The Olympian's Games

A Drop in the Ocean

⠀Chapter One

⠀A Drop in the Ocean

⠀♆

⠀I sit with my feet buried in the sand, the thin waves slowly inching toward me. This time of peace and quiet near the waters of District 4 was the time I caught my mother's and my next meal, and the time I sat to think. With the reaping around the corner, there was nothing to do but think. It'd pain me to see someone I knew go into the Games. After all, I knew nearly everyone in my district.

⠀A slight shimmer from the waves pulled me from my concentration. I watched as the schools of fish danced their way into the evening air. Standing up, I pulled my trident with me and slowly made my way into the bank.

⠀The chilled water was making it's way over my toes, the arches of my feet, around my ankles, and up my shins as I slowly stepped towards my dinner, trying to not scare it off, and move fingers move around the long, smooth pole of the trident as I adjust it in my hand. I stare down through the water at the glistening creatures in front of me.

⠀Without hesitation, I pierced my trident through the waves, then the fish. Pulling my trident back up to look at my catch, I know this will be enough for my mother and I.

⠀⠀♆

⠀My mother, Sally Jackson, was known to be one of the kindest women in District 4. Her long, dark, curly hair flows over her shoulders while her eyes are a glistening brown. She doesn't have the image of someone from our district, but I do. My mother tells me I have my father's sea green eyes and her jet black hair.

⠀"Percy," my mother smiled at me, though it didn't meet her eyes. "Is everything alright?"

⠀If not for her, I wouldn't have noticed my lost gaze. Giving a slight not, I answered her: "Yeah. Sorry, mom."

⠀I sat across across from my mother at the small wooden table that sits in our kitchen, my dinner untouched. My mother had a special touch to her cooking when it came to my fish being her operation. No one knew her secret, and everyone went mad to know.

⠀"What have I told you about lying?" My mother had once again broke my train of thoughts, her smile replaced by an arched brow.

⠀"I'm sorry." I mumbled. My elbows met the table as I combed my hair through my fingers until a familiar high-pitched whistle made me look up immediately to my mother staring down at my elbows. "Oh," I said, placing my hands in my lap. "Sorry."

⠀My mother laughed. "You have a lot of sorrow. Why are you not eating your supper?"

⠀"'I'm afraid. I have a...bad feeling about the upcoming reaping. Someone we love will be a part of the Games." As I speak, a queasy feeling grows in my stomach.

⠀"It's always someone we love, Perseus." She said, the humor in her voice gone.

⠀My mother was right, and everyone that might've heard her would know it's the truth. It always has been, and always will be. The most loved of the people in the districts are always pulled at the reaping, and sent into the arena to die.

⠀Soon after I forced down my dinner into my small, starved stomach, I cleaned up and laid in bed for rest. Little did I know, I was in for a restless night. My bed was sized for one person, my mother's bed on the other side of the room. No matter the size of my bed, it felt empty. I felt alone. Never had I had a girlfriend, never had I had feelings for a girl either. But this feeling, what I was feeling right there, I think was love's absence.

⠀I pulled the pillow out from under my head, resulting in the back of my head hitting the wall behind it. At the time, I was unaware of the pain as I hugged the pillow to my chest, quietly sobbing into it, staining it with the emotion-filled tears I had never dreamed of having.

⠀There was someone -somewhere- that I was missing, that I was longing for. The only women I have ever loved was my mother. I had always thought I would spend my life fishing, watching the Games, and surviving off of the money I made from the fish I sell.

⠀Though I guess I am wrong. The pillow I have wrapped in my arms feels wrong.

⠀♆

⠀I wake up the next morning with half on my face drenched in drool. Sitting up on my elbow, I used my opposite hand to wipe some of my slobber from the corner of my mouth.

⠀I began to become blinded as the beaming sun came through the window. Though the sun is up and shining bright, I want to sleep all of the day. But I can't. I know I can't. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, the next day, or the next day. Today is the reaping. I know I will lose someone today.

⠀I stand up and shuffle my feet toward the mirror in the room. I looked like a dean man back from the grave, haunting the earth. My mother had a bowl of water on the small dresser sitting out. I guess she noticed my drool, and this was her message of telling me to wash it off when I wake, and I do.

⠀The water is cooling against my skin. And as I rub my hands along my jawline, I know I need to cut my whiskers. And soon. Though, I had never been good with hair cutting. I have scars from my previous attempts to shave. Thinking now, I know she won't be with me to prevent the blood from leaking from my chin's skin.

⠀I dry my face, pull a fresh shirt over my head and begin my journey to the kitchen, where I find my mother scrubbing dishes.

⠀I notice by dark blue, three pointed trident leaning against the wall by the door. Wrapping my hand around it, I say, "Mom, do you want me to go catch breakfast?"

⠀Giving a small laugh, she replies, "No, sweetheart. I already have a meal prepared for you. It's a big day today, you know. Therefor, I have a special breakfast that awaits you." As she is finishing her sentence, her fingertip points toward the plate of fried eggs and a rounded piece of bread with a pattern of intersecting lines all across it, colored blue, my favorite color, and freshly squeezed orange juice.

⠀"Mom, what the hell is the blue circle on the plate?"

⠀"It's an old recipe I found in our family's cook book. Thought I might try it. I think it's called..." she placed her hand on her forehead, trying to retrieve the memory. "A waffle!"

⠀"What make...a 'waffle'...blue?"

⠀"The recipe called for blue food diy, and I had guessed that it meant blueberry juice, so I squeezed blueberries for the juice. Try it."

⠀My mother wore a big grin, which tells me she is proud of her work, which made me try it. To my surprise, it was amazing. Maybe because it was new, or maybe because it was blue.