Haven (noun): a place of safety or refuge.
Camp Half-Blood. A place where demigods can live in peace, no fear of mauled by a monster. A place where ambrosia and nectar, food of the gods, can heal you and taste like your favourite memories. A haven for children of gods.
Hazard (noun): a danger or risk.
But Camp Half-Blood was not a place of fear or tension. It wasn't a place where despair floated through the place, thick as fog. It wasn't a place where mourning was a constant happenstance.
Camp Half-Blood was not a hazard.
Piper awoke to Lacy shaking her aggressively. Not the most pleasant way to wake up, but Piper knew immediately that something was wrong.
Not the regular Aphrodite cabin issue; missing hairdryer, empty nail polish bottle etc. Because they would let her sleep for that.
"Piper! You have to get to the Big House, its Annabeth," Lacy panted.
Piper was out of bed in an instant. Not even bothering to get dressed, she sprinted from her bed, past the worried glances of the camp.
She pushed open the door to the Big House, almost breaking a hinge.
If something was wrong with Annabeth, it was bad. Hubris would stop Annabeth from calling camp. Oh yeah, it was bad.
Leo, Chiron and Jason were all in the main room, Chiron with phone in hand.
"Chiron? Is she there yet?"
A muffled voice had cried out, static through the phone. It was on speaker.
Piper walked over to the phone.
"Yeah, yeah A, what's wrong?"
Annabeth's voice was filled with emotions. It was broken from grief, hoarse from screaming.
"It's Percy. He- he…"
Annabeth hiccupped through tears, gut wrenching wracking through the small, tinny receiver.
"What about Percy? Annabeth?"
Annabeth's hysteria was soon cut as the line went dead. The four looked at each other desperately.
Percy? What happened to Percy?
Leo was nervous. He tapped against his thigh through the whole van ride into Manhattan.
Percy told him things. Dark things. His insecurities and doubts, his depression.
Leo thought he was kidding, maybe trying to commute and connect with Leo. But this was…
Annabeth had never told them what had happened. They had packed into the Delphi Strawberry van and were off in the blink of an eye.
Leo hoped Percy hadn't done anything stupid.
When Annabeth had awoken that morning, she didn't expect it to be from a shriek.
She shot up, stiff from sleep, hearing a woman screech in horror.
She tripped over Frank, who was hobbling to his feet from the floor, and jerked the door open.
Annabeth had imagined many scenarios in those five seconds, but seeing Sally Jackson cradle her son's head in her lap was not one of the,.
His face was ashen gray. His lips were blue. Yet he looked peaceful. Calmer than he had in a long time.
Her voice seemed to work unconsciously. A scream ripped through her throat, tearing her vocal chords.
She bent to the ground, grabbing his shoulders and shaking them like a lifeline.
"Percy!"
"No, no, no, fuck!"
His head lolled lifelessly. Annabeth felt the tears spill over the edge, pouring down faster than a faucet in the bathroom.
Frank knelt down, grabbing his wrist, placing trembling fingers against the cold skin. His usual bronze Mediterranean complexion was now pasty and cold.
Frank forced his fingers still, shuddering a sigh of relief when the smallest of pulses thumped gently underneath the pads of his fingers.
"He's alive," he whispered, a ghost of a smile over his lips.
"He needs the hospital," Annabeth whimpered, looking down at Percy.
"He- he can't," Sally mumbled, tears slowly tracking down her cheeks.
"What? Why?" Frank bewilderedly asked.
Sally faced him, looking him in the eye.
"We don't have enough money. The medical bills-"
"Frank, call nine one-one. Now," Annabeth growled. Frank dug his mobile out of his pocket and called them.
Annabeth snatched up the phone, calling Camp Half-Blood. When Chiron answered, Annabeth held Percy's limp hand, asking for Leo, Jason and Piper. She could tell them.
When she squeezed Percy's hand, though, she realised he couldn't squeeze back. That familiar sense of comfort that he could usually easily give, was gone.
She broke, becoming hysteric as the reality of it all crushed her, suffocating and heavy. She hung up the phone.
"Sally,"
Paul. He came into view, pale and red eyed.
"You might want to see this,"
Annabeth and Sally stood up, knowing Percy wasn't going anywhere. They followed Paul into the bathroom, where he opened the door.
A box of razors stood proudly, blades fanned out in an almost artistic way.
An empty can of beer, and a practically empty container of Valium.
He did this, Annabeth thought, the slowly dripping tap in her eyes slowly applying more pressure, more salty tears falling.
Sally stumbled, unable to believe it.
"Percy… tried to commit su- s…"
She couldn't say it. She gaped in horror at her baby's choice. She took a step forward, examining everything.
Paul wrapped Sally in a hug, and Sally buried her face into his shoulder, sobbing. He extended an arm out to Annabeth, who joined the hug wordlessly. No one knew how much time had passed until someone was pounding on the door.
Frank and Annabeth sprinted to the door, both faces splotchy and eyes red-rimmed from crying.
Annabeth swung open the door, revealing Piper, Jason and Leo.
She gripped onto Piper in a flash, dry heaving loudly.
"What happened?"
Annabeth released her, turning into the apartment, hugging herself. Frank motioned with his head for them to follow him.
They tip toed into the small apartment, not prepared to see the horrifying sight of their friend.
Piper gasped, gripping onto Jason's arm when they saw him. He hadn't moved an inch, looking closer to death with each passing minute.
"Wh- what?" Jason spluttered.
Frank rubbed his arms as if he were cold.
"He attempted suicide."
Leo could only stare at Frank in shock. Was he kidding? Surely he was.
Before any of them could say anything, wailing sirens became obnoxiously loud, and intense knocking on the door reverberated through the apartment.
"Hello? Is this the Jackson residence?"
Sally appeared from the bathroom, stumbling to the door.
"Yes, yes! Help him, my son, he-"
A kind female paramedic was on the other side of the door, and hugged Sally.
They spoke softly to each other, respectively explaining the situation and offering kind words of comfort.
Two paramedics squeezed past them to get to Percy, lifting him and taking him out to the hallway, where there was a stretcher. The two wheeled him down the building and out to the ambulance, whereas the female paramedic led Sally gently through the building to ride with her son.
Leo spoke first.
"Okay, what the Hades was that."
"I don't know. I woke up to Sally screaming. Annabeth opened the bedroom door and Sally was on the ground, holding Percy on her lap. I called nine one-one and Paul led the two to the bathroom and I followed them after the call. There was… evidence of Percy's actions, though the motive of it all…"
Frank trailed off. He never knew Percy had felt so vulnerable.
"I s'pose we better head to the hospital, then," Piper wearily spoke. This was the last thing she expected when she came here.
"Percy had a good poker face. Quite the eccedentesiast."
See, the thing about Percy, is he was in pain. Emotional pain. But he hid it from the world with a smile. A fake smile.
"Percy told me… he wanted to kill himself. I tried to comfort him, but I guess it wasn't enough," Leo murmured.
"Like, depressed? He couldn't be depressed. He never seemed sad," Jason croaked, in shock of the horrifying turn of events.
No one knew what to do or say.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Hello, it's been a while. And this is pathetically short.
I've been having a lot of trouble keeping this story going. If any one wants to help me write it, PM me! No doubt your help would make it into the story. I'm having writers block (or something).
Thanks for reading guys, gals and non-binary pals :)