Willium Valen and The Curse of Hades

Chapter 2-October's Mud Puddles

The breeze was soft against my face, the rain softly fell onto my shoulders and the clouds in the distance were gray. I knew this place, this was a memory. I was six years old and my parents and I were on a hike."It's cold. Willium, are you cold?" my mom asked me."No, not really, Mama," I said, looking up at her. Glancing out at the forest, all of the trees looked so small from where we were."Oh, it's raining," my dad noticed."It's pretty," I said."I wonder if the rain will get worse?" my mom asked herself.Thunderstruck in the distance, I was always scared of thunder as a kid. I thought that it was out to get me, guess I was right.I flinched at the sound and hugged my dad's legs, I hid my face in his knees, imagining a big monster stomping through the forest towards us. He picked me up in his arms and held me to his chest. My feet dangled from his arms, I clenched onto his shirt with my small hands. I slowly peeked at the forest, no monster, but it might have been hiding."Daddy, I'm scared," I muttered.My dad rubbed my back. "Sh, there's nothing to be afraid of, Willium,""But the monster," I said."Who?" my mom asked."The thunder man," I muttered."You mean that fool throwing a fit? You're better than him, you're pure," my mom said. My mom always viewed acceptance as the purest, she said that I was an accepter, calm and pure."Okay, Mama," I said.We walked back to the car and my dad buckled me in. It was a short drive back home.Our house was right next to the castle, basically attached to it, we could enter the 2nd floor of the library from it. As for the house itself, it had 3 bedrooms and 2 and a half bathrooms. It was one of those long houses, you know, the ones with the staircase right at the door. The living room was on the left side of the staircase, it led to the dining room at the back of the house, next to the bathroom. The kitchen was on the right side of the staircase, the kitchen had a counter that overlooked the living room. Upstairs was my bedroom, a free bedroom, and my parent's bedroom, along with two bathrooms.I woke up, it was nice to have a dream that wasn't problematic for once. I was glad to be back home. I missed my parents over the spring and summer and my little sister, so it was nice to be able to be back home with them.In these past couple of months, I have realized that I didn't have time to think about the loss of my grandma with all the stress of earning the blessing. My grandmother and I were very close, she was always around, and I talked with her a lot. She was always there for me, but now she's gone.It was a Tuesday morning and it had been raining all night. Stevie jumped up on top of my piano, which was in the corner of my room next to my desk, to see the rain. Stevie always loved sitting on the piano, she liked to watch me play. She liked to look out the window and be up high. Sometimes she would step on the keys of the piano and scare herself."Yep, that's rain," I said to her. Sometimes I think she can understand what I'm saying because she'll always look at me, then back to the window, and nod. Stevie yawned and looked at me to help her down. "You're scared you're going to trigger the beast?" I asked her, picking her up and setting her on my dark green carpet. I loved my carpet, it was Victorian style and blended in with the dark academia aesthetic of my room.I looked out of the gap in the brown curtains at the rain. It wasn't coming down so hard, just a drizzle. I made my bed and got dressed for the day. I wore my school sweater, which was maroon, the school color, and said "Gold Sparrow High". Gold Sparrow was the city that Lexan's castle was in, Lexan has so many cities, but Gold Sparrow has always been my home. Gold Sparrow is a calm city that feels like a small town because of how homey it feels.I walked downstairs and Stevie followed me."Good morning, honey. Did you sleep well?" my mom asked. I sat down on the couch next to my mom."I slept pretty good," I said."How was your test yesterday?" my mom patted my back."It was good, it was also pretty easy.""Come on, I made breakfast," my mom said. I followed my mom into the kitchen and we talked more as we ate more.My dad walked in with Alcott and Analina, Analina was covered in mud."Yay, doggie!" Analina cheered as Alcott shook the water out of his coat."What happened?" I chuckled."We were walking Alcott and then Analina fell into a puddle," my dad sighed."Analina, are you okay?" I asked. Analina looked up at me and smiled."It was fun,""Analina, you're going to need a bath," my mom said."Don't worry, I got her," my dad said, taking Analina upstairs."You hated baths as a kid," my mom scoffed."I know, I remember," I smiled. "I have to go get on the bus, bye Mom," I said, getting up."Bye Willium, have a good day," my mom said."You too, Mom," I said as I walked out the door.I walked to the bus stop, there were still puddles left from the rain last night in the streets. It was foggy outside and there was a heavy mist in the air, the mist collected in little drops on my hair and clothes.My hair was getting a bit longer, my mom cut it so it looked nice. She's a hairstylist and has been cutting my hair ever since I started growing it when I was a baby.I got on the bus, the windows were still fogged up, but the bus had a heater. I looked out of the window and sighed, I felt tired, I always felt this way. This time it felt different, it felt weird. I couldn't stop thinking about the mindscape, what did Zeus want from me? I wondered how he even found out about me, probably through my family.I shook my head grabbed a book out of my bag and started reading, this was one of the ways that I could turn off all of the thoughts about the mindscape. After 15 minutes of reading the bus stopped, I quickly put my book back into my bag, zipped it up, and got off the bus.My first class was Mr. Yue's class for English. Mr. Yue was a good teacher, but he had a weird personality. He was one of those teachers who tried to be cool, but at the same time, he tried to be strict. It was a weird combination that made for a pretty dorky person.I walked into the class and sat down in my seat."Good morning class," Mr. Yue said. No one said anything leaving the whole class silent. "Okay, so I will be handing out your essays today," He said. Mr. Yue began handing out the essays.Mr.Yue handed me my paper. "Good job, Will,""It's Willium," I said, trying not to gag at being called 'Will'. I don't know why I don't like being called Will, I just hate it."Right," Mr. Yue muttered.Mr. Yue's class always seemed so long, he said that there would be a new unit soon that he was excited about. He also talked about grades and normal teacher stuff, but he talked a lot. Which honestly made the class even more boring.I wasn't paying attention to his lecture, I know I should've been, but my mind had just been wandering recently. Not the normal wander, thinking about things or daydreaming. It felt more uncontrollable than the normal ADHD loss of focus. My mind would usually race over my thoughts, but instead, it felt like all my memories were talking to me. Maybe it was just voices in my head or maybe it was just a normal child of Apollo thing that I hadn't noticed yet. The voices were weird, it was like they were talking about the future or had gotten me mixed up with some other traumatized kid."All alone," one of them said, probably mindscape related."All your fault, weak one,"I had no idea what that one was about, but they were all like that, not the kinda voices you hear, the ones you think. Except they were thinking for me? Then I felt a chill up my spine."I thought that it was out to get me, guess I was right,"Some of them were even my thoughts that I had earlier that day. Then thunder cracked in the distance and I flinched. It was like a switch was turned on inside of me, I hadn't even noticed that it started raining."Thunder may or may not have something to do with our new unit," Mr. Yue said."I am not doing science in an English class," A student scoffed."No, it's not science, and raise your hand to talk," Mr. Yue exclaimed.I was told by someone who had his class that he always did a mythology unit, maybe he'd teach us about Thor or something.My thoughts came back to me when I looked at the person sitting in front of me. From behind, they looked so familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I thought that it was Geo until they turned their head to reveal a face that looked nothing like Geo's. How dare they.More thunder cracked in the distance and I started bracing myself for a panic attack or some weird flashback, but nothing came. I also couldn't go back to that weird dream state because Adderall had to take the fun out of everything. Looking at the back of that person's head didn't even work anymore because I knew what their face looked like and I knew that Geo was miles away probably doing whatever Geo does.The bell rang, "well, that was fun," I told myself as I walked to my next class.The rest of the day was fine, I got a couple of tests back, and I fell asleep in history because I already learned about the formation of Lexan the first time and from my grandma.Every time my teacher would say "Valen," she'd look me dead in the eye. She even asked me if my dad was the "cool" one or not once. My dad wasn't the cool one, apparently.She would always ask me questions about my dead grandma as if she was still alive. I didn't get it, if someone's last name was Haggins, you wouldn't ask them how Raymond Haggins is doing because he's dead. I couldn't wait to get out of that class, sometimes I would act like I didn't know anything about my family on purpose, just so she would leave me alone. I tried to convince her that my name was Willium Galen once, but that didn't work.At the end of the day, the rain had let up a bit and the big red leaves were all mushy now. The rain had left puddles in the middle of the street, the air was cold, and there were still clouds in the sky from the thunder. I got on the bus and Willow sat down next to me.How was your day? Willow signed."It was good," I said. Willow and I talked for a while and then she stopped."Willium, you're wandering again," Willow sighed."Hm," I muttered, turning to her."Are you okay, you've seemed off ever since we left for home, ever since we left Geo?" Willow asked."What? Uh...this has nothing to do with Geo." I stammered."Okay, but if you ask me, I think it does," Willow sighed and looked at me.I softly shook my head and looked out the window. She was probably right about the Geo thing, but I just didn't know how to admit it. I didn't know how to admit anything. I would have dreams about Geo, think other people were him, and think about him all the time. Maybe there was something there, I used to think that I'd never fall in love, that I didn't have the time, but I don't think it was ever in my control.The bus stopped and Willow and I got off. I walked home and Willow walked into the library.It was late at night and I was downstairs playing the piano. I used to play the piano every night before I got kidnapped. I still find it calming, but now it's more emotional for me. After a while, my mom came downstairs and leaned over the edge of the piano as she watched me play."It's nice to see you playing again," my mom said."It's nice to be playing again," I nodded."Are you ready to be 17?" my mom chuckled."Yep, I've only been waiting for 19 months," I said."Only 3 more days," my mom smiled at me.