The Sun's Kisses

2- I Remember It All Too Well

I was given my first quest at thirteen. I had to accompany a young son of Athena and a son of Hermes a little older than me. We were sent to retrieve a weapon for Ares and bring it to his cabin.
In the end, the Hermes boy died getting it, Ares came and collected the weapon whilst me and the Athena boy, named Allen, had to get back to camp . . .
"I honestly thought you'd be really mean." Allen says as I help him up, he was clumsy and had tripped over a rock.
"Why?" I ask him.
"You're really pretty and you're a daughter of Aphrodite. Really pretty daughters of Aphrodite are always really mean to me." He says shyly as he looks at his feet. Poor kid, I understand him though.
"I'll talk with them when we get back then. I'll make them apologize." I tell him and smile.
"How old are you, Stella?" He asks me.
"Thirteen and eleven twelfths. How old are you?"
"I'm ten!" He says excitedly, I smile at him. He's excited, he is happy.
"That's quite young, great job surviving my friend." I tell him with a soft smile on my lips and we continue on. Eventually night comes and we weren't even in New York state yet.
"What do we do?" Allen asks.
"One second and I can tell you what we do." I say, we were in the upper part of Virginia, I think. I look around and see a Cone Health hospital.
"Alright . . . this is gonna be a stretch, Al pal." I say, he looks at me.
"WhAt?" His voice cracks as he says it.

We walked inside through the way nurses went and found a crashing place. Who knew that hospitals had rooms where staff could nap.
"Alright, lay down and sleep little one. I'll keep you safe." I say to him, he nods and turns over to sleep but a few minutes later he turns back over.
"Stella?" He asks shyly, I hum in response as I turn my head and look at him. "Can you . . ." he pauses thinking a moment, "can you maybe sing me to sleep. Mommy does that when I get home after summer. If not then-" he starts to explain but I interrupt him with a lullaby I had heard my grandmother sing once.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away." I sing, I keep repeating it until I hear his soft snores that made me smile.
I remember when my grandmother sang that song to my cousin. She never sang to me, calling me the bad version of illegitimate child.
"Mom, stop that. I'm sure as hell serious." I remembered my father saying, I was six and it was a Christmas dinner, my father pulled my grandma to the kitchen after I opened my one present and my cousin had dozens more.
"What? I'm just giving the little fatty what she wants. Chocolate." She answers, my dad sighs.
"No, she wanted Barbies, she wanted crayons, she wanted a guitar so she could learn how to play and sing to it. You don't care, I need you to care about her she's your granddaughter." My dad argues with her.
"She is no grandchild of mine. Her mother left you, she is no longer in the family since her mother is a dream killer. She ruined your chances of getting a good wife and having many children. That thing-"
"Stella-"
"Is a bast-"
"Mother. Her name is Stella Irene Dawn. She is my daughter. I have chosen to not marry because I don't want Stella to know the pain of a horrible mother like I have known." He says sourly, he looked her straight in the eye. "Call her such a name that isn't hers again, you'll never see me nor her ever after tonight."
"I can't believe you gave her the family middle name. She doesn't deserve it." She answers, my dad doesn't answer. He turns his back and opens the door wider, she follows behind him, he looked stern before he saw me and his face softened.
"Hey Stell Bell, go get your bag and grab the stuff you brought. Don't forget your presents from your aunt, uncle, and cousin. We'll be leaving tonight, kay?" He says to me softly, I nod with a bright smile.
"Okay Daddy!" And I ran upstairs and grabbed my things. I came down the stairs and stopped at the bottom stairs seeing my dad and grandma arguing as my aunt and her husband sat on the couch, not wanting to say anything.
"You don't mean it!" Grandma screeches, tears were raining on her cheeks.
"I do mean it. You heard me, I won't let Stella be battered by your insults anymore just because her mother and I never married. I'm done with this, I'm done with you." He says in a cooled tone. He looks at my aunt, his sister, and talks. "I'll see you and tell little Harry we'll see him for his birthday. Love you sis." He says, he walks out of the living room and sees me on the stairs and holds out his hand for me to take. I hold his hand and drag my princess suitcase behind me as he gets his that's been by the door since this morning.
I haven't seen my grandmother since then.
I look down at little Allen, wonder how his mortal family is. How His mortal mom handles him being away from her during summer. Dad handles it fine, I send him a letter at the end of each month until he comes to pick me up in the middle of August.
I'm just hoping we get home safely.
And that's when alarms went off