Willium Valen and The Curse of Hades

Chapter 3-TearDrops On My Piano

Today was the school's fall assembly. Every year my school had a fall assembly, and I played piano for it because I was the only pianist in the band advanced enough to play the songs. I was thinking of backing out just in case I had gotten a flashback while playing, but no one paid attention to the person playing the piano.The assembly was the last period, but we spent hours preparing. All I had to do was play 3 songs. The moment came and I started playing and the dancers started dancing.Willium...I felt a chill crawl up my spine, but I ignored it. I kept playing even though I started to have flashbacks again.You're weak-no matter what you do-you'll always belong to me...My body started to shiver and it started to feel like his hands were all over me again, like his breath was trailing down my neck. I felt the bricks against my back, felt the knife on my left side, felt his eyes looking me up and down, and felt his body slamming against mine. I tried my best not to start crying, I looked at the keys of the piano, my fingers softly pressing against them. I messed up a chord, I just felt so mad. What did I do to deserve this, to feel like this? Why did I have to deal with the aftermath of his actions?I forced my eyes shut and turned off my brain. I pressed my fingers to the keys, that's all that mattered. The piano was the only thing that was there, I told myself that no one else could hurt me now, I didn't know if that was true, but I needed something.I only had one more song that I needed to play and then I could go home. Thinking of things that made me happy helped whenever I would get flashbacks. I'd think of my cat or...or Geo. I thought about them a lot, I had dreams about them and daydreams too. I'd think about how we used to fight and how we would always apologize even if it was embarrassing. I'd think about how much I missed their voice and how much I missed how they made me mad. I'd rather have Geo make me cry every second than cry over what Zeus did to me.The curtains closed and I got up from the piano. I took deep breaths as I walked to the bus stop, I couldn't cry, not then. I didn't have the strength to explain to everyone why I was crying as I was balling my eyes out. I got on the bus and all of my horrible memories of the mindscape came back to me.I like to think of myself as a glass vase, Zeus broke me, and Apollo tried his best to fix me, but everything has cracks. The water is all the memories and trauma, they leak out and I break down. What no one thinks about is that all of the water that poured out isn't soaked up, so it rises and eventually consumes me. Sometimes, it's good to be with someone who drains me and who soaks up all that water, but when they're miles away, I start drowning again.The bus stopped and I got off. I hadn't cried, but usually, when I tried to keep it all in like that I would just shatter. I felt it coming on as I walked inside the house and my parents started asking how my day was. I froze in the doorway, I could already feel the tears on my face, and I sighed."Willium, are you okay?" my dad asked. I'm glad that my dad was there, I could tell him anything, he was a therapist, and he had seen it all."I don't think so," I muttered, trying not to cry. "Oh, come here," my dad walked over to me and patted me on the back.Me and my dad sat down on the couch, he asked me if something had happened, but I couldn't answer. I just kept on crying, it felt like that was the only thing I could do. Healing seemed so hard, I'd never find that light at the end of the tunnel."I'm so tired of it," I cried."Tired of what?" my dad asked."All of the flashbacks, the nightmares, every single thing reminds me of what happened and I'm so scared. I don't want to feel like this, I just don't," I sobbed. I was ugly crying, snot, and all, a pathetic little crybaby."It's going to be okay," my dad said.I shook my head, I knew that I would never be okay again. It didn't matter that I survived it or that I was resilient."I can't do this."My dad patted my shoulder. "Yes, you can,""No, no," I shook my head. "The blessing was supposed to help, and even if it wasn't for that I'm not strong enough to save myself or anything. I'm weak, I might be mentally strong, but not physically. I don't," I sighed. "I don't want to give up, I won't. I know that healing takes time, but some days, it just feels so impossible. It's like a long hallway, the water is up to my waist, and I have to get to the door. I can't see it, but I know it's there. Sometimes it gets dark and the water rises to the ceiling, it's all so much that it feels like it'll never stop," I said. I looked at my Dad and waited for him to respond."Healing is not the door at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel is forever, it's life, and in life, bad things will happen. The water will rise to the ceiling, but when the water goes up, you don't have to feel trapped. This pain you feel won't stop, things like that, don't go away. You learn to adapt, you find new ground or make it. This is simpler, think of a tree. All of the rings and layers are why it is so strong, the rain or sadness, is bad in the moment, but not forever, its effect is still there, but you start to see it differently," my dad explained.