Percy Jackson's memories

12

I decided I would follow Parker home that day. I went home with my mom like I normally would, keeping my distance of course. I waved to the girls, of which have no clue of my plan. If they were anything like me (and they are), they would do the same thing. When I walked into the apartment, Gabe didn't even spare me a glance, good, he was in a decent mood.

"Sally, I need some beer." Gabe growled, and I flinched, maybe he wasn't in a good mood, maybe he was just overly, extremely pissed. I've never seen him get really mad, just mad. Mad and drunk isn't a good combination either.

"I'm sorry, I don't have the money for that yet, rent hasn't been taken care of." She said simply, handing him the last can of beer from the fridge. He grumbled, and downed it quickly. He suddenly sent me a sharp glare, and so I scurried to my room, and hopped out of my window.

I climbed down the fire escape and rushed quickly to Parker's house. The bad feeling had only gotten worse, and fear coursed through me. I don't know why I was so scared for him today, I don't know if it was about the dream I had or not. I shook my head, disregarding the thoughts, and climbed up the fire escape to his room.

When I arrived, the girls already were sitting there, hiding. I nodded at them and they did the same.

"How long have you girls been here?" I whispered and thy shrugged, sharing glances.

"Only a little bit after you left." Becky said, peeking inside Parker's room. I sealed my nerves and opened the window, going inside.

"You girls stay here, I'm going to figure out what's going on. I said solemnly, before heavy footsteps were heard coming towards the room, I leaped back outside and closed the window. "Okay, not yet." I said, swallowing my fear.

"Wait, when was this?" Parker asked nervously. I looked down guiltily. I knew we shouldn't have snooped, or followed him. I looked at the girls, and Sophia nodded.

"You will find out." She said plainly.

The door opened, and all we could do was watch. Parker walked into his room, a frown on his face, and his dad followed quick behind him. His dad shoved him into the wall aggressively and grabbed his hair. It took the three girls to stop me from storming in there.

"You piece of shit, Parker! You shouldn't have been born, you got that? Your mother is a whore, and your not even my kid, yeah, that's the truth! She's a fucking cheater, and you are exactly like her! Go kill yourself before you end up hurting someone!" He shouted, slamming Parker's head into the wall twice, hard. His dad walked out, fuming. Parker sat there, in a daze, and I opened the window, walking in.

"Hey, don't listen to him, he's wrong. You won't hurt people, and you are not like your mom. I know your hurting, but it's alright." I said quietly, making sure his parents didn't hear me. But the sound of the front door sounded and I wasn't worried. The girls followed in quickly and hugged him too.

"Parker, you're an amazing human, and your not a piece of shit." Summer said, and the girls agreed. Parker sighed, nodding.

"Thanks, you guys are amazing." Parker said, hugging us all tightly. We didn't move, we didn't need to, Parker needed us, and we needed him. We all needed each other, life wouldn't operate the same with even 1 person missing.

"I barely remember that, he must've hit my head harder than I do remember." Parker shrugged and we nodded. My other friends looked shocked and confused, and I sighed.

"Guys, abuse was very common in all of our childhoods, I know it's shocking and hard to watch, and I'm sorry that we treat this differently than we should, but we all went through with it and all found unhealthy ways to cope with it." I explained and they nodded grimly.

"Like Percy, he-" Becky went to say, a small smirk on her face.

"Becky I swear to god continue that sentence I will pull a fucking Hera and throw you off Olympus and laugh at you in hell." I glared, but laughed.

"And I'll pull a Hephaestus, I will stay deformed and annoy you for the rest of eternity." She smirked and we laughed.

"No disrespect, we mean." I instantly said the the gods, and I saw Hera was ready to kill us and Hephaestus just shrugged, nodding. He agreed with us, knowing what we said was true.

"How did you guys each cope with it?" Leo asked curiously and we all looked at each other nervously.

"Umm, umm." I said, rubbing my neck with a small chuckle. "Ladies first." I said, pointing at the girls, who all glared at me, and I shrugged.

"Oh well, all strangers to us." Sophia shrugged. "For me it depends on what ages, when I was young young, definitely running away haha. And when I got older, alcohol and drugs, and now, I guess I have to say, hm, probably sex." She shrugged. "My parents sold my body to a child sex trafficker because we didn't haven't money, so yeah." She shrugged and everyone shrugged.

"Mine was definitely alcohol, and a bit of self harm along the way." Becky shrugged. "My parents avoided home and my big brother raised me, and like Sophia, my family was poor. But my family had a house." Becky said.

"Video game obsession, and in juvie, so many drugs." Summer laughed, shrugging. "And fighting, loved it and love it now. Drawing blood and losing it, it's a passion." Summer smirked, and all my Greek and Roman friends looked at her in fear.

"I like that one." Ares said smirking, looking at Summer. She smiled proudly, bowing.

"Parker?" I said, and he nodded.

"Self harm, alcohol and drugs." He said simply. "Thought I deserved the pain. Percy, I know you don't want to because you actually know these people, but you gotta man." Parker said, patting my back.

"We're getting drinks after, saying this now. Self harm, alcohol, drugs, starved myself, and many attempts of overdosing on my medications. Yeah yeah, don't even react, don't want to hear it." I said simply, and nobody said anything.

"We going for that drink or what?" Summer smirked, and I nodded.

"It's been a while since I've gotten hungover. Girls, I know you brought wine, but did you bring any beer?" I asked, eying Becky's bag. She nodded, and tossed Parker and I each a bottle of beer.

"Drinking here, seriously? There's kids." Piper said, pointing at the younger teenagers, who all looked at me in confusion.!

"I don't even know why they are watching my past, they're to young." I shrugged, drinking the first bottle with ease.

"So now that your mortal friends are here you get to act like a douche? Just cause you all had bad childhoods doesn't mean you get to be here and act like you all still go through it." Annabeth growled, and I sighed, drinking another bottle quickly.

"Maybe some of us are still going through shit. Sophia still stays with her parents and does the whole prostitution thing, Parker dealt with homelessness for 2 years, Summer had to recover from years of juvie, and Becky had and has to work so hard to keep her job because she basically takes care of her parents." I growled angrily.

"And what about you, Mr perfect. All everyone does is worship you now, and you are treated with so much respect and everything." Annabeth tested, and I shattered the bottle in my hand.

"I still get nightmares from Tartarus, I still get nightmares from my childhood, I feel like I'm only being used, and I know people only stick around cause I'm a son of Poseidon, people, monsters and gods want me dead and I haven't even gotten over my depression and anxiety because the two wars I've LEAD surely didn't help, everyone I cared for died over the last few years and I'm still being used because I'm powerful. News flash, I'm not." I growled, snatching a few more bottles of beer and walked out.