Discontinued - PJO One Shots

Birthday Present (Annabeth)

When I woke up, I knew that today was my seventeenth birthday.

I rose out of bed, washed myself in the washtub and pulled on a grey sundress the same color as my eyes. I slipped on my cloth shoes and did my sandy blonde curls into a ponytail. I rubbed my eyes and then quietly opened my door. I could hear a needle clinking as my mother possibly worked on a new piece of clothing. I tiptoed down the creaky stairs and into the living room that also served as a dining room.

My mother, Athena, was indeed hunched over her old sewing machine. She had her blonde hair into a loose bun. A shimmering dark blue dress lay out on an old wooden table beside her. I accidentally stepped on a stiff floorboard and my mother froze, for a split second, before turning her head to look at me.

"Good morning, Mother." I smiled. "I was just wondering why you were still up with your sewing."

My mother quickly hid the dark blue dress. "I was just finishing-"

"My birthday present?" I questioned, cutting her off. "Is it my present?"

"Alright," Athena sighed. "Happy Birthday Annabeth!"

Bridget handed me the shimmering, knee-length, dark blue dress. I gracefully took it.

"Did you really make this for me?" I asked. "I didn't need this new dress, Mother, but since you made it, I'll take it."

Athena smiled. "Go and see your father. He's sitting under the oak tree," she ordered. "He has a present for you as well."

I replaced my grey dress for the dark blue dress I was just given. Then I ventured outside to see my father, as Athena ordered.

~***~

I sat down on the roots of the old oak tree which was located a fair distance from the house. My father, Frederick, sat on his usual stump. Frederick patted my coppery blonde curls. My father had blonde hair and unlike Athena, who had grey eyes, he had blue.

"Happy Birthday Annie," Frederick said. "Come down to the river with me. I've got your present there."

So we ventured down to the river, in the woods, at the back of our property. I ducked under a few tree branches and stopped once we reached the clear blue river. Frederick wadded in the river and gestured for me to follow. I hesitated. Where was the present my father said he had for me? I just didn't get it. I looked at the river. There was no way I was going into it. I couldn't swim despite the amount of times Frederick tried to teach me. My father shot me an encouraging smile. I shook my head no.

"I'll help you Annie," Frederick comforted. "I'll be by your side every step."

I bit my lip. "Do I have a choice?" I questioned.

"No," my father simply said. "You don't have a choice."

I pulled down my shimmering, dark blue dress. I redid my hair into a messy bun. "Alright," I grumbled. "I have no idea why my present would be in the river but disobeying you, Father, would make Mother unhappy." I stepped towards the river bed. "What are we doing?"

Frederick, quickly, grabbed my wrists with his hands. He pulled me into the river and I tripped along the way. I landed face first into the river and that's when I realized. My birthday present from my father was death. A hand pushed my head down further into the water. Soon, my vision went blurry before everything went black and my breathing stopped.

The Funeral

"I wish I could have tried harder to save her," Frederick, Annabeth's father said. "I shouldn't have turned away when she was at the river bed."

Annabeth's mother, Athena, wiped her soggy eyes. She looked down at her daughter's body. Annabeth was her only daughter. It was a shame she didn't know Athena was pregnant with a boy. Her seventeen year old daughter never knew that she was to be a sister. Athena touched her stomach where Elijah, she named the unborn boy, was kicking.

Athena added Annabeth's death to the list of seventeen-year-old girls dying over the past few years. She shook her head and gazed at her dead daughter's appearance. Annabeth's touch was stone cold. Her lips were a bright blue. Athena closed the eyelids of her dead daughter. Annabeth had drowned wearing the dark blue dress Athena had made her for her birthday.

Frederick looked into Athena's grey eyes with his blue ones. He patted his wife's blonde bun. Bridget leaned closer to him and he draped his arm over her shoulder.

"Ave atque vale," Athena cried. "Hail and Farewell, my daughter."

Bridget, however, did not see Frederick grinning like an idiot. She lent down and kissed Elizabeth's limp hand and let her tears flow on her daughter. She was unaware of the knife raised, ready to sink through her back and into the heart until it was too late.

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YAH YEET

Now this is the definition of trash and I promise I will fix it up. (This was written in year 8, all I did was just adjust the names lol)

I wanted to spam this with some updates just in case I have a repeat of 2019, where I barely updated due to Uni. I don't start until the end of Feb and truth be told, all I do is sleep, read, eat and do chores at home.

Ooops