I woke up feeling like shit and couldn't move anything without being hit with pain. I heard a gasp, and my eyes opened slowly. I looked around the best I could and saw a grey ceiling. Odd, my room wasn't painted. I turned my head a bit, biting back a yelp as it sent red hot pain into my skull.

There sitting in a chair by the bed, was Annabeth. I yelped out loud this time and tried to scramble away in surprise but ended up just slipping and falling on my arm in pain.

"Hey Percy, I didn't mean to scare you. Are you alright?" she spoke with such compassion that I immediately felt at peace. Wait, shit, school.

"What time is it?"

"3 pm."

Shit, I missed a whole day of school. I had about twoish hours until I had to go back home to Gabe. I noticed that my hoodie was still on, and I only had an ice pack on my head. She must've not wanted to look for injuries.

"Um, I didn't know if you were comfortable with me searching for injuries, so I just gave you a place to sleep.

I immediately felt gratitude towards her. She didn't invade my privacy.

"I can see that you're in serious pain. Do you want me to help you with your injuries?" she asked so formally it was like she was scared of scaring me away even though I was the one that called her.

"Um, no one is gonna come in, right? I assume that we're at your house?" I wanted to make sure I had to be certain no one was going to barge in.

"Yea, we're kind of home alone right now, and yea, this is my house."

I nodded. "Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Promise"

I took a deep breath. Annabeth watched me as I steeled myself. I can trust her. I can. Closing my eyes, I slowly took my hoodie off my head and heard an intake of breath as she saw the glass embedded in my arms. Wincing, I removed my shirt and heard another sharp intake of breath.

I opened my eyes and saw Annabeth with her hand over her mouth as she looked at me. I looked away and winced as I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Holy shit," I heard her mutter. I heard her scramble out of her chair, and I grit my teeth as I realized she probably ran off. Not wanting to see me again, I felt my heart break a little bit. Then I felt a hand on my cheek that pushed lightly to turn my head. I looked over and saw Annabeth with a sad look in her eyes.

"I'm going to go get the first aid kit, don't go anywhere, got it?" she said with such sternness I wondered if this was the same person who was soft and kind to me during our tutoring sessions. I nodded to her, and she let out a sigh of relief. Then she walked out of the room and heard the faint footsteps echoing through the empty house.

I looked around for my phone and looked at the time. 3:24 pm, almost an hour and a half till I had to leave. I felt dread curl into my gut as I realized that I would have to leave Annabeth to go home to Gabe. I clenched my teeth in frustration. I really didn't want to go back just to be beaten up again. But then again, I just had to keep it up for a few more months then I was home free.

I unclenched my teeth as Annabeth walked back in holding a kit. She came over and lightly pushed my shoulders till I laid down flat. I didn't realize how much my ribs ached from sitting up until I let them relax.

Annabeth hovered over my torso and asked quietly, "Can I unwrap these?" she gestured to the bandages I sloppily put on a few days ago.

"Yea, just um, leave the ones on my right wrist," she nodded and didn't pry, which I am eternally grateful for. She hadn't asked who, or why, or when, or how long; she just wanted to help. I knew that not knowing was probably eating her up inside, and her curiosity was probably starting to get to its capacity. Still, I wasn't ready to share yet. The only reason she saw these wounds and scars was because I couldn't move, and I was locked out of the house.

She leaned over me and slowly undid the bandages surrounding my torso, uncovering my scars, cuts, and bruises. From the cuts that Gabe had done last night, most bandages were cut through and didn't require unwrapping. They were barely staying together as it was.

"Ok, so there are quite a few deep cuts, and since there are so many bruises, I want to make sure your ribs aren't broken. I'm going to push a bit and tell me if something moves, ok? I'm sorry this is probably going to hurt" with that, she pressed a cold hand to my side and pressed softly. I bit my lip and held in a whimper as she pushed.

I shook my head, and she nodded. She went to the other side and did the same thing, the same reaction.

"I'm not an expert, so I don't know if that's really how you check for broken ribs, but if nothing is stabbing you internally, I'd say your good. I'm going to start taking out glass and splinters, so just a warning."

I nodded again, not trusting my voice as I struggled to blink tears away from when she pressed on my sides.

Slowly and painfully, Annabeth worked her tweezers across my torso and arms, pulling out glass and splinters alike. Every time that she pulled one out, she winced as if it had hurt her. By the time she had finished with my right side, she had a pile of small glass pieces.

Sighing, she walked around the bed and continued the process. It took a long time for her to finish with my left side, which, for some reason, had significantly more glass pieces than my right.

Then she spread some kind of ointment on my bruises and cuts, which was put on like sunscreen. Then she took a warm wet rag and gave it to me.

"Here, wipe off your makeup so I can put some ointment on your face" I took the rag with a shaky hand and carefully wiped the makeup off my face and neck. I finished wiping my face off and looked at Annabeth, who had a pained expression. I knew my face looked fucked-up. I probably had two black eyes and a few bruises on my cheeks, not to mention my nose. Also, I'm not entirely sure the strangling bruises from last week had healed completely.

Biting her lip, Annabeth smeared the ointment over my entire face and my neck. It felt sticky and cold, but it felt nice having someone take care of me.

"Um, I need to rebandage you, but first, I would like to check your back for any more glass pieces. Can you sit up or roll over?" images of that time in the mirror last week, when Gabe had finished carving words into my back, flashed through my mind. I didn't want Annabeth to see those. The glass would come out on its own, right?

Percy, you dumbass, if you had been stronger, you wouldn't have needed her help in the first place. She saw all your scars and bruises. Just let her do your back already.

But that's where the words are carved. This is the reason I didn't want Annabeth to unwrap my wrist.

Yea, but you can't take care of your back.

She'll look at me differently.

She'll already look at you differently. She's seen your bare torso. Of course, she will. How much worse do you think she can treat you after this. Just get it over with.

I looked at Annabeth and sighed. I didn't want to see her reaction, so I sat up and turned away from her. I shut my eyes closed and clenched my teeth waiting for a gasp or words of pity.

None came.

My shoulders untensed a bit, and a chill went down my spine as she softly placed her fingers in between my shoulder blades. It was so much different from Gabe. He would put his foot there and hold me down, but with Annabeth, it was almost like she was giving him warmth and support.

I unclenched my teeth and relaxed my back.

"This is probably going to hurt; there are much bigger pieces and still a lot of small ones," she whispered. I nodded my understanding and kept my eyes shut.

As Annabeth worked, I tried to sing a song in my head. To ignore the pain. My back wasn't as scarred as my torso, so I wasn't used to injuries being dealt there. I curled my fists in Annabeth's comforter on her bed as she pulled out another piece of glass.

"Last two," she whispered softly. I clenched my teeth as she pulled them out. Then untensing my back as she placed ointment over my cuts. She didn't mention the words, but I felt when her hand brushed over them.

Each time she smoothed the ointment over the words, they echoed in my mind. Repeating what Gabe had said and what I knew was true. What I was constantly reminded of. The words swirled in my head over and over again as I tried to block them out. I brought my hand up to my head and held it, trying to squeeze the words out.

It was no use. The words raced around my head, taunting me.

Stupid

Pathetic

Worthless

Failure

Disappointment

Ugly

Useless

Then they stopped, and I almost sighed in relief until my right wrist tingled. Moving both hands to my head, I breathed laboriously as the word filled my head.

Weak

It was right, of course. I was too weak to help my mom, too weak to stand up to Gabe, too weak to take care of myself, too weak to handle a few punches, so weak I had to call Annabeth for help.

Then something soft touched my hands and pulled them away from my head. Confused and blinking my eyes open, trying to get used to the light. I realized that Annabeth had taken my hands in hers and smiled sadly at me.

I didn't deserve this warmth. I didn't deserve anything Annabeth was doing for me right now. So why?

"Why?" I spoke softly. She released my hands, and I immediately wanted to grab hers again but held back. She reached to her right as she sat with her legs folded under her. She grabbed the bandages and started unrolling them.

"Why what?" she asked as she leaned towards me and started rewrapping my torso.

"Why help me?" she paused momentarily but continued wrapping, steadily moving up.

"Because Percy, in the short time I've known you, you've become my friend, and I look out for my friends." she quickly finished wrapping my chest and secured the bandage.

I must've looked surprised because she scoffed and confirmed, "Yes, Percy, you're my friend. Is that so hard to believe?"

"But why would you want to be my friend?" I asked shyly. I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer, but she was all I had at the moment, so maybe she had a reason besides pity.

She sighed. "Because Percy, unlike some of the kids I've tutored, you actually care and take my advice to heart. Also, you're a pretty nice guy; you let me sleep on the couch in the library even though you could have gotten me up. And another thing, you're really sweet and think of others first, I mean doing the dishes even though you were the guest? That got major brownie points from my parents but made me look bad" she ended up laughing by the end, and she was finishing wrapping my left arm.

"Sorry," Annabeth's head snapped up from what she was doing to look at me with her piercing grey eyes.

"No more apologizing. Honestly, if you can make me look bad in front of my parents, I welcome it. They aren't the most accepting of new friends, especially boys," she started on my right arm, but when she got down to the old bandage and saw how dirty it was, she paused.

"Um, I know you don't want me to see what's on your wrist but can you at least clean it? I won't look, I swear."

"I don't want to see it either" I scowled and looked away.

"Ok, how about this, I close my eyes as I clean it, and you can look away. That way, I don't see it, you don't see it, but it still gets cleaned," I thought for a second and then agreed to the compromise.

I looked away after I saw Annabeth close her eyes. I felt the wound I hadn't bothered to take care of meet fresh air, and it stung. I bit my lip as a whimper climbed up my throat. I felt Annabeth's smooth fingers brush ointment on the carving. My breath hitched as she finished wrapping my right arm, pulling it tight.

"Ok, you're all patched up. I would say to stay here and relax, but I'm guessing you have to get home," Annabeth began uneasily. I looked back towards her, and she was sitting across from me, eyes piercing mine, searching for answers for questions she didn't speak.

I nodded and pulled my phone out, checking the time. 5:13 pm. Shit.

"Oh shit," I mumbled.

"Thanks, Annabeth, but I have to get back now." I started as I almost fell off the bed. I shakily stood on my feet and walked over to the other side of the bed, ignoring the shouts of pain and black spots dancing around my vision. I stumbled a bit but caught myself on the bed. I grabbed my shirt and hoodie, throwing them on before trying and failing to leave.

I stumbled, but thankfully Annabeth caught me before I fell flat on my face. She swung my left arm around her shoulders and helped me down the stairs and to her car.

"Where to? Same place I picked you up?" she got in and buckled her seat belt. I didn't have the proper energy to argue about her driving me. I nodded, and she backed out of the driveway. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke.

"Abuse?" I choked on air and sucked in a breath. Not trusting my voice, I figured that she could see my head motions, so I nodded.

Another set of minutes passed, and she asked softly again.

"Parent?" I nodded again.

She took another pause, which I was grateful for since it didn't seem like an interrogation, and evened out the car ride.

"Step-Parent?" Again I nodded. I couldn't tell if she was good at guessing or she had encountered this before.

"Step-Dad?" she spoke again after another pause of comfortable silence. I nodded again. I wondered if she was excited or uncomfortable that she kept guessing correctly.

"Mom?" I knew I couldn't answer this with a nod or a shake of the head, so I gulped out a single word

"Work," I saw Annabeth nod in my peripheral vision. We came up to a corner, and I recognized it as the street my house was on. Taking a few deep shuddering breaths, I got out of the car and thanked Annabeth.

Before I could walk off, she rolled down the window and said, "Hey, text me, ok? If you need patching up, I'll keep a first aid kit in my room. Just text me, and I'll help you out."

I nodded and forced a smile on my face as she drove off. Then I started walking back to the house, hoping that the school hadn't called Gabe and said I wasn't at school. I also hoped he was passed out drunk on the couch. But then again, I always wish I'll wake up, and Gabe would have been a bad dream, but we don't always get what we hope for.