Of Shattered Glass and Tiled Floors

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Thalia

After watching the reapings, I went into my suite, avoiding eye contact from Percy and our consulers- Karma and George. The room I was in was white and empty. It looked too clean to be real. I suddenly felt the very real need to get out of my clothes and the next thing I knew my clothes were in a smelly pile at my feet.

I was standing in nothing but my underwear, breathing hard and on the brink of tears. I was angry, no, I was more than that, I was pissed. I was 18, for fuck's sake and of course I got reaped the last time my name would be in that God forsaken bowl.

My breath started to quicken as tears started to flow freely from eyes. I grabbed at my hair and pulled on it, fighting the urge to scream. I locked my jaw and breathed in through my nose, in and out, in and out. The tears were still flowing but I ignored them, finding my way to my dresser and looking in the mirror.

A blurry figure stared back, her cheeks red, her mouth pressed into a firm line, her blue eyes sad. I shook my head at the reflection until I went dizzy and in a second, my fist was connecting with the cool glass. 

The other kids at home could be excited for the games, but I would not be. I never understood their appeal; I never understood the hype. The Games didn't look fun; they looked horrible, and now I was stuck in the middle of one.

I moved away from the shattered mirror and fell backwards into my bed. It smelled of cotton and not at all of the sea that I was so familiar with. I breathed in its scent shakily and rolled over on my side. I felt a strong headache coming on so I shut my eyes, willing myself to stop shaking, willing myself  to stop breathing.

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 Percy

After Thalia had stormed out the watch room, I decided to retire for the night. George and Karma were talking animatedly in the hallway a few yards away from my room. When I was two feet away from my door they turned to me excitedly and started talking quickly.

I stared at them for a few seconds until my brain caught up to my ears. 

"Hey, Percy. Did you enjoy the reapings?" Karma had asked that. I turned my eyes towards her weird face; her nose was extremely pointy and her eyes were really far apart. She looked like a fish, I realized. Suddenly a smile was on my face and I responded to her, not really feeling my mouth move, not really thinking about the words that came out of it. 

Whatever I said must have been sufficient enough, for immediately afterwards, Karma and George picked up their conversation as if I hadn't been there to begin with. I blinked slowly at the two of them and turned into my room, closing the door with a soft click.

My room was white like the pearls my mother wore around her tanned neck. My mother. I swallowed hard and ran my hands through my hair, thinking about her smiling face. She was sad to see me go, but in a weird way, proud. I almost laughed out loud at the notion.

I shook my head and headed for the drawers in the room. I pulled one out and grabbed a gray pair of sweatpants. In the next drawer over was underwear of various colors. My hands immediately snatched up the blue pair as I headed to the bathroom.

The bathroom was white like the room and exceedingly bright. I didn't look at my reflection not once while I stripped myself and turned on the water to the hottest setting it had. I stepped into the shower. The floor of it was cushioned and soft and the water was beating down against my back. It felt nice, I had to admit, nicer than anything back at home.

I let the water run through my hair and down my face, wallowing in the warm feeling it left me. Too soon, I turned the water off and toweled off, slipping on the clothes. I then stood in the bathroom, un-moving, staring at the wall. I swallowed dryly and blinked away the image of my mother.

She would be fine, I kept telling myself. It'd all be fine.

I threw up in the toilet four times and fell asleep on the perfectly tiled floor.


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