Chapter 4
Perseus led the child to an apartment block on the other side of the city. Bags of trash lined its curb, graffiti covered nearly inch of the walls and iron bars surrounded the windows. The boy whimpered slightly at the sight of it but if Perseus heard he neither cared of acknowledged it. Pushing open the door to the foyer the pair was greeted by the stale smell of cigarettes, mildew and vomit. The small boy who despite fighting off hellhounds not too long ago now clutched onto Perseus' jacket, clinging on as if it were a lifeline. Perseus was surprised as he looked down at the kid and remembered that he couldn't have been much older than eight and his wide fearful eyes scanned the run down foyer.
A man sat on a battered arm chair behind the desk, legs up on the desk and a paper in his hands. He didn't even look up as Perseus and the child climbed the staircase with peeling carpet and the dug in butts of cigarettes. Perseus led the anxious child down a long corridor of identical doorways until he stopped at one marked 37. He pulled out a small silver key and inserted it into the lock, twisting it until it made a clunk signifying the door unlocking.
If the boy was expecting a spotless home, that was vacuumed, freshly painted and brilliant carpet, he was sorely mistaken. The apartment was a single large room; concrete flooring covered in stains, which looked suspiciously like blood, walls covered in mould and wires sticking out of the ceiling and walls. The single feature of the room was a large round fireplace in the centre of the room; the fireplace was already smouldering despite no other person being in site. Two simple mats sat beside the hearth and Perseus had already made to go and sit on one. The boy followed suit and both of them sat in silence as they stared at the dancing flames.
The boy started tapping in random beats against the floor as he scrutinised his saviour.
"So you're Percy, right?" He started
"I go by Perseus now, Percy is long gone" Perseus replied solemnly, not turning his gaze away from the flames.
The boy sat staring expectantly at Perseus, waiting for him to say more. He soon realised that was it.
"Don't you want to know my name?" The young boy asked a slight undertone of annoyance in his voice.
"Should I?" replied Perseus bluntly, still staring into the hearth.
"Well you did rescue me and now we're sitting together, so probably yeah" The boy replied, sarcasm creeping into his voice.
The corner of Perseus' mouth twitched upward as he heard this.
"So what's your name then kid?" He asked, finally turning away from the fire.
"Name's Tom" He said grinning as if he'd just won a prize.
"Good to meet you Tom." Perseus replied before he lied down on his back and gazed at the ceiling. Tom looked crestfallen as he sighed and stared into the flickering embers.
"What's your story Tom?" Perseus said suddenly without getting up. A grin lit up Tom's face as he heard this.
"My dad left my mom soon after I was born but I don't really care. My mom's the best person in the world; she makes the best chocolate chip cookies!" Unbeknownst to Tom a small smile had slowly spread across Perseus' face as he listened to the eight year old.
"So a couple of weeks ago a weird guy with one eye started following me home and mom said I should try to ignore him and I was being silly. I wasn't being silly though and yesterday he tried to hit me with a really big stick but I kicked him in the stomach and ran home to my mom. When I told her what happened she told me I needed to get to a camp. That was about the time the monsters showed up and mom told me to run. The monsters kept chasing me but a voice in my head said mom was fine so I was really happy but scared of the big doggies but then you showed up and you saved me." The kid grinned at Perseus and put his thumb up.
"You're alright Tom, I'm glad I didn't let the hellhounds eat you. Now get some rest."
"But I want to hear your story" he pleaded.
The smile on Perseus' face vanished instantaneously.
"A lot of people died because of me, they didn't get to see their 16th birthday or get married nor have kids because of me. I realised this too late but now everyone knows what I am and they're right." He said the flames suddenly growing much lower in the hearth.
"I'm sorry Perseus" said the boy guiltily.
"Not as sorry as I am" Perseus replied coldly "Now get some rest" Perseus turned over onto his side and the fire of the hearth extinguished.
Hey guys, I know I said I'd reveal why Percy was abandoned but I included more in this chapter than I thought I would and I'd prefer the reveal to happen in Camp whilst he isn't there. So once again thank you for reading my story, if you're enjoying it let me know Thanks :)