Orange Juice | 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞 𝐋𝐚 𝐑𝐮𝐞

𝟎𝟏 - 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐧

    It had been 6 years. 6 years since she found out what she was. 5 years since she found out who her father was and the life she was destined to have. But she didn't remember much else. But sometimes.

    Sometimes all Atalanta remembers is the hot blood on her hands and her face and the look of horror on the poor kid's face as she was dragged into her brother's arms.

    Sometimes her vision goes blank as all she sees is someone screaming and screaming and screaming for help and nothing and no one coming till she throws up.

    But most of the time, Atalanta keeps her mouth shut as she walks around camp, semi-confident in her place and so she walks forward. But honestly, sometimes she wondered if it was all wrong. Maybe, Apollo wasn't her father and he claimed her out of pity, and maybe Hypnos or another god of domains like sleep and dreams. She could use a bow, yes, and she could heal but sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't leaving her to manual healing. Too dangerous and unpredictable compared to her siblings but. But her dreams...

    Her dreams were all the same type. Now that she got to camp, all she saw was the same two. Over and over and over again. Some figure leaning over her, sad whispers screaming at her their apologies as hands that weren't hers tried to fight with a sword that she could barely use. Spinning vision till she was frozen in movement, red filling her vision of the ground as she heard the sound of someone choking on something. She would fall to the familiar sight of a busy city street and then... Nothing. She would wake up screaming and screaming till someone calmed her down.

    Other days, it's of a little boy running up the hill in the rain, screaming and screaming and no one coming. A shadow taking over the light and soon enough everything but that kid disappearing and turning into sand. It would fall under her feet and she would fall into darkness till whoever controlled her dreams had enough and she would wake up screaming until she threw her guts up in the bathroom.

    Most of her previous summers it was Adaliah, her eldest sister, watching her for a couple of hours after she woke up. She was technically the counselor but she was only around during the summer due to her wanting to go off to college to be a professor, and she wanted to experience mortal life. So, Lucas was left in her wake. He tried his best but Adaliah had this thing about her that made her feel calm. And maybe it's because Lucas never really liked her dreams, always caught up in what they meant for her and for him, but Adaliah never brought it up. But that was annoying too, it always felt like she walking on eggshells to not scare her sister. So, she wandered by herself. Up and down the shoreline, up and down the river closest to the middle of the forest, or somewhere else in the forest. Far from the rest of Camp and its inhabitants. Except for Luke, he was always around and wandering after curfew. Something about making sure everyone is feeling safe on the border of camp and not enough room in the Hermes Cabin. Which there never was not before she got there, not while she resided there, and not after she was claimed.

    But it was nice, not being alone in your nightmares, especially not nightmares that felt as real as hers. He kept quiet so she didn't get a headache and continued walking in the forest with him. It was nice to wander in nature. Calming to her nerves, the nerves that brought her here and have kept her alive since.

    So, Atalanta continued to wander for the last few hours of the night before sneaking into her cabin right before the sun rose and her siblings would wake up. Lee or Michael would stare at her with this knowing look but wouldn't say anything as they started to get the rest of the cabin into their clothes and head off toward the dining pavilion.

    She would slowly get ready as she watched her siblings start to leave the cabin till Lila, one of the older Apollo kids, started to help her finish up and walk out of the cabin whispering about too-sweet pancakes and too-bitter teas.