"Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Nico
Happy Birthday to you"
As they finished the song, and as Percy began to cut the cake, I began to wonder how I had gotten so lucky. 10 years ago, my sister and I were just wanderers. Our mother had passed away of breast cancer when I was 7, and our father had never been there, abandoned us once I was born. We were all alone, just me and Bianca. Bianca and me. Now, as I'm in my apartment, surrounded by my closest friends, for my 20th birthday, I wondered how this all happened. We had found a loving family in our cousins from our dads' side, Jason, Thalia, and Percy, in New York City. The three of them shared an apartment that they let us stay at. They introduced us to their little family. The three of them, Annabeth, Percy's girlfriend, Piper, Jason's girlfriend, Leo, Piper and Jason's best friend, Calypso, Leos girlfriend, the Stolls, friends of Percy and Annabeth, and Katie, Travis Stoll's girlfriend. They welcomed me and Bianca with open arms.
It was 5 years after that, I was 15, that I found Hazel, my half-sister. My dad had somehow gotten my phone number, and called me telling me and Bianca that he has somebody important that he wanted us to meet. So, hesitantly, we flew off to L.A. to find out that after he ran from mom, he fell for another woman named Marie Levisque, and the two of them had Hazel. Marie, and many others, had been killed in a rock slide while she was out spelunking, one of her favorite things to do. Hazel asked us if she could come to New York with us, and we brought her.
After a few months in New York, Hazel met a boy named Frank Zhang. He was like this giant Canadian-baby man, at least that's what Leo called him. He was welcomed into our group once we all got to know him. Not long after that, he and Hazel started dating.
It was in my Sophomore year of high school when I met Will. I was still struggling with the fact that I was gay until the beginning of Junior year. Will and I grew close over that year, and I would be lying to you if I told you that I didn't involuntarily develop a crush on him a little bit before Christmas break started. So, when he came out to me just before summer started, I couldn't believe it. I shut him out. I couldn't come to terms with the fact that I was homosexual, and had a crush on my best friend, who was also gay. But when I came out to Jason, he made sure that everybody would be okay with it. Nobody would treat me any differently. So, I came out to the entire "family", and they were all very supportive. Hazel was a little hesitant, her mother raised her like it was still the 1940s, so she raised her like gays were satanic. But the group eventually convinced her that it was okay. So, naturally, when I ran into Will on the first day of school, I freaked out. After school ended, I ran home, not caring that Will was calling out after me. I ran into the apartment and slammed the door and fell down against it. Luckily, nobody was home yet. I was surprised when I heard banging on my door. Will called out my name over and over again. I finally answered after 10 minutes, him clearly not going to concede any time soon. I opened the door and found his face, no less than 2 inches away from mine. I couldn't help myself any longer. So, I closed the gap. I was about to pull away, when he started kissing back, and I just melted.
But I was snapped out of my thoughts with a snap under my nose with Leo saying, "Come on, eat your cake!" so I did, and we had a really good time. I even got a few minutes to myself and snuck in a kiss with Will. The party all-in-all was really fun.
Once everybody left, Bianca asked if I wanted to go out on a walk. So, we did. But, what we didn't know was that there was a van following us around the city. And as soon as we got to a quieter part of town, they stopped, and jumped out of the van. One man had a gun aimed right at Bianca's head. Another man was screaming "Get your asses in the van!" so we obliged, not wanting to get shot That was the last day that I ever saw the faces of my new family.
That memory is forever burned into my mid. I can't believe it. Two years, it's been so long. So long since my 20th birthday. So long since I was taken. So long since I was forcefully removed from my old life. So long since I've seen the outside world. So long since… so long since the day Bianca was killed. I don't know if I want to continue living at this point. There's no more hope for me.
So now I sit on the corner in Octavian's bedroom. With a shard of one of his broken beer bottles in hand. Tears running down my face as they possibly can. I press the sharp glass against the skin of my wrist. It feels so cold, so refreshing. I begin to cut across my wrist, gleefully watching the red liquid rush down my arm. So, then I make another cut. And then three more.
But the I hear the door open, and the cries of a woman. I quickly find something to wrap my arm with, and slip on my jacket, and curl up into a ball on the floor. How could he have brought another person into this. How could I not have taken the pain for anybody else who he could possibly want to take. I can't believe this. It's all my fault. Now somebody else has to experience the trauma that I've had to endure for the past two years. Now, somebody can see me when I'm weak. Once the Octavian's shouting dies down, and I hear the front door open and close, I'm assuming Octavian went over to Michaels house, I timidly walk out into the living room. I see the normal, fragments of beer bottles everywhere, but then I hear muffled whimpers, and I see a girl crying in the corner. She has long black hair pulled behind her head in a loose braid. And she's wearing a purple tee shirt, and navy-blue jeans. "Hey." I softly call out to her, "I won't hurt you. I've been locked up in this hell for the past two years". She turns around to face me, and an astonished look crosses her face.
"Nico?" the girl asks.
A/N: Bahahaha, aren't I evil with that cliffhanger. I'm really sorry if there was too much in that flashback, I just needed a good way to introduce the characters. Remember, this is my first fic, so please review this, and point out things that I can edit, or work on for the later chapters. I don't know when the next update will be because school is going on and I'm just lazy. But I promise that I'll try my hardest to get the next update up ASAP
-PoisonNinja
