Percy Jackson-Abused-Short Story

Surprises

I snuck out of my room in the morning. I walked into the other room and silently woke up Estelle. She got up, quickly changed, and we walked to the kitchen where Mom had seen breakfast. She smiled sadly when she saw us and Estelle attacked her with a hug. 

I wrapped an arm around her, trying to comfort her. A tear streaked down her bruised cheek. Seeing it made me mad, but I couldn't do anything. I just had to make sure he didn't hurt Estelle. 

"I love you," Mom whispered, kissing Estelle's cheek. She set her back down, put her lunch in her backpack, and handed it to her. Estelle slipped it on and then grabbed the breakfast burrito Mom had made for her. 

She hugged me next, being mindful of my bruises. She pulled away, looking into my eyes. I managed a smile at her and kissed the top of her head. I stepped away from her, grabbed my backpack with my lunch already in it, my breakfast burrito, and Estelle's hand. I led her out of the house and walked her to school. She was in first grade now. 

Estelle turned back to me and I knelt on her level, giving her a hug. I kissed her forehead and gestured for her to go. She said a quick goodbye and walked to the school. 

I stood up and started to the high school. Goode High. I walked in and immediately went to my first class as the bell rang. I sat down in a seat in the back and started drawing a picture until the teacher started teaching. When he did, my head snapped up, and I looked into the eyes of my Uncle Zeus. Great. This was going to be bad. 

For the rest of the day, the other gods showed up in all of my classes and, every time, tried to ask me questions. Then, the other kids had to explain about how I was mute and my face went red because whichever god it was, looked at me like I had grown another head. The others, who were also mixed into my classes, gave me weird looks when they heard this. 

During lunch, I went into the library, not wanting to talk to them. Luckily, I found Rosie in there. She smiled and greeted me as I sat down next to her on the couch. I found myself smiling back and I waved in greeting. 

We worked on our Math homework together since I'm not that good at Math and I didn't want to have to ask Mom for help later. She was busy as it was. 

"You're not that bad at Math," Rosie said, once we had finished. I rolled my eyes as I sat back on the couch. I noticed the others standing in the doorway, spying on us. I decided to ignore them. 

I put my workbook back in my backpack and then set it on the ground, looking over the book Rosie was reading. Shakespeare. We were supposed to be reading it for English class. Athena had given the assignment. 

"This is actually interesting," she said to me. I raised an eyebrow. 

How do you even understand it? I asked, using sign language. She chuckled. 

"It's not even that bad. You'll see, once you actually start reading it." I rolled my eyes again. 

Yeah, sure. I can't even read in the first place.

"You'll be fine." For the rest of the lunch period, I drew in my notebook as Rosie read Shakespeare. Sure, we didn't talk, but it was a comfortable silence. 

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After school, I walked back towards the elementary school, which got out ten minutes after us, so I had plenty of time to get there. I could tell the others were following me, but I decided not to alert them, they would just talk to me. 

When I got to the school, it was only a minute until the bell rang and a bunch of kids poured out of the school. Estelle was one of the last ones. She came up to me, smiling. I smiled when I saw her. I took her hand, and we started home. 

"Guess what?" she asked. "I made five new friends today. Clara, Ruthee, Allison, Brianna, and Julianne. We call her Julie, though. They're really cool and we played really fun games during recess." I smiled as I recalled what it had been like to be a little kid. Oblivious to the mythical world. And oblivious to Gabe. Until I was six, at least. 

The others followed us home until we got to the house. Then, they hung back as Estelle and I walked up to the house and inside. As soon as I shut the door, Gabe had his arm to my throat. Estelle looked fearfully up at me and I gestured for her to go. She ran over to Mom and they walked away after Mom shot me a glance, but I motioned for her to go too. Reluctantly, she did. 

Gabe started punching and kicking me until there was a knock at the door. He glared at me and then pushed me into the living room, tying my hands together and shoving me into the corner, away from the view of the door. 

Gabe opened the door and...