Haunted (Percy Jackson fanfic)

Chapter 8

   "Some people have questions, and you have to answer them honestly. Swear on River Styx that you will." Chiron ordered.

  "No. I'll tell them the answer if I want to." I growled, and Chiron took a small step backwards, eyes wide in surprise. I've never said no to Chiron, at least not like that. "Sorry." I mumbled, covering my face with my hands. I'm such a fuck up.

  "It's alright, just refrain from lying, as it seems your better at it then people give you credit for." Chiron said, clearing his throat.

     "Why'd he call you a whore? Was it just to be insulting?" Hazel asked worriedly, she was probably expecting the worst, I really didn't want to answer, I felt shame bury itself into the pit of my stomach, making me feel sick to myself, but if I showed it, nobody noticed.

  "I don't know." I shrugged.

  "Well, that's a lie, you thought about it for about two minutes." Piper said, looking at the clock. I sighed. I noticed Chiron looking at me, and he looked disappointed, and I felt guilty.

"Fine. I don't like admitting the truth, just a lot of stuff grown adults shouldn't be making kids do. They tried to make me participate in their 'fun time.'" I said, quoting fun time for them, so they understood what I was referring to.

"They what?!" Annabeth shouted, she was seething. Her cheeks were flushed with anger and veins were popping. I bit my cheek.

"It's fine, they never really succeeded, I was able to run a lot faster than them." I smirked, and I saw her calm down a good amount.

"What do you mean never 'really' succeeded?" Leo asked, of course he had to overthink it. His ADHD brain sometimes sucks, but mine does as well so I can't really blame him so much.

"They got their way with me a couple of times, they'd lock the main door before I'd come out of my room when my mom wasn't home, I learned to just stay in my room, and if I was hungry, I'd sneak out my window and steel food from the closest market." I shrugged harmlessly, but they clearly didn't think it was as harmless as I thought it was.

"What did they make you do?" Nico asked in shock, and I bit my cheek.

"Can we not discuss that. I've worked hard to suppress those memories, and for the most part I forgot them, I don't want to resurface those." I said honestly, nobody replied to that for a couple of minutes.

"How did you cope?" Will asked worriedly, probably thinking back to my panic attack and how out of character it seemed of me, especially because it was only going on for a day at that point.

  "Self harm, a horrible thing, but true." I shrugged. Self harm is such an easy route to go down, and once you start, it's hard to tell yourself you don't deserve it. Luckily I was able to stop after a while.

  "How long did you self harm?" Clarisse asked curiously. I sighed, rubbing my arms and stomach.

  "Eight or nine years. I stopped a while ago." I said, smiling to myself. I remember how proud I was when I was clean. It took so long.

  "What ages?" Will asked. I sighed, couldn't they ask any other questions.

  "6, stopped age 15 for good. But between ages 11 and 14, I almost quit a couple times." I shrugged, and they nodded.

  "I'm curious on that art school, still. Why wouldn't they offer you a scholarship?" Leo asked, and I shrugged.

  "Very fancy place, and there was no chance they would give me a full scholarship, I tried, plenty of times. I have to tell them I lost the welcoming letter." I sighed, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my palms. I can't believe I cried.

   "Why didn't you tell anyone that the ghost was still here?" Hazel asked, still debating if she was scared of me because I accidentally killed people. I understand, I know that it was scary.

  "It would've only gotten worse if I did. You guys saw the 'you messed up big time' carved into my floor, I didn't want to risk it anymore. I didn't want to make a big deal over it, I knew I'd find a way to cope eventually." I said, biting my lip.

  "You never explained what happened with Gabes brother. What happened to him." Chiron asked curiously. He had questions to. That was one I wanted to avoid more than anything else, the one I regretted more than anything else.

  "I think I hired someone to beat him up. Or that was someone else, I just knew he was beat to death. I try to push that one back as well. I have a lot of blanks in my childhood because I suppressed them all to the extent where I only have a few memories from back then." I said, thinking to myself. I seem like a heartless murderer.

  "That is messed up." Hades grumbled.

  "That's messed up? Please, you watch spirits get tortured in the fields of punishment." I scoffed in frustration, and Hades glared at me sharply, full of hatred. I didn't care, I glared back, neither of us would falter.

  "It's my job, Perseus, I didn't have a choice. You chose what you did." Hades growled angrily, and I continued to glare, but I knew he was right, clenching my fists, I let myself lose this battle, and I looked down.

  "Well I'm paying the consequences now, I'll get rid of these ghosts, one way or another. Wouldn't want Zeus to throw a fit." I growled, storming out of the big house.