Willium Valen and The Curse of Hades

Chapter 1-What's The Point Of Anything?

An uneasy feeling came over my body, making me shake, it was another nightmare, which was happening a lot. Almost every night by now, some of them were short and meaningless, others were long and horrible.I shivered out of fear and tears came to my eyes like raindrops on a rose, rolling down my cheeks slowly. I felt this paralyzing fear, but I was so used to it and that was the worst part. The fear was like thick smoke underwater, cold and confusing, almost like a broken record, over and over, but I was too tired to turn it off or change it out. It's all so overwhelming, the nightmares, the panic attacks, all of the constant reminders of what happened in that mindscape.I woke up slowly. A damp cloth settled in my gut, that fear, like chewing on a wet sponge, messy, cold, and dirty. Fear had settled deep down inside of me, like a parasite, it infected me, took away my voice, my everything. The fear was so cold that it left me numb, that chill, something about it was so soothing when you're safe but you don't realize it, but it all stopped when I felt a soft hand on my back."Are you okay?""What?" I asked. I laid back down and turned to face the voice and there he was. Dark brown eyes, choppy black hair, soft brown freckles, and that beautiful scar. Geo had a soft smile on his face."Another nightmare?" Geo asked, pulling me close to him. He wrapped his arm around my waist, he tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. Geo cupped my cheek in his hand."Uh...yeah," I muttered. I felt so nervous, stupid little butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I looked into his eyes."Hm, you've been having a lot of those, tournesol," Geo mused as he kissed me on my lips. A rush fell over my body, he was as warm as a sweater. His lips were soft and warm against mine. "Do you think they're related to the mindscape?""Yeah, they are," I said."That's bad," Geo muttered."Yep," I said in an uneasy tone."What's wrong, sweetheart?" Geo looked into my eyes."Nothing, just-"A high howl filled the room and an alarm clock rang out, waking me up from the dream."Alcott," I groaned as I opened my eyes. I shifted out of bed and stretched.Alcott pawed at the door again while looking at me with puppy dog eyes, he gave out a whine."I know," I said, turning off my alarm clock and letting the dog out of the room.It was another one of those weird dreams that I've been having about Geo. I had no idea why I was having them and I didn't know how to feel about having them either. I knew that I missed him, but did I miss him enough to have those dreams about him? Well, it was either those or nightmares. Nightmares that never ended and gave me constant panic attacks, I'd much rather have questionable dreams about Geo.I closed the door and walked over to my desk. My desk had my clothes for the day sitting there, along with books and notebooks. My room had dark blue walls with old oil paintings and sketches all over them. I had a piano in the corner of my room by the window with plants on top of it. My room has always been my favorite place, it's so calming and quiet in there, like an art museum. "Good morning, Stevie," I glanced back at my bed where Stevie was lying.Stevie was purring and tapping her paws into the covers as she yawned. Stevie is my cat. Stevie is a white cat that looks like she rolled around in dust and then dipped her paws and nose in ash. Her green eyes twinkled as she looked up at me.I turned back around and started to get dressed."Come on, time to get up," I picked up Stevie and held her against my chest. She purred and nuzzled her head in between my neck and my shoulder.I walked down the stairs and carefully put Stevie on the floor of the living room. She yawned, stretched, and rolled around on the living room carpet.I quickly walked past the staircase and into the kitchen. The entrance to the kitchen was in between the staircase and the front door. My family had one of those long Victorian-style houses, with stained glass windows and delicate features. The tiles in the kitchen were navy blue, and so were the walls in the living room. The house had many plants, always warm, and there were no fluorescent lights, only vintage-style lamps that gave off warm light. My mom was the one who picked out all of the lighting for the house.I walked around the kitchen, making myself breakfast and packing lunch, giving Stevie and Alcott their food. No one else was downstairs, my parents woke up at 7:30, right as I was leaving.I swung my school bag over my shoulder and closed the door behind me. I walked down the Courtway, passing the old training grounds and the 1124 memorial to the bus stop with the smell of wet concrete filling the air.It took a while to get used to going to school again and being in a stable routine of life, waking up, going to school, going home, going back to bed, and doing it all over again was relieving after a while. I liked not having to constantly worry about getting killed, but it also got a bit boring after a while. I never thought that I'd miss the chaos, but it was entertaining I suppose.However, if I had to choose, I'd always choose my home. I love Lexan, it has this calm nature to it. It never tries to be anything, everyone thought that it would fall, and the kingdom would fail, but Lexan was a calm pine tree that turned into a powerful forest. In Vandalia, it feels like there's a new thing everywhere you turn, but in Lexan, it's just forest and fog.The bus would always come 2 minutes late and, depending on the driver, would start before you even got to sit down.The rest of the bus ride would be calm, I would sit by the window. It was foggy and slightly rainy, normal Lexan weather for early October. The air had that rain smell to it like drenched oak. It was peaceful to look at the drops of rain trickling down the bus windows and see which one would hit the bottom first.Willow got on the bus and sat next to me. Willow would always spend her mornings in the gardens, she'd wait at the other stop with dirt under her nails. Willow and I talked for a while and then the bus stopped slowly. We got out of our seats and walked off.I went to Goldsparrow High School or GHS. The school is made up of 5 buildings that are all connected. These buildings all have the same color palette dark blue, dark green, and dark red. I walked through the halls of the green building to my first class. The door was dark green with residue of old tape under the paint. Math was a calm class when the students were quiet. I was smart when it came to school, I wasn't the odd one out or some chosen one, I was just a number among the thousands.I sat down and looked at the half-dead plant sitting on the teacher's desk. A pen tapped against the board softly and I looked up."Okay, class," she sighed. "I'll wait," the math teacher, Mrs. Fig, said as she looked around the class. Mrs. Fig waited about 6 seconds and then started to talk again, staring the loud kids down like a hawk. "We have our test today-""No!" someone complained."Be quiet! I couldn't care less if all of you failed this class, but I'm being paid to teach you. So, shut up and do the work," Mrs. Fig scoffed.Mrs. Fig was tall and slender, she had curly blonde hair that was in a high bun and big green glasses. She always carried a clipboard that she hugged to her chest as she wrote down who was paying attention and who wasn't.Mrs. Fig handed out the test to everyone. People at my table complained as they saw the test and muttered to each other. The test was very easy, I didn't even know why people were complaining about it. I was the first to finish, so I just read a book until the class ended.My next class was music class. I play the piano. I've been playing ever since I was a little kid. I always found it calming and my mom was the one who taught me how to play. Whenever I would play the piano it felt like everything else disappeared. I didn't even think about the chords, it came so naturally to me. I didn't know if that was the blessing or just the time that I had spent with the instrument.My 3rd period was also easy, it was AP art history. I was always interested in art, that's why I took the class. It was an easy class, we worked with paintings from different eras and found their historical significance. Today we were looking at paintings from the Vandalian revolution."The art from this period was extremely expressive," Mr. Wallace, the teacher of the course, said. He looked at the board and tapped his pointer on a tree in the painting. "Look at that, the smallest of things, have the most detail,"At the end of the day I got back on the bus, sat alone, and looked out the window. It was raining hard and it had gotten colder outside. The rain fell hard against the metal roof of the bus. Puddles formed in the street and floods at the curbs. It was perfect thinking weather, for better or for worse.Ever since I got back home it's gotten harder and harder to tell my parents about how I got raped in the mindscape, it has been hard to even think about it. If I thought about it I would feel like his hands were on me again. It was the fear of having that feeling that would leave me petrified, it would leave me scared of any physical touch.I had a lot of nightmares about what happened, it was so hard to keep it a secret when everything reminded me of what happened. I guess, I thought that the blessing would make me feel better and that it would make everything okay again, but that didn't happen. I have been feeling numb like I always used to. I was always good at feeling nothing or feeling sad, but now it was way worse. I felt trapped, sometimes when I closed my eyes I forgot that I wasn't in the mindscape anymore. Missing Geo wasn't helping either, sometimes when I had those dreams about him I wished that I could just stay asleep forever. He was all that I needed after waking up from a nightmare. I wish I could just run to him, run to his safety.I hadn't told anyone about the Geo dreams, I wasn't sure how to feel about them myself yet. Did having dreams about Geo mean something? Sometimes I would wonder if he was thinking of me or missing me in the same way as I did.I got off the bus and walked home with a green umbrella resting on my shoulder. I was walking on the path that led to the Lexan castle, but then I stopped in my tracks and looked over at the 1124 memorial. From where I was standing the tall concrete walls of names looked blurry. It was sick how many names were on those walls. The statue of Earl Gray stood tall as the rain came crashing on it, you could see it from miles away, it was a constant reminder of his sacrifice. Its gaze looked to the fields and the tree that glowed with purple light. My grandfather was one of the names on the walls, one among the thousands. I walked inside the house and hung up my bag."Willium, how was your day?" my dad asked.I walked over to the counter, my dad was cooking something. I sat on one of the counter stools and looked at him."It was okay," I sighed. My dad smiled at me."How are you doing?"I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. Tired, I guess,""Does it have anything to do with the mindscape?" my dad asked."I think so, it always does I guess I thought that everything would be okay after I got the blessing," I mused."You'll be okay, Willium. You've always found a way to bounce back," my dad said.I sighed. "I know, Dad, but sometimes, I feel like I won't ever feel okay again,""Willium,""Yeah, Dad?" I asked."I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through, but I want you to know that I'm here for you," my dad said."I know, Dad. Thank you," I smiled at him."Come here," my dad said. I walked into the kitchen and hugged my dad. "You'll be okay, honey,""Thank you, Dad," I sighed. My dad stopped hugging me and went back to cooking, I sat at the counter. "So, how was Analina's day at school?" I asked.My dad took an embarrassed sigh. "She got put in timeout,""What happened?" I asked."She used the rulers to play drums on the desk and she bit the teacher when she tried to put her in time out," my dad scoffed."She is only five years old," I said."You didn't bite anyone when you were five?" my dad asked."No, but I wasn't like any of the other five-year-olds," I reminded my dad."Well, that's true and Analina is also one of a kind," my dad said. My dad looked down and kept cooking."What are you making, Dad?" I asked."Steak," my dad said. My mom came down the stairs and walked into the kitchen."Anthony, thank you so much for making dinner," my mom sighed, hugging my dad. My mom sat down next to me."Are you okay, Mom?" I asked."I'm fine, just a little stressed. I had to pick up Analina from school today," my mom told me."I heard about that," I said."How are you feeling, honey?" my mom asked."I'm okay," I said.I didn't know if I was okay or not. I felt emotionally exhausted every day. I felt too tired to cry, I was tired of crying. It seemed like the only thing I ever did was cry. Some nights I felt like I might as well have been back in the mindscape, all alone, hopeless, and weak. Some nights I heard Zeus' voice ringing in my ears, all of the things that he said to me, how he treated me like I was nothing, and to him, I was nothing. He didn't care about me, he didn't care that I was too young, he didn't care.My mom sighed and rubbed her forehead. "So, I've been noticing weird things lately, I've started to knit again," my mom said. "You have?" my dad seemed concerned, what was so bad about my mom knitting. "You know how to knit?" I asked. "Yep, but I've only done it two times in my life, when I was pregnant with you, and when I was pregnant with Analina," my mom explained. "Do you think you're..." my dad muttered."I think it's a boy, I like the name Tomas," my mom mused. "Wait, Mom, are you saying that you're pregnant?" I asked. "I think so," she said. "I'll make sure to get you a test so we can know for sure," my dad said.