Life is a Journey (a theyna fanfic)

Blonde boys are not to be trusted

Luke had been arrested a week before Thalia came back to her apartment, but part of her was still scared that when she opened the door to the apartment he'd be sitting on the couch waiting for her. For a solid three seconds it seemed that that fear had come true. In her living room sat a tall blonde haired boy with light blue eyes and a scar on his face. Thalia yelped in terror, and jumped back into the hallway, and was already half-way down the stairs before she registered that Reyna was chasing after her.

"Thalia!" she yelled and Thalia froze around the second floor, panting and shaking. All she could see was him, him and his stupid voice. She was there again, helplessly pinned to the ground as he struck her again and again. Arms wrapped around her and she started thrashing.

"Let me go! Let me go!" fear made her voice crack. She sounded like a child throwing a tantrum, but Thalia was too scared to register it. Luke. He had her, she was sure of it.

"Thalia, calm down, it's me. It's me," the voice promised and slowly Thalia opened her eyes. Reyna was holding her up, looking concerned and scared at the same time. Thalia swallowed down her shrieks of terror and looked around in confusion. Where was Luke? He had just been there, she was sure of it.

"Are you okay? You just started running and then you were screaming like you were having some kind of spasm attack. Do you need anything? Should I call the doctor?" Reyna asked and it took a moment for Thalia to register that she had not in fact been attacked by Luke.

"N-No.. I.. I'm okay. Ju-Just jumpy I guess," Thalia whimpered and started to stand up, only to nearly fall over when she saw the blonde boy descending the stairs, looking concerned.

"Thals, what happened?" he asked and ran over. Thalia jumped and instinctively hid behind Reyna, wrapping a hand around her crutch, prepared to use it as a weapon if the boy came any closer. Reyna looked just as confused as the blonde boy, then understanding flickered in her eyes and she held up a hand to stop the boy from coming any closer.

"Wait," she told him and turned back to Thalia. "It's okay, Luke's gone, I promise. He's gone, and he wont be coming back." she said, but Thalia's expression didn't look convinced. Her eyes were hollow with fear and Reyna could practically see Thalia struggling through the memories of the older blonde boy.

"He's gone, I promise," she repeated and gently grabbed Thalia's shoulders to force her to look at her in the eyes. Thalia was hyperventilating.

"Luke," Thalia mumbled, and started to tremble again. Reyna grabbed Thalia and gently ran her fingers through her hair, hopefully a sign that she wasn't going to hurt her. Thalia blinked, as if waking up from a dream. She stared at Reyna for a couple more seconds, before finally seeming to completely understand what had just happened. She clapped a hand over her mouth and tears started in her eyes.

"Oh my god, Jason I-I.." she whispered and Reyna finally relaxed, releasing her friend, who moved over to her brother who looked just as confused as he was worried for his big sister's mental health. Thalia limped forward and hugged her brother tightly, he gently hugged her back.

"H-Hey it's okay, you've been through a lot," he mumbled and Reyna started to consider that she probably should've given Thalia more warning, but then again she hadn't exactly known Jason was coming until he had showed up at the apartment this morning, still a phone call would've been a good idea.

Thalia felt like she'd just stepped off of a bridge and was falling through the sky towards certain doom. She'd just mistaken her own brother for a psychopathic murderer who had sexually abused her! Maybe now was the time to consider seeing a therapist, but Jason didn't seem to mind. Maybe he understood this was an accident that was completely out of Thalia's control, or maybe he just didn't know enough to understand what had just happened, either way, he helped her up the stairs and back into her apartment.