The fighter is born
I've always had problems with my anger. My mom told
me it stemmed from the abandonment from my first
father, Poseidon. A sailor who abandoned us after finding
wealth from his boating ventures. I never knew him, but I
knew Gabe. Gabe was a typical asshole stepfather. The
one who you never wanted, but were unfortunately stuck
with. Unbeknownst to my Mom, he would beat me
senseless whenever he had a, "bad day".
It was a Friday and I was coming home from school late
after walking home with my friends. Our neighborhood
was not the best area because we did not bring in
enough money from my mom's bakery. I walked inside and
the reek of alcohol hit me like an angry title wave from the
ocean. I pinched my nose with my fingers and called out,
"Mom, I'm home! You here?". I saw from the corner of the
room a figure move in the shadows. At first I thought it
was my Mom messing with me, to give me a hard time for
being late, but that was not the case. "Your Moms not
home punk", a staggering Gabe slurred as he came out of
the shawdows. "But I am". He beat me for 20 minutes
straight. His fists, boots, and belt stung with every strike. I
couldn't say I was toatally surprised, but the pain still was
a shock to me. I didn't know what physical abuse felt like,
but I didn't like it.
That was the first time Gabe beat me, but it wouldn't be
the last. I was in 3rd grade. This abuse continued for 3
years without my mom finding out. The decision to
change my life became clear to me in the 6th grade when
I noticed a boxing gym in my gritty neighborhood. I
stopped when I saw it. The letters on the sign were old
and worn, spuinting I could finally make out what they
said. "Chirons boxing". I stood there starring at the sign
for 5 minutes, thoughts of pain swirled in my mind. With
an adjustment of my backpack on my shoulder and a
heavy sigh, I walked in.
I'm in the 10th grade now, from the eyes of my
classmates, I was a quiet kid that always kept to himself.
I kept my hood up and my head down. I didn't think I was
antisocial. In fact whenever I did talk to people they
seemed to genuinely enjoy their conversations with me.
They often ended in laughter and a polite ending, with a
promise of seeing the other person soon. At lunch I sat
with my friends Grover, my cousin Nico, my other cousin
Thalia, Beckendorf, and his girlfriend Silena. We had a
happy group that seemed as though to be as close as
family(of course some of us were).
My everyday routine of waking up at 4am to go to the
gym before making my way to school, then going back to
the gym immediately after was therapeutic for me. I felt as
though I distracted myself from all the pain I have
endured. I wasn't happy, or even healing my trauma, but I
was dealing with it in my own way. Chiron was a great
mentor, always pushing me, whether it was weight
training, school work, or boxing. He was like a father to
me, always listening to my problems. So it wasn't a
surprise to him when I came to the gym late one night, my
hands shined in the low lighting a dark shade of
red,covered in blood. "Percy...is everything okay", he
asked looking at me with a sense of wonder, but not
judgement. "I snapped Chiron, I didn't know where else to
go". I spoke lowly, almost like an empty whispers, my
eyes showed no emotion. I was numb. "Well, what
happened then", he sighed as he took his glasses off to
rub his tired eyes. He already knew of Gabes abuses, he
questioned it the first week I was at the gym, he noticed
the scars almost immediately. "I killed him Chiron, he
started hitting me, like most nights...but I don't know.
Something just came over me...and I killed him". I felt my
hands shake at my side as I tried to gather my breath to
an even level. Chiron stared at me for a minute before he
finally spoke, "Strip your clothes off and hit the showers,
I'll take care of it". I stood there, not knowing what to say,
almost as if I were in a dream, frozen. "Percy, you aren't a
bad kid. You were just put in a tough position, trust me
everything will be okay." I nodded, a single tear falling
from my eye, but before I could seem any weaker I turned
and headed for the showers. I threw my clothes in the
dirty towel bin before I focused my thoughts on the warm
water that was soon about to wash over me. I let my mind
go blank while the blood washed off my hands. I usually
prided myself in not letting my emotions take control of
me. I thought my numb emotions were something to be
proud of, that no one could hurt me. Let's just say I wasn't
mad about killing Gabe, I definitely didn't feel bad. I was
upset because I lost control of my anger. Something I only
did when training, or in a fight. Once I got out of the
shower I looked in the mirror, studying my athletic tone
body, not wanting to look myself in the eyes. But when
sea green eyes met one another I could see that
something changed. They weren't ass dull, they seemed
to have a happier glow in them. Although they still
seemed empty of emotion at the same time. I let out a
sigh and ran my newly clean hand through my hair. I
didn't know what my reflection meant, was I happier that
Gabe was gone, or was I more hollow from the self
disappointment that came from losing control. I decided
to push it down, just like all my pain and confusing that I
deal with. I walked out of the shower to see fresh, clean
clothes waiting for me. I grinned, as I slipped them on.
Chiron always took care of me. I slept there at the gym for
the night, which wasn't out of the ordinary for me, the
sounds of my fists thumping against Gabes head echoed
in my ears as I drifted into sleep.
The next morning the cops did come to the gym to tell me
and Chiron about Gabes date, but to both of our surprise
they didn't even question me. They told us that it was a
break in gone wrong, and that they weren't likely to find
who did it, but assured us that they'd keep looking. I
wasn't surprised to be completely honest. In my
neighborhood death is common and almost looked as
normal. "Thank you for your efforts gentleman, let us
know if you hear anything" Chiron stated, shaking the
police officers hands. "Will do Chiron, and I'm sorry son".
I gave a small knod and a thanks before we returned to
the gym, back to training like any other day. "I told you
everything would work out for itself", Chiron said
beaming. I let out a laugh, "No, I'm pretty sure you said
you'd take care of it". Chiron roled his eyes as we got to
work. I trained harder than ever that morning, punching
the bag with a strength that was unknown the me, I hit it
as though it was all I knew, maybe it was. I finally stopped
after hours of training, panting like a dog in the summer,
tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. I felt a hand
on my back. "It's okay Percy, you aren't a murder, it was
self defense. A guy like that deserves a worse date then
what you gave him". I nodded, showing him that I heard
his message. The stream of tears slowly stopped hitting
the mat as I got my breathing under control. It was weird,
the sensation of crying, although I found it weirder that it
even happened. I didn't feel sad, I just felt empty. A
feeling that I'm accustomed too. I looked up at the clock
and swore, I'd probably be late to school. I ran to the
showers and got dressed in record time. "See you soon
Chiron" I yelled as I ran out the door. I got to school in
time. Well almost in time. I was 15 minutes late, it wasn't
my fault it was a far walk from my neighborhood. They
don't usually put fancy private schools right in the slums. I
strolled into school carefree. I'm not saying I hate school,
but I don't exactly love it. I didn't think my tardiness
would matter anyway, I was genuinely late to first period.
It was only home room after all. When I got to home room
however I was confused at what I saw. Mr. Blofis was
standing up and talking to the students. Usually we just
sat there in silence focused on work, or sleep. I raised my
eyebrow at the sight of a girl standing up next to him.
She had pretty blonde hair, an athletic build with tan skin,
and was kind of tall for a girl, probably around 5'8"/ 5'9".
"Percy!" Mr. Blofis seemed happy to see me. "Is that how
we show the new student the Goode way! By being tardy"
I grinned and roled my eyes, Mr. Blofis was a cool guy
that I actually enjoyed talking to. "Sorry, won't happen
again", I grinned as I spoke, looking him in the eyes
almost expecting a remark back. He just smiled and
chuckled, "Well this is our new student Annabeth, and Mr.
D wanted to assure that you would be showing her to all
her classes today, seeming as though you have the same
schedules and all". I caught myself having to remind
myself to close my mouth after this shocking news , "Why
do I have the responsibility to baby sit the new girl! Since
when is that even a thing!" I was close to yelling at this point. "I'd just say that you are showing me around while I
babysit YOU!" I looked to the girl Annabeth forgetting
that she was here for the conversation that she was apart
of. "Oh!" I said while my eyes narrowing, "and why's that!"
She looked at me with startling grey eyes, I even saw a
little bit of playfulness in them. She grinned, "well
apparently Mr. D wants you to stay on scholarship for
swimming, but to do that you can't fail out. Think of me
like your personal tutor, or boss" She was smirking the
whole time she spoke, earning a couple of laughs from
the crowd of kids. "Shit" I huffed. "Percy! Watch your
language, this is a private school you know!" Mr. Blofis
yelled, having way too much fun with my predicament. I
stopped having fun after I learned that I was to be coddled like a brainless child. My demeanor changed,
back to my cold emotionless self. He seemed to noticed
that the fun was over. "Okay everyone let's take our seats
and settle down, let's have a normal quiet homeroom for
the rest of the time." I walked past the two as I walked
toward my seat in the back. Annabeth seemed to stiffen
at my sudden change of attitude. As I walked to my seat I
could feel her presence behind me, I was furious. The kids
and staff think I'm some idoit that was only allowed in
here to swim. While that wasn't that far off, I only came
here because it was the least amount of trouble for me. I
wouldn't have to go to Yancy and be subject to mindless fights with other students from my neighborhood, and I was close enough to go right to the gym after school. I
got it into the school because of my athletic ability in the
pool, they didn't care about my grades when I entered so
why would they care now? I like swimming, but I didn't
even go to practices or anything I just showed up on the
day of the meets, did my event and left. I was that gifted. I
focused all my time in the boxing gym, I was actually
annoyed that I had to continue to swim but Mr. D stated
that if I quit I'd be kicked out of the little quiet school. I sat
glaring at my desk for the rest of homeroom in my own
thoughts about my life. School sucked, we are still
struggling with money, but at least Gabe is gone. And I
still have the gym to look forward too. The new girl
Annabeth had an uncomfortable body posture in the seat
next to me, probably assuming that she might have to
look over a psychopath. Maybe she was.