Empty Closets

What We Found on the Camera

Sorry for the late update :I I've been really busy going back to school and other things like that. This is a short chapter but the ending is sorta unexpected. So uh.. enjoy. And I'm sorry but there's no hint this chapter. :(

What We Found on the Camera (POVs Switch)

(Annabeth's POV)

The first actually wasn't the worst.

The scene is recognizable already. Nico is sitting in Zeus’s cabin with Piper and Jason, Zeus’s son himself. By looking at the edges of the video, I can tell this was filmed outside of a window.

I blush when I hear Piper say, “I’m sorry if I’m forcing you to say this.”

“You should be,” I barely hear Nico say. Then his voice gets louder. “Besides, it was your mom who did this!”

“What does my mom have to do with anything?”

“It’s not fully her fault; it’s just, well, she’s the goddess of…”

“Love?” Piper’s beautiful face lights up (not like a Christmas tree). “Oh my gods! You like someone! Who is it? Is it Thalia?”

Typical.

“NO!” Nico’s face gets red. “Not her! Anyway, I can’t really tell you.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated. Sort of.”

After studying the ongoing conversation, Jason finally speaks.

“Nico –

“No, it’s fine Jason,” Nico tells him. “I can take it from here.” He turns his attention back to Piper.

“It’s kind of hard to tell you because… I can’t. People would think I was a freak. They’d think I’m crazy or confused. But I’m not.”

“Ok,” Piper slowly responds. “Well, what is it you’re afraid of saying?”

Nico takes a deep breath and says, “I like Percy.”

I look up at Percy, who is as red as a tomato.

Piper (in the video) looks shocked. Her eyes are wide and the pair of lips I am dying to kiss open slightly.

“I never would’ve guessed,” she says.

“Yeah, well, no one guesses that someone is gay,” Nico tells her.

“Wait,” Jason says. “You said you had a crush on Percy.” Nico’s face gets red again and Jason says, “Oh.”

“I don’t care if you have a crush on a boy,” Piper says to Nico. “Those people are stupid.”

The video stops.

(Percy's POV)

“Oh this isn’t where you met… Gods, I’m so sorry; I had no idea! Here, let’s go somewhere else.”

This is it. The video. The video that changed everything. It drove Nico to the point where he almost succeeded in killing himself. This led to a nasty scar running down his arm. He had to leave came for the rest of the summer. I hate this video already. But I have to watch it.

Nico had just finished speaking. The video showed he and I at the strawberry field. If the camera turned itself around, the tool shed, home of Leo and Calypso’s… mating place… could be seen.

“No,” I hear myself say. “Here’s fine. “We aren’t on a date or anything.”

My eyes start to water as I hear Nico say, “But I promise you Percy that our first will be at a very special place. Not one that brings back bad memories we wish we never had. Not one where we can risk death, yeah, no Anti-Pride Rock for a while.”

My mouth in the video turns up into a smile. So does my actual mouth. But then the tears start falling. Annabeth rests her hand on my shoulder.

“I promise you it will be all you could ask for,” Nico continues. “I want you to be happy you’re dating me.”

“Who said I already wasn’t?” I hear myself say in the video.

Tear after tear falls as I watch Nico kiss me. Annabeth hugs me and the video stops.

My tears don't.

After 15 minutes of sobbing, I finally regain the courage to play the next video.

This one video I had no idea was recorded. What was the purpose of it? TO show there was victory until the next summer?

Nico and I were sitting in the hospital. We both sit in the bed, facing each other.

“You got some color back,” I hear myself say. Gods, this feels like it only happened yesterday.

On the screen, Nico nods and says, “What happened? When I was gone?”

“Well, once Jason left with you, the whole camp was in panic. Then, Dionysus told everyone to go to the strawberry field. He gave this huge speech about bullying and suicide. Then everyone decided to accept LGBT campers, so now Camp Half Blood is safe.”

That day was great. Well, except for the whole Nico almost dying thing. But I’ll get to that later.

“Wow,” Nico says. “I never thought that would happen. How did Scott deal with everything?”

I remember how I felt when I had said, “Scott got kicked out of camp and he’s not allowed back, so he has to go to what’s left of Camp Jupiter.”

Seeing Nico smile makes me want to cry even more than I already have.

“I didn’t even get to the best part. Drew –

All of a sudden, the screen goes black. Then everything goes black.

Sirens blare all around us. They holler into our ears as I roll onto the ground.

The sirens stop. I still hear them across camp, and I hear screams that pierce my eardrums.

“Percy,” Annabeth whispers.

“Yes?” I reply.

“I – I smell gas.”

I sniff the air. It does smell like gas.

“We have to get out of here now.” I head over to the door. I play with the knob. Oh no.

“Please don’t tell me it’s locked.”

“It’s LOCKED?” Annabeth starts panicking.

That’s when we see a burning light. Before I know it, flames surround us.

I try to summon water, but nothing happens. My powers are useless. I am useless. And I am going to die useless.

What’s worse is that I already feel Nico’s father claiming me as his own.