Greetings from the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Sorry, I'm feeling extremely patriotic. Expect another one like it come July 4th.
Anyhoo, thank you all so much for reading this and for leaving reviews! I'm still fairly new to this site, so any review is welcome!
Disclaimer: Hmmm, I don't THINK I'm a fortysomething dude who writes one of the best series of books ever. Let me check my birth certificate, because I'm pretty sure I'm a teenage girl.
No one in Particulars P.O.V
Leo was lounging on a twin bed neatly covered with a green quilt. He was wearing new-looking clothes, blue jeans and a black shirt that said "Always be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman" on it in white lettering. His hair had been cut so it no longer stuck out all over his head in a crazy mess. He was drawing something on a sketchpad and humming what sounded suspiciously like "Part of your World" from The Little Mermaid.
Leo turned sunburned-sea-lion red as everyone looked at him, though he still appeared tense.
The door was flung open so hard it banged against the wall. Leo flinched at the sudden noise, his sketchpad flying off his lap.
The older Leo flinched too, digging his nails into his palms as he stared at the memory.
Teresa stood in the doorway, completely transformed from the perfect creature she had been. Her hair was all over her head, dampened with sweat and sticking out at weird angles. Blue eye shadow was smeared across one eyelid, and though she was wearing red lipstick, a streak of it had somehow ended up all along her cheek and on her teeth. She was wearing a short yellow bathrobe and, it appeared, nothing else. In one hand she held a fifth of Jack Daniels whiskey, most of it gone. She braced herself against the doorway with one hand and took a swig from the bottle with the other.
"That is disgusting." Hazel announced and was instantly hushed.
Teresa's bloodshot eyes wandered around the room until they landed on Leo.
"You." Somehow she managed to slur the word as she lifted one finger to point at him. "Too much noise up here, you little…" She stopped for a moment before letting out a long, loud burp. Leo cringed back against the pillow, his wide eyes never leaving her. She took another swig from the bottle (only a swallow left now) and continued.
"I told you... to be… quiet." She slurred. "You've been…very bad, Leo. What… happens… to bad boys?"
Leo whimpered and a malevolent smile spread over Teresa's face, her icy blue eyes focused with sudden, sober intensity on the tiny form of the boy as he curled into a ball.
'They deserve…" her voice was suddenly a purr "to…be…punished."
Tears glowed like crystal in Leo's brown eyes as he said, in a voice barely above a whisper "Please, Miss Teresa…"
Teresa grinned, swallowed the last of the whiskey, and swung.
Her slap landed on Leo's cheek. His hands flew up to defend himself. She grasped one slender wrist and yanked him off the bed. Leo yelped in pain and began to sob, in between the sound's of slaps as the memory slowly went dark…
Hera had spared them the sight of the memory, but not the sound. Grunts could be heard from Teresa, and cries of pain from Leo. Occasionally, there would be another "Please stop, Miss Teresa!" from Leo, though those were followed with another, louder cry of pain.
Annabeth shoved Jason aside, climbed onto the bench beside Leo, and pulled him into a hug. Leo wrapped his arms around her rib cage, clutching fistfuls of her T-shirt and burying his face in her shoulder, as though that could protect him from the noise. Soon, every demigod was sitting there hugging Leo, all staring up at the screen with pure hate on their faces.
One thing was clear as the memory faded back in. From that moment on, Teresa Brewer was a dead woman walking.
There was the sound of shattering glass and the memory came back into focus, showing Teresa holding the neck of the broken whiskey bottle in her hand, having apparently just hit it against the bedpost. Leo, bruised and bloody, with a split lip and an eye already swelling shut, lay on the floor at her feet, his skinny body heaving with silent sobs. Teresa grabbed a particularly large shard of glass from the floor, seized Leo by a handful of hair, and yanked him up to face her, eliciting another yelp from him. She held the shard in front of his face, watching with sadistic pleasure as his good eye focused on it and widened in terror, then placed the point of the glass against his skin, on the soft, vulnerable place just under the curve of his jaw.
"I could kill you right now, you know…" Teresa breathed, pressing the glass into his skin until a bead of blood rose, staining the glass ruby. Teresa watched it with her eyes half closed, her words slurring again. "Who…would care? Hmmm? Who would… want… a… lazy nothing like you…" She pressed harder and harder until Leo could not contain a yelp any longer…
Then she tossed him casually to the floor, aimed a kick that missed by a considerable margin, then stumbled out, shutting the door behind her.
As the memory ended, everyone stared for a moment. Then, very gently, Annabeth gently lifted Leo's head and tilted it gently to the side, brushing the hair away to reveal that spot.
A faint white scar marked the place where the glass had cut him. Annabeth felt her own eyes well with tears for the boy who she considered a brother, and she pulled him into a tighter hug. Leo was breathing deeply, trying to control the tears. His fists, balled against Annabeth's spine, were shaking slightly as the next memory began.
It looked to be only a few days after the beating. Leo was sporting a swollen lip and a black eye. He was sitting on the floor of the room, a small first aid kit open in front of him and a black backpack beside him.. He was holding what looked like an Ace bandage, winding it expertly around his wrist. He began singing softly to himself.
(The song is Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. I don't own this either, because I sound like a dying cat when I sing.)
"She walks to school with her lunch she packed,
Nobody knows what she's holding back.
Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday,
She hides the bruises with the linen and lace, ooohhh."
He paused, finished with the bandage, and put everything away into the first aid kit before he began singing again.
"The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask,
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask.
Bearing the burden of a secret storm,
Sometimes she wishes she was never born."
He scowled as he sang the last line, shoving the kit with more force than necessary into the black backpack. His voice grew stronger as he continued to sing.
"Through the wind, and the rain, she stands hard as a stone,
In a world that she can't rise above.
But her dreams, give her wings,
And she flies to a place where she's loved.
Concrete angel."
He hit the note, then continued to move around the room, his eyes narrowing in anger as he gathered clothes from the closet and shoes from under the bed.
"Somebody cries in the middle of the night,
The neighbors hear but they turn out the light.
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate.
When morning comes it will be too late."
Leo shot a resentful glare out of the small, high window, where another apartment could clearly be seen. He shot the middle finger over towards the window as he folded some shirts and a pair of jeans into the backpack, wincing as he put pressure on his hurt wrist.
"Through th wind, and the rain, she stands hard as a stone,
In a world that she can't rise above.
But her dreams, give her wings,
And she flies to a place, where she's loved.
Concrete angel!"
Leo held the note easily as he zipped up the pack, then became hushed as he tied worn Converse onto his feet.
"Her statue stands in a shaded place,
An angel girl with an upturned face.
Her name is written on a polished rock,
A broken heart that the world forgot."
His voice grew stronger and soared into the next line.
"Through the wind and the rain, she stands hard as a stone,
In a world that she can't rise above.
But he dreams give her wings,
And she flies to a place where she's loved.
Concrete angel!"
He stood up and swung the backpack onto his shoulders. He glanced back at the door, then headed over to the window, flinging it open. Going back to the bed, he pulled back the quilt to reveal that the sheets and pillowcases had been tied together to create a rope. Calmly he picked it up and hauled the rope over to the window. He began to shove the bed over too before a rattle by the doorknob made him freeze.
"Leo?" It was Teresa.
Leo paled and began shoving more vigorously.
Teresa rattled the door knob again: Leo had clearly locked it.
"Leo, what's going on? Let me in." More rattling. The bed was now by the window.
Leo tied the makeshift rope to the headboard and tossed the rest of it out of the window. He swung quickly onto the windowsill, looking back at the sound of his name.
"Leo? Sweetie? Are you okay?" She was now knocking. "I didn't hit you that bad, you goof. Open the door."
Leo's face hardened. He shot her the middle finger and yelled.
"Ven a por mi, perra!" (Come and get me, bitch!)
Holding on to the rope, he climbed out of the window and scrambled down like a monkey until he reached an old-fashioned fire escape. He let go of the rope and jumped on the ladder, scrambling down until he reached street level. He tore off down the street, a happy grin wreathing his face as he ran away for the first time.