Percabeth: A New Beginning

The Biggest Mistake Part 2

A/N: hey guys, so this one is pretty long, the longest I've written so far. But it's important, and yes, I'll admit, some parts are a little cheesy so please bear with me. But I hope you like it!!

Zoe's POV

The gravel crunched beneath my tennis shoes and the tears in my eyes felt like ice had frozen over them. I blinked the tears away but it felt like blinking crust away from my eyes in the morning. I kept my mind away from the guilt that was beginning to overtake me the farther away I ran from my world of familiarity.

I reached the main road, the route my bus took when it drove my siblings and I to school. I wasn't sure where I wanted to go, I just needed to get away. I knew I wasn't going to school or Camp Half Blood, that would be too predictable for my family if they tried to find me. The last thing I wanted was for anyone I knew to find me. I wasn't like them, I would go where the wind would take me. I'd always wanted to be out on my own and live my own life the way I wanted to. Now here was my chance at a life with no rules, no parents, no school, no regrets, just me against the world.

I had reached a smaller neighborhood with a few streetlights illuminating the pitch black night. As I slumped next to a tall oak tree, my attention was drawn towards a light from one of the houses. I cautiously approached it to view a little boy yelling at his mother. I noticed that the mom wasn't angry or yelling back, instead, she had lowered her voice in a calm and nurturing way. Something my mother had never done with me. I made out two words from the mom as I grew closer to the window, "I'm sorry."

Two words I've never heard my mom say to me, but the amount of times I've said them to her was too many to count.

The little boy looked up with tears in his eyes and hugged his mom. They stayed that way for a long time and it felt like my heart has ripped in half. The gods were mocking me with a perfect family and I backed away from the window, I couldn't watch them anymore.

Tears began to fill my eyes, I wiped them away quickly and took off running. I ran far after my legs began to ache and when my feet started throbbing. I kept running even though my heart was pounding and my side ache felt like a knife to the gut but I kept going. I had to get away from my feelings, my burning regrets, my thoughts and memories of my family.

Suddenly I stopped, under a single street lamp which was at equal distance between the small town behind me and the vast ocean in front of me. My gaze caught the beach, remembering the sun on my skin, and the cool water between my toes. My sisters building sand castles, my brothers splashing in the sea and my dad trying to throw my mom and I into the ocean. In my mind, I could hear mom squabbling about why we needed more sunscreen. Lena and Taylor giggling as my mom threw a bucket of water over my head then my dad and brothers started splashing everyone on the beach with water. I looked away from the beach, trying to push away the memories I'd shared with my family. That wasn't real, they weren't real. I tried to convince myself.

I turned to the small town with deserted shops and street lamps. The once grueling memories of shopping with my mom and sisters now seemed like a dream that I'd once had. I remembered trying on different funny hats in the stores and prancing around in huge overcoats. I can still see my mother smile at me in a way I've never seen her do before.

I remembered that it had been my idea to try on the hats because Taylor had, had a bad day at school and no one could lift her spirits. Once I put on a hat with peacock feathers on it and acted like a model, she cracked up and the four of us had a fashion show. Out of everyone, even Lena who was her best friend, I had succeeded in making Taylor happier,

Then a wave of realization hit me, my mom was hard on me because she wanted me to succeed. She knows I'm idealistic like Luke, not like Charlie, Lena, or Taylor. She pushes me to be better, smarter and stronger, because she knows I can handle it. She wants me to be better than my dad was, because I'm her daughter. She knows I'm smarter than my dad and that I'm a warrior like her. I'm strong like mom is, I'm resilient like her and we never back down from a fight.