Chapter 8
Percy.
The morning went surprisingly well. When we first walked out, Luke was basically praying that we wouldn't embarrass him. He was pretty high strung (Leo I swear to God if you do not put down that caterpillar…) but now he's been somewhat lax (Alright, fine Leo. Just don't kill it). If it had just been Luke leading us, it may have gone a lot worse. A lot of people in the hospital respected Chiron. Maybe it's the teacher aura he provides, or maybe it's the fact that he's helped so many of us. For whatever reason no one ever really wants to cross Chiron, despite what we joked about in the rec room.
First, we walked down the sidewalk to a soup kitchen. We helped clean up, and Chiron even let us help cook the food. We cut onions as easily as we would cut our wrists. At least that's what Leo said before he started laughing maniacally at his own joke, and Chiron sent him outside until he could calm down. Okay, so maybe the morning wasn't that perfect. But for us, it seemed pretty good.
Luke and Chiron kept trying to hurry us up, but Jason refused to step on a crack or hole in the sidewalk (and took perfectly even steps), and Rachel insisted that Thalia, Annabeth, and I surrounded her on all sides so that she wouldn't be seen (this resulted in a weird kind of shuffle, that was in no way fast).
Another thing that went wrong is that after the soup kitchen, we went to an ice cream store. I hadn't eaten ice cream in ten years. I was convinced that I would go through with it, until I saw the guy that handed me the ice cream. He was about the same age as me, but he looked kept grinning at me weird. No matter how much Thalia called me crazy, and Rachel reassured me it was all in my head, I couldn't get myself to eat some. The guy that gave me it kept watching me, as if waiting for me to eat it too.
I kind of blanked out after that. Thalia said that my hand started shaking, and I threw the ice cream across the room so it hit the wall. When I could focus again, Chiron was almost yelling at the guy who gave me the ice cream. Turns out he did something to it. Chiron wouldn't tell me what.
Right now, were walking (shuffling) very slowly down the sidewalk to an orphanage. First a soup kitchen, now an orphanage. I'm pretty sure someone is trying to show us that some people have it worse than us. I don't really think so. Even if they are in an orphanage, or soup kitchen, at least they still have control over their own minds.
As we walk in, Chiron tells us to go mingle with some children. I stand for a while, before going to sit on a beanbag chair in the common room. A little girl struts up to me. The only thing she's wearing is a t-shirt that goes all the way up to her knees. I put on a charming smile. "What's your name, little lady?" I ask, honestly interested. I love kids.
She gives me a huge grin. "Cocoa! I'm five years owd. I'm not a lady." Apparently, she's not shy around strangers.
"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Cocoa. I'm Percy." I raise her hand to my lips, and give them a quick peck. Something catches my eye. It's Luke, watching us, making sure nothing's wrong. Even though his worry is justified, it bothers me. I hate people watching me.
My attention snaps back to Cocoa, who's giggling. "That's silly." She mutters, smiling at me. Her smile is infectious. I tickle her. She screams and tries to run away. I let her, but she struts back up to me, and plops herself on my lap. I laugh at her nerve.
"I'm sorry, do you forgive me?" I ask, trying to look serious, but failing miserably.
"Okay I fowgive you." She states, looking adorably angry. "But you better not do that again!" She wags her finger at me. "Ow else." She states.
"Or else what?" I state, as I poise my hands and tickle her lightly.
"Ow else," she yells, as she wiggles in my lap, trying to get away from my hands, "you're going to be in big trouble!" I keep tickling her, laughing as well. I don't remember the last time I've smiled this much without it being for a psycho reason.
"YOU'RE GOING TO BE IN BIG TWOUBLE MISTER." She screams, giggling. I stop tickling her, and she smacks me in the face. My eyes get comically big and I gasp.
"You've hurt me. I'm wounded." I yell, collapsing onto the floor, face up. The response is immediate, she starts giggling. Hard. "Do you not care that I am in pain?" I yell, mock angry. She just giggles some more.
We play like that for a little while until I notice someone else watching me. It's a little boy, maybe ten years old. He's watching us from a couch. He looks like he wants to join us, but is to shy to say anything. His eyes duck when he sees that he's been caught.
"Cocoa, who's that?" I whisper.
"That's NEEEECOOOO." She whispers back, loudly.
"Go get him, so he can play with us."
Cocoa struts across the room to him, grabs his hand, and basically pulls him towards us, ignoring all protests coming from his direction. They come to a halt right in front of me.
"This is NEEEECOOO." Cocoa yells, grinning. She doesn't look embarrassed or anything. I love this kid.
"I'm Nico." The kid whispered, refusing to look me in the eyes.
"So I've heard," I smile gently at him. "I'm Percy."
Nico looks cautiously up.
"Oh, c'mon Nico. I've known you for a full thirty seconds. Were pals."
He smiles now, and sits down next to me and Cocoa (who's again taken up residence in my lap).
"I'm eleven." He whispers quietly.
"Kid. I ain't fifteen anymore, I can't hear the things I used to be able to hear. You need to speak up." He smiles again, and blushes. He doesn't say anything.
"What's that in your hand?" I ask, trying to stir up conversation.
"Mythomagic cards." He whispers again.
"Eh?" I say, tugging on my with my fingers.
"Mythomagic cards." He repeats, a little louder.
"Hippo-radic yards?" I ask him, cleaning out my ear with one finger.
"Mythomagic cards." He yells in my ear. I fall back dramatically.
"Jesus Christ! You don't have to scream it!" Both Cocoa and Nico giggle enthusiastically.
"Do you wanna play?" He asks, excited. I finally got the kid out of his bubble.
"I have no idea how to play hippo-radic yards," I answer, solemnly. "But I know who does..." I point over to Rachel, who was sitting awkwardly on the couch, not speaking to anyone.
"Really?" Nico whispers.
"Yup." I nod. I lean in real close to Nico's ear. "You've just gotta go over to her real quiet. And give her a flower. Then tell her that she's the most beautiful girl in the world." I told him. "Show her the cards, she's a real expert at the game, and she's all yours."
Nico nodded solemnly. He left the room and reappeared a few minutes later with a white rose. I decided not to ask where he'd got it from. "Remember Nico, real quiet." I whispered to him, then pushed him to the direction of Rachel.
I watched the scene unfold in front of me. Nico tip-toed up to Rachel, and whispered something in her ear, then handed her the flower. She blushed so hard her face looked the same colour as her hair. He then showed her the cards. I crossed my fingers hard, hoping this would work. She smiled tentatively, then nodded.
"Yeah!" Cocoa yelled. Rachel and Nico looked straight at us. We were crouched behind the beanbag chair on the carpet, watching them. "Oops." Cocoa said, and covered her mouth quickly. Rachel only laughed, and Nico stuck his tongue out at us.
"Cocoa, those two are a match made in heaven." I said, and Cocoa nodded solemnly at my words.
…..
It was hard leaving the orphanage. Some of us had actually made bonds with the kids there. Me with Cocoa, Rachel with Nico, and even Leo. He'd met a quiet girl named Echo - about the same age as us. But, we had to go. It became afternoon quickly, and we went into a small cafe to eat. Nothing weird happened there, don't worry.
We're now in Central Park. Chiron had handed out some bread crumbs so we could feed the birds. All of us were okay with heartily ignoring the "Please Don't Feed the Birds" sign.
I'm stretched out on the bench, utterly exhausted from walking so much, when a dog runs up to me. I don't see where he comes from. I ignore him for a few seconds before I realize he's not going away. I sigh and sit up.
"Alright." I say to the dog, a massive rottweiler, "what's your name?" I lean down to check his collar. "Forty-Seven." I read out loud. "That's a weird name for a dog."
"I'm a weird dog." The dog answers. The dog answers. Now, I've had hallucinations before. I know the drill. The dog can't really talk. I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and shake my head a little. When I open my eyes, the dog is still there.
"I know you can't talk." I frown at the dog. "Where's your owner, Forty-Seven?"
The dog doesn't answer, but instead stares at me. At least the dog doesn't answer. At least I'm somewhat sane.
"Go away please." I tell it. He doesn't move. Instead, he stares at me. I sigh and stand up, warily watching the dog. I walk a few steps away from the bench and towards Chiron, who's gathering everyone together again. It's time to go home.
…
I only realize that the dog is following me a few minutes into our tread home. I turn back, and there he is, trotting along patiently. I look around to see if anyone notices, but everyone is caught up in their own conversation. I want to mention it to someone, but it would seem dumb. Hey this dog keeps following me, kill it please. Forty-Seven stays at my heels the whole commute home. It's only when we're at the doors of the hospital and Chiron is ushering me into the lobby when I realize I've missed something.
"Chiron, tell me you're not going to let a dog into your hospital?" I ask, confused.
"I'm certainly not." Chiron responds. "Where's this dog someone's smuggling in?" Chiron asks me.
Somethings wrong. Something definitely wrong because Grover's been gone the whole day and now he's back, and grinning at me. And something's definitely wrong because Forty-Seven has started smiling too, and dog's can't smile. And Chiron is giving me that look that says "I don't want to be mean but why are you acting so crazy?"
"The dog?" I whisper hiss at Chiron, not wanting anyone to hear, "The rottweiler at my heels?"
"No, no, no." I mutter, and give Chiron a pleading look. "He's black and has a green collar and on it says Forty-Seven, please." I look up at him.
"Percy, calm down." Chiron's speaking, soothingly. But I can't listen because all I can think of is no I'm already crazy enough. This is a whole dog! A dog with a name. Why would I name a dog Forty-Seven?
"He's not fake…" I try again. "Tell me someone can see him. He looks so real. He is so real." But no one answers.
I start to hyperventilate and Grover starts to laugh and Forty-Seven starts to bark. My thoughts are scattered, and I can't feel anything.
"I'm sure it's a short-term one, Percy." Rachel says. And I feel like I'm going to barf because if Forty-Seven was a short term hallucination he would have stayed at the park and not followed me home, and he wouldn't still be here, barking at me.
I'm making a scene. And it's true because everyone is watching me, and were still in the doorway.
I swallow back bile. "Okay, it's okay. I'm okay." I mutter, though anyone could clearly see that I'm not.
You're not okay. You are very very crazy.
But I pretend to be fine, and pretend that Forty-Seven isn't still there and didn't follow me to the elevator and to my room.
Nuts. Psycho. Insane. Kooky. Berserk. Screwy. Mental.
I pretend that Chiron didn't give me a look when I told everyone I'm going to bed early and would skip out on the spontaneous group therapy session.