Enlightened

Chapter 9: Demons Within Me POV: Charlie

"Ahh!" I wake up screaming, soaked in sweat. The voices won't leave me alone, whether it be while I'm sleeping or while I'm awake. They constantly yell at me. They demand that I join then, but I refuse, however every time it has become increasingly harder to. They tell me that they won't stop until I accept them, until I act upon the darkness in me. "Charlie?" Kass calls, walking over towards me. "I-I'm fine." I lie, already knowing what she was going to ask. All Kass gives me in response is a look saying that she doesn't buy it for a minute. "Anyways, shouldn't we go hunting?" I ask, trying to change the subject from me. "Uh, sure." She says, her mind evidently still on my well being. "So," I start, "wanna split up again, that seemed to work last time." I say. "Sure, I guess." She calls back to me as she starts to walk away.

"Join us, Charlie, join us!" The voices in my head shout. "Leave me alone." I grumble, trying to focus on hunting. "We will not leave you until you join us." They reply back, continuously saying this over and over again until I cam take it no more. "I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" I shout, falling onto my knees. I hold my head in my hands, trying to rid it of the demons. "CHARLIE!" Kass yells, running over to my side. "What's wrong?" She asks, concern lacing her words. "N-nothing. Y-you wouldn't get it." I try ending the conversation, however an angry expression has appeared on her face, one that rarely appears. "You know Charlie," Kass begins. "You aren't the only one who has to deal with problems. Just because you may feel that you have all these big problems and issues and are the daughter of the great Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, doesn't mean that others don't have their own demons." She spits her words out like poison. "I mean," she continues, "I've had to deal with my own fair share of challenges, but you don't see me complaining. Then again, I never have the chance to when you do enough complaining for the two of us." "Kass listen, I-" Kass cuts me off. "No Charlie, you listen to me. You never let me talk about anything else other than you. We never get to talk about me and my issues. We never get to talk about how I'm haunted every single night by my sister who blames her death on me, always making sure to remind me that I will never be accepted back by my family again." She stops ranting, trying to catch her breathe. "Kass, I never knew..." I trail off, but not for long however, because my best friend interrupts me once again. "Of course you didn't! Maybe if you stopped feeling sorry for yourself for one minute and actually listened to others for once, you'd know." She says sharply. "Kass," I remain calm, knowing that Kass' outburst was well overdue. "I'm sorry okay? I'm-" "You are just making empty apologizes! I can tell that you aren't really sorry for listening to me. You know what? Maybe Quinn didn't stop being friends with you because of the potential of darkness in you, maybe instead he was so sick of having to deal with your crap that..." Rage surges through me and I do not make out the rest of Kass' words. Instead, the voices return hissing "Kill her. Kill her. KILL HER!" "N-no." I feebly try, but they persist in insisting that I kill the demigod before me, that I show her whose boss. Suddenly something snaps within me, whether it is a combination of my rage and the voices, or the good in me, I don't know. What I do know however is that I am suddenly on top of Kass, pinning her to the ground, and holding a knife to her neck. She looks up at me and her eyes betray her, showing fear and worry in them, but when she talks she is confident and brave. "Kill me, what are you waiting for? Go for it, kill me, give into your inner darkness, see if I care. Poor Charlie, daughter of the great Percy Jackson, fell down the same exact path that her father did, and it all started here, with her killing her best friend." I scream in fury as I lift my knife, getting ready to stab the daughter of Bellona, but when it comes down and stabs the girl it does not land in her neck, instead I stab her three times in the stomach. She yells out in pain, blood already spilling out onto the ground, but I don't care, because with the more screams she lets out, the further away run away from my best friend, and the darker and more twisted I become.

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AN: Sorry for not posting much this week, was busy but also needed to figure out the plot for this story as well. Hoping to release more books shortly, but this book might not be quite as long as the other one. Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PERCY!

Edit: Thanks for 3k views on Darkened! You guys are truly amazing.