Hey guys. So I'm finally done with my freshman year of college. Cross your fingers with me that I passed. So anyway, now I actually have time to focus on this. Hopefully I don't waste that time. So, I hope you guys are liking this. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments. Ok, so here is the next chapter. Enjoy!

Broken

Chapter 13: Insomnia

Percy

Have you ever just not been able to fall asleep? I mean, not because you aren't tired, but your body just refuses to fall asleep. So you just try to plug in relaxing music and try to close your eyes. Soon, though, your eyes shoot open and you just watch the darkness swirling on the ceiling of your bedroom. You just stare at the moonlight glowing through your window. The gray shapes forming and melodies playing are your only entertainment. Yeah, that was my Monday night.

I looked to my clock. 2:30. God Damnit. Sleep had always been a bit of an escape. Have I mentioned that already? Oh well. Don't worry, this all is important. I'm not just rambling. You'll see, just let me continue.

The light was pretty tonight. And the soft piano and guitar playing in my ear was a nice companion. On a regular night where body wouldn't actually refuse to sleep, I would have drifted off to dreams in minutes. But, alas, 'twas not meant to be.

Oh God, did I actually just say that. Ugh, it sounds so pretentious. "Alas," I shudder just thinking about it. OK, let's get back to the story, without that douche-y language. That sounds like a good idea.

So I sat up to get a better look at the moon. Maybe that would help me sleep. It didn't, but you can't blame me for trying. Standing at my window, I felt the roof calling me. I hadn't been up there sense Annabeth invited me. That was back when Gabe was still alive. Strangely, I felt a bit of nostalgia. Not for Gabe and his thrashings, but for when I had Annabeth to talk to. She said that she wanted to go back to that. And now that we were together, you'd think it'd be easier to talk to. But there was still a little tension between us. I wasn't sure back then who it was coming from. I could just feel it.

I climbed to the roof in a way that was all too familiar. Though this was probably the first time I was going up alone. It felt weird, but that didn't last long. "You couldn't sleep either?" I heard a voice from the window below say. My mother stuck her head out the window, her hair flowing down. Old images of Rapunzel came to mind. Except, my mom had brown hair, and that hair only twisted down just past her shoulder.

"Yeah," I said, looking up at the full moon. My breath swirled in front of me.

"You mind if I come up there with you?" She asked.

I scooted over a bit. "No," I said, "come on up."

She climbed up and sat down next to me. "It's a beautiful night out." She said. I didn't respond. "I remember you and Annabeth came up here all the time." I looked down at her and lifted a corner of my mouth into a little sad half grin. I looked her over. She was so pretty. Like, I have no idea why she settled for Gabe. She could have done so much better than that slob. The gray strands in her hair only added to her beauty.

"Yeah," I said in response, "It was our spot."

"Well it's a nice spot;" She said, "very secluded. And a pretty good view too."

"Yeah," I said, "it was nice to go up here and get away from all that crap that might have been happening." I paused, not sure if I wanted to continue. When I had finally gathered up the courage, I asked her "Why did you marry that creep?"

She took a deep breath. You could see on her face that she was trying to avoid that subject for as long as she could. But I guess she figured that now was as good of a time as could be. "Percy," She said, "Gabe was a mistake. I knew that the moment I married the guy. But he wouldn't let me leave. When I saw him hit you that first time, I started packing, but then he came in and…" She stopped and took a breath. "He had been doing the same thing to me for years. He saw me packing and he flipped the suitcase. I had never seen him so angry. He did unspeakable things that night. That was when I knew that there was no getting out. I thought that I was going to be stuck with this guy for the rest of my life. So when you did what you did, I was so happy. I know, it's terrible to be happy when anyone dies, but I couldn't help it. I mean, what kind of monster hits a twelve year old."

"But why did you marry him in the first place?" I asked, my vision a bit blurry with tears. "You couldn't think that he was a good guy."

She put her arm around me. "I met him when I was pregnant with you. Your father had just left me and I was devastated. He had been stalking me for weeks. He came up to me one day and said 'You know, nobody else is gonna be interested in someone like you, especially with a kid.' And I believed him. I told him to screw off when he gave me his number. But then after I gave birth to you I had what the doctors referred to as postpartum depression. And I felt so alone, so I called him. You know the rest."

That story accomplished what I thought was impossible. It made me hate Gabe Ugliano even more. I still can't find a single admirable thing about him. We talked about some more stuff after that. You probably don't care about that stuff, and to be honest I don't even remember it. The conversation lasted about ten minutes, and then we both agreed that we should get some rest. She climbed back down to her room. "Oh yeah," She said. "Your new English teacher said that he wants to have a little talk with me. So tomorrow you may have to stay at school for a while, unless you can get a friend to drive you home."

"I'll ask Leo." I said.

I fell asleep pretty quickly after that. I spent a few minutes thinking about the conversation, and how it was the first conversation on that roof without Annabeth. I was strangely ok with that. Maybe that roof wasn't our spot. Maybe it was my own. I had only shared it with her. Anyway, that night was the best I had slept in years.
To be continued…

So I finally made the decision myself, as nobody took the poll apparently. No worries though, it turned out to be for the best that I did it for myself. Still, a little feedback would have been cool. Anyway, you guys know that I love y'all. So I'll see you guys next time. Make good decisions. Peace!