5. Get Some Sleep

She hadn't meant to be so cold, but she wasn't going to give him her soft side. She had tried to turn quickly to not see disappointment in his eyes, but she was too slow and she saw it anyways. She felt the barest trace of feeling bad about it, which she shouldn't because he was just some boy. Nothing special. But yet, something inside her made her feel guilty anyways. She shook it off. He is just a kid I babysit for. She didn't even like him. He was annoying, obnoxious and cocky. All the qualities she hated. She would smack him, but she had too many "manners" to do so.

She slowly made her way back to her own apartment. It was pitch black outside, besides the street lights. She took slow motion steps as she stared at the stars above her. She would lose her balance every once and a while, because she wasn't paying attention to where her feet were landing. The stars sparkled beautifully and the moon... Wow, the moon was breathtaking. Thalia loved to stare at the sky. It comforted her, even if she couldn't stand ever looking down because she was so scared of heights. When she was passing the park, she just picked a section of grass and laid down. She plugged in her headphones and blasted her music.

She could've stayed that way forever, listening to her favorite music and watching the sky, but when she glanced at her watch it was almost midnight.

"Shit," she whispered as she jumped up and headed towards her aparment. She bounded up the stairs and she was about to grab the doorknob when she realized the door was already cracked open. Thalia hesitated, not sure if her mother had just forgotten to close the door or…

There was a cry inside the apartment and without checking for danger or calling for help, Thalia burst through the door. Her mother was on the floor, the sleeve of her shirt torn. She was sobbing, but otherwise, she wasn't moving much. She had blood trickling from her lips and her hair was a mess. Standing over her was a man, dressed in casual clothes with a gun in his hand.

"Hey!" Thalia yelled, but when the man looked at her, she wished she hadn't said a word. He pointed the gun at her. Thalia gasped and jumped to the side, rolling behind the island of the kitchen. The man started to head towards the door, but her mother called for him.

"John, please…" she sobbed as she softly tried to prop herself up on her arms. The man, John, spun and pointed the gun at her.

"NO!" Thalia yelled, as she grabbed his arm and pulled it up, firing the gun towards the ceiling instead. Small pieces from the ceiling fell on them, and got into Thalia's eyes. She blinked, trying to get rid of the irritation. But before she could see well, he punched Thalia on the side of her face and then kicked her down. Thalia fell against the hard floor, trying to catch herself with her hands. She turned to the man, heard a loud pop and suddenly it all went dark.

When Thalia opened her eyes again, she was lying down inside a white room, with beeping sounds. She tried to sit up, but pain shot up her side.

"Whoa, relax," someone said as they grabbed her arm and lay her down again. She fell back against her pillow again moaning from the throbbing pain that was travelling up and down her side.

"Where am I?" she asked, a little dazed as her eyes darted around the room.

"The hospital," a boy's voice answered. Thalia weakly turned her head to see who had answered, and she saw a familiar face.

"Percy?" she whispered, squinting her eyes at him because her vision was still a little blurry. Percy smiled. He was sitting in a small chair next to the bed.

"Yeah," he said. He bit his lip.

"What are you doing here?" Thalia asked, wondering how he would've known she was at a hospital.

"I'm here for you," he said, lifting his hand and revealing a small bouquet of flowers.

"Can't seem to get rid of you, huh?" Thalia said, shifting in her bed.

"Guess not," he said with a smile.

"How did you know I was here?"

"When the paramedics found you and your mom, they couldn't find any relatives. They found our phone number in your pocket and well, called us. Mom is outside talking to the doctor right now," he said, walking over and setting the bouquet on the little white table at the foot of the bed.

"What about my mom?" Thalia asked, taking a quick glance towards the closed door.

"She has a few bruises and a broken wrist and a little bit of drugs in her system, but otherwise fine," he said, as he sat back down. Thalia closed her eyes. She didn't feel too sorry for her mother. She was high on drugs and destroying her life, this was no surprise. But how could her mother be so stupid? The door opened and a tall man, who looked about thirty with brown cropped but messy hair walked in.

"Good evening Thalia. I'm Dr. Higgins," he said with a warm smile. He wore a white jacket with a blue shirt inside and he was holding a clipboard.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Completely fine," Thalia lied. Her side was throbbing and she wanted to dig her nails into the mattress and rip it apart. She was also angry. Because of her mother's big screw-up, she'd almost lost her life.

"I would like to keep you overnight, just to make sure you're okay and you can be released early in the morning tomorrow," he said. Thalia nodded. He was about to turn around and leave, but Thalia called him.

"Doctor?"

"Yes Thalia?"

"What exactly happened?" she asked. She bit her lip. She wanted to know what happened, because her own memories were a little fuzzy. She was also afraid to know. She had almost lost her life, she knew that much. Dr. Higgins sat in a chair on the other side and crossed his legs.

"We're not 100% sure what happened, but I will tell you what I know. What your mother, Ms. Grace, has told us is that she met someone in a bar and invited him over to her apartment. Once there, she said he pulled a gun and beat her when she refused to reveal to him where her money and jewelry was. We believe he shot you as well. He didn't do too much damage," he said, but Thalia knew there was something he wasn't saying.

"Define too much damage," Thalia said firmly. Dr. Higgins hesitated, but then relented.

"It grazed one of your lungs," he said. Thalia caught her breath. She knew how dangerous it was when a bullet just barely scrapes your vital organs. Her hand instinctively crawled up to her chest and she held it, like that would fix the wounds.

"Will I be okay?" she whispered.

"I will be certain of it in the morning," he said, standing up and fixing the hems of his jacket that had folded up.

"Just relax and get some sleep," he said, before he left the room.

"You'll be okay," Percy said. He'd been sitting quietly in the other chair since Dr. Higgins had walked in. Thalia had almost forgotten he was there.

"Sure," Thalia said sarcastically, though she didn't doubt him much. If she was okay now from something like that, she should be okay the rest of the night. "You should go home."

"Sure," Percy replied in her same sarcastic tone. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and raised an eyebrow. He placed his hands behind his head and leaned back.

"You should get some sleep," he said, as he let his head fall loose in his hands.

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