A criminal always returns to the crime scene.

Percy was traveling by train swiftly avoiding the ticket controller. People were giving him weird looks through his entire journey. He figured it was odd seeing an eight-year-old wearing dirty and worn out clothes hopping from train to train without any parents. But honestly, the world has seen stranger people. Like that one-eyed man, he was convinced he saw once outside his school. The weird part though is that he had an eye right in the middle of his forehead. No one believed him of course. He was just 'a kid with a wild imagination'.

After a couple of weeks, he finally made it to his hometown, New York City. The streets were as always very busy, crowds of people passing each other on the sidewalk, taxis constantly pulling over and picking someone up. Skyscrapers, signs, and billboards at every corner.

It was so much different from Texas at Ms. Gardner's farm. There you could see a cow standing in the middle of the street. The only animal you can see in the middle of the street in New York is a runover squirrel.

Percy remembered looking back at that farm he grew to consider home. And all those people he was leaving behind.

"They won't miss me too much," He said to himself. But then he shook his head. "Guess it's too late for that. I already gave those people memories."

Now he was skating through the streets of the big city heading to the candy shop his mother worked in. He knew there was no point in going to his apartment because his mom usually worked during these hours and there was always the possibility of meeting him. Oh, he really hoped his mom had kicked his stepfather out of their lives.

But first Percy stopped at the flower shop. He needed to make it up to her for disappearing for so long. He went up to the cashier. She was a tall and muscular woman with sleeve tattoos and a buzzcut hairstyle. It was pretty odd to see such a character at a flower shop but Percy of all people wasn't one to judge.

"Um, hi," He walked up to her. "I'm looking for flowers for my mom. A bouquet of blue flowers to be exact."

The cashier looked at him intrigued. "I almost never see such a small fry coming to a flower shop. What's the occasion?"

"Uh, well, I haven't seen her for... a while now. And she was probably very worried and... I guess giving her flowers would a good start."

"Ah, so a reunion!" She exclaimed as she left the counter and walked through the shop. "I'll see what I can find."

"It's important for them to be blue." He was trailing after her. "It's kinda our thing."

"Right. Let's give this bouquet a bit of meaning." She started to pick some flowers. "Carnations which mean mother's love, lilies meaning purity and roses for love just for good measures."

Percy inspected the big bouquet. "They're all white."

"Well, yes. I can dye them blue for ya. We have real blue flowers but none of them would have just the right meaning," The florist explained.

"Okay then."

A few minutes later he thanked and paid the lady for the now blue flowers. He didn't have to but the cashier was nice and his mother wouldn't be happy if he gave her a stolen gift.

Before he walked into the small candy shop he made sure he hid any bits of blood or bruises on him. His mother could fuss over the tiniest of things. He got rid of the leafs in his hair and dusted the dirt off his clothes. He grabbed the door handle, twisted it and walked in. The doorbell signaled that another customer came in.

Lots of colorful candies were lining up on the shelves in the store. On the side, there was standing a cashier behind the cash register. The guy looked up from his phone.

"Hello," He greeted looking at the boy weird. Percy looked like one of those people you would avoid in the dark alley but he was also holding a giant bouquet. "May I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Sally Jackson," He said a bit nervously.

The guy raised his eyebrows at that. That's unusual. He held up one finger for the boy to wait one second. Then he entered the room that was behind the counter.

"Hey, Sally a boy just walked in and asked for you? He must be no more than ten years old."

She looked at him confused and followed her coworker.

Percy was standing there awkwardly holding the flowers. When he saw his mother he said, "Hi? Um... I'm back?"

Sally froze and looked at him with disbelieving eyes. Then tears started to well up her face. She covered her mouth in shock.

"Oh, Percy!" She threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. A warm joy and sweet relief overwhelmed her. Her son was back. And safe. She was so afraid to let him go scared that he might run off to somewhere again. She kissed the top of his head letting her tears run freely. The faint smell of the ocean never left him. He seemed to be less thin than she remembered. Which she was glad for. That meant he didn't go days without food.

"Um, these are for you... ?" Sally heard her son say with that sweet voices she missed so much. She looked down to see flowers in different shades of blue. She smiled eyes full of endearment.

"Oh my gods, they are beautiful," She took the offered flowers. Then she got back to hugging the life out of her son. After a moment Sally glanced down at him seriously. "Don't you ever leave me again."

They heard a photo being taken. It was the cashier guy holding up his phone. "Aww, isn't that a cute scene. Want me to send it to you, Sally?"

She laughed. "That would be appreciated. Thanks." She turned back to Percy. "Come on, you need to tell me everything about where you have been, young man."

Percy with pleasure talked about his stay at San Antonio. He mostly talked about Katie and their adventures. Leaving out the illegal stuff. Sally would never forget the sparkle in his eyes when he talked about his summer. She was so glad he was back.

~xXx~

While Percy was having his happy reunion with his mother Katie was having the worst days of her life.

Summer was over. She had to wake up at an inhumane hour and deal with all the jerks at her school. And without Percy around everything seemed to slow down. There was no action or excitement in her daily life anymore. No sneaking out at night because it would just make it even harder to wake up in the morning. No running away from the law. Nothing unexpected happened. She wasn't living in the moment anymore.

Which really sucked, to say the least.

Now her life is monotonous. Go to school, survive, do your homework, max fifteen minutes for horse riding, do your chores at home, meals somewhere in between all this and go to sleep. And all over again tomorrow. Katie couldn't believe that her life used to look like that.

"Where's your boyfriend, Katie? Already dumped you, huh? Can't blame him." She heard snickers of a certain Lizzie Anderson and her followers.

"Haven't you had enough?" Katie retorted. "Or do you want more itching powder to that yellow excuse of hair stuck to your head."

During their prank, Percy had put bleach in her shampoo. Now Lizzie's once brown hair is a sick unnatural yellow with a bit of her natural color at the roots.

The girl scowled at Katie. She had a mental break down when she got out of her shower to see her hair ruined like this. "Oh, go milk your cows."

"Wow, I always knew something was wrong with you. But not being able to tell horses from cows..."

She scoffed. "Well, at least I wasn't abandoned by some random boy picked up from a street."

Katie accidentally broke the pencil she was holding. A sudden rush of rage fell over her when that bleached bimbo dared to mention Percy. She felt the need to punch something but contained herself. Gathering her stuff she stood up and stormed out of the class that was about to start. It was the last class she had today anyway.

At some point, Katie had gone to the student counselor - Miss Philia. Katie really felt the need to ramble about how her life sucked at this moment. And who was better than an adult whose job it is to listen to kids complain about their problems.

The school's counselor was a young happy go lucky woman. But she also knew how to give out philosophical yet understandable advice. It was easy to talk to her because unlike every other adult at school she didn't treat her patients as children. More like her friends. No matter how sad that sounded like.

"...and I'm not saying that it is all his fault for my misery. But it is," Katie finished. She was talking quickly and furiously with wild hand gestures. She was sitting in Miss Philia's office talking her feelings out.

The woman chuckled. "You really miss him. Understandable, of course. Just by listening to you talking about him I can tell that you two share a deep bond."

"If you end up telling me I am going to fall in love with him I'm walking out of this room right now," Katie said with a blank look.

"That's not what I'm implying," Miss Philia laughed. "You are too young to experience this kind of love. And usually when you know someone since such a young age and so thoroughly at that, you can't really think of them as a potential romantic partner. It would feel as if you'd be dating your sibling. I understand that." She sighed and said 'more than you'd think' under her breath. Katie was confused. "But well, you came here for a reason I assume."

"I just... don't know what to do."

"You know, there's this saying: If you love something, let it go. If it was meant to be, it will come back to you." She eyed the student observantly. "But what if you listen to that saying and your friend will too? Both of you will just stay there on the opposite side's of the country waiting for the other to show up. You have to consider both of your point of views. And who knows? Maybe he needs you just as much as you need him right now."

"So you're saying..." Katie said unsurely. "That I should go after him?"

"I'm telling you that you should do what feels right." Miss Philia wasn't disappointed when she noticed the determined glint the girl's eyes.

"Thank you, Miss Philia." Katie that grabbed her backpack and rushed out of the office.

Philia smiled knowingly. "May this bond be forever intertwined."

Philia is a minor Greek goddess of friendship. But it's also one of the main types of love in Greek mythology. You know like Eros is a sexual love, Agape unconditional love, Ludus playful love, and Philia is love between friends (there are many more, these are just a few main ones). Philia concerned the deep comradely friendship that developed between brothers in arms who had fought side by side on the battlefield. It was about showing loyalty to your friends, sacrificing for them, as well as sharing your emotions with them. It is considered to be a brotherly or sisterly bond between people. AND YES KATIE AND PERCY HAD BEEN JUST BLESSED BY THE GODDESS OF FRIENDSHIP.

Also, you may have noticed that I am trying to break stereotypes that most people don't even give a second thought. The nurse is a dude. The florist is a tough tattoed strong female. And there will be more to come probably.

Next chapter: Past Abuse. Or maybe still ongoing...

Until my return.

Goodbye, supporters of darkness.