Willium Valen and The Blessing of Apollo

The Lead

I was in complete darkness, which had to be another nightmare. I was back in the mindscape, this time I was all alone, just sitting in silence. I hugged my knees to my chest and tried not to cry. This was the only thing I could do, I had no idea if I was going to be saved. I had no hope, I wished that someone would save me, but I thought that wasn't going to happen.

Even now, I still wonder why I was saved in the first place. I know you're probably tired of me and all of my self-doubt, but it's all I feel. All of the stuff that has happened to me, just makes me question who I am. After all that I've been through I should be able to give myself some grace, but I've never been able to do that. I knew that I felt this way for a reason, but I couldn't figure it out.

When I woke up from the nightmare I felt like crying. All my life I've been called a crybaby because I cry a lot. I start crying whenever I get frustrated or if someone isn't listening to me. I've always cried and my Dad says that I probably get it from him, but I doubt that. I hate crying though, so I pushed my feelings down and I didn't cry.

I got dressed and walked out of my room, today was a very mellow day. I walked to the cafeteria and sat down at the table.

"Good morning," August said.

"Willium, did you hear about what Zaira did?" Sam asked.

"No," I muttered.

"It's not that big of a deal," Zaira scoffed.

"It is," August said.

"I've saved someone's life, but that's normal for me, I guess," Zaira muttered.

"I did art!" Sam cheered.

"I injured the person who Zaira saved, with my guitar," August sighed. "What did you do on your mission?" She asked.

I sighed. Should I have told them about how I failed and almost got killed? "Nothing really interesting,"

"Nothing interesting happened with Geo?" Evert asked.

"We got into a big argument and then we made up," I said.

"What kind of argument?" Zaira asked.

"I took a chance trusting someone and almost died, Geo got mad at me," I explained.

"Did you learn anything new about the yellow jackets?" August sighed.

"Nope," I scoffed. They all started to go on about their theories and the little they knew about the yellow jackets. I had nothing to say, yet again I was sitting quietly. I felt so out of place, but I couldn't help but wonder if Geo and I had actually learned anything from our mission.

"Wait, you know about the twins, right?" Zaira asked.

"Yes, I do. I'm sorry about what happened," I sighed.

"We never found their bodies. They only went missing, like you did. Everyone thought that you were dead, but you weren't, you were just missing," Zaira explained.

"There could be a possibility, but what does this have to do with the Yellow Jackets?" I asked.

"They've been on our radar ever since Freddy got kidnapped by them when he was younger," Zaira sighed.

"What did the twins look like?" I asked.

"They were-well they both had red hair and amber eyes. Emrie had thick, curly, big, red hair, and Adam's hair was shorter, but a little curly too," Zaira said.

After a while I walked up to Geo, he was sitting on the bench, and I sat down next to him.

"What did we even learn about the yellow jackets?" I asked him.

"Well, I have a lead," Geo sighed.

"You do?" I exclaimed.

"Yep, they're going to be at another party. This one seems like a different mission, they want us to show up," Geo said.

"It's a trap," I scoffed.

"Yes, but they don't know that we know it's a trap," Geo added.

"What's a trap?" Willow asked, coming out of nowhere.

"Ah!" Geo exclaimed.

"So, what's the trap? Why are you two acting so secretive about it?" Willow asked.

"The yellow jackets, but this could be our way to get information," Geo said.

Willow sat down. "Okay, so what are we going to do?" She asked.