The Demons In My Head


Chapter I. Down the Rabbithole

When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back into you. -Nietzsche

September 9th, 2008:

School was always the same. A precise wonted route that was the same since he started here. The exact monotonous routine that was five days out of the week and was ever so slowly bleeding his will like a stuffed pig. If he had to put his honest thoughts of South Detroit Middle School into words, it would be... dull. Math, English, History, Science, these classes, and teachers just made him feel drained, tired, and all the other synonyms for the word weary. It especially did not help that he was dyslexic, and the teachers blamed him for taking longer to understand the course materials than all the other kids in class. Why blame a twelve-year-old kid? If they should fault anyone, it should be his pill-head mom and his father who walked out on them before he was born, who gave him this burden. But who cares what he thinks right?

Anyway, it's just another day in the life of Gabriel Ward. His short stature and black jeans and hoodie doing some good by making him practically invisible to everyone else, but what else is new really? He was walking towards the only haven the school had for him. Oh oh, what is it, the rooftop? Or the library? Nope, just a dingy old art classroom on the third floor. Yeah, the school is so broke and dilapidated that they got rid of Art class. Gabriel discovered it two years back and no one else even decides to go in the direction of that room, call it an act of God or whatever you want it to be but to him, it was perfect. It was more of a home than his actual apartment was. He always had a thing for drawing and art, there was just something about using your imagination or the surroundings around you and putting it on paper.

As he walks into the room, he scans the walls of his own personal domain. Art had become more than a hobby—it was an extension of himself, a language he used to communicate with the world that lay beyond his imagination. And with each drawing his craft became better and more fluid. Pages upon pages of paper were strung up showcasing all his creations that came to him throughout the years. From cartoons of smiling squirrels and goofy-looking dogs he made when he was young, the pictures slowly morphed into drawings that were more realistic and...darker. He was curious when he was young, he used to surf the TV for any new inspirations and well, he always kind of landed on horror movies at the end of the day. It was just a more interesting concept to him that's all, but curiosity often birthed mischief, and Gabriel's yearning to understand the limits of his ability led him down a path he hadn't anticipated. The notebooks began filling up with more than just whimsical creatures; fluffy dogs slowly turned predatory wolves. Ravenous-looking wolves morphed into devilish imps, wicked-looking imps steadily transformed into otherworldly eldritch horrors and Lovecraftian beings, and now all his creations bore the sketches of nightmarish monsters and grotesque forms. He gave them names, every creature he drew had a name and Gabriel knew every single one of them.

From most of his time spent inside, the pallor of his skin was even more pronounced. This, including his pale blue eyes, his dark brown, almost black hair, dark clothes he usually wore, and quiet demeanor, oh and of course being the new kid this year made all the other kids joke that he was actually a ghost and you had to 'stay away from him or you might get cursed'. They didn't necessarily mean to ostracize him from all the cliques in school, but you know what they say, children can be cruel.


Gabriel was sitting in class drawing another one of his 'creations' whilst listening to his English teacher droll on about subjects and verbs agreeing with each other, whatever that's supposed to mean. He stopped his detailing on his drawing to stare up at the board to at least attempt to comprehend the lesson. English was always his worst subject and for some reason, the universe also had to throw the worst teacher in on top of it too. Ms. Averitt has the typical grandma look to her; short white curly hair, round-rimmed librarian glasses, and wrinkles out the wazoo. She wore a light green floral dress that looked like she had stolen it from the Victorian era. If you took a glance at her, she might seem like a sweet old lady giving out butterscotches to children for fun, but that couldn't be any further from the truth. She was a grouchy woman who hated laughter and the definition of happiness, if she even caught you smiling, she'd claw your vocal chords out and feed it to you. Okay, the last one might not be true but she was terrible nonetheless. Honestly; for some reason, she had a hate boner for yours truly, the one and only, Gabriel Ward. He didn't know if he pissed in her cheerios in a past life or if he just had a face only a grandma could hate, but since the first time he stepped into her class, her volcanic loathing and malevolence was directed towards him and him only.

"Mr. Ward, what is the predicate in the sentence on the board?" She growled out with a sickeningly sweet smile. "You have been staring up there for the past five minutes, so I thought you might have worked it out already."

Gabriel inwardly cried in anguish at having to decipher the hieroglyphics that was the english language plastered onto the front of the classroom. He personally thought she got a kick out of making him look like a dunce and once again hear him say he didn't know the answer. "Uhm, Mrs. Averitt, I can't really tell what the board is sayi-." Gabriel for the twentieth time since the school semester started, began to reply. "And again you excuse your laziness and blame your so-called 'disability', I think you're just not trying hard enough Mr. Ward and you will tell me the correct answer, even if it takes the rest of the school year." Mrs. Averitt replied scathingly. Gabriel clenched his hands in anger and had a retort on the tip of his tongue, but in the end, he swallowed it and nodded his head.

Just then, the bell rang, the hour of hell was over, and along came lunch, the forty-five minutes of freedom and liberty before they slapped shackles on you once again and hauled you off to another class; metaphorically of course.

Kids began launching paper and binders into their bookbags as fast as they could, eager to leave Mrs. Averitt's house of horrors. Gabriel was doing the same thing, throwing his binder into his black mesh backpack while holding onto his sketchbook to continue on with his 'creation'. When he began walking towards the door, he heard a voice from behind him say, "Mr. Ward, like I said a minute ago, you will be staying here till you can answer this question."

Gabriel felt the hands of the damned twist and pull him back into his seat as he said a quick, 'yes ma'am' to her when he passed by her to go back to his desk. As he was staring at the board, trying to decrypt the cipher that was english, Mrs. Averitt slowly and methodically walked towards him, slithering like a snake victoriously heading to its downed prey.

"Tell me, Mr. Ward, how long did you think it would take?" She asked. Gabriel glanced towards her way and immediately looked back to the board when he saw her vicious smile being directed towards him. Gabriel blinked once, confusion giving way on his face as he was still staring at the board like a stone statue.

"I'm sorry ma'am, it's just that with my dyslexia it's hard for me to understand what the words mean," Gabriel said, "They just mix together and come out so jum-." Mrs. Averitt, quick as a viper, interrupted him, "So jumbled that you can't even piece together a five-letter word right?" Gabriel blushed in embarrassment and slowly nodded his head. Mrs. Averitt chuckled in a raspy timbre that made his hair stand up.

"Oh, I apologize, I jusst can't help myssself ssometimesss. Teasing your kind is one of the few thingsss that bringss me joy in this life," Mrs. Averitt replied, finally reaching his desk and staring down at him. Sirens softly started ringing in Gabriel's head at the change of tone and demeanor that Mrs. Averitt suddenly switched to, but resolutely, he continued staring straight ahead. He could feel her gaze boring into the side of his head and he did not know what to say until one of the words she said sprang up to the forefront of his mind. "One...of my kind ma'am?" Gabriel asked in an unsure tone.

"Oh, your kind has existed ssince I came into exisssstence," Mrs. Averitt replied condescendingly, "I can not believe I didn't notice what you were till thisss year honessstly, I must be getting too old to continue on as a catcher, I might have to retire soon and let the new blood take my place." These words she was saying were bouncing around in Gabriel's cranium, trying to make logic and string them together to make reason. "Kind, catcher, what I am? Mrs. Averitt, what the hell are you talking about?" Gabriel finally exclaimed as he turned his head to look up at her, only to recoil in shock and trepidation. Her face was stretched like her skin shrunk two sizes too small, her smile too wide to be normal, and showing too many teeth. But the thing that really intimidated him were her eyes. Her pupil was inverted into slits and the color was a sickly sulfur yellow, the eyes expressed too much glee for it to not be downright alarming.

Gabriel leaned back as far and as swiftly as he could out of impulse. Before he could even comprehend what was happening, a putrid green-colored hand swiped at where his head would have been a second ago. This action caused the once-named Mrs. Averitt turned vomit-colored reptile-woman to cruelly laugh. "Ssso the little halfbreed'sss insstinctsss hasss finally kicked in, good, I would hate for my fun to be cut short." The next thing Gabriel knows, he is lying on his back ten feet away from his now broken desk with his backpack ripped open, his stuff strewn across the room and his wide-open sketchbook somehow lying right next to him. The bottom metal stands have completely snapped off the desk and the back piece of the chair is in splinters. Gabriel finally notices the snake woman's bottom extremities, two twin serpentine-like trunks have grown where Mrs. Averitts' legs used to be making her close to eight feet in height now.

"Ah, don't be afraid halfbreed, thisss will only hurt for a few minutes," the snake-woman said with a chuckle, "If you wanted to blame anyone for why this is happening, blame your godly parent."

Gabriel closed his eyes, he couldn't stand the sight of that thing in front of him. 'Please, please, someone help me.' He prayed, he was never a big believer in religion or anything of the sort but right now, he hopes something or someone is listening. He can hear the heavy slithering slowly getting closer to him and he silently keeps pleading. 'Anyone, anything, please, I don't want to die.' Nothing. Pure silence greets his pleas. Ever so slowly, he could hear the snake woman taking her time to get to him, taking joy in causing him terror.

His fear rapidly bled into fury, a molten wave of indignation and rage washing over him. How dare this thing take joy out of his dread. How Dare She! "I'm going to grab those tails you call feet and shove them down your throat before I slit it wide open," Gabriel said in a quiet whisper. The snake-woman paused for a second to comprehend what was just said before cackling like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard before. "I'm afraid that is not going to happen halfbreed. I'm going to enjoy strangling and watching the light leave your eyes for your insolence." As she kept traveling towards him, coming to a few feet from him, something clicked in the back of his mind. It was like a pressure that was always there that he didn't notice suddenly came loose. He turned to the sketchbook that was lying right next to him and the drawing that was facing him, slowly, a smirk showed on his face before it suddenly turned into a deranged smile. It was a terrible thing to see on a child's face. "Come forth, in your eternal servitude towards me...Morgoth." Darkness and shadow penetrated the room, acidic sulfur and ash permeated the air as a dark form could be seen piercing through the veil from the void. Gradually the darkness wisped away, unable to contain the monstrous monarch that was before it. Blackened and charred is its flesh, coated in the darkest of armor that absorbed any ray of light hoping to escape, its form showed a regalness to it but was betrayed by the brutish and bestial smile that was on its lips, its appearance was humanoid but the power it exuded was suffocating. Blood-red pupils surrounded by black were its eyes, ever judging, and what it saw must have disappointed it, as there was nothing but disinterest in its scrutiny of the serpent creature in front of it. Eleven feet of pure domination and supremacy stood in front of Gabriel. Its form acting as his shield and sword to whatever would try to harm him, Gabriel slowly started snickering; then chuckling, and then full-blown maniacal laughter was heard reverberating across the room.

The serpent-like woman could not even hold herself up, that was how strong the power and killing intent this monarch of death exuded. Fear was ever present in her eyes, she couldn't move or speak. Nothing would stop the executioner from exacting his toll.

"Don't be afraid monster," Gabriel smiled, it could have been angelic under any other circumstances, "this will only hurt for a few minutes. If you wanted to blame anyone for why this is happening, well, just blame me. You picked the wrong 'halfbreed'." Gabriel's angelic smile turned as quick as a whip into a devilish grin. "Now don't die too fast on me now Mrs. Averitt, I would hate for my fun to be cut short."


: So, this is my first ever story and you know how it is, complain if it's too terrible for you and enjoy if it's not. I'll probably revise this chapter and the next few chapters and the next few ones after that lol, first time writing and all. But I think I and some of you will like where this is going to be heading. Yea, kinda dark for PJO fanfics but not really. AU for sure in some parts and not in others. And he's a year older than PJ but don't worry about any other main cast till later. Yes, the protag's name is Gabriel Ward. why? cuz it sounds sick as fuck. And guess who his godly dad is sense I already gave the gender away. Its pretty easy tbh, all you gotta do is look up some keywords in the story lol. G's power is he can make his drawings 'creations' come to life and yes Morgoth is who you think it is but these monsters arent really sentient but kinda are, I'll explain later okay. Gabriel controls them pretty much and that's all you need to know before I start up again in a couple days