I woke up from my dreamless sleep to the blaring of my phone alarm. Groaning, I sat up and shut it off. I looked around and tried to remember what happened. Annabeth, dinner, Gabe's texts, library.

It snapped into place as I stood up. I checked the time, 6:02 am. I stifled a yawn and walked out of the library. The only people in the school would be either the janitors or teachers with a zero period.

I walked into the nearest restroom, seeing that they were unlocked. I didn't think I would be able to pick the lock with the curse of morning strength present. I slowly blinked as I looked at my reflection.

My makeup was still there but a bit smudged, so there were places where you could see the dark places where my bruises were peeking out. My hair was still a wind-swept tousled mess. I took a small breath in an attempt to prepare myself for tonight.

I went over the important things that were happening this week, tonight I would struggle to survive, and Friday was my math quiz. I groaned as I felt pain shoot up through my limbs. Almost like they were waiting until I was fully awake.

I walked out of the restroom and pulled my hood over my head. I started towards my locker until I heard a gasp. "Percy?".

I froze. Wasn't it still too early for people to be in school? Refusing to turn around, I turned on my phone screen and saw the time 6:46 am; guess not. I turned around to look at who recognized me.

"I didn't know you had zero period!" Annabeth.

"Um, I don't" I quickly tried to think of something to give her a reason as to why I was early." Um, I come for breakfast" a lie, but she didn't need to know that.

She nodded and started walking beside me. "So, what class do you have now?" I tried for conversation to dispel the weird tension in the air.

"Architecture! They didn't have it for any other time, so I had to take it during zero period," I nodded.

She looked sideways at me and then paled. She stopped, confused, and I stopped and looked at her. She slowly reached her hand towards my face, and I flinched.

"Sorry, what happened to your face?"

"Um, I have a habit of falling down stairs" I figured she would see through the lie; it was fast and completely untrue. The school and the fake house both didn't have stairs; neither did my actual house. The only stairs I've fallen down recently were the ones at Annabeth's home.

She looked at me skeptically, and I just wished that she wouldn't ask the questions popping up in her head.

"Anyway, why don't you want to try to audition for the competition?" Thankfully she changed the subject. But it still took me a minute to figure out what competition she was talking about.

"Oh, um, I'm not a big fan of being the center of attention, and I don't think I'm that good," I mumbled.

"Well, maybe we could put you under an alias, get you a cool mask and then you could just audition and see if the teachers think you're any good" a lump grew in my throat. Half of me wanted to jump on board her plan that had basically taken care of all the issues I had with the competition. But the other half was still apprehensive. Why embarrass myself, even with a mask on, when I could just lay low and not draw attention.

"I don't know. I guess I'll think about it" I didn't want to completely break Annabeth's spirits by telling her no. Still, I was surprised to find that I was actually considering following her plan.

No, Percy, no. This isn't the time to get selfish. Keep your head down, finish the last few months of high school, and help your mom get out of the house with Gabe.

"Oh, zero period is about to start, and my class is down that way. See you after school Perce," Annabeth rushed down the hallway on my right and waved at me as she walked into a classroom.

Sighing, I went to my locker to hang out until math started.

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The day went by fast; much to my dismay, I tried to drag my feet to each class, not bothering to run like I usually would. When PE finally ended, I actually did run to the library after making a trip to my locker.

After finding Annabeth in the usual armchair, we prepared me for the upcoming quiz. Annabeth made review questions for me to practice as she did her own homework, and I dutifully tried to fill them out.

The study session went by quickly, and I was seriously dreading the alarm that signaled Annabeth's departure. Her presence made me feel like nothing could touch me, and I enjoyed the feeling of false security. I almost felt the need to tell her the real reason behind my bruises.

I snapped myself out of it. I couldn't drag her down with me. No way. I'm not sure what would happen, but Gabe was a loose cannon, and I would prefer to keep Annabeth out of my home life if I could. No matter how welcoming, warm, and safe, I felt when I was around her.

I knew that she would avoid me once she knew about what was happening, and I couldn't handle that. I needed to be in a warm presence for as long as possible. It was like a drug. I had been shunned and bullied for so long that the only time I felt a sense of warmth was the rare occasions my mom got a break from work. But now, every day after school, I got to sit in that warm presence for hours. It was nice, and I didn't know what I would do when she wasn't obligated to help tutor me.

I almost felt compelled to flunk the test. But then I realized how disappointed and beat-up Annabeth would probably feel if that happened. Shaking my head, I discarded the idea.

It's your own fault for getting attached. You should've kept your distance.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to focus on the review question I was on. The music was helping, but it was thrown into the background with so much on my mind. I let my brain wander, that is until I heard a snapping noise in front of my face.

Snapping back into reality, I saw Annabeth with a confused look on her face.

"Are you ok? You kind of went off there," I nodded, not trusting my voice. I knew my mom wanted to meet Annabeth, but that was next week. If I passed the test, I don't think she would want to hang out with me anymore.

I sighed and turned towards the problem again. Not a second later, Annabeth's phone went off. Smiling sadly, she pressed the stop button and packed up her bag.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow. Are you going to be early again?" I looked up at her; she seemed almost hopeful. It was weird considering she was asking if I would see her earlier than the tutoring sessions.

"Um, I'm not sure," I scratched the back of my neck.

"Well, if you are, text me. I'll try to meet up with you before my class starts."

"Ok, I'll text you" I looked sheepishly at her as she beamed at me. She said goodbye and waved as she left the library. I had forgotten entirely that she gave me her number a week ago.

I grabbed my notebook and walked to my locker. Putting it away, I felt a buzz in my pocket. Looking at my phone screen, a text popped up.

Gabe: Better get home fast, or you know who gets it.

My breath caught in my throat. Mom.

I basically ran out of the school, my heart in my throat as I ran home. My legs and body were screaming at me as my bruised limbs worked overtime. I knew my mom wasn't home, but I didn't want to risk our next get together.

I quickly came into view of my house. Fear clutched me, but I knew that my mom was in more danger, so I walked up as quickly as I could to the door without falling over my feet and inserted the key.

Opening the front door that squeaked like in those cheesy horror films, I shuffled into the house, shut the front door, and stuffed my key into my pocket.

I looked around, fear keeping me in the same spot. My instincts screamed at me to wretch open the door and run far, far away, but I couldn't, and I wouldn't. Not with my mom on the line. I could do this for as long as I needed to, which was just a few more months if it meant she would be able to work without worry or knowledge of what was happening.

A squeak of the floorboards made my skin crawl, and my heartbeat so loud it echoed off the walls. Suddenly Gabe appeared in the hallway. A smile on his face as he walked up to me, falling over his feet.

Then from behind him, three more equally drunk guys followed him. My breath caught in my throat. I felt like a ten-year-old about to be ganged up on, even though I was the same height as Gabe and maybe a bit taller than the other three.

Then Gabe unexpectedly ripped my hood off my head and punched me in the face, grabbing my hair. A gasp escaped me as my brain tried to process what happened. Then I was slammed against the door, over and over again.

"This is what you get when you don't listen. Now I'm going to beat some obedience into you."

With that, Gabe began pummelling me with his fists in every place imaginable. When he looked out of breath, he held me up by my hair and let his three buddies pummel me. I tried to stand, to keep my body's weight off my hair, but I was slowly losing it. I felt a good punch hit a scab on the bottle wound, and my ribs crack a bit.

Then Gabe let me go, and I fell to the floor, hitting my head on the doorknob on my way down. My head spun, and a static feeling entered my brain. Then the kicks came. My body pushed up against the door with their force as I felt my ribs threaten to crack completely.

The four men continued to take turns kicking me, and at some point, I heard talking, but I was yelling and screaming in pain too much to care.

I should've paid more attention to their conversation.

I was in a daze as I felt someone lift me and set me upright against the door. Then I felt my hoodie and shirt being pulled off. I shivered from the coolness of the house as my top was taken off.

My head was pushed back, and I didn't have the energy to resist. Suddenly an all too familiar feeling erupted from my torso. I looked down and saw Gabe with a knife. Again. This time he was just carving to carve.

I heard laughter as I noticed I had been screaming in pain. The cold steel sent droves of pain through my body, and I didn't have the energy to even twitch as everything hurt. Eventually, my throat grew hoarse, and I couldn't cry or scream anymore.

After what felt like an eternity, the burning pain stopped entering my skin.

"Stand up, little shit," I heard Gabe's voice as if it was coming from through a 50s TV on a lousy channel.

But I understood the tone and most of the message. I whimpered as I slowly stood. My legs gave out as I tried to rise to my full height, and Gabe kicked me hard, yelling at me to stand up.

I tried, I really did. But I couldn't. I was flat on my stomach, and I could barely move my arms to try and hoist myself up. Black spots constantly danced through my vision as I tried to stand.

Gabe gave up on kicking me and slurred something to his buddies. They all walked out. After what could've been a minute or an hour, they came back. I couldn't see what they were planning to do as my eyes were half-closed, and I couldn't raise my head, but a sense of dread told me that this was going to get worse.

Then the moment of calmness was over as I heard a shattering noise and pricks in my side. I gasped in pain and realization a beer bottle. Another crash landed on my right side, and more pricks entered my skin. I tried to get up and get away, but my body wouldn't respond, and moving caused those pieces of glass to penetrate further into my skin. They continued throwing bottles, and it made me wonder how much they drank before I got home.

Over the course of their target practice, they managed to hit me straight on a few times, but it was mostly just glass shattering nearby. Eventually, the shattering noises stopped, and I heard their voices and footsteps recede.

I knew I was in horrible shape this time, and I knew that I was bleeding—a lot. I couldn't comprehend much since my brain had shut down mostly, and my eyes were only half working. I forced myself to move my head slowly to look for where my hoodie was.

Grunting, I saw a black blob over in the corner of the hallway. I took a breath and tried to crawl over to it. The only thing I could do was crawl, or more like drag myself across the floor. My legs were not really doing their job, so it was all arm strength I didn't have. Plus, the millions of tiny glass shards that were being embedded into both my arms and body were not helping.

After what felt like an eternity, I made it to the black blob and lazily grasped my clothes. I heard footsteps, and I tried to hurry and pull my clothes towards me, fear filling me.

Someone was talking under their breath, something about losing a bet, and they grabbed me under the arms making pain shoot through me as they dragged me along the glass on the floor. I clutched my hoodie and shirt tightly and hoped that my phone didn't fall out of the pocket.

I heard the front door open.

Then I felt myself falling. I landed hard on the porch in front of the door, a few splinters finding their way into parts of my arms without glass.

I heard the door slam shut and listened to the lock and bolt being put in place. I was locked out of my own house. Since I wasn't here last night, I couldn't leave my window open. I was stuck outside in the cold with nothing to patch myself up with besides my shirt and hoodie. Fuck.

At that moment, I thought of the two people who gave me a sense of warmth, Mom, and Annabeth. I hoped I made it through at least till the end of the week so Annabeth didn't waste her time tutoring me. I wished I could continue living so all the hard work that Mom put into getting money wouldn't be wasted. I really wanted to not be a failure just yet. I needed to live a little longer.

Thinking back to the library when I had told myself that I wouldn't get Annabeth involved, I clutched my hoodie. Did I really want to call her? I couldn't call mom. I definitely couldn't call 911. Who else did I have? No one that's who.

Steeling myself for rejection and cold after school hours as I fished my hand through my hoodie pocket and grabbed my phone. I pulled out the earbuds, opened it, my fingers lazy, and got sloppy as I touched the screen. I opened the phone app and called Annabeth before I could back out.

I turned it on speaker and waited. Shit, what if she didn't pick up? What time was it anyway? This is a bad idea. I can't let Gabe see her.

With newfound determination, I pushed myself up on shaky arms and sat down on the porch. I pulled my t-shirt and hoodie over my head, adrenaline and fear keeping most of the intense pain at bay.

I struggled to stand and picked up my phone. Leaving it on speaker, I limped away from the house. I had to get at least a street away.

After what felt like forever, the line connected.

"Hey, Percy, what's up?"

I took a shuddering breath as I tried to form words.

"Percy, are you there? What's wrong?"

"He- hey can you come help me?"

"Yea, of course, where are you?" I looked around where I was and squinted at a nearby sign. I couldn't read it, and I knew that the adrenaline was wearing off. I took the phone off the speaker and put it on my ear, my arm screaming in pain as I folded it to do the action.

"Percy, if you don't know, send me your location. I'll find you."

She sounded shaky through the phone. Though I wasn't sure if that was because of my dizziness or if her voice was actually like that. I took my phone off my ear and pressed a few necessary buttons, and sent my location to her. I put my phone back to my ear and could hear Annabeth trying to talk to me.

"Percy?"

"Answer me!"

"Hey! Percy!"

"Hey Annabeth, when you find me, don't call 911, ok?" I heard her yell at me to keep talking, but when I got to the corner of the sidewalk, my legs gave out, and I couldn't move. The adrenaline wore off entirely, and I was hit with the pain walking down the street caused. In my fall, I barely managed to catch my face before it smacked into the ground with my arms, but I had to drop my phone.

I tried to stay awake for as long as possible as I heard Annabeth on my phone a foot or so away. I was blinded by some headlights, and then I passed out after hearing a car door slam.