Afterlife Anxiety (Annabeth Fanific)

I Meet a Girl Named Grace and She's Not Half Bad

Percy's POV

I sat there crying until the police came. They took one look at me and Annabeth's dead body before deciding that it was a rabid dog attack. If only they knew. Later people told me I wouldn't speak to anyone, wouldn't come out of my dazed state, I would just keep mumbling Annabeth's name over and over again. I sat there on the sidewalk, staring at Annabeth, until the police came and started to question me. I wouldn't answer them. I couldn't. How could I do anything when my Annabeth was dead?

Somehow somebody had called my mother, probably because I was too shocked to do it myself. I briefly wondered how they had known she was my mother and how they got her number, but I didn't care. Nothing mattered except for Annabeth. My mom stepped over the yellow police tape that was being unraveled, took one look at Annabeth's dead body, and burst into tears. Then she took a deep breath, calmed herself down, then rushed up to me. She sat down next to me on the sidewalk, cradling my head in her arms, letting me cry into her shirt. Somehow she knew that I needed her more than anything else.

"Excuse me ma'am and sir?" A police officer asked, striding up to me and my mom.

My mom looked up, her eyes red. "Yes?" She asked warily.

"I'm sorry, but could I ask who this was?" He pointed at Annabeth. "And who you are?"

I burst into tears again at the word was, I couldn't help it. A random memory of Annabeth and I walking through the strawberry patch at camp, bickering like usual, had surfaced up from the depths of my mind, threatening to break me in two.

My mom stroked my head soothingly, still glaring at the officer as if it was his fault. "That is Annabeth Chase. I am Sally Jackson, and my son here is Percy."

The officer cleared his throat. "And may I ask what relation she has to you two?"

My mom looked down. "She was-" her voice cracked and tears threatened to spill from her face. She started again, this time her voice barely above a whisper. "She was my son's girlfriend."

The officer gave me a sad little sympathy smile, as if that would clear up everything. "I'm so sorry."

I just nodded numbly as the police officer walked away. An ambulance had come too, although every one could tell Annabeth was already dead. Three medics from the ambulance lifted Annabeth up and placed her on a white stretcher, then took a thin white blanket and covered her body with it. I curled up into a ball at the sight of Annabeth wrapped up so unnaturally in that white blanket and started sobbing again, my mom hugging me and crying as well.

I don't know how much time we spent on that sidewalk. It could have been minutes or hours, and frankly? I didn't care. I cried until there was no more water left in my body, my mom just hugging me and whispering random soothing nothings in my ear. My mom must've called Paul at one point, because when he came driving up I was just sitting there on the sidewalk, shaking with silent tears because I had no more real ones left. My mom helped me up into the car and told Paul what happened. He just sat there, shell-shocked, as traffic blared around him. Finally he looked at me and said, "I'm so sorry." I just gave him a weak smile, although now I'm pretty sure it was a grimace.

When we got home, Paul explained the events of the day to his mom, dad, and sister who had joined us for dinner. They all just stared at me, shocked that this girl that they would have met was dead, before mumbling their 'sorrys'. My mom tried to feed me some dinner, but it was no use. How could I eat, how could I even think about eating when Annabeth was gone?

I stumbled into my room and sat on my bed, looking around. Pictures of me and Annabeth were strewn about the walls. Every time I looked at one, I was thrown into another round of tears. I hoped Annabeth was happy in Elysium. Her last words rang through my head: Don't dwell too much on me Percy. Live your life. I sighed. Even when she was dying, she was smart. She had known that I would try and commit suicide to join her in Elysium. But now, I couldn't dishonor her last wish. I had to carry on, live my life. I'll see you when the time is right. I sighed again as I wondered when that would be.

I got up when I heard a knock on the door. I opened it to see Paul's sister looking at me with kind eyes, a plate of lasagna in her hand. I stepped aside to let her in, and she plopped straight onto my bed. She was much younger than Paul, she looked to be in her twenties. Her short brown hair hung above her shoulders, giving her a floating kind of look. She smiled at me sadly. I closed the door behind me, wondering why in the world she was here.

"So," she started, "I heard about your girlfriend." Oh. That's why she was here. Of course. I nodded my head sadly as she continued.

"Well, you've been here for two hours, and I bet you're hungry." I guess I must have looked startled at the amount of time I was in my room, because she gave me a quiet laugh.

"Here." She handed me the plate of lasagna and surveyed the pictures around the room as I dug in. "She was really pretty," she said in a quiet voice. I just nodded, not sure what to say.

"Well, I know you're Percy, but I'm guessing you don't know me. I'm Grace." She put out her hand for me to shake, which I gladly did.

The next hour was kind of a blur. Grace tried to lift my spirits as I ate, making me almost forget about my problems. Not quite, but almost. When Grace and her parents had to leave I was kind of sad, because Grace was funny and a good friend. That night, even though I went to sleep crying, somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that things just might turn out alright.