Disclaimer: Don't own.
Chapter Fifteen
"So you need to leave why?" Athena asked as she leaned across the counter and looked at Annabeth with those intense grey eyes that Annabeth saw every time she looked at herself in the mirror.
"My dad has had a stroke and… well… they don't know if he'll live much longer," Annabeth said, trying to control her voice which was cracking nervously, filled with raw emotion. No child ever wanted to get the call that their parent had a stroke, even if that parent didn't really spend much time with them. Every child loved their parents. It was in their nature. Parents might say that they are rebelling or fighting against them, but most of the time they're doing no such thing. They're trying to discover who they are, who they should be.*** (see footnote at bottom of chapter)
And Annabeth was no exception.
Athena looked at Annabeth and shook her head. "Poor Fredrick," she whispered.
"How do you know my dad's name?" Annabeth asked, looking up. Athena looked at her, studying her with those calculating eyes. Inside of them Annabeth almost saw, dare she say it, sympathy and a tenderness that was unfamiliar with Athena.
"Hmm… oh you must have put it on your résumé," Athena said dismissively. "Of course you may leave for a week Annabeth. I hope your father gets better." And even though almost everyone had told her that, Annabeth sensed that Athena, unlike many others, actually meant it, that she actually cared about her father.
Which was strange.
"Well thank you Athena," Annabeth said as she headed out the door, leaving Athena staring at her with a contemplative look on her face.
"Percy, you have to finish those songs," Nico said as he came into Percy's studio where he sat with Riptide, his guitar, and a bunch of sheets of music around him.
"I know, I know!" Percy said, his voice filled with stress. "I just can't figure anything out! Everything I play sounds like garbage!" He complained, throwing his hands up in the air, exasperated.
"Percy listen, it's not like anyone's going to care. I mean listen to Lady Gaga. Her music is garbage and everyone loves her (AN: Um if you like her… sorry about this I just had to think of an iconic artist that's controversial and she's the only I could come up with… I know, I know sooo unoriginal.) Just write the lyrics and play some tunes on your guitar and call it good. We can always have the guys at the studio tweak it," Nico said.
"You don't understand Nico!" Percy said. While Nico was incredible with numbers and sales and organizing things, he was terrible at really understanding the importance of music. "You can't just toss random words together. That's no real. They have to mean something."
"How about this Percy. It means that you'll get a fat paycheck when you're done and a bunch of more adoring fans. You already have When the Stars Star Falling and Minefield both of which everyone loves and thinks are amazing, you're good. Just wrqite some other stuff."
"Nico, I refuse to write about sex and drugs and alcohol," Percy said. "Not after what happened…."
"I wasn't suggesting that," Nico sighed.
"Oh then what? You want me to write about a puppy dog and a baby kitten who fall in love? Ha. This isn't Disney Channel where I can write stupid songs with no points to them."
"Percy, I think you're over thinking this."
"I'm not over thinking it, you just don't understand!" Percy said, irritated that Nico didn't understand the importance of the words. She would understand. He knew she would. Annie probably would understand as well, he mused to himself.
"Look Percy, you get like this every time before a dead line, just calm down you'll be able to finish on time, don't worry," Nico said, trying to calm his friend down. "You still have about two weeks before they need to be done, so just breathe."
"But breathing takes up time," Percy muttered.
"Yes, but it also keeps you alive," Nico sighed. This was his least favorite part about working in the music industry with Percy. He liked to procrastinate and then at the last minute pull two weeks of continuous all nighters. It was a nightmare.
"I won't be alive much longer if I don't finish these things," Percy muttered, clicking and unclicking his pen without even seeming to pay attention to it.
It drove Nico bonkers.
"Well look I have to go," Nico began.
"Go?" Percy said, snapping back into reality. "Where are you going? Can I come?" Anything to get out of this torture.
"No. One you have to finish those songs and two it's a date," Nico said.
"And that would explain the button down shirt and slacks," Percy muttered. "Since when did you go on dates?" Percy asked.
Nico glared at him, annoyed. "I go on plenty of dates. I have a perfectly normal social life."
"No… no you don't Nico," Percy said.
"Well I have a bigger social life than you do right now."
Percy let out a heavy sigh and tapped his pen against his thigh. "Touché," he said.
"Well I've got to go, have fun Percy," Nico said, disappearing out of the studio. Percy muttered a curse under his breath which would have had mothers covering their children's ears… if they knew ancient Greek that is.
"Yeah fun… just about as fun as laughing gas."
Annabeth sat at a small little Starbucks table in the small airport. Her head was buried in her hands, her fingers nervously working at knotting her curls in her anxiety. She wanted to get on her plane already and leave but the layover was an hour and a half. That was an hour and a half where her father might be getting closer to…
She couldn't even finish the thought. Tears welled in her eyes and she buried her head deeper into her hands. She probably looked like someone who was getting close to jumping off a bridge. She hadn't slept in a long time, not since Sue had called. Tuesday had been spent trying to get arrangements for her spontaneous trip. And then she hadn't slept on the eight hour plane ride, she kept wondering about her dad. What if he didn't make it, what if he just… let go? What if he didn't want to see her? Or even remember her?
One of Annabeth's problems was her over reactive imagination. It was a problem for writers. She always thought about the worst possible situations.
Taking a deep breath, her breathing shaking as she looked at the computer screen that was in front of her. She had connected to the free wifi and logged onto her Writer's Corner account. She had spent her time on the plane working on her next chapter, a chapter which would probably make quite a few people angry.
But it was how she was feeling.
She wrote her feelings.
And right now she was mad at life, mad at the fates or God or whoever was in charge of this crazy thing they called the world. Why did it always happen to her? Did they just want to keep breaking her down, piece by piece, bit by bit until she was left with nothing to stand on, until she was nothing but broken pieces shattered on the ground.
Life wasn't fair.
She had learned that that dark night when she was twelve and Sue had come home drunk and the house had been a mess from her twin brothers. Her father had been away on a Lecturing tour thing, she didn't remember what it was for.
She just remembered the pain and the bruises and her head crashed against the side of the counter. She remembered the blood. She still had a scar.
Life was cruel and twisted.
Life ended in Death.
It was that simple.
And her story was going to be realistic even if everyone else hated it. Because people hated the facts, they hated being told the truth. People hated the things they could not understand, like the idea that death was a very real, very prominent fact that everyone was facing.
Annabeth typed in her chapter title. Chapter 23 Finis.
And then she hit submit.
Closing her laptop, she tucked it away into her laptop case and stared outside through the large windows at the very drab landscape, it was overcast and it made her feel claustrophobic. She hated feeling claustrophobic.
The airport was very quiet as people walked around, there was a family, the little girl carrying a thick book in her hands, there was a couple looking madly in love, they were probably going on their honeymoon. And then there was an elderly couple, walking hand and hand.
The three stages of life.
Sometimes Annabeth wondered if she'd get her happy ending like these people.
Then again, was there ever such a thing as a happy ending?
Excerpt from Chapter 23 Finis from the Letter Writer by WiseGirl36
Her breathing was heavy, it felt as if her lungs were being pressed down against her, causing her to choke. It was thick as if she was breathing through a thick cotton blanket. She grew dizzy in her seat and she clutched the sides as if she was going to fall.
She stumbled out of her seat in the middle of her teacher's lecture, her breathing heavy. Every head swiveled towards her, wondering who was daring enough to interrupt their teacher's lesson. "Miss Aspen?" Mr. Green asked, staring at her through his classes. "Are you alright?" When she didn't respond he set down his whiteboard pen from where he was writing the title of their next book for English Class. "Hannah are you alright?" He repeated.
The words seemed slurred together in her ears and she blinked heavily at her teacher. She leaned over and gripped the edge of her desk, trying to keep herself up. It hurt, oh gods it hurt! "Hannah?" Izzy asked, leaning over from her desk, her thick blond hair blocking her blue eyes. "What are you doing?"
Her lungs felt on fire, her heart was beating too fast, her body hurt. She couldn't breathe. She made eye contact with Mr. Green and swallowed hard. "Help," she croaked and then unceremoniously collapsed on the ground, her skull crashing against the hard floor.
It felt as if time was slowing, as if someone had hit a button pausing everything, as if she was moving through muggy heat. Hannah twisted her head to the side towards the sound of a girl screaming. It hurt.
Izzy was standing over her, her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide open. If she was able, Hannah would have laughed. She wasn't the one dying. She felt something cold touch her arm and she jerked back from the sudden touch.
"Calm down Hannah," Mr. Green said. "I need you to stay calm. Can you do that? Just stay awake a little bit longer?" He said. "Focus on me." She looked at him, her eyes growing heavy. She stared at his spiky hair, at his glasses at anything.
"Someone call 911!" Mr. Green yelled at the class.
Yelling hurt her head.
"Oh come on! I know you all have your phones on you! If you don't call them right now then…" he didn't finish his sentence. Hannah felt herself drifting away. She vaguely heard dozens of people seeming to call 911, or maybe it was just one, she couldn't exactly tell.
"Yes… yeah, a girl in my class just collapsed on the floor…. Heck I don't know, maybe it's a seizure," she heard someone said. "Yeah St. Francis's… okay, sure."
Someone said that an ambulance was on the way.
"Hannah I need you to stay with me," Mr. Green said. "Someone's going to come and help you. Is it your cancer?" He asked. Hannah managed to somewhat nod.
"Caner? Hannah has cancer?" Izzy whispered. And then she heard Izzy start sobbing again.
"Someone take her out of the classroom please," Mr. Green ordered. Someone grabbed Izzy and pulled her out. It was quiet again.
Everyone seemed in shock.
Finally Hannah couldn't hold on anymore, she closed her eyes.
The pain was too much.
"Did you hear?" Gil asked Birch as they walked down the hallway to their next class, or more Gil was walking to his next class. Birch wasn't exactly in the mood for class.
"Hear what?" Birch asked, itching for a smoke outside behind the dumpster which was the iconic spot for smoking and making out. One of the teachers had even proposed to another teacher behind the dumpster, it wasn't just the kids.
"Hannah Aspen, you know her? Jake's girlfriend, the one who everyone drools over." Birch knew who she was. She was seriously hot with long curly brown hair and dark violet eyes. Everyone knew that Jake had gotten the best catch in the high school.
"What about her?" Birch asked.
"She has cancer. Collapsed right in the middle of her AP English class. They called 911 and she got rushed to the hospital. Apparently they don't know if she's going to make it. She's had it for a while now. Didn't tell anyone."
Birch stopped in his tracks, his blood running cold. Hannah Aspen had cancer?
"It's kinda funny. Everyone said that she started acting different, more rebellious and more sarcastic. Jake didn't like it one bit. He always liked being in control of his girl. I remember in my Calculus class she stood up and said that she didn't get the point of learning about numbers if we were all going to die anyway. The teacher didn't even tell her to be quiet. Guess it makes sense. She was always a dead girl walking. It's kind of sad."
"How long did she know?" Birch asked, his voice shaking. It couldn't be. And yet it seemed so familiar and so right at the same time.
"Only a few months. Apparently it was Thyroid. They didn't think she'd make it in the end. She only had a few years left at the most. Hey what's wrong?" Gil asked, looking at Birch.
"I… I've got to go." He said, turning on his heels and running towards the front of the school, zipping his jacket up.
He flung the doors open and ran to his motorcycle, swinging his feet over and revving the engine at the same time.
He had to get to the hospital.
There was nothing the doctors could do.
Dr. Tanner was going mad that no one else would help him as he worked furiously to try and save Hannah but she knew it was a lost cause. If she could have been able to talk, she would have told him to stop, to just let her die already.
After all she was going to die anyway, so what if it was now or in another sixty years?
She just wanted to go to sleep and go in peace.
She lay in a hospital bed, machines hooked up to her and beeping loudly. She was tempted to try and turn them off so that she could get some rest. Hannah could hear her parents talking to Dr. Tanner, or more her father was talking, her mother was weeping madly.
It wasn't like she was the one dying.
Final thoughts for the humble, she thought to herself. "When one is really actually facing Death, when they're staring him in the face with his icy hands and cold breath, it doesn't seem that bad. I'm ready to go. I'm tired and I'm ready. I feel like in the end. When we die, we'll be ready. After all Death is just another adventure, another chance to live. Even if there's nothing after Death…. I wonder what it will feel like… nothing." (AN: I read about that last part in school, the idea that even if there's nothing after death that's still something and it interested me.)
She took a heavy breath into the mask around her mouth. She was so tired.
Her eyes closed.
Her breathing slowed.
The machine went crazy.
Her parents and Dr. Tanner came running in.
They were panicking.
She smiled.
Hannah Aspen smiled.
It was her rebelling against Death.
And then-
Excerpt ends. Chapter is ends.
Percy stared at his computer screen, his eyes widening. What had he just read? He reread those last two words : and then. But there was nothing after, there was nothing to finish it. Just the end of the paragraph. The end of the chapter.
He reloaded the page but nothing new showed up, just the same paragraph, the same words. He cursed at the screen.
What had he just read?
What the hell had happened? Had she died? Had she lived? What had happened to Hannah? He needed answers. He couldn't just live with this as an ending.
He quickly messaged WiseGirl36:
GreenEyes&BlueCoke: Um… so was that the end of the chapter or the end of it all or just a typeo? I'm hoping for the typeo part. Please respond back quickly.
Annabeth walked into the lobby of the airport, looking for Sue, clutching her duffle bag with her hand. She was ready to go and see her dad.
She spotted her, her usually perfect makeup smeared all over her face, her hair wild and frizzy. She ran up to Annabeth crying.
Sue never cried.
"Oh Annabeth! He's dead."
Footnote:
*** Comparatively few parents are so vile that their children would wish immediate harm on them. Far more parents are worthy of disdain. But even then, phone calls which relay to us the brink of death cause us often to feel emotions that have long been buried or thought to be non-existent. If you find yourself in a situation in which your relationship is so heinous with your parents that you fear for your life or wish harm upon your parents life in response to how you are treated, please seek help from authorities in positions of power who can help you.