Dear Secrets, Please Fly Quietly

8) Memories

I opened my eyes. Everything was black for a second, then suddenly I was standing in a house. What in Hades was going on? Hermes just shoved me in his memory even thought I was already apparently in his mind? This is confusing. Someone opened the front door. Well, several someones. A man came in, followed by a woman holding a bundle, followed by a little boy. None of them seemed to notice I was standing in the middle of their hallway. The man looked unhappy, and just before he would have walked straight into me, he froze. In fact, all of them froze in place. I waved my hand in front of the little boy. He didn't even blink. I went to gently push him, but my hand went through his shoulder. What in Hades?! There was writing carved into the floor. I was sure that hadn't been there before. 'Hi, Percy. It's Hermes. That should be obvious, I mean, I'm writing on my own memories!'

"Right, um. Yea. Could you re-explain what in Hades going on? Who are these people and why are they frozen?" I wasn't entirely sure he could hear me but I was inside his head, so maybe he could.

The words disappeared and were replaced by another sentence. 'My family and because I paused the memory. In a way.' Hermes wrote names on various places near the frozen people. On the wall, the man was named 'Winston Foxe' and the little boy was Johnathan Foxe. Near the woman's foot, Melissa Foxe was scratched on the floor. The pale blue bundle was simply labelled 'me'. After a second, it changed to 'Jacob Foxe'. The names vanished and more sentences appeared on the floor. 'You should have been paying attention. I've already told you what in Hades is going on, as you put it. Now, just watch.' I sighed. That was not helpful.

The Foxe family unfroze. Johnathan ran straight through me and disappeared around a corner. That was a weird feeling. Melissa took her son upstairs to a nursery and then went into her own room. With a rush of air around me, I found myself in there with them. Apparently Hermes wanted me to hear this conversation.

Winston was there, and he was angry. He glared at his wife. "I can't believe you, Melissa. It's one thing to say that- that thing over there-" He flung his hand in the direction of the nursery. "-isn't mine, and I guess I have to accept that. But-"

Melissa frowned. "Winston, please calm down. And don't call Jacob a thing, he's your son."

"MY SON?! He's your son! Yours and whoever you said it was. Why don't you go run off with him?!"

"Winston, I-" Melissa sighed and briefly closed her eyes. "Winston, I'm sorry. But I'm not going to run off with him. I don't want to, but even if I did, I have no idea where he is! I don't love him."

The door opened to admit a small blonde-haired boy, maybe 8. This must be Jacob because Johnathan had dark brown hair like his father. Apparently years had passed in the span of minutes. "I'm hungry." He said quietly.

Winston frowned, but honestly it was more of a glare. "Go back to bed, Jacob. And knock next time."

"Sorry." His reply was barely audible. Jacob glanced over to the desk in their room. It had a sheet of neon pink paper on it. The boy shared a look with his mother. I walked over and looked at it, but the writing had vanished. 'Not yet, Percy...' Hermes had written over it. 'Close your eyes.'

I did, and another gust of air surrounded me. When I opened my eyes, I was in a dark and cold room. Pale moonlight shone through the window. There wasn't much in there, just a bunk bed and a dresser on the opposite wall. Having a bunk bed in the room made no sense, the ceiling wasn't high enough. Both beds were occupied, the top by Jacob, who was awake. He carefully slipped under the side railing, avoiding the blades of the ceiling fan. He somehow managed to climb down one of the metal posts starting from a horizontal position, and all in complete silence. I watched his bare feet noiselessly carry him to the window. How did he do that?! Jacob crawled back up the other pole to the window ledge and sat down. The memory froze again. 'By that way,' Hermes wrote on the frosted window. It must be winter. 'Winston is punishing me by starvation. My last sufficient meal was 5 days ago. And it's 2 o'clock in the morning.' Jacob opened the window in one motion and stared his brother anxiously. He shifted slightly at the cold air but didn't wake up. Jacob went out onto the roof and I followed.