Chapter 2

Annabeth woke up feeling surprisingly lightweight. As if everything in the past week hadn't happened. As if her life wasn't the complete mess it was now. The euphoria lasted only seconds, ending abruptly when she saw a tray filled with definitely cold macaroni and cheese discarded on a white desk next to her.

She had assumed that someone would knock, and when she didn't answer, leave her dinner outside her door. No such luck though, they must have seen her ipod, because she hadn't tried to hide it in any way.

A thought occurred to her then. She was certain that she had locked the room's door before she fell asleep. She crept up to it now, as if someone else was going to pop up out of the door and, while it was still locked, tried to open it.

Unsurprisingly, the door opened with ease. Why do they even pretend it's locked? To give people a false sense of security? Annabeth thought, as she peeked through the door into the hallway. Everything looked exactly the same as last night, except not as gloomy as she presumed it to be.

She pondered the thought of going outside and exploring a little bit, but quickly removed it from her mind when she remembered what Mr. Brunner had said. Some members are wary of strange presences, and are violent if provoked. Even if she'd tried to kill herself, her self- preservation hadn't completely disappeared.

So she lay down sprawled on her bed, feeling a sort of calm that she knew came before the storm that was life. She'd have to get up and talk to people and do things - stuff she found pointless and utterly exhausting. Stuff she had given up on her old life.

To add to the peaceful tranquility she had in her brain then (A break she rarely got from the constant turmoil), Annabeth played a song she considered her personal anthem. Though it suggested dark themes, the reality of it spoke to her, and surprisingly calmed her down more.

"One more spoon of cough syrup now, ooh

I'm losing my mind, losing my mind, losing control, oooh."

She lay there in a trance for a while before someone knocked on her door. She quickly shoved her Ipod under her pillow, straightened herself up, and ran to open it.

The lady behind it looked too happy, as if she's forgotten she worked at this hospital, and instead thought she was taking a vacation on a cruise ship. She was holding up a tray of bacon and scrambled eggs, with a fruit cup at the side. "Breakfast is here!"

Annabeth immediately felt wary of her. She reminded her of Susan when her dad told them to 'get along'.

Annabeth gave her a small smile. Best to be polite if she wanted to get out of here fast.

Percy.

The day started off normal enough. Wake up, go to the cafeteria for breakfast, sit with Thalia, watch Thalia flirt with Luke, scare new doctors, etc., etc. Go to group therapy, and sit criss cross applesauce on the floor in the same spot in a circle. Pretend I'm not crazy - pretend I'm really crazy. Chat with Grover, and so on.

But, group therapy was where it got interesting. There was a new girl there.

When I first looked up at her I noticed that she was beautiful. IT wasn't those love at first glance type of things. I definitely didn't love her, but she was beautiful. Not pretty, like Drew from group ten, or even like Piper. Beautiful - a hidden asset.

My second glance at her gave me the impression that she just didn't care. She was wearing sweatpants and a baggy shirt, her hair was barely combed, her lips were chapped, and she looked perpetually tired. She looked as if she hated the unwanted attention, and she gave their group therapist, Luke, a hard glare when he made her stand up in the middle of the circle and introduce herself.

Of course, when Luke was introducing her to us, Grover chose to show up.

"I don't like her. I hate her. I abhor her." He was frowning, looking unnaturally frustrated. For some reason, what he said annoyed me.

"Nice word choice. You don't like anyone." I muttered, trying to pay attention to what Luke was saying.

"That's not true. I like you. I'm helping you."

He's helping you.

Be a little more grateful, Percy.

"Getting me into this place is classified as help?" I knew I was pushing it, so I stared straight ahead and tried to keep my words nonchalant.

Grover just gave me a small smile. A smile that both scared me and excited me. A crazy smile, you could say. I saw that smile everyday when I looked in the mirror.

Say sorry say sorry say sorry say sorry.

"Sorry."

"That's what I thought."

At the front of the room, someone cleared their throat. I looked up to find that all ten members of my group therapy were staring at me - including the new girl.

"Is something wrong, Percy? Between you and Grover?" Luke said in a sickly sweet concerned voice that I hated.

SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP.

"No. Sorry. What are we doing?"I shook my head to clear my clouded brain - trying to get all the noises out. Luke gave me a doubtful look, but did not push. The unspoken rule about group number three is do not push.

"We were introducing Annabeth to ourselves. We were stating our name, and something interesting about ourselves..." I tried not to snort, but I did anyways. Our therapy sessions were becoming more and more like a kindergarten classroom.

Annabeth was looking at me with what I perceived as mild interest mixed with fear. It didn't improve my mood.

"Hello Annabeth. My names Percy, and Grover doesn't like you." I gave her a big smile.

Annabeth, looking confused and thoroughly convinced I was crazy, sat down in the spot between Leo and Thalia. Not a good choice. Leo was muttering things under his breath and twitching involuntary. Thalia was looking amused.

Luke though, was staring straight at me. He looked mad that I didn't do a better job in my introduction. "Percy. We said one interesting fact about you, not about Grover." He said, then stepped into the centre of the circle of crazy people, and we officially started group therapy.

By now, Grover had disappeared. He had never liked group therapy sessions.

"Now, let's start the session as we always start it. We'll go around and state why were here!" Luke liked to do this - God knows why. Maybe it was some state of the art therapy trick. Maybe once we state why were here, our prayers will be answered - our minds will be cured!

I zoned out of the usual 'drugs, anger issues, anxiety, kleptomania...' until they got to Annabeth.

"Urm...depression?" she looked as if she was unsure of her diagnosis.

I don't know why I did this - yes I do know why, it was to get her attention - but I coughed into my hand. Something stupid - about that not being a real mental illness.

Luke's eyebrows raised, but he didn't try to contradict me in any way. He left that to Annabeth, who glare had intensified and looked thoroughly ready to chew me out.

"That's not true." Annabeth stared at me, "you really know nothing about me." She wasn't shy per-se. It was more like she just didn't want to talk. Her words were stilted, and she had to clear her throat a few times.

Luke interjected. "So tell us about yourself, Annabeth. What caused your depression? Why are you here?" So that's where he was going with this, he was using our argument to get her to open up about herself.

"Never mind." She muttered. "Never mind."

Luke looked disappointed, but didn't push.

Annabeth.

After group therapy was a singular therapy, one on one, once a week. Then free time, then lunch. Solo therapy was easy enough. It was only Chiron explaining the hospital and how it works, saying that we had time for the deep stuff later. I spent all my free time listening to songs on my ipod before its battery died.

I cried - I'm not sure what about. The thing about depression is that all of a sudden sadness swallows you up and you start realizing how much your life sucks.

Lunch was interesting enough, I'd gotten lost several times before seeing kids from my therapy and following them silently, joining the line, and picking up food.

I sat down by myself at a table in the corner. Five minutes later three other people joined me at the table. They were all from my group therapy class. A redheaded girl whose name I don't remember, the really angry chick, and the crazy green eyed one. I knew his name. It was Percy. I glared at him as soon as he sat down.

The angry chick pouted and made kissy faces at us. "Awww, don't be angry at Percy, depressed chick. He was just in a bad mood. Didn't you see his argument with Grover?"

"Yeah," Percy smirked. "I have a condition you know. I'm crazy." He looked the exact opposite of crazy, which made me wonder if it just came and went in fits.

"Or maybe," The redheaded girl started, "We're all normal, and the regular people in the real world are the ones who are crazy?" Her voice was small, but she refused to look at me - making it clear that she was only talking to the two beside her.

"Stop being deep, Rachel. We only keep you with us for your looks."

"Why are you sitting here?" I interjected. The three spoke quickly to each other, as if I weren't even there.

Thalia and Percy's eyes darkened. Percy started muttering to himself quietly and quickly. "I don't know. I don't know. Grover doesn't like you, why am I here?" He looked at Thalia startled, as if he'd just figured something out.

"Yeah, but were just going to forget about Grover right now, okay?" Rachel spoke in a comforting voice, as if she'd dealt with crazy Percy before.

Percy shook his head quickly, and as if just realizing I was there, looked up at me. Trying not to lose my nerve, I gave a half-hearted glare his way.

"Cool it blondie." Thalia's voice was razor sharp, which reminded me that she was at this hospital for her anger issues. It wouldn't do me good to get on her bad side. "Were trying to be friends with you. So, let's be friends?"

"Yeah, okay?" I murmured. Percy, who'd perhaps gotten over his sudden spout of crazy - gave me a smile. Not the large crazy smiles usually seen on his face, but a smile one. I decided, for once in my life, to smile back.

Percy.

I felt bad. I felt bad that I freaked Annabeth out, because she seemed nice. I wanted to go over there and sit at her table. I liked her. She looked lonely. Then I freaked her out by being crazy.

Thalia said it's okay cause after she forced Annie to be friends with us. Thalia's really good at forcing people to do things. Not as good as Piper, but still.

After lunch is just a bunch of free time. I head back to my room. Not surprisingly, Grover is there.

"Hey Percy. Wassup?" I give him a strange look.

"Definitely not your lingo. Were you here the whole time?" I jumped onto the mattress carelessly, watching him sit at my desk.

I guess I should explain my relationship with Grover. He's been here for a long time. Since I was six. He's my best friend. He looks out for me. He makes sure that I'm safe. That's really all. He's kind of like a cool parent.

No one else can see Grover. That doesn't mean he's not real. He certainly feels real.

"No," Grover responded, "I stopped by the cafeteria for a while." His cool voice told me something was wrong.

I sat with Annabeth.

My hand froze mid motion to grab my sketchbook and pencil. I sat up on the bed.

"Oh, really?" My hands started to shake, I hid them underneath the bed.

"I saw something you did that was naughty, Percy." His voice sounded cheerleader preppy.

My hands trembled harder. I tried to make my voice level and calm, as if nothing had happened. Maybe Grover was bluffing. Maybe he didn't see anything. "And what was that? Eating?"

It was almost embarrassing how afraid I am of something that isn't real.

"You were sitting with the girl. The girl I don't like." The pretense of friendliness left his tone.

"You didn't tell me not to." I tried to reason.

"I really really really really don't like her."

HE REALLY REALLY REALLY DOESN'T.

"Yeah. B-but because she seemed lonely. I d-don't like her but she just looked lonely. She just looked lonely. And Thalia made us sit there."

"That's not true. It was your idea." Grover frowned.

We told him. It was your idea.

I mentally cursed. I forgot about them. The little voices in my head.

"Really, Percy? Lying to your best bud, and disobeying? I'm really disappointed in you."

You're just so naughty today, Percy.

I made no more excuses, and braced myself for what was coming.

"Just stand up." Grocers voice had no emotion.

I stood up, knowing that disobeying would make it worse. Grover kind of just smiled, and I crumpled to the ground - as if I was hit. Searing pain tore through my mind, intense agony intentionally gave way to numbness, and I hesitantly opened my eyes to see Grover holding a knife.

"I didn't even talk to her." I murmured.

His eyes narrowed.

"She thinks I'm crazy. She doesn't like me. We didn't bond or anything. We just sat down at the table. I promise. I promise. I promise." I was rambling now, glad that I was given a chance to explain.

Grover dropped the knife onto the ground. And raised his right hand again. I flinched hard. But he was making a familiar gesture with me, his pale pinky sticking out.

"Pinky promise?" He was grinning.

I sighed with relief, and made the same gesture as his, locking out pinkies together. "Pinky promise." I responded.