Charlotte Smith

I Meet the Hunters

I was running.

I didn't know what was chasing me, but I knew I was scared of it.

I turned around and tripped on a tree root. I fell to the ground roughly and scurried behind a tree.

I felt the evil spirit getting closer until I felt it breathing on my neck. I turned around and screamed.

I bolted upright, still screaming my heart out.

I was next to a tree in a beautiful field. I felt tears falling down my face and stopped screaming, the dream feeling so real.

Nico came running to me and sat next to me. He rubbed my back very comfortingly as I cried.

I concealed my face in Nico's chest, sobbing quietly.

I finally calmed down and reduced my sob to a sniffle.

"Do you want to talk about it Charlotte?" Nico questioned quietly.

I shook my head, keeping my head on Nico's firm chest.

"Okay, well do you want to talk about the thing with Percy?" He asked.

I sighed and rose my head out of Nico's chest.

"I'm not sure because I didn't even mean to tell Percy. I'm not exactly great at spilling my feelings, if you haven't noticed." I replied.

He softly smiled and stated "Just imagine I'm your favorite person and talk."

I nodded and looked into Nico's eyes. I imagined sitting with Hal in the forest during study hall, talking about random things.

"This demigod stuff is just too much to handle. I just don't see the point in living with all of this pressure and stupid quests that make you think. I was with Percy and screamed that I wanted to die. He told me to talk to you and that you will help." I spoke, imagining Hal's eyebrows scrunch together in concentration and biting his lip when he's thinking hard like he always did.

I blinked a few times until I saw Nico again. I noticed his eyes were glossy and he was looking down.

"Y-You wanted to kill yourself?" He questioned in a strained voice.

I shyly nodded and held my head down, feeling ashamed.

I heard Nico sniffle and he stated "Life is a very important thing, Charlotte. You shouldn't want to throw it all away because things are getting hard. You should be able to live a long happy life with the love of your life and a family. Imagine all the pain people would feel if you died. Your dad, your mom, your friends, they all would be hurting if you killed yourself." He sighed and sniffles again.

I felt tears run down my face again, his words being so deep.

I can't stop crying when I'm in front of Nico! I just can't hide my feelings with him. What happened to me?

I wiped my tears away and looked back up to Nico. I saw a few stray tears slide down his cheek that he quickly swiped away.

He stared into my eyes and we just sat there, the whole world feeling like it disappeared and it was just us.

I felt my self leaning in and noticed he was too. We were an inch apart from each other and I could smell his minty fresh breath.

"Charlotte! Nico!" Someone shouted.

We abruptly separated and I felt a blush crawl onto my cheeks.

Leo emerged from the trees and sat right in between Nico and I.

"So, how's it going?" He asked nonchalantly.

I sarcastically replied in an excited girly voice "Oh my gods, it's going amazing! I battled Kronos, I killed an army of hellhounds, AND found the perfect lip gloss to go with my outfit!"