that if I ever replied, you might offer to meet sometime. It's not that I don't want to, but it was just too hard for me to see you, and I know it will hurt you to see me like this.
I am sorry.
I really valued and cherished this friendship of ours, I really did. Looking back in hindsight, I seized everyday I spent with you, even the arguments and disagreements we had. Really.
And one last thing. I am begging you for this. If you ever meet Annabeth in the future, please, tell her that I was sorry, and I regret my reaction towards her decision. I just wanted the best for her. Tell her that I still loved her, and always will.
Farewell.
Love, Athena
A note to Annabeth: I know that it will be a hard time for you to forgive me, but I hope you will eventually, and I hope that you will gradually understand my thinking. Please accept my apology, and please remember that I will love you no matter what you've become.
I will always love you,
Your mom.
Annabeth stared at the letter for a while, trying to process the information she just received. Quite a lot to take in: Athena never apologizes, and she would rather die than swallow her pride to apologize for something she'd done.
"The reason I need to talk to you…" Sally's voice plugged Annabeth out of her trance, she looked up at her, but then stopped to listen. She stared at her blankly.
"Annabeth." Sally called her once again. This pulled her out again.
"Yes, sorry." Annabeth said, her out of focused eyes returned to focus.
"I was asking you that, do you by any chance know, when did your mother died."
"I don't know the precise date nor the precise time, but I remember vaguely Malcolm informing me about it.
Flashback
It was the night before the Fourth of July.
Annabeth was a soon to be eighth grader. It was when she came home from a movie night with her boyfriend, her first ever boyfriend. When she reached the doorstep, and was about to knock because she wanted to talk to her dad without Helen's interruption. As she raised her hand ready to knock…
"Annabeth." A male voice stopped her, she turned around abruptly. Under the bright street light, she saw her half-brother, Malcolm.
"Whoa, you scared me." She put a hand on where her heart was thumping rapidly. Annabeth turned and stepped down the stairs. She opened her arms to hug him, but realized that he was wearing all black and looked serious. "What's wrong?"
"I met him." He said simply.
"Who?" Annabeth blinked. Looking at him with concerns. "Are you okay, Mal? Do you want to come in and have a rest? You came back from New York didn't you? Aren't you going to celebrate the Fourth of July?" She was about to keep on asking, but then realized that she was too enthusiastic. "Sorry, please continue." She looked down guiltily and spoke in a small voice.
"Did mom tell you about her best and closest friend? Sally Jackson."
Annabeth shook her head. "She and I stopped talking long ago. She didn't want me." Annabeth shrugged.
Malcolm shook his head, ignoring what she said, he continued. "Mom didn't have the chance to meet her after they graduated, and she really missed her, because she was the only friend that accepted her for who she is-"
"Why didn't they see each other then?" Annabeth asked, cutting off Malcolm once again. The often patient boy was not patient this time, annoyance showed on his face and in his eyes. Annabeth shrunk back once again. "Sorry." She muttered. "I'll let you finish."
"She died okay." Annabeth looked up and gaped at him, but didn't make a sound. He continued, "I am here to tell you this. She died, and none of us knew, because she didn't contact neither of our fathers. I don't know why and how she died, but when I attended her funeral a week after her death, I found a box on the side in the corner of family relatives. It had a sticky note on it, and had my name written on it. But when I peeled off that sticky note, an owl was engraved on it, and your full initials were engraved below the owl. I didn't know what's going on between you two, but I knew that I should hand this to you." He finished as he handed her the box he was holding when she saw him.
"What about Sally Jackson?"
"When I got home that night after the funeral, I opened the box, and saw an envelope. It was written in mom's neatest cursive I've ever seen. It had no address on it, but only one name, and that is 'Sally Jackson'. Coincidentally, there's a boy a year below me - same age as you, I heard about him talking to his friends about his mom, and caught the name. I don't know his name, but I know that she is the person mom is looking for."
"Why didn't you give it to him then?"
"I don't know him."
"And do you think I would? I'm not even in New York."
"But I heard that you will be soon."
"What?"
"You didn't know?"
Annabeth shook her head. "Know what?"
"Your dad wanted you to have a better education and explore more, and he is intended to transfer you to a school in New York, he had already talked to my dad about it, and my dad knew. I overheard their conversation on the phone one day, so I knew."
"Helen." Annabeth muttered. As much hatred as she had mustered for her step family, she still had his father to lean on, she knew that his dad would still love her and stood up for her.
"Annabeth, I think it's time for you to come out of your fantasy."
"I am not fantasizing anything." She exclaimed.
"Don't blame everything on Helen, your dad is the one making the final decision about you." He reasoned calmly.
"You're here to turn me against my dad?"
He just shook his head and said. "You'll know."
And then I stomped back into my house slamming the door behind me." Annabeth swallowed, her eyes still closed trying to remember that night. "That was the first awful celebration I had had. Since then, things started to went downhill. Apparently they all knew about my mother's death and also knew that I got some stuff from her. One day Helen just came to me and said, 'why don't you just go to that brother of yours, you're going to deliver that letter anyway right.' She was basically shooing me out of the house. I know that I was not welcomed, but I didn't expected to be loathed by the family. What shocked me even more was the fact that my dad wouldn't even look me in the eyes directly, he said that I remind him too much of Athena, and Athena is the only woman that he will ever love with his whole heart, but she left him. He refused to explain his decision in sending me to Malcolm's. He even blamed me for my existence. I transferred here myself this year because I really wanted to get out of that hell hole, and I know that he would be more than happy to get rid of me. He didn't care about my existence in the family. Talking about kinship." She snorted. Annabeth took a deep breath, and leaned back against the wall.
"I'm sorry to hear about this Annabeth."
Annabeth shook her head. "No, you have nothing to feel sorry for Sally, don't be."
"May I ask what happened between you and your mom?"
Flashback
Annabeth came home from school and saw her mom sitting on a chair in the living room with her dad. The young Annabeth was still in elementary school, and at that time there was no Helen and the perverted twins. Athena was holding a letter in her hand, her dad was examining the envelope with scrunched eyebrows.
"Mom! Why didn't you tell me you were coming." The little Annabeth ran into the house to the stool where her parents sat. Athena did not got down and embrace Annabeth like always. Instead, she just turned to her with cold stone eyes, and said in a cold voice.
"Annabeth, we need to talk."
The little Annabeth's face fell, she looked to her dad for support, but her dad held the same expression.
"Read this." Athena pushed the letter into Annabeth's hand.
The letter was from a local youth football club, and she had just gotten accepted by the manager. After Annabeth had done reading, the smile resurfaced, but when she looked up, the shriek of joy died in her throat when she saw the stern angry face of her mother.
"What have I told you about playing football? I thought you understand pretty well that football is only a way for you to exercise and for leisure, joining a club means that you have to spend time on it. Where did that architect dream of yours went?"
"Mom, my grades didn't drop a single bit, and I promise that I will not fail you. Maybe I can do both, and succeed in architecture as well." The naïve Annabeth tried to cheer her mom up, but that only made her more angry.
"Nobody can achieve two things at a time."
"Then maybe I can make an exception." Annabeth chirped.
"You don't understand do you Annabeth. Your father and I worked this hard trying to lay a path for you to become a successful architect, and not for you to become some jock. We cleared as much obstacles as we could for you, but you just won't walk straight can you? You just wanted to walk in curves and circles and going nowhere. Huh?" Annabeth was speechless. As young and naïve as she currently was, she was not stupid, she could sense emotions. She felt like a sarcastic comeback, and she desperately wanted to use that retort to her mother.
Annabeth bit the inside of her cheeks, she looked down and muttered, rather loudly for a quite room like that. "You're not the one living my life."
"Excuse me?" Athena's eyes flared, she stood up. "What did you say?"
"I am going to that academy whether you like it or not." She said, sounding more confident.
"Say that again and I will literally slap some sense into you."
"How about you try it." She became suddenly very defensive. "I am an independent person, I have my hobbies, and you have yours. When you don't show up most of the time in my life, you greet me with an angry face just because I didn't do what you want? You cannot control what I do, nor can you control my brain. You would say that I'm a rebel, I'm reckless, and I will regret it, but trust me, if you killed my interest in soccer this early on, and I failed in architecture, what are you going to do about me?" She challenged.
"I don't ever acknowledge this daughter, and I don't think you should either, Fredrick. You are dismissed Annabeth."
"I was still that little girl in elementary school, and although I don't regret what I said to my mother to defend myself, I'd never thought that the consequence would be this huge. At first I was only shocked, and thought that my mom wasn't serious, and I stormed out of the room because of my anger. But later on, she never visited me anymore, and never even contacted me. I tried to contact her, but my dad would always stop me, saying that she lives a very busy life. So I am an interruption to her and to my dad. My dad at least tried to pretend that he wasn't irritated by me, I saw through his façade and luckily as I got into middle school, I focused more on my studies and started rock climbing instead of football, because I know that my dad would probably kick me out if I did. He never mentioned about me going to New York, and had avoided the subject in every different way when I brought that up." Annabeth concluded.
"So I take that you don't have a good relationship with either of your parents."
"Nope, as much as they say that you should love your family, I don't feel anything towards them, I'd rather see them as strangers. Its unfortunate that I actually know them and recognize them."
"Don't say that Annabeth, they're still your family."
"That's what everyone says. But easier said been done." Annabeth shook her head. "People just don't understand, good relationships are built on trust and mutual consents, and to me, my relationship with my family members doesn't fall under that umbrella."
"Oh Annabeth, you don't know what you're saying-"
Annabeth was shaking her head vigorously in despair. She thought Sally would understand her, but she miscalculated the fact that family to Sally was very important. She sighed. "No, please, not you Sally." She whined, and flattened herself on the couch, spread herself out. Sally looked down, examining her swollen belly.
"You were left at your father's doorstep." Sally started after a long silence. Annabeth nodded in silence, and continued to stare at the ceiling, though there ain't nothing to look at. "Do you know much about their conditions right now?"
"Last time I paid a visit, which was quite recent I'd say. My dad was not there, and my stepmom wasn't really welcoming, and my stepbrothers, who were now about ten, was still the same to me, they act in a way too mature way and made them sound like sexual perverts. I have no idea what they were letting them watch and what were put into their minds. Whenever we were at dinner, as they sat on either side of me, to two ten year olds, they really shocked me on how they would gross me out, they were licentious and shameless of their actions, and Helen seemed to be completely fine with it. I really loathe my dad ever since Helen moved in with us, he's changed since my mom's death."
"You really live a tough life Annabeth." Paul says coming in from the inside of the house. "Sorry to interrupt and to eavesdrop your whole conversation ladies." He apologized as Annabeth and Sally turned around to look at him. "However, as much as I want you two to continue talking, Annabeth still needs to go back to school, you two maybe can talk during the weekend?" He suggested.
"Oh yea right, I'm sorry Annabeth. What time is it now? Oh, you should probably go back, let Paul give you a ride."
School - present
Friday - day after cafeteria incident
"Where's Annabeth again?" Jason asked as he met up with Percy in the hallway at the end of the day as they walked back to the dorms together.
"I don't know, she isn't responding to any of my calls or texts." Percy said, sounding concerned. "She gave me a can of cookies and vanished again."
"Malcolm was nowhere to be seen since Wednesday night, and now her?"
"I thought she would at least call and tell us right?"
"Yea, I mean she did that last time she disappeared to that game."
"Malcolm claimed that he has no idea where she is."
"Shall we go to her room?"
"Rachel said she checked this morning and her bed was empty. Only her roommate was sleeping like she had blacken out."
"And you trust Rachel, especially after what happened yesterday in the cafeteria?"
"Dude, as much as Rachel hates or is jealous of her, she is still nice inside okay. She would never hurt anyone physically or emotionally. She is just a paper tiger."
"You sound confident."
"Should've known it by now after spending so long with her in this same school."
"Speaking of which, who is her roommate?"
"I don't know, shall we go pay a visit to her room? Or just walk past and hoping the door would be left opened."
They were on their way to walk pass Annabeth's dorm but was stopped by Rachel on the staircase.
"You don't live here Percy." Rachel looked at him from top to bottom, and glanced at Jason. "And if you're here for Annabeth, she's not here, so don't make an effort to prove me wrong. I'm not lying." And she walked down the stairs.
"Who said you are." Percy muttered under his breath.
Despite Rachel's warning, they still went. They walked past her room, and of course, her door was shut tight. What they find weird but didn't bother to care was the fact that the air near her door was smelt slightly different than fresh air, it had a smell of… Some banned items.
"It smells funny near her room don't you think?" Jason said as they left the girls' floor. Percy just shrugged. None of them gave a damn.
A/N: Lemme make you people deal, well, technically not a deal, but giving you people a choice. So, you can choose to do either after you finished reading this new chapter:
1. Vote on the poll that is displayed in my profile.
2. Leave a review/comment.
Dedications
PoppyOhare: You mean dedication didn't you? It doesn't matter anyway. Still, thanks for your review. :)
MMV: Aww... Thank you for that compliment. I will keep up with it ;)
faithlovecool12gmail. com (review on chapter 5): Thank you, this is exactly the effect I want. :D Also, sorry that I have to add a space in between the dot and 'com', because the system sees this as a web address, and it does not allow web addresses.
ChickenNuggets6767: Woo~ First of all, thank you. Secondly, I know that you're excited to see what's in the letter, but let me just give you a little warning and hint - please be prepared, the genres are chosen for a reason.
