On The Edge Of It All

Chapter 5: Worst Day Ever!

So once we got to camp I figured out that Autumn was a daughter of Aphrodite, Samuel was a son of Apollo, and Oliver was a satyr. I put on a bright smile as Autumn showed me around camp but inside I was nervous. Once we got to the cabins I was showed to the Hermes cabin after being told what the others were.

I sat my bag down in the cabin, glad it had a lock on it, and pulled out the small dog. I held it tightly and stroked its head and back. It wasn't long before two boys who looked a little older than me walked up. They looked almost likes twins but I wasn't sure if they were or not.

"Hi I'm Connor and this is Travis," The one on the left said.

"Hi," I said looking down and holding my stuffed dog tighter on instinct.

"What's that?" The one on the right, Travis, asked as he pointed to the stuffed dog.

"He's mine and that's all you need to know!" I snapped, holding the used-to-be-white dog protectively. I may have had a bit more venom in my voice than was intended or necessary.

"Geez, okay," Connor said and walked off with his brother.

I sighed after they left and sat down on my bag. Why did I have to make everyone run from me? I don't know how long I sat in the cabin before one of the brothers stuck his head in and told me that I was wanted at the Big House for something.

I just got up quietly, my dog still in my hand, and started toward the Big House. I got some strange looks as I headed that way, guess they guys didn't see a teen, well almost, carry a stuffed dog through camp too often.

Still, it was my way of keeping calm so it was staying with me. I didn't notice someone was walking with me 'till the brother that was there spoke, which made me jump.

"We're here," He said and gestured to the porch.

I just nodded and walked up the steps quietly. I wasn't one to really talk a lot, not because I want to give anyone the cold shoulder but because I was just that shy. The only reason I seemed so mean to Travis and Connor was I'm touchy on the subject of my little dog; I've been tease about it before.

Anyway, once I got to the door of the house I knocked softly. I was almost hoping that no one would answer but a guy in a wheel chair did. There go my hopes of being able to just head back to the cabin without anything happening.

"Come in my dear, why do you seem so fearful?" The man asked.

"I'm not fearful, I'm shy. I fear nothing," I said slowly as I stroked the dog I was still holding.

"What's that, may I ask?" He asked, leaving it up to me.

I stayed quiet, not wanting to snap as I had on Connor and Travis earlier. I held back tears as I looked into the man's kind eyes, it had been a long time since I saw that king of kindness directed toward me.

"It's just a stuffed dog," I replied finally.

"I have spent many centuries training heroes and I have never seen anyone hold onto an inanimate object like that. If I may it seems that you value that more than your own life," He said calmly and carefully.

"That's not hard, when you're put down as much as I have my entire life you start to not put much stock in your own life. When you cry yourself to sleep more than peacefully drifting off, when the one parent you know is never there to chase off the dreams, when you've felt so alone and like no one cares you ten to louse all hope and stock in life. That's why I'm not scared of anything, I haven't had the best life ever with that," I said, spilling out every horrible part of my life as tears started to spill down my cheeks.