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Percy's POV

After a few days, I started to feel comfortable at the hospital. The nurses would always come in to bring me food and check up on how I was doing. They were really nice and asked me about Annabeth - who came over after school everyday. I always told them we weren't dating but I had a slight feeling that they didn't believe me because of how they grinned over their shoulders every time they saw Annabeth coming into my room.

I really enjoyed when Annabeth came over, though. I mean just talking to her in general took my mind off of the constant boredom that I had at the hospital. Don't get me wrong, the nurses were really nice and considerate all the time, but I just missed how things used to be - the old routine of me going to school, talking to my friends at the swim team, helping my mom around the house on weekends, volunteering at the aquarium on Sundays and just my overall life. To be honest, all there really was to do at the hospital was talk to the nurses, eat, sleep and think. But when Annabeth was around she always made the place a hundred times more fun, even though I was confined in bed for the next couple of weeks.

One Friday afternoon, I was lost in thought, waiting for Annabeth to arrive (she always arrived at 4:00 PM every week day). Suddenly, I was awoken from my thoughts by the loud BEEPBEEP that came from the walkie-talkie. Annabeth was calling!

I picked up the walkie-talkie and pressed the button on the left side of it. "Hey Annabeth, what's up?"

"Hey Percy" her voice was a little scratchy from the poor quality of the walkie-talkie but still understandable "Listen, I don't think I can come over tonight. Luke and I have plans."

"Oh." The tiny flame of anger that I had been feeling a lot lately from her mentioning Luke got a lot bigger, "What plans?"

"Well we were thinking of studying for Chem at his house and then watching a movie together and then I have to be home by 8 tonight so I don't think I can come over afterward. I'm really sorry; but I promise I'll come over tomorrow!"

"Ok, that's fine."

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah I'm sure. Have fun with Luke."

"Ok. I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

The walkie-talkie went quiet and I slumped my head back onto the pillow. The fire in me wouldn't go away from hearing Luke's name. I seriously didn't know what was wrong with me. So what if he cheated at the swim competition?, I thought, He's still Annabeth's boyfriend.

The thing is, that thought just made me angrier.

I spent the night like this, just going in and out of my thoughts. One of the nurses, Kira, came in and brought me dinner; ravioli, some salad and a tiny chocolate. I ate the ravioli, some of the salad and saved the chocolate for last. Fridays were always my favorite when it came to dinner because they always served the best food, in my opinion.

The sun was setting and, since there were no curtains on the giant window that covered the entire left wall, it made the room really dark all at once. At 9 PM, the lights went off in the hallways and the entire hospital was plunged into darkness and stillness.

It was kind of hard to fall asleep just because of the awkward position my arms were in from being hung from the ceiling (the nurses said they did that to keep the blood flowing but isn't there a more comfortable way of doing it?)

But, eventually, I gradually drifted into sleep.

I dreamed that I was on a picnic. I was sitting on a hill that overlooked the entire city of New York. Somehow, it was night down in the city (the lights from the skyscrapers were twinkling in the dark atmosphere) but a beautiful, sunny afternoon on the hill!

Anyway, there was a nice basket full of food; triangle sandwiches (like the kind you would see in TV shows when a couple would go on a picnic), a bowl of strawberries (still getting those TV date vibes), some Coke and some water bottles.

I was sitting on a cliché red-and-white plaid picnic mat and I was shaded from the sunlight by a beautiful cherry blossom tree that was right next to the set-up. There were multiple blossoms spread all about the tree's bushy foliage; small red and white buds peaking out from the dark green leaves.

Everything was so beautiful, peaceful and serene; the only thing I was confused about was who was I having a picnic with?

Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes(which I could've sworn weren't there a moment ago) and out came a beautiful girl. She was wearing beige platform sandals, a short, plain white dress and owl earrings. Her dirty blond hair was pulled up into a high ponytail with loose pieces of hair falling to frame her face. Her lips had cherry red lipstick on them and her stormy grey eyes looked shiny from the reflection of the bright sunlight.

That's when I realized that I was having a date with Annabeth.

"Hi Percy."

Her voice sounded melodious and I swore I heard angels singing in the background as she walked towards me and took a seat on the mat.

She turned her head towards me "This is perfect" she said.

I couldn't agree more.

Suddenly, the air got really chilly and the sun was consumed by darkness. The wind was howling furiously; I wouldn't have been surprised if the entire hill got swooped away by the violent wind storm. Everything was turning misty and hazy, consumed by dark grey fog. Even Annabeth was being taken over by the darkness; her soft and gentle voice turned terrified as she screamed for me to do something.

Suddenly her screaming stopped; I opened my eyes and saw that I was all alone in a giant, endless void of black and empty space.

I woke with a start.

I was lying in a very uncomfortable position on the white-sheeted bed in my hospital room. My face was drenched with sweat; as if I had run a 20-mile marathon in my sleep. My throat was as dry as the first day I had awoken in this same bed, when I had spent more than day in a dreamless state of sleep.

It was a nightmare, that's all it was, I thought to myself. I was really surprised by this nightmare; I mean, I don't usually get nightmares much and when I do they are never as vivid and real as the one I just had.

I looked up and saw that it was still really dark inside and outside the hospital. It looked like it was a clear night, I could see little spots of bright stars coming from the sky.

I slumped my head back into bed. What was up with the first part of my dream?, I thought. The part where I was having a picnic with Annabeth. I wasn't sure how I felt about this; half of me felt guilty for even dreaming that it could happen and half of me felt wistful. I kind of thought it would be nice to be on a picnic with Annabeth, like really nice. We could listen to music, talk, laugh and just have a good time...

Chill Percy, I thought to myself She has a boyfriend. It would be weird if we had a picnic, even if it wasn't meant as a date. Besides you don't like her that way.

Right?

I was snapped back to reality when I heard something in the corner of the room, right where the door was. The nurses always left the doors open in all the rooms, even at nights ("Air circulation", they always said when I asked about it).

It was pitch black in the room but I could've sworn I saw something move from the corner of my eye right where the noise had come from.

I sat there with my eyes wide open until I decided to just fall back asleep. Before I could close my eyes, however, a tall, dark figure loomed over the foot of my bed.

My heart started racing and I could feel beads of sweat falling down my cheeks.

I gulped "H-Hello?"

Suddenly the figure moved forward and all of a sudden I couldn't breathe. My face felt hot and suffocated and I was trying to push the person off of me. I was struggling so much that both of my arms fell slack next to me; the string holding them up had broken. I was squirming around trying to gather the strength to punch this guy in the gut but I discovered that the guy was pinning my arms down.

This person was trying to kill me!

I screamed over and over until my throat was starting to strain but each and every scream got muffled by the giant pillow the guy was covering my face with. I tried to kick the guy but he held me down every time I moved! My lungs were screaming for air and I wasn't sure if I could hold on for another minute. This guy was holding down my entire lower body, he knew it was only a matter of time until I gave out and he didn't want me kicking him the face.

That's when I had the idea.

The walkie-talkie.

It was lying on the table beside my bed, right where I had left it when Annabeth called me.

Annabeth.

I pushed aside the extreme pain from both of my arms and lifted them to feel around for the walkie-talkie. I could tell the guy knew I was trying to reach for something because he punched me square in the stomach to stop me.

I seriously thought I was gonna die when I felt the walkie-talkie in my hands.

I grasped it and pressed the left button on the side of the device. I used every ounce of my energy to push against this guy to get the pillow off of my face; just by a centimeter so I could get enough air to call for help (and maybe live for a couple more minutes).

"Somebody. Anybody. Help me. Someone's trying to kill me. HELP!"

I felt an enormous pain in my nose and the whole world turned to darkness as I felt the walkie-talkie slip out of my hands.