All Alone

Sally POV

I watched as Percy bumped into the couch in the living room. He was trying to find his way to his bedroom after coming home from the hospital. Percy had spent over three weeks at the hospital, and he was finally back home.

"Percy, I can guide you to your room, honey," I said as I took his arm.

He pushed me away gently.

"Mom, I'm fine. I can find my own bedroom," he said sharply.

Paul and I both sighed as we watched our son slowly make his way out of the living room. He was following the walls until he made it to his bed.

His body was bumping into different things, and his hands were fumbling into the paintings and frames on the wall. Percy groaned and cursed silently as he went into his room. I could hear the door close gently all the way into the living room.

"We're going to be okay, Sally," Paul said reassuringly as he rubbed my back.

I turned around and embraced my husband.

***

"Honey, how was it?" I asked brightly as my son and husband walked through the door.

Percy simply kicked his shoes off next to the door and stormed into the house. Paul sighed before fixing the shoes.

"Percy," I acknowledged.

"Awful," he growled angrily as he stormed towards his room. Percy bumped some of the furniture as he quickly and clumsily left.

"Sally, he didn't even give them a chance. We drove an hour to the vision rehabilitation center, and he left after 15 minutes," Paul said.

"He's just not ready for it, Paul."

"Honey, I know how much you love him, but he needs this," Paul said.

To be completely honest, Paul and I have been having more disagreements lately about Percy's health. It's been over a month since coming back from the hospital. The school year was officially over, but all Percy does is sit in his room. He barely comes out.

Percy gets more agitated easily, and he's depressed as well. The person in my house currently was not the Percy that everyone knew. I was worried about my son.

"I know that Percy isn't well, but I don't want to force him to do anything. He's going through enough already," I said quietly.

Paul came over and gently kissed my forehead.

"He's my son, too, and I'm concerned about pushing him too much. However, I want him to get back to his life," Paul whispered.

I simply nodded. I wanted that, too.

But, how?

***

Percy POV

Darkness.

Darkness was all that I was feeling, literally and figuratively. Imagine closing your eyes and never being able to open them again. In fact, where a blindfold for an entire day, and you'll understand.

I didn't do anything all day every day.

I just sat there in my blackness and darkness. Blackness was consuming me even on the inside, and I couldn't stop it.

I knew that the plates and food were piling up on my desk. I never left my bedroom. My mom always brought the food. I would eat some, and I'd leave some.

The rest of my room probably wasn't much better.

I didn't feel like picking up the stuff that I would knock over. My clothes were everywhere, and sometimes, I would kick things around in anger and frustration.

I was so angry and depressed at the world.

My phone ringing disrupted my thoughts. I had been receiving calls ever since getting home, but I barely used my phone.

Regardless, I reached for the phone on my nightstand.

It took several moments of fumbling around before I got to it. My fingers had to trace my iPhone's sides in order to find the right places to swipe and answer the phone.

"Hello," I said softly.

Of course, I couldn't read the caller ID.

"Percy, it's Rachel," she said.

Honestly, I had barely even thought about Rachel since I lost my vision. I guess that showed how not close we were.

"Hey, Rachel, what's up?" I asked. I already knew what was coming.

"Percy, first, I'd like to say I'm sorry for what happened to you," she said.

"Yeah, I am, too."

"Anyway, I called you because I have to break up with you Percy," she said boldly.

I sighed. "Is there a reason, Rachel?" I asked. My girlfriend was breaking up with me, and I could imagine why. Who wanted to be with a blind guy, anyway? What girl deserved that?

Massive tears were burning my eyes.

"Percy, you're blind. But also, I met someone else, and I'm with him now."

"You cheated on me?" I asked with a chocked voice.

"Yes, Percy, but can you blame me. You're now a blind person, Percy. I'm so sorry for what happened, but do you really think that I would still stay with you?" Rachel asked incredulously.

"All right, then. Thanks for telling me, Rachel," I said dully into the phone.

Rachel hung up the phone.

Even though she cheated on me and then broke up with me, I still wanted to call her back. She was my girlfriend, whom I liked very much. Now that Rachel was gone, another connection to my old life was broken.

I leaned my head back on the bed rest. My hand clutched my phone tightly before I launched it across the room. I heard it smash against the wall, probably broken.

Some of my friends were gone, too. Some of them (Leo, Frank, Jason, Thalia, Piper, Hazel, etc) still called me even though I didn't answer. My mom told me that they called. Apparently, even Annabeth called me a few times, and she didn't even like me.

However, my other friends didn't call. They simply left me.

Now, Rachel was gone. Some of my friends were gone. Swimming was gone.

Everything felt over, and I hated it.

***

I emotionally broke down often in the weeks to come. Summer was going on, but I wasn't.

Jason came over to my house often, and that was my only interaction with people outside of my family. The others still weren't allowed to come because I didn't want to interact with them. I couldn't see them, and it seemed too hard.

"Bro, all of our friends are missing you," Jason said.

"Yeah, and," I said annoyingly.

"It'll help to talk to them again, bro. You should get out there," Jason said pleadingly.

"I'm not ready, Jason," I said firmly.

"You'll never be ready until you do it," he shot back with equal firmness.

A few moments of silence continued. The TV in my room was on, and Jason was watching a movie. I could only listen.

"Oh, the voice you're listening to now is Emma Stone," Jason said.

"I know that it's Emma Stone, Jason. I'm too in love with her to not know her voice. What is she wearing?" I asked with a small smile. The movie dialogue emphasized a beach scene.

"she's in a black bikini, and she looks hot," Jason said with a chuckle.

"Damn," I said back. "Too bad, I cannot see it," I said softly.

Jason patted my shoulder before I heard some shuffling. Jason was moving around my room, and then, his footsteps came closer again.

"What are you doing, Jason?" I asked.

"I am giving you a pamphlet," he said firmly.

"I can't read, Jason," I said sadly. Did Jason forget or something?

"I know, you can't read now. But, you can feel," he said matter-of-factly as he placed the pamphlet into my hand.

I felt the piece of paper. The words were indented, and I could feel the engravings of each letter.

It was a slow process, but my fingers moved over the paper. The paper said that "you should get back to life with blindness training."

"Are you kidding me, Jason?" I exclaimed after I was done. "You couldn't just tell me what you had in mind."

"No, because I wanted you to feel that you can do normal things in a slightly different way. It's things like this that they'll teach you at vision rehabilitation."

"I don't want to do it," I said firmly.

"Percy, you're my best friend, so trust me. You do want to live again."

Of course, Jason was right about me. My parents were also right. I was sick of being depressed and angry, but I didn't know how to move on from those emotions. And, the constant darkness wasn't helping either. But, I did want to live again. I desired hope and life again.

I sighed. "Let's just continue the movie, Jason."