(Fem.) Percy meets Spidey

17

"Mom?"

"In the kitchen." She poked her head out before disappearing again. "Did you eat while you were there?"

"McDonald's." I said. "I'm going to head to bed."

As I walked through the living room, a hand grasped my wrist. I almost lashed out, but I caught myself. Paul pulled me down onto the couch next to him.

"You okay Percy?"

I nodded. "Yeah." It was a lie. My heart was pounding and my breathing grew shakier with every passing minute. Standing up, I walked as calmly as I could to my bedroom. I closed the door behind me, before sliding down it.

Calm down. Just calm down. Nothing's wrong. Everyone's okay. I rubbed my eyes. No matter how hard I tried to push the thoughts and the feelings away, they came back. And they came back worse.

Everything that could go wrong, what if it does? What if something happens to Mom? To Paul? To Nico, Thalia, Will, the Stolls or any other demigod? To May or Peter?

A muffled whine left my throat, cutting through the noise from outside. I never thought I'd want the noise to stop, I found it easier to sleep with the noise of the city than laying in a forest, but right now I wanted the gentle sounds of the ocean. I wanted the soft currents and fish, not traffic and pidgeons.

I managed to stand and get to my bed. The moment my body hit the mattress, so did my tears with my pillow. I was shaking, trembling as my heartbeat continued at its frenzied pace.

No one was there to help me. I could have talked to Mom, but she shouldn't have to deal with this. She already worries enough. I was half tempted to call Dad, but I didn't want to bother him. Besides, if I did call him he'd probably want me to talk to Mom about it.

I just wanted to sleep. I just wanted to lose myself in whatever dream my mind could come up with. I didn't care if it was a nightmare, I wanted this to stop. It didn't matter. I couldn't fall asleep.

After two hours of laying in bed, with no sign of being able to calm down, I sat up. Quietly leaving my room, I went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. I didn't bother taking off my clothes before climbing in.

The hot water soaked into my clothes and hair. After a little while of standing there, I turned off the water and sat down. None of it had drained away.

I thought that maybe the water would calm me down, but it did nothing. The thing that normal was my safe place, the thing that, when all else failed, could calm me down wasn't working. I didn't know what that meant about me. Or, I guess, I don't want to know what that means about me.

I don't know how long I sat there. All I know is at some point, there was a knock on the door. When I didn't respond, it opened slowly.

"Percy?" Paul asked, blinking as his eyes attempted to adjust to the light. "Why are you sitting in the shower?"

"Better question is why wouldn't I be sitting in the shower?" I smiled. It fooled him. I didn't see any form of concern or worry pass across his features. "I woke up and felt like being around water. I was planning on falling asleep in here."

"Then why is the light on?"

"I'm a teenager. I'm lazy. Why are you up?"

"Drink of water. I saw the light on and got worried."

I nodded and let the water drain out of the tub. This is when I'm glad we have a combination. The water vanished from my clothes and hair. "Well, I'm going back to bed. Night Paul."

"Technically it's-"

My door closed before he could finish his sentence. I crawled back into bed and pressed my palms against my eyes. I'm going to have to talk to someone about this. Maybe Dad. Definitely not Mom or Paul. If I can get ahold of Apollo or one of the other gods, that might end better.

Though which one would be the better option wasn't going to be an easy choice, considering there's about a million things to factor in. Only one of them being how much they'll kill me. Others include how much they like my dad, how annoying they'll be, and how many things I've done for them.

I'm not going to pick someone who has no reason to keep it secret. That would be stupider than most of the things I've done. Zeus already knows I have PTSD, if he finds out I can't sleep and focus...Well, Camp will have a shroud to burn.

I fell into a fitful sleep, waking up when my clock said it was five. I groaned and sat up. No use in trying to fall back asleep, so I might as well find something else to do.

Turns out that something else was cutting my hair. Long black strands fell into my trashcan. Mom's going to be mad, but it's hair. It'll grow back. And given how fast my hair grows, it won't take very long. I stared in my mirror, running my fingers through it. It didn't quite reach my shoulders. A lot of the weight was gone, not that I was surprised. My hair had been to the middle of my back, and now over half of it was gone.

I shook my head, laughing at how much that sentence could apply to the things I cared about. In the course of a year, I've lost a lot of what I care about.

Kinda funny how that small amount of time could have such a huge impact.

So. . .

Did y'all seriously think I was gonna kill Sally and Paul? Jeez, I get that I do that alot but I do try to make that a beginning thing.

Anyway...

Any guesses/thoughts/ideas/etc.

I'm gonna draw up a map for a DnD thing once I find my roll of paper.

See yah