Cursed: Annabeth Chase

Smile

(This is from Percy's POV and is set before he died. It's a bit different but don't worry, I'm just showing how he feels. Also, Sally and Percy didn't kill Gabe so he's still around.... for now. TW there will be some blood in this so if you're not comfortable with that feel free to skip this chapter. It doesn't affect the storyline that much so you should be fine)

(June 14: 9 weeks, 2 days before death)

I sit in the bathroom, door locked. Tears stream down my face. The memory of what happened minutes ago appears fresh in my mind. My face is freckled with red specks and my hands are covered in blood. The knife I was holding falls to the ground. Light dances in through the small window, lighting up the blood on my face.

Someone screams from the other room. He's still alive. My whole body shakes and I desperately try to quiet my breathing. I hear scattering and someone bangs on the door, pleading with me to open it. I let out a bloodcurdling scream and retreat against the far wall. The bangs get louder and the door rattles. 

It goes on for hours and hours until it finally stops. He bled to death. The realization of what I did hits me like a train. I stabbed my step-father. I stabbed him until he bled to death. I stand up and quietly open the door. Gabe is lying on the floor, covered in blood. 

(July 26: 3 weeks, 2 days before death)

I wipe the tears from my eyes and stand up. I step out of my cabin and plaster a smile on my face. Annabeth spots me and waves me over to where she is telling stories with some younger campers. I sit down on the grass beside her and Leo. Piper makes a joke and I laugh. It's a fake laugh just like my smile is a fake smile.

I haven't been myself for a while but I don't think anyone has noticed. Ever since the incident I've barely looked at any knives or swords, which is hard here at camp. The police questioned me but eventually gave in and agreed it was a suicide. It still feels wrong. I've killed many monsters before but this was different. I knew him.

"Percy, you ok?" Annabeth asks and I tune back into the conversation. The answer comes immediately. No, I'm not okay. I'm the furthest thing from okay. I don't say that thought. Instead, I smile and laugh a little, trying to silently tell her that I'm fine. That I'm happy. 

(July 30: 2 weeks, 5 days before death)

I stand in front of the bathroom mirror, knife in hand. My eyes are bloodshot and my body is shaking. I stare at the red lines that dot my skin. They're never going to go away. I burry my face in my hands and slowly sink down to my knees. This is never going to end. I want to scream.

Someone knocks on my cabin door. It must be Annabeth. I pull on a sweater to hide my arms and quickly toss the knife into the bathtub. I blink a few times and wipe the tears away. My problems can wait, Annabeth needs me. I stand up and unlock the door before walking across the cabin to the window. To my surprise, it's Piper who stands on the porch, not Annabeth.

I let her in and she immediately collapses into my arms. I hug her and hand her some tissues. She blows her nose and looks up at me. I can tell she's been crying and probably hasn't slept for days. I rub her back and ask her what's wrong. She doesn't answer and instead starts crying. 

"Jason and I had a fight and then he went on a quest and it was supposed to end weeks ago but it didn't and what if something happened to him?!" Piper wails through tears. I hug her again and tell her it's going to be ok even though I have no way of knowing that. Jason could be dead for all I know.

(August 18: 0 weeks, 0 days before death)

I stand on the cliff edge and look down. This will be perfect for my suicide. I place my goodbye letter under a rock and take a deep breath. Is this what I want? Doubts cloud my thoughts but one breaks free. I will finally be in peace. I smile at the thought of not having to live this life anymore. I take a step forward but someone yanks me back. I look and Piper stands behind me, holding onto my arm.

"Piper let go! This is what I want. Just let me die. Please" I sob. She looks at me sadly and lets go of my hand. I silently thank her and turn back to the cliff. I close my eyes and take a step forward, flinging myself off the cliff.

I hear Piper's sobs as I hurl towards the ground. I feel the wind swishing around me as I fall. I taste blood in my mouth as the ground gets closer and closer. I smell the salty sea breeze and I know it's my dad's doing. I see darkness as my body hits the ground and I go limp.

Piper

I scream as Percy's body disappears from sight. I grab his goodbye letter and stuff it into my pocket. Then, I turn and run far away from the cliff. I don't stop running until I get to camp. I sprint into the dining pavilion where everyone is eating breakfast. I stop to catch my breath then stand on the Apollo table.

"Chimera attacked! Percy.... I'm sorry he died." I tell everyone. Campers scream and sob. Some grab weapons and talk about finding the chimera and killing it. I get down and walk to where Annabeth is sitting, in shock. I smile sadly and give her a quick hug.

"I understand how it feels. Jason died on his quest a month ago. I wish I could've been there and saved him but it just didn't happen." I tell her. She already knows this but it helps to have someone who understands. 

"No. You don't understand. You will never understand because Jason isn't Percy. Jason didn't hold up the sky for you or fight through Hell with you. Jason didn't love you like Percy loved me!" Annabeth snaps. I recoil, shocked. I know that Jason didn't love me like Percy loved Annabeth. I tell myself that everyday. It still hurts to have it pointed out though. 

I smile sadly at her once more and leave. She needs to be alone. I head back to my cabin and plop down onto the bed. Percy obviously wasn't ok. He wouldn't have killed himself if he was ok. I just- why didn't he tell us? We could have helped! 

(Sorry if this one was a bit different then the others. I wanted to focus more on the other character's emotions and how they were feeling negatively as well. Piper will be affected a lot by Percy's death and I'm kinda excited to go more into that. Annabeth reacted kinda rudely after Percy's death but please don't hate her for it. It hurts to lose someone you're close to and Annabeth was just shocked. As you might be able to tell, I'm thinking of writing Piper nervous or even afraid of love. Being a daughter of Aphrodite, it will be interesting to see where this takes the story. The people (as of right now) that will have the most negative feelings as the story continues will be Annabeth, Percy, and Piper. Percy and Annabeth both killed themselves in their first life so that will affect them greatly. Piper witnessed Percy die and will witness -------- die (NO SPOILERS!) so that will affect her because its traumatic to see friends kill themselves. Now, my biggest concern is that I'm not writing the story right. It focuses a lot on mental illnesses and I don't have a ton of experience with that. If anyone has any tips to help me write this better that will help. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter will be back to Annabeth and the story)