Percy and Paul

Confusion

Sally's apartment door opened and shut. "I'm home mom!" Percy called. Sally sprang off the couch and over to Percy wrapping him in a big momma bear hug. "Ribs. Mom." he gasped. I chuckled, and he noticed me. "Oh hey Paul." I waved. He turned back to Sally, "I'm gonna go get some rest." She nodded and shoved him off to his room.

Despite Sally's best efforts to stay calm while Percy was gone, I could tell the difference when he came home. There was a wave of relief that washed over her, and she looked perfectly content and beautiful.

I came back to the Jackson residence three days later for dinner. Sally freed Percy from helping her to keep me company, even though I insisted otherwise. So I sat with Percy on the couch and, for the first time, noticed a grey streak in his hair.

Percy didn't strike me as the type to dye his hair, especially if Sally didn't like it, and I'd seen her frown at his hair before, but I never knew why. Then I realized it wasn't dyed, it was natural. What would cause him to get grey hair early? So I asked, "Hey, Percy?"

"Hm?"

"Out of curiosity, why does your hair have grey in it?"

His eyes visibly darkened and it was scary. He touched the strand and mumbled something. Then, his features went relatively back to normal and he answered, "Just, stress, I suppose."

I knew he wasn't telling me something, but I also knew he wasn't going to tell me, so I let the matter drop. Sally said that it was dinner time, saving us from the uncomfortable silence.

Sally started the conversation this time, "So, Paul, I heard you like Greek... stories."

I perked up, I loved Greek mythology. It was so cool! "Um, yeah, I think it's fascinating."

Percy and Sally shared a look like they knew something that I didn't, then Percy spoke up, "Okay. So, what's your favorite story?"

"Easy," I said, "The Odyssey."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." Percy said like it was just another story.

"Wait," I said, "Have you read it?" He nodded. I was shocked. He managed to read the Odyssey when he was both ADHD and dyslexic? How!?

Sensing my astonishment, Percy explained, "I have a special... dyslexic... copy." Sally giggled, and I once again got the sense that they weren't telling me something.

"So who's your favorite Greek hero?" I asked Percy.

"Perseus." He said simply.

I laughed a little. It was funny that the kid's favorite hero was his namesake. "Interesting," I commented, "Why's that?"

Percy answered like it should be obvious, "He has a happy ending."

Wow. Deep. Perseus was the only hero with a happy ending, but still. "Huh. That's neat. Although I would've thought you'd be a Hercules fan."

For the second time tonight, his eyes became terrifying, and stirred like a hurricane. But he quickly composed himself, simply nodding at my statement. Though I heard him mumble something about Hercules not being a hero and someone named Zoe being ten times the person he was. I was confused, why would he think Hercules wasn't a hero? The more I hung out with this kid, the more questions I ended up with.

Percy excused himself saying he was tired. Drat. I really wanted Percy to like me. Partially because he was my girlfriend's son, and partially because he seemed like a good person. I also really didn't want him as an enemy, because, man, he was intimidating.

Two days later, there was a knock on the door. I went to go answer it, but Percy bolted past me, yelling, "I got it!" his hand was at his pocket when he opened the door, but he immediately relaxed.