I may have left Todd and his sick excuse for a foster home, but that wasn't the end. I had nowhere to run to. Todd was supposed to be the fix to that problem—was supposed to fill the hole in my heart where any real family or friend was missing. Yeah, that sure seemed to work perfectly.
The rain didn't stop. I didn't stop. I didn't run with the rain, but I didn't run against it either. Eventually, there was a sliver light in the horizon. My dazed and traumatized mindset thought it to be city, one that might have nice wealthy families and a café that could spare some water and food. My hopes were ascending as I neared the warm light in the distance. Perhaps they would be like one of my previous foster homes, where I had such high quality food, shelter, and everything. Sure, I payed the price of manual labour and... entertainment... for the warm bed to sleep in and comfortable clothes, but it was better than most.
As I got closer to the light, the outlines became clearer, not smudged with water pouring itself into my eyes. There were trees, lots of them. Like a forest, but... something felt different. The rain had stopped once I got closer. I looked up to the stars, and imagined the constellations the Journal had illustrated in some of its pages. The moon was above head, meaning it must be midnight. I was about to lay back on a rock ledge, when I realized my fatal mistake. I hadn't taken the time to look down. Down at the horse shoe imprints left on the raw dirt of the Earth. I did, however, look forward to see the monster charging me.
As my brain snapped to attention, I launched myself to the left. Its glowing eyes brought shivers down my spine, as I allowed instinct to take the wheel. It charged me again, this time pinning me against the boulder, but as it huffed a smile out and raised its weapon, I sucked in my last bits of breath and pulled myself up from the monster's grip. Now, on top of its horns, I had the upper hand. Once positioned, I grabbed its bull horns and pulled them back as far as I could, using my legs to shove its neck forward. As it stumbled and lost balance, I ripped its weapon away. The axe must have been 50lbs heavier than me, but in the sheer heat of the moment that it was ripped from the beast's grip, I repositioned it to swing. And it swung, alright. Right through the beast's ugly neck.
Shaken, I stepped off of the monster's corpse to see my hands splattered with blood.
"What the hell..." my hushed voice croaked from lack of use. At the sound of a 4 legged being galloping closer, I kicked the double head of the axe. With it now being a large stick with a sharp, cut edge sticking out, I could wield it against the approaching threat.
"Chiron, what do you mean?!"
"Just go, Percy!"
With the mangled axe raised like a baseball bat over my shoulder, I froze when I saw them. When I ran away, I didn't expect to be fighting monsters that the neighbor's kids fawned over in their luxury games. The last thing I would have expected though? To find people, beasts, or anything at all that wasn't against me.
As I heaved from adrenaline, the 3 new beings approached, all from the direction of the light. One was wielding a sword. He had black messy hair (longer than my undercut) and sea-green eyes. His complexion was healthy, strong, and reminded me of the high school "jocks" Sara was always talking about. He looked confused, but determined. Standing oddly close to him was a girl: she had light curly hair like how Sara's looked when she went out, and had darker skin than the boy, but not darker than my own Asian complexion. She looked more concerned than the boy, but there was also a hunger in her grey eyes, as if starving for a fight. Following was a horse... man. A horse man. He had a horse's body, but the torso and head of a bearded brunet. He was definitely older than everyone, and wore a fancy jacket.
"What the Hades... a minotaur?" uttered the girl. Her gaze was carried to the decapitated monster I was standing in front of. As soon as the others saw it, they relaxed their battle stances. I didn't relax mine. The boy looked to the horse man, "he's just a kid." The boy's sword turned into a pen that he clipped to his pocket.
Confusion would be an understatement for what I felt. Although, maybe to you its just that: confusion. When your entire life is lived without knowing where the end will be to your own pain, subjective definitions can become more and more different from the norm.
The boy tried to approach, but I backed away. Freezing in his actions, he nonchalantly raised his weaponless hands. "We're not here to hurt you, we want to help. Just put the stick down, and we can get you to safety." That first sentence hit me like a bus. I'd read it countless times from the journal. Not everyone wants to hurt you. Some people want to help. I'd imagined it and dreamed of hearing it so many damn times. With slow, jerky motions, I set the broken axe down on the ground. Right next to the minotaur's head.
They seemed to let out a breath of relief, but I was still frozen in place. This had happened before. It never ended well. How can I fall for the same trap again? Did I run straight into my next problem again? Memories of deceptive fosters and social workers flashed like strobe lights behind my brown iris' as the fear returned to the foreground of my brain. Too many occasions, they had said that it would be alright, and that it was a mistake on their behalf. Too many times, I was told that they wanted to help me, before sending me into my next problem.
The girl broke my silence, "Percy, she's scared."
"I know—"
"Let me," the girl stopped past the boy named Percy. I stepped back even more into the shadow of the boulder until my shoulder blades hit the wall. I could feel my heart racing against the wall, and pushed myself further back, hoping to ease the echo of it. Instead, it shifted the rock. In the incredibly short heartbeat that debris came tumbling down on everyone, I sank to the floor, clutching my knees to my chest and holding my head in my hands roughly. As I braced for the impact—as I always did—I became aware of the loose feeling in my hands. When the impact never hit, I knew something was wrong.
"What... Chiron who is this?"
"I don't know, Annabeth. Michael said one of the Apollo campers had a dream, ordering someone to guide a new Half-Blood back to camp."
"Hey, kid?" I looked up through my knees, but didn't relax my hands. I don't know what I expected to see, but it sure as Hades wasn't black abys surrounding everyone unscathed.
Finally, I met the girl's—Annabeth's—eyes, "I- I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I felt an odd sensation as I clamped my eyes shut against my knees again. It felt as if someone were poking my shoulder, but it wasn't my shoulder; it was a part of my body that isn't attached.
"Wooooow, what is this?" Percy's curious voice said. There was no echo of any noise now, only dead sound in the moment it reaches my ears.
"It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong. You're saving us, actually." Her voice was sincere. Something I had only experienced a few times in my 13 year life.
It's okay. I'll push through it. I'll deal with the consequences after.
Finally, I moved from my fetal position into a half kneeling position. My hands remained clenched, and I could feel my energy draining by the second. Looking up, the man horse—Chiron— was slapping Percy's hand away from the black field surrounding us. I followed Annabeth's gaze to my own hands; they lacked a solid outline, and if my knees weren't bellow them, they would have blended in with the walls of darkness. A fog seemed to be weaving its way in and around my fingertips, and I couldn't stop it.
"Child, I know you must be scared."
After swallowing and returning to my frightful shivering motion, "How... I don't know wha-"
"It's okay," Chiron whispered, "you're protecting us. Try relaxing your hands." He steps forward, and I can sense his wisdom from the seldom words spoken to me. As I try to calm myself down, the walls and the fog around my hands flickered in their opacity.
Desperately trying to calm myself, I grunted in frustration. The walls came back darker each time. "I'm sorry. I can't-" Suddenly, Percy was beside me, leaning against the rock after plopping himself down clumsily.
"Shhh... It's okay. You're doing fine. Try to think of something that makes you happy! Or a fun time you had with a family member-"
"I can't." As my reality settled in, and I accepted the truth of what my life was, the walls faded slowly. My mind had developed from the stormy hurricane of questions and pain to the slow bleeding wound, with the blood continuously and cautiously seeping out. I wasn't meant to be saved. I was just a tool, used by so so many people for money, entertainment, and anything but what I actually needed. I wanted a purpose. I was tired of running in circles, repeating the same fucking pattern my life always followed. Something, anything to give me a reason for scraping by with a fraction of my humanity! I expected a tear to fall. At least one, but none came. I didn't cry or get embarrassed by the stares from everyone else, I was just numb. It was time to accept who I was.