I just read this and realized it's kind of an eh story, so I'm probably not going to be updating it very often. That was to be expected, honestly, a story by an 11-year-old. I might update it every other week, maybe sometimes in between then.

Annabeth stared at the calendar on the wall. It was March 23rd. It had officially been 7 years. 7 years since Luke had left. Since he had left a scared and pregnant Annabeth alone and helpless with nowhere to go and no one to go to. And it was safe to say that she was pissed.

The alarm clock blinked its little red numbers to 8:00 am, and the siren noise turned on. Annabeth hated mornings. She would erase mornings from existence if she could. But Thomas was a morning person, so she expected to see him up and already bouncing around the living room. Annabeth swung her legs out of bed, and got ready. Once she was pretty much ready to leave the house, she went to go find her son.

Thomas stared at Annabeth with a look on his face. "Mommy, it's 8:15," he stated. She walked over to the couch where he was staring at her from and sat down next to him. "Yes, it is 8:15." He continued to stare at her. "Is there something important happening at 8:16, Thomas?" she asked, giving him a hug and a kiss on the forehead. He sighed, like he was getting frustrated with her. "No, Mommy, you said we were going to leave at 9:00 to go to Aunt Thalia's house, and we're going to be late!" he explained impatiently, already standing in front of Annabeth, as the he was going to give her a lecture on time management. Annabeth suppressed a laugh, knowing that Tommy liked to be taken seriously.

"Well Thomas, you're right, it is almost 8:20 now. But, if you hadn't noticed, I'm already dressed. I have already prepared. Our suitcases are by the door, I packed snacks, which are in the fridge, and there's a full tank of gas in the car. The only thing left for me to do is make breakfast. That'll take maybe 5-10 minutes, and it'll take us maybe 10 minutes to eat, assuming you actually chew your food this time. After that, there's only one thing keeping us here. You still have to get dressed. In all your worrying about me being on time, you forgot about yourself." She saw her son make a face of disbelief.

"I know, it's hard to believe that you forgot to do something. Why don't you go get dressed while I make breakfast?" she suggested, already heading to the refrigerator. He nodded and left.

Annabeth had gotten a call from her friend Thalia around the middle of November, asking if she and Thomas wanted to spend winter break with her in New York. For a while, Annabeth didn't really want to go, but she had her reasons.

1) …...

She had no reasons. She just didn't want to go all the way to New York from Houston. Which is probably why she should have moved back to New York after college instead of staying in Texas. But after realizing that there was nothing keeping her at home, she decided they would go.

Once Tommy was ready and they had eaten the scrambled eggs Annabeth had made, Annabeth was ready to go. They were about to leave, and Annabeth was going to text Thalia to tell her they were on their way. She checked all her pockets. She had left her phone in her room. "I'm going to go get my phone, Tommy, I'll be right back" Annabeth said as she walked back into her room. She checked the lock screen to make sure it was fully charged. "Missed call, Houston, Texas" she read to herself. That was weird. No one ever called her, even the scammers. Annabeth called the number. The phone didn't even ring before an all too familiar voice answered. "Annabeth."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "Luke?"