𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔 • Percy Jackson.

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄

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𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔
𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄
The in-betweens.

Or

the small chronicles
during the fadng summer.
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             THERE'S WHISPERS. . . He's been getting them for a while, so long that he started to suspect if he had become schizophrenic. They were quiet hisses, hoarse and old–ancient even, always buzzing in his ear. It was always now. To the point he had built a natural habit of ignoring it. Only a few times would he actually hear what they were saying, and most of the time, it was words of the condemned. Complaining how horrible his actions were, wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. They'd scream in his ears, ready to give him a headache until they stopped.

"Maybe your body is finally getting tired, " was what one of the Apollo kids told him when he visited the infirmary. He had asked him why he was actually feeling the effects of being tired. To the point he'd start falling asleep. Now that. That. Never happened before. He pretended to not see the girl who had been previously a tree when he was asking. "Or maybe it's the stupid party games your cabin had last night." Another Apollo kid piped in, "haha." He said dryly. He left soon after, the door shut loud behind him. "He could've shut the door a little nicer." One of them complained.

—

Amani remembers the crumpled envelope, a golden stamp on the corner, and on the back holds its from statement: his address. Or he should say his mother's address, the place was never mine, he thought. He doesn't know what he should be expecting, he tries to shut down the gross feeling of hope bubbling in his stomach. He opens the envelope with a quick rush and a mess of hands until he finds a folded letter. He stares at it, for a long time, before opening it up. He smoothed out the creases as best as he could, but the wrinkles still were prevalent.

He doesn't know what he should be expecting, but he truly should have known how the letter would respond. There was no heartfelt apology filled with messages of love and yearning, his mother was too proud and her heart was too closed for that. He sometimes hated that, but he couldn't blame her. A Pakistani woman who immigrated to the U.S with nothing but a heart filled with prayer didn't have time to open up her emotions. Not when she was constantly brought down by those around her. She worked her way up with a dream of fashion and styling, all with a child.

Dear Amani, for this new school season you'll be going to… A public school. He has no expression, but his throat feels like it's squeezing and it's hard to swallow. There's hissing in his ears. His hands grip the paper and it's not long until he's ripping the paper. Shredding it until they're nothing but faint scraps and the wind takes it away. He leaned back against the tree, looking out at the strawberry fields, his fingers digging into the plush grass. Taking straws of grass out like he could rip the entire earth out with his bare hands. "No fucking sorry. No apology." He mutters but he knew he shouldn't have expected so much. 

He was a fool to have hope again. The anger was extinguished and all that was left was the smoke of tiredness.

He takes a long sigh at the memory.
He's been getting dreams now. Dreams coming forth from sleeping that he'll hail the title of dream boy, at least that's what the the illusions in his dreams call him. He gets them every night, haunting him, and he'll wake up in the night with the hissing still there. Sometimes he'll see Luke, speaking his words of deceit to lure him in like those sirens, other times it'll be Eli who shares his sparks of solitude. "Can't you see Amani? There's no point with you at camp." He doesn't know when the borders started to blur.

Yeah Camp probably wasn't for him, New York wasn't either, not the penthouse up in queens at least. But was Luke's army worth it? Was it truly worth it? He had no answer so he made none to the illusions in his dreams. "Your father isn't claiming you anytime soon Amani. It's almost been two years. Your mom is sending you off to another school so she doesn't have to look after you again." He had gotten angry and his fury had forced him to wake up with quick breaths against the silent airs of the Hermes cabin. The cold reminder.

The last few days of the summer break, he spent it packing his shit because he knew there was no point staying. "You're leaving?" Valentino asked, hanging by the door in surprise, a look of hurt showed up on his face. "Yeah. New school." He muttered and received a pat on the shoulder. "Did you tell anyone else?" He shook his head. "Not even Percy?" He raised his eyebrows, "why would I tell him? It's not important." He said with a shrug, folding a pair of jeans into his backpack.

"You've been avoiding him and now you're not even gonna tell him you're leaving?" Valentino pointed out with a frown, arms crossed together. "Like I said, I don't need to tell him everything." Amani said, frustrated. Valentino shook his head, disagreeing, but didn't bother bringing it up again. "Whatever. Why'd your mom even ask for you when she didn't last time?" Amani shrugged. "No idea." Valentino hummed. He tossed the final piece of clothing inside with a wave of vertigo finally hitting him.

"Iris message me?" Valentino said with a small smile, "if I remember sure." Amani had responded. The dove watched him turn his back away, despite being so tired his posture never failed. "Why'd you stop? Miss me already?" Valentino asked with a teasing grin. "Eloise isn't coming back." And his hope, too, had crashed down like a burning bridge.

With that Amani left.
"You missed him." Valentino said quietly, staring straight ahead, ears picking up to the quiet huffs of the boy beside him. "You're serious?" But Percy knew he wasn't lying when he saw the tire tracks. "Yeah." Was all the son of Aphrodite said before walking away with the words of Amani still echoing in his head. "Wait–! Why didn't he tell me?" Percy called out. Valentino shrugged, not bothering to sport the usual grin he had. "I don't know, maybe you should ask him." He said sarcastically before walking away.