Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 12

"How is he?" Annabeth asked. Poseidon grimaced. 

"Not well, from what I saw," he admitted. Grover sighed and looked down at the floor. As always, he had been to late. He was never able to help his best friend, the one person who always dropped everything to rush to his side. He let Percy stay in danger. It was his fault. 

"That is all I can tell you. This is still an active investigation."

"We understand," Juniper spoke. Poseidon nodded and walked out, heading home again. The trio sat down. Annabeth sighed. 

"What do we do now?" Grover asked. 

"Wait." Annabeth responded. "It's all we can do." 

"What the f*ck is wrong with me?" Grover exclaimed. "I knew he was in trouble this entire time, and yet, I didn't do anything!"

"Hey," Juniper said quietly. "He wouldn't let you help. You did everything you could. You called the police today without hesitation too."

Grover broke down, leaning against her. Juniper hugged him, tears rushing down her face as well. She had been so harsh on him, and refused to believe Percy was anything more than a terrible friend. 

Annabeth wished she had just let him walk home. All three kept thinking of everything they could have done to keep this situation from happening. 

***

All Percy could see was a bunch of bright white lights. He would tell he was moving, but he struggled to make out where he was. Somebody next to him was asking him a ton of questions. He couldn't make out what they were, so he just ignored them. 

He was tired. He couldn't remember the last time he had a decent nights sleep. And he was warm. With every blink, he struggled to open his eyes again. He allowed his eyes to close, not forcing them open again. 

The person next to him was saying something urgently. He felt a light tapping on his face, before he allowed the darkness to embrace him. 

***

Poseidon was sitting on a chair, next to a sleeping teen. The steady rise and fall of his chest calmed the officer. From what the doctors told him, the surgery had been touch and go. 

'We found old wounds, along with newer wounds that had been improperly treated, and were starting to become infected.'

Poseidon sighed. The boy in front of him had many tubes and wires coming off of him. Along with a mask. One of his lungs was injured due to many broken ribs left completely untreated. 

The officer's mind wandered back to the kids in the lobby. He was able to tell them their friend was out of surgery. He remembered how their faces fell when he told them the doctors were keeping visitors to a minimum while the were monitoring him. 

These next 24 hours were going to be vital, and they wanted to keep from stressing him out. Poseidon had changed into his regular clothes for the same reason. 

Moving from beside him, broke the officer out of his thoughts. 

Percy opened his eyes and sighed. He couldn't remember what had happened. All he knew, he was in a ton of pain. He reached up and took the mask off, deciding it was useless. 

"Hey," Poseidon said softly. He tried to not startle the young boy, however, failed. Percy jumped at the voice, and quickly grimaced. 

"Sorry," Poseidon said. "How are you feeling?" 

Percy smiled staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't believe it. He was alive. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit. He was going to see his mom again. And it was just ripped from him. Again.