Thanks so much for all the support! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Percy put his good arm down on the wheel of his wheelchair. The doctors said it was temporary, and that he would be out of it soon and on crutches. They said he shouldn't feel bad about it, but to be honest, there is no way he wouldn't feel bad about it.
He rolled it across the room, stopping in front of his mom, and forcing a smile for her. He needed to look strong, like he was okay in front of her.
His mother looked down at him and frowned a bit, pulling his phone out of her pocket. The car crash had severely damaged it, but not so it was unfixable. She was able to send it into the company that created it, and quickly get it fixed. He was surprised it had happened so fast. Usually things like this would take days.
Flipping the switch to turn it on, he scrolled through his notifications. The majority of them were text messages, some social media notifications, and two alerts from the app Annabeth posted her story on. He swiped through the others, and quickly entered the app.
Each notification was from Annabeth, one, was notifying him a new story by her had been posted, and the other was an announcement. He clicked onto the announcement, and read through it.
"I think I've been kind of quiet lately," It read, "Well, not quite, but I haven't been replying to anything or responding to comments. And I have a reason for that. Something recently happened, I'd rather not go into details, but it's sort of a mix of good, but mostly bad things." He continued to read, scrolling down the page. It was a long message. "I've been trying to work on new chapters, and don't worry, new ones will come out this week, but it's been hard. I've had a lot to deal with these last couple of days, and so have the people around me too."
Percy felt his heartbeat increase as he read the next sentence. "So, I've posted this story, and it's about an experience, one I've had recently, where I got hurt, and someone else got hurt at the same time. Mentally and Physically. I hope you all enjoy it." It finished. Underneath the text was a link, one to the story, which was titled "Sticks and Stones."
As Percy scrolled through the story, he felt a similarity to it, as if this was something he had experienced. And he soon realized, it was, indeed something he had experienced. Annabeth explained this scenario in a way that made you relate to it without even knowing it.
It was a talent, one many didn't have, being relatable without trying. She seemed to do it so effortlessly, which amazed Percy. The only time his writing was decent, was when his mother looked over it and nitpicked each mistake within it. Even then, he could never do something like this. He could never write creatively, and have it turn out okay.
Well, then again, he hadn't tried. It wasn't exactly something Percy had ever felt interested in. People around him wrote stories, or tried. Teachers in elementary school always gave creative writing prompts he would follow through with and try to write with just for the grade. He never felt connected with writing, not in the way he sensed Annabeth did.
And he hadn't thought he felt connected with reading, not until now. There was no book series he genuinely liked, not until Annabeth's story came along. Not until she'd caught him looking through her notebook in the library that one fateful day.
Shaking away his thoughts, he exited the app, and clicked on his messaging app. It was clouded with messages about the crash, which apparently everyone had heard about, Percy didn't even know how they knew.
He individually responded to each one, telling people that he was getting better, that he was thankful for them checking in, and that he didn't know what he'd do about the swim team.
Drew had messaged him several times, in each instance, referring to him as "Handsome."
He really had to talk to her about that. About that, and how he wasn't interested in her. Drew was a person to, and he had to do it in a polite way, but he couldn't help but want to just break it to her and run.
He responded to her messages, and told her that he'd talk to her when he got back. That's when he'd tell her, and hopefully, she'd move on (that was what she did), and that would be that.
He scrolled through the messages, hoping one from Annabeth would come in, but to his disappointment, there was no such luck. He eventually gave up waiting, and set his phone on the wheelchairs handle.
Across the hall, he saw his mother talking to the doctor, presumably about treatment and recovery. How many doctors appointments and check-ups he'd have to go to. He knew the drill.
God, this was boring.
He tapped his good foot against the wheelchair, and twiddled his free thumb. Hopefully this would be over soon, and he could leave.
His hopes were answered, and soon, his mother left the doctor, and grabbed the back handles of his wheelchair (though he was perfectly capable of maneuvering it with his free arm). They exited the building, and with several simple steps, he was in a rental car, driving home.
Looking out the window, he saw all the able-bodied, running, walking, skipping, jogging and biking people on the streets, all making him feel inadequate. Maybe if he looked away, they would disappear, and the feeling would go away.
He turned his head away, and looked down at his cast, which just made him feel worse. Each time he switched his tunnel of vision, it just got worse, until all he could do was close his eyes in an effort to hold back the tears. It wasn't fair, this wasn't fair at all.
Sighing, he pulled his hood over his head. Maybe the feeling would never go away.
Sorry, this was kind of a sad chapter. ): I just wanted to make sure that Percy's sadness about the crash was clear, because if I just went on about how happy he was to be in a relationship in Annabeth, that would be unrealistic. I wanted to make sure that both Annabeth, and other things were on his mom.
More happy couple-like scenes will be coming soon, so don't worry about that! I'm excited to share these next couple of chapters with you.
Thanks so much for all the support!
