Uncertain

Chapter One

Warning: language, brief mention about anxiety (at the end)

Thalia's POV
"Mom," I wheezed. "You gotta let me go." "No," she muttered. I rolled my eyes. "No, really. You have to let me go. I can't breathe." She sniffled and stepped back. "Sorry." I let out a half strangled laugh and stepped back. "It's okay. I'm only going to be a few hours away, you know?" I replied, trying to keep her from crying again. I loved my mom, but her constant crying was starting to get on my nerves. You'd think I was going to college on the other side of the world from the way she was acting. "I know," she whispered. "But my baby girl is going to college!" I sighed. Here we go. "What am I going to do without you? What are you going to do without me? Are you going to be ok-" "Mom," I said abruptly. "I'm going to be just fine. I'm an adult now; I can take care of myself. You know that. And as for all the other stuff, well, you know I can handle that too." She dried her eyes and reached for her coat that hung across the back of my chair. "I just worry about you. It's a mother's job to worry. But I know you're capable of handling things, and I'm so proud of you. I know your father would be too." My shoulders tensed at the mention of my father; we rarely talked about him, not since his death three years ago. I opened my mouth, but before I could get any words out, my mom spoke. "Okay, I really should get going. Call me if you have any trouble. With anything. I mean it. I love you." "I know Mom. I love you too," I said. And with that, my mom left and I was alone in the quiet of my dorm room. With the exception of some vague chatter from a group of girls a few doors down, it was oddly silent for a freshman dorm building. Luckily, I liked it that way. Quiet was a rare commodity in my line of work. My roommate Violet also had yet to arrive, which gave me time to fully unpack and set up the safe for my weapons. I almost cried as I looked at all the crap piled up on my bed; this shit was going to take a while...

An hour and a half later, I was finally finished. My bed was made, my desk was neatly organized, and my clothes were put away. Most importantly, my weapons and all hunting related materials were tucked away in the safe that was hidden underneath my bed. I sighed with relief as I wrapped myself in my recently purchased onesie. I could finally relax and watch some Netflix, at least until my roommate arrived.

Halfway through my Criminal Minds marathon, I heard some not so quiet arguing directly outside my door. "Watch it, asshole!" a female voice snapped. "Don't get in my way then, you ignorant oaf!" I raised my eyebrows as I closed my laptop and hopped off my bed. This should be interesting. There was the sound of a body hitting the floor with a dull thud, followed by an indignant "Ow, what the hell, Violet?!" and loud snickering. The door swung open, and a tall blonde pushed her way into the room. She propped open the door and turned to me. "Hi! You must be Thalia! God, you're so pretty. Your eyes are stunning! I'm Violet, by the way. It's nice to finally meet you!" Taken aback by the energy of her greeting, I managed to spit out "Thanks? It's nice to meet you too." I peered into the hallway and saw a boy, probably 19 or 20, lying on the floor with a pained expression on his face. "Is he-" "He's fine," she snorted, dismissing my concern with a wave of her hand. "Run," I heard him whisper. "Run from this psycho while you still can." "Shut up, you asshole, or I'll kick you in the balls again." The boy on the floor paled visibly, and dragged himself to the other side of the hallway. "Wow, Vi. Kicking a man while he's down. That's cold, even for you." Violet and I turned, and I saw another boy around 19 or 20 enter the room. Wait a minute... I thought. I looked at the boy in the hallway, who had managed to pick himself up off the floor, to the boy who had just entered the room, and back again. Were they...

"Twins," Violet said, seeing my confused expression. "They also unfortunately happen to be my older brothers, Tate and Bennett. Or as I like to refer to them, asshole and dumbass." I let out a snort of laughter at her response. "Don't encourage her," the second one said. "I'm, Tate, by the way. Also know as asshole. That one over there is Bennett, aka dumbass." "Nice to meet you," I said with a smile. "I'm Thalia. Do you guys go to school here too?" Bennett dusted himself off and picked up the packages that he must've dropped when he fell. "Yeah," he said. "Tate and I are juniors. He's a Biochem major and I'm Psych. Violet, where do you want me to put all this crap?" "First of all, it's not crap," she replied. "Second of all, put it on my desk and then help me get the rest of my stuff from the car while Thalia and Tate start unpacking. Thalia, you don't mind helping, do you?" "No, not at all" I said, shaking my head. "I've got nothing else to do anyway." Nothing except continuing to marathon Criminal Minds and squeal about my smol son Spencer Reid. "Great!" Violet clapped her hands and turned to Bennett. "Let's go, dumbass. Hurry up." Tate shook his head, a resigned expression on his face as he watched Bennett follow Violet warily down the hall. "Sorry about my sister," he said as he reached for a package. "She has a bit of a...intense personality. It can be a lot to handle sometimes, but she means well. Most of time, at least." A small, amused smile spread across my face. "It's fine. I have family like that too. Not siblings - I'm an only child - but I have a lot of cousins who always pull shit like that at family reunions." Tate reached into what looked like a box of hair and makeup supplies and pulled out an eye lash curler. "What the hell is this?" he asked, his voice a mix of horror and confusion. I laughed. "It's an eye lash curler. Why don't you put it with the rest of this stuff? Violet will probably want to sort through that herself." "I love my sister," he said. "But honest to God, I don't know what half of this stuff is or why she needs any of it." "You don't need to understand, so don't even bother trying. You'll just end up more confused," I replied. He smiled at me, and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of Violet and Bennett coming back down the hallway.