I guess long waits are my specialty, huh?
~GoGreen52
Chapter 7- Only the Beginning
-Percy POV-
I did the one thing I could do in that situation. I closed my eyes and tried to disappear. I tried to just vanish from there, and be anywhere but there. Anywhere but with Luke.
He can't make me do this.
He can't make me do this.
This is only just a dream.
Come on, Jackson, this can't be happening, this has to be a dream.
Yeah… a dream.
But I opened my eyes, and was I hit with reality. Luke really was here, I was really kidnapped, and he was really making me chose between my mothers on who was going to get killed. My inner voice told me that the choice was simple- to save my own blood, my mom.
But I couldn't let myself think like that. My father loves my step mother, and I love my father. It doesn't matter if Amphitrite and I don't always see eye to eye. I mean, she makes my dad happy. But your mother makes you happy.
She's the best person to ever walk this earth, and you know it.
I clenched my jaw, trying to keep myself from shedding the tears that were threatening to fall. I knew I had to choose someone, but I couldn't bring myself to cause the death of either of them. I just couldn't.
"Percy, time is running out." I looked over at Luke, who was looking at me with a bittersweet smile. He was enjoying this. Chase was right, he really is a psychopath.
"You are a monster," I seethed. Bile was rose into my throat as I watched an insane smile curse his lips.
"You're not the only one who has told me that. But you and Bethy are the only two who are still alive," Luke said, his eyebrows furrowing. "I don't know how she could have escaped, though. She was weak! Well, now I know she won't be escaping this time."
I just glared at him.
"If I were you, Percy, I'd be picking someone by now. Besides, we both know who you're going to choose. So, should I kill one, or both of them? Take your pick."
I looked at the two screens. My mom was sitting at the table with her head in her hands while Amphitrite was talking on the phone. I can't believe I have to choose between them. But I know I can't let them both die.
That's worse than the latter.
"So Jackson, who is it going to be?"
I looked down at the ground, not wanting to answer. Come on Jackson, you know they both can't die. Just say it! "I chose my step mother," I whispered, my heart sinking down to my stomach. I felt like I was going to throw up.
This isn't fair! There has to be a way out of this… there has to be something that I can do to stop this.
I looked up to see Luke looking down at me, a smile on his face. I could tell he wasn't all there by the look in his eyes. It doesn't surprise me that he was able to do this to people, force them to kill their loved ones.
I mean, I've never done anything to him. He just does it for the fun of it.
I wouldn't be surprised if he actually had skeletons in his closet.
"Oh Percy, I knew you were going to choose her. People can be so predictable," Luke stopped himself and spoke into an earphone. "Ethan, you can kill her now,"
I watched as the picture of my mother disappeared, and was replaced with a double view of Amphitrite. Luke walked up behind me, and held my head so I had to look at the screen. "You're going to watch this," Luke whispered fiercely. Someone else came up behind me, forcing my eyelids open.
I had to watch them kill my step mother.
I was struggling against Luke as he started to count down into his earpiece, "Shoot in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…"
Oh God no…
"4, 3, 2, Jackson you better be watching this, 1. Shoot her!"
No, please…
The sound of gunfire rung in my ears, shocking me while looking at the screen as the woman that married my father was shot in the head, and fell the floor.
Please…
I watched as my father ran into the room that Amphitrite was in, and cried out, running to her side. He was touching the wound, and crying.
He was begging like me.
That's the first time I've ever seen my dad cry.
The picture zoomed in on my father, focusing in on his face. It was grief stricken, and it was my entire fault. The goons holding me released me, and I slumped back into the chair I was sitting on. I still couldn't believe that my step mother was just shot right in front of me.
I felt utterly defeated, like a 500 weight was just dropped onto my shoulders. I felt like I let everyone down. My step mother is dead because of me… I really had just killed her.
I killed someone.
Every time I blinked, I saw her being shot. It was like instant replay going on in my head, and I couldn't get it out. I couldn't pause or stop it. It just kept on happening over and over.
Luke was going to pay for what he did to me and my family.
I was sure about that.
"Oh, poor little Percy Jackson not able to comprehend what just happened," Luke cooed, yet his face was as cold as ice. "Well guess what Jackson, you just ordered the murder of your good old step mother, Amphitrite. Congratulations, you killed someone."
I looked at Luke, my eyes cold. I forced all my raw emotion in them. "Luke, I will make you pay for what you did to my family. You will never get me to crack. I won't do it," I spat.
Luke walked up to me with a glare on his face. "You will learn to respect me, Jackson. But until then, I'll just have to keep teaching it to you." And out of nowhere, like it was in slow motion, Luke punched me square in the jaw.
I could taste the blood pooling up in my mouth, and spit it out.
"Bastard," I choked out, spitting out the rest of the blood that had found its way to my mouth.
Luke looked on me as if I were meaningless, as if I was merely a speck of dust. "But I'm not the one who chose Amphitrite to die, am I? Perseus, you're just as much to blame as I am. You chose to kill Amphitrite. You could've chosen your mother, but you went with Amphitrite.
"Besides, I know that the two of you didn't have the best relationship. You probably wanted her gone. You probably felt that she was taking your life, and that she was ruining your life. I think that you chose her because you thought that she wasn't worth being in your family. And that's why you're just as much to blame for this as I am."
I looked up at Luke, pure pain in my eyes.
"You're wrong. I'd never kill someone for the fun of it. You gave me a choice. I chose. Game over."
Luke smiled a bit. "But that's where you're wrong, Percy Jackson. This game has only begun."
That's when I heard a scream, causing my eyes to flash towards the screens on the wall, showing Chase strapped to a chair in the middle of a room full of mirrors, with spiders dropping all over her.
The game has only just begun.
-Annabeth POV-
The spiders started to fall down, and immediately shrugged my shoulders, closed my mouth, and closed my eyes. The spiders had to stop falling down at some point in time. Luke wouldn't want to kill me already, his games were only starting.
The spiders were falling, and each time one of them hit some of my open skin with at least one of those eight legs, I had to hold in a scream.
I absolutely positively hate spiders.
I cracked an eye open, only to be met with the eye of a spider. That's when I couldn't take it anymore. I started to scream, pleading with someone to let me out.
"HELP! SOMEONE, PLEASE!"
"AHH!"
I started to thrash everywhere, trying to get the spiders off of me. I started to feel them crawl up my pant legs, some of them crawling onto my arms, in my hair…
I couldn't stand it.
"LUKE! LET ME OUT OF HERE! I HATE YOU!"
The spiders crawling all over my body started to bring up some memories. I remembered the last time that I was in a room like this, surrounded by spiders.
-Flashback-
"Mommy! Mommy please help me!"
I kept on crying out to my mom, even if I knew that she wasn't going to come. I wanted someone to help me… I don't know how much longer I can take it in here.
"Malcolm! Please! Bobby! Matthew! Anybody?"
I'm scared.
I'm alone…
And I don't know how much longer I can take it in here.
"Help me!"
-End Flashback-
I was 10 when I was taken for the first time. I was only 10 when Luke had tortured me, having me begging on my knees to get out of there. I've always hated spiders, and I really have no idea why or how that fear came upon me, but ever since I can remember, I've always been scared of spiders.
My head started to hurt, and I tried to control my breathing as it started to speed up at an unhealthy rate. Soon enough, I was hyperventilating, and I wasn't in control of anything.
I closed my eyes and tried to picture myself in a happy place with my family, but I couldn't. I couldn't picture anything but the thousands of hairy legs that were walking all over my bare skin, the picture of the spiders that were just millimeters from biting my skin, some of them probably poinsonious.
But that's not what scares me.
It's the fact that something is walking all over my skin, with the ability to hurt me. I'm worth nothing a little spider, who doesn't care who I am. There's nothing I can do… and it scares me.
Besides- I just don't like spiders.
Who can blame me? Eight legs just aren't natural. Nothing should be allowed to be that tiny with that many legs. It's just not logical.
I was finding it hard to breathe, and hard to think. I just found it hard to function. I started to get faint and I was seeing dark spots all over my line of vision. I knew I was going to faint, and I didn't want to show any weakness.
"I HATE YOU LUKE!"
I fell into darkness.
-Percy POV-
I was watching as Chase was being surrounded by spiders.
She was screaming, thrashing, and crying out for help. I've honestly never seen anything like that before. And for some reason, I wanted to help her, like I wanted to reach into the screen and grab her, just to make sure she was safe.
Huh.
All of the sudden, she stopped, and froze. It was like she was in a trance, as the spiders continued to crawl all over her.
"What's happening to her?" I exclaimed, getting more and more nervous as the seconds ticked by and Chase still wasn't moving.
Luke just chuckled, his eyes twinkling in delight as he watched Chase be ransacked by all of the spiders.
"You see, Percy Jackson, Bethy here has quite the fear of spiders. And now, I'm betting she's trying to shut herself out and forget where she is. But I can tell you it won't work. Not for our little Bethy here."
I looked at him hard. "Get her out of there, now!"
Luke's eyes turned cold as he looked at me. "You can't control me, Jackson. I think you're forgetting who's the one strapped down to a chair, here."
I ignored him once I noticed that Chase was moving again. I was glad she wasn't passed out or anything, at least. My relief was short-lived as soon as she started too scream again, but this time her breathing was turning into short gasps, and she arched her back as she was trying to get air into her lungs.
My eyes widened as I watched her slowly get paler and paler as her breaths got quicker and quicker. "Help her! She needs help!" I started looking around frantically, at all of the goons in the room with Luke and I, but their faces stayed straight.
Wonder how much he pays them.
There had to be someone in here that would stop Luke. There had to be someone in here that wasn't a bad guy. There just had to be.
"Oh, Jackson, look at Bethy! She's passed out! Ha ha!" Luke clapped, and jumped up and down.
I looked at the screen, and all of the spiders were gone, but Chase was all alone in a room full of mirrors, passed out. She looked like my step mother after she got shot… she looked dead.
"No," I whispered.
"Oh, starting to have feelings for her so soon? Well, let's see what happens the next round. I'm going to have to take it a step up for both of you. Annabeth was successful in taking herself away after all. And do me a favor, Jackson. Pass on this message to Annabeth: This is only the beginning. Goodbye for now!"
I felt a pain in the back of my head, and it all went black.
End Chapter! So… how did you like?
I actually think this chapter was okay… I just had a hard time with the character's emotions.. while they were being 'tortured'. So, Thanks for reading, and see you next time!
~GoGreen52