"Get back here you punks!"
Percy Jackson didn't heed his stepfather's call. He just kept running down the alley, urging his sister to go faster. He was going to get her out of there if it was the last thing he ever did.
"Come on Melody!"
"I'm… coming…" She wheezed.
He knew his sister wasn't as fast as he was, but she was doing the best that she could. Living with Gabe was harsh. Melody's asthma was just one of many side effects. With all the secondhand smoke the twin siblings breathed in from Gabe's cigars, it was a miracle only one had breathing problems and neither had lung disease. But the smoke was nothing. There were worse things in that apartment for two seven year olds to fear. Like Gabe or his friends whenever they were, A: high, B: drunk, or C: irrationally angry for no reason at all. Gabe was a lazy walrus of a man who sat around drinking, smoking, and playing poker with his buddies. He would splurge the hard earned money of the twins' mother Sally Jackson on whatever he pleased, and barely left enough money for Sally to meet her children's needs. Oh yeah, and he and those 'buddies' were abusive. But for now...
"Percy?! Sweetheart?! Melody?!"
The twins breathed a sigh of relief from their cramped hiding place behind a New York City alley dumpster. Their mother walked toward them. With the immediate effect Sally Jackson had on her twin children, you'd have thought she had magical powers. All Sally had to do was talk to them, or walk up to them to get them to calm down.
"M-momma?" Melody replied timidly.
"C'mon sweetheart," Sally crooned, "We have to go home."
"I don't wanna go back there!" Melody squealed, burying her face in Percy's shirt like a small child, which of course, she was, "The bad man is there!"
Percy wrapped his arms around her protectively. Though they were twins, he still thought of her as his 'younger' sister sometimes. Well, he was born a few minutes earlier…
"Who is the bad man sweetie?" Sally asked.
"Ted," Percy spat, "He broke Melody's underpants rule. We're not going back if he's there."
Sally drew in her breath sharply. The underpants rule meant that Melody had been touched in a place her underwear usually covered; her crotch, or once she was older, her breasts. What Percy meant was Ted had sexually touched her little girl. Though Sally was furious, she knew she could never let it show in front of her children.
"I promise he won't be."
A little hand with sloppily applied blue nail polish on three of five fingers stuck out from behind the dumpster.
"Pinky promise?"
Sally wrapped her pinky finger around her daughter's.
"Uh-huh. Pinky promise."
Slowly but surely, two raven haired, emerald eyed, seven year olds pulled themselves from their hiding place and each took one of their mother's hands. They walked out of the alley, and up to Gabe. As they stopped, Melody cowered behind her mother in fear.
"You punks cost me my poker game!"
"W-we're s-sorry s-sir." Melody stuttered.
"You should be!"
"I'm not." Percy muttered under his breath.
"What was that?"
Melody gave her brother a pleading 'please-don't-make-it-worse' look. He inwardly sighed, but he humored his sister.
"I didn't say anything, sir."
"You better not've punk." Gabe spat.
"That's enough," Sally intervened, giving Gabe a pointed look, "We need to get the kids home."
"Oh, fine," Gabe pointed at the twins, "We'll talk about this later."
Percy shuddered and looked at Melody, who paled. They both knew full well that 'we'll talk about this later' meant 'I'll beat you for this as soon as your mother leaves'. Apparently Sally didn't catch on.
"C'mon kids," said Sally, taking her children's hands and leading them forward, "Let's go. I have to get back to work soon."
"Do you have to go?" Melody whined.
"Sorry sweetie. Mommy has to work."
Melody put on her best pouty face. Percy held back a smile. He would pout too, but his sister had the better chance. She was good at manipulation, it must have something to do with the pigtails and the automatic little girl cuteness. Although, neither twin ever manipulated their mother unless the situation was dire.
"But why?"
"Because mommy has to sweetheart."
Sally stoked her daughter's cheek lovingly as they walked up the stairs to their apartment. Percy bit his lip and looked over at Melody. She was messing with her bracelets on her left wrist. He hoped she didn't make too much noise and make Gabe angrier. When they finally got to the apartment, Percy breathed a sigh of relief that none of Gabe's buddies were around, especially Ted. Sally released her children's hands and gave each a kiss on the head.
"I'll see you when I get home okay? Be good for Gabe."
"Only if he is." Percy grumbled, nearly inaudibly.
"We'll try to be good momma. Just come back soon," Melody pleaded, wide eyed.
"I'll be back as soon as I'm off work sweetheart."
She ruffled Percy's hair and patted Melody's head affectionately. Her children put on their practiced fake smiles and waved as she left, closing the door behind her. Percy and Melody turned and edged down the hallway and were almost to their room before Gabe called them back. They winced and turned around, trudging back. They knew if they gave him trouble, it'd be worse. When they were back in the living room, Gabe already had his belt off, wrapped in a loop.
"Who's first?" Gabe sneered.
Melody shook, terrified, as Percy stepped forward, already removing his shirt.
"Good boy."
They knew the routine for beatings. Gabe always beat Percy with his shirt off so that nothing would soften the blows. Because Melody was a girl, he let her wear a thin camisole, but for that, he hit her harder.
"Alright. You cost me twenty bucks, so that's twenty strikes."
"Wow, you did math." Percy thought sarcastically.
"Ten each. Girl, go get your shirt. You're next."
"Y-y-yes s-sir."
Melody scrambled back to the twins' room and changed quickly into a thin white undershirt, stained with blood from previous beatings. When she got back, Gabe had already gotten to six strikes on Percy, and you could tell that it hurt. Percy's face was contorted with pain, so much that you could easily think he was two seconds away from screaming to every existing god for mercy, but he held firm. Melody bit her lip to stop her own tears. She loved her brother, and it hurt to see him like this when it was her fault. Soon it was ten and Gabe beckoned her for her turn. Percy grimaced, trying to look brave, but he knew she got hit harder to account for the camisole.
"You can do it." He whispered as they switched places.
Melody knelt down and waited for the first blow, her green eyes tightly closed in fear. That's when the pain exploded. It took all her possible efforts not to buckle under it as Gabe continued, not even pausing for her to catch her breath. She knew that if she flinched, winced, or screamed that'd make it worse. When ten finally came, after what felt like much much too long to both twins, Gabe ordered them to go to their room and stay there until their mother returned. Hurriedly, they complied. After closing the door, both twins heaved a sigh of relief.
"At least he didn't beat us extra for running away," said Percy.
"Don't jinx it," Melody mumbled from the closet, where she was changing back into her mermaid tee shirt.
"I'll try. One to ten?" He asked.
"Um… a little more than nine-ish I'd say. You?"
"Probably an eight and a half. He was really mad."
"Yeah."
The twins had a number system for how much the beatings hurt, going from one to ten. Sometimes on really bad days they did one to twenty or higher. Those were the days Gabe was drunk really really bad. Or high or etcetera.
"What do we do now?" Melody asked, sitting down on her bed.
Well, that is if you could call what Melody Jackson slept on a 'bed'. She and her brother shared a 'room', (more like empty walk in closet based off of its size), outfitted with two army style cots and somehow, a desk and closet.
"I don't know," Percy replied, thinking on it for a moment, "Why don't you sing?"
"No. I don't want Gabe to hurt you again."
"That wasn't your fault. You know that Mels."
"No."
"Fine," he dropped the issue and went back to silent thinking.
They never did end up doing anything that day. They just sat there and whenever one brought up an idea, the other started a conversation about why they couldn't do it because of this or that or Gabe. When Sally finally came home, they plastered on their rehearsed smiles and made up a story for what they had been doing that afternoon.