The Orientation Film

Chapter 2 - Starting from the Beginning

Annabeth's Interview

The room was eerie, tears were already forming in Annabeth's eyes and Kayla sat in a chair notepad in hand, she started,

"Why'd you run away?"

"Oh," Annabeth straightened up and blinked away her surprise, "starting off strong huh?" she laughed awkwardly.

"Hah, yeah, sorry. We can return to that question later if you want to start somewhere else?"

"No, no, it's okay, the beginning, let's start there."

"Okay, so why'd you run away."

"Well, a lot of reasons. A lot of the same reasons everyone has considered running away, or why some of the other campers here have run away. I didn't fit. I didn't fit into a family, that just wasn't where I was meant to be. I wasn't meant to be a Chase. My dad is a history professor," She reached for the ring on her beaded neckless, fidgeting each bead between her fingers, "so he was busy a lot, and well, Virginia is small, or so it felt it. So when you have one person who's too busy in a quiet suburb, so is everyone else. And the smaller it is, the easier it is to ruin, break, and hurt. I was suffocating at seven, when you should be playing on the swings with your friends I saw swinging wood scraps at monsters trying to kill me. I was making escape plans instead of friendship bracelets, so I saw an opening in the walls of that house, and I ran." She let out a heavy sigh, adjusting in the squeaky chair as Kayla and Austin exchange a glassy look.

"Do you regret running away?" Kayla's chair screamed in the echoing silence.

"No."

"Not even a little?"

"Not at all." The door creaked, and Percy stepped in making eye contact with Annabeth. Will leaned into him, whispering something in his ear. Percy nodded his head, looking back at Annabeth and flashing a smile, she couldn't help but smile back.

"How long was it before you met up with the others?"

"I believe it was around three days before I bumped into them."

"And what happened over those three days?" Kayla leaned in a shimmer in her eyes awaiting every little detail.

9 Years Prior

Annabeth's POV

A cool summer breeze slipped through the cracked window, whispering taunts of what and what ifs. Dad crept away from the door, watching me tightly tucked in under my pink and green floral comforter that my dad promised would keep me safe from the monsters with leaves and branches, hovering over and guarding the neighborhood. And the other monsters with extra eyes stolen from the others with only one, big claws, spitting venom with slithering tounges and hair. Some with wingspans bigger than all of Richmond and some teeth sharper than daggers.

The old wooden floorboards creaked a countdown of one, two, three, as I listened for the squeal of my father's door down the hall and then a click. I waited, hugging my stuffed owl, whose once-white stomach had started fading into a dingy grey. I didn't go anywhere without Hoot.

There was a distant shuffling before his bed frame squeaked, then silence. Nothing was left but the chirps of crickets signaling to go. Besides those crickets and the monstrous wind, nothing else was up to witness my great escape.

Carefully, I crept out of bed, the sound of my feet tapping the floors muffled by a pair of fuzzy socks. I grabbed the backpack of snacks, water, birthday and allowance money, a map, a blanket, a pocket knife and arrows, and other artifacts I'd stolen from my dad, a hair comb, mint gum, and a change of clothes. I slipped on my sneakers each scattered on different sides of my room, each creaky step called for my father to come and stop me, to put me back in bed and tell me that he wants me here. For him to reassure me no monsters will hurt me, there is nothing to run from, nowhere to run to, and that it will all be okay.