Remember Me? (Percy Jackson-- Leo Valdez Fanfic)

Chapter 6: Three years later.... (Part 1)

For the next few days people kept coming in to check on me, from my parents to my friends.  I nodded, listening to them intently but kept generally quiet as they talked to me about the police sending search parties into the woods to find her. When I did talk, I asked them if I could join the parties, but all I got was a no. That it was too dangerous. That I couldn't leave the hospital until all the toxin left my body, that I stupidly put in there when I crashed carelessly through the trees. If I'd been more careful, at least I could have been able to try to sneak out and look, but right now I couldn't even feel my legs.   

After nearly two weeks stuck in bed, I had finally been released from the white walls. After talking to all our parents, they had let us join one of the search parties, where we were each escorted with one officer, to look in the woods. But even after we had searched for nearly seven hours straight, we found nothing. Not a trace but broken branches and disturbed bushes that I had created in my rampage, had been left as evidence that we had been in the woods at all that day. But not a single trace of her was left. Not a foot print, ripped piece of clothing, or smell had been found by any of the search dogs.

We wanted to continue searching, but soon a month had passed, and school was about to start. I asked if I could extend the search a little further into the school year, but our parents didn't change their answer. The best thing to do is focus on what we could do something about, which happened to be our education, and to leave the searching to the police. Only, two weeks after school started the police had gone to Diana's parents, apoligizing as they told them that there was no sign of her, and it was near hopeless.

Alyssa, Zac, Josh and I all understood what that meant. As far as any of us knew, Diana was gone. We hardly spoke about it though. Actually, we hardly talked at all for a while. We ended up being too occupied dealing with the groups of kids coming to us on a regular basis apologizing for what happened, ripping the wound open every single day. I had thanked them the same way my friends had, curtly and walked away, but soon enough I got fed up with it. They didn't even know Diana, they had never talked to any of us. What right did they have to start telling me they'd miss her and how great she was? 

I tried to stay calm after the first three weeks, but the moment I got back to school on the fourth Monday, I lost it and snapped at a girl who came up to me telling me that she's sure it'll be okay and Diana will come home. That we'll be okay.

"Not it wont." I growled at her. "You don't know what happened, you don't know how we feel. How dare you pretend as if you do?"

She looked at me with wide embarrassed eyes, stummering as she apologized. Before I could respond I felt someone pull on my arm and saw Alyssa drag me away, and helped me escape the attention I had drawn to tear-stained face in the middle of a busy hallway. 

Nearly three months had passed since school started, and I sat in silence with my friends at a cafeteria table, idly playing with the noodles on the plate in front of me. I looked up briefly, listening to them being able to make jokes and laugh. I knew that they had been as devastated as I had been, but I seemed to be the only one who hadn't been able to get over it. 

But deep inside I couldn't expect them to understand. It doesn't matter how close I had been able to get to them over the past year and a half. It was all because of Diana. Even if I didn't like it, even if he had told me otherwise, I had already admitted it to myself a countless amount of times. I couldn't deny the fact that I was almost everything I was that day because of her. I had friends, because of her. I wasn't locked up in my room begging my mom to home school me so that I didn't have to face strangers and deal with the outside world, because of her. When I had met her, I was practically a broken shell of a child. She had been the first friend I had ever had, and being able to talk to other people was something she slowly taught me to do. I felt more like a regular person because of my best friend. And now she's gone.