artemis ; pjo

Lost in Thought

   Back at the hotel, we had dinner in the rooms with room service. The other girls in the room were on their beds eating and talking. I was on my pull out couch-bed watching a cheesy 50s movie.

   The girls ordered pizza, and I figured I'd eat it too, but the two slices that I took out of the box were still siting on my bed, uneaten. There was a knock on the door, and I got up to get it, because none of the other girls were attempting to do it.

"Hey Madi" I said, less enthusiastically as I would would hoped.

"Hey! Congrats, I guess I was right about you getting claimed today." She said.

"Yeah, I guess. Come in."

   She sat one the bed with me. We were both in pajamas already. I was in a camp tank top with plaid pants, and Madi was in a shirt with an owl and matching pants with tiny owls. We were different, alright.

"Why aren't you in your room?" I asked.

"Eh. I wanted to hang out with you. Plus the girls I got put with are really annoying"

"Fair enough"

"So," Madi started in between bites of pizza, " are you excited to be claimed?"

"No. I already felt like an outsider, and now there's proof that I am"

"Oh come on, it's really cool. You're like legendary, and you haven't even done anything."

"I don't know. Plus, The One? Seriously. That's just, creepy."

"Oh whatever. It's better than you think. Anyways, what movie?"

"A mushy love comedy. I don't know what it's called."
*************************************
   We watched the rest of the movie, then Madi went back to her room leaving me by myself. Unfortunately, that gave me time to think about everything.

Uhgg. I thought. Why me? Why do I have to be the different one.

   Then I looked down at my necklace and I wanted to rip it off and chuck it across the room. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. It was special. Not just because it had 'magical powers' but because it was sentimental to me. I promised my dad that I would never take it off.
  
   I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't. I started thinking about the last time I saw my dad.

It was an overcast day, one of my favorite kinds of days. It was so dark and mysterious. You never knew what was going to happen.

   I was playing a board game with my stepmom. My dad was in he kitchen preparing dinner. He was making my favorite meal: rabbit stew, the rabbit was fresh, the kind he hunted himself.

   It was weird, he was acting sad as he made it. He was doing all my favorite things today. My favorite type of pancakes. He took me hunting, which practically never did. We went to a spot I found in the woods and had a picnic. All day he had seemed sad. He only laughed once.

Only one true, genuine laugh.

   We all sat up at the table to eat dinner like normal and afterwards my dad gave me a long hug. He said he was meeting someone in the woods. So he left. And never came back. But before he left, he gave me my necklace, and had me promise to never take it off. And I haven't.
   It turns out that I fell asleep while I was thinking about that memory because when I woke up, it was 3am. And I was facing the glass door leading out to the balcony. I rolled over, refusing to look at the moon.

   I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I still couldn't fall asleep. Recently I haven't. Not just in camp, but at my old home too. I sat up and turned on the TV. It was all infomercials, but I didn't care. Apparently watching a sales pitch about the newest Shark vacuum could take your mind off of everything wrong with life.