Chapter Eighteen

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Poseidon

I felt bad for having pushed him too far the day Percy freaked out, but I'm not good at the dad thing. As he pointed out.

I mean, most gods were terrible parents. Are terrible parents. We know that. We try to ignore it.

Nobody had taken the whole he'd rather die than go back to camp thing seriously.

Well Chiron and Mr. D had summoned me to camp. Which, of course, I arrived. I figured they were to ask about Tyson coming back to camp, so I brought Tyson with.

In the Big House, both of them saw Tyson and gave me a look.

"What?" I asked. "I figured this would be about Tyson's attendance.'

"You're not going to want Tyson in here." Chiron warned me. But when I asked Tyson to leave, he said no, he wanted to stay here.

We weren't going to argue with him, so he sat down with us.

"Well if it isn't about Tyson or his attendance." I remarked. "What's going on? Or are you guys calling everyone in?"

"No, just you." Dionysus assured me.

"It's about Percy." Chiron explained, which got Tyson's attention pretty quick. "Do you know anything about his health? Medication or anything?"

I thought about it. But had to shake my head.

"He's never come to stay, I've never had to worry about it." I told them. "Is he doing drugs?"

"Oh, gods, no." He assured me right away. "He's still a good kid. But the day he freaked out on you, the day we brought him here, he said something about camp. Not wanting to be here. And um... Well, he didn't come out of his cabin for like a week and a half after we brought him here."

That threw me through a loop.

"How did he live?"

"Nico or Grover would bring him food and stick around to help him out." The centaur further elaborated. "But Nico came to us with worries about Percy. So we assured him we would find somebody that could help him because we didn't have anyone here that could. And while Nico and Grover were at lunch, Percy was left alone and... I mean it was normal that they weren't with him at lunch. But when they got back, Nico found him passed out and he had written something out."

"What did he write out?"

They handed me a piece of paper, of which I read out loud.

Dear whoever the fuck finds me and notices this,
Don't feel bad. It's not your fault. It was my fault and my fault only.
I should've opened up. I should've talked to somebody about it. And I mean, I did. But not as much as I should. I should've gotten more help. I should've stopped being so paranoid that everyone would hate me for every little stupid thing, even if it was a lie.
But I didn't. And now it's too late. I've made up my mind. So sorry.
I say sorry too much. Sorry.
I'm sorry everyone had to put up with me and my stupid problems. I didn't deserve everyone I got. Because I have always been a failure, and I've made my peace with that. Nobody likes me. I've made my peace with that. My dad never wanted me. my mom has given up on me. I have lost myself. I will everything I have to Nico for him to distribute from there on out.
I'll see you guys in hell.
Percy Jackson

Did I start crying half way through this? Yes.

Did Tyson? Yeah.

Because my mind jumped to that if he was passed out when they found this, he was dead.

"Oh my gods..." I remarked and covered my mouth.

"Now, breathe, Poseidon." Chiron insisted as Mr. D took Tyson to help him out. "Percy isn't dead..He was knocked out when they found him. He was going to hang himself but passed out due to an anxiety attack before he did anything to himself. I talked to him another couple times before he was able to walk out of his cabin and I talked to him after his first day and he said that he still feels like shit, but he doesn't have an impulse to kill himself anymore."

I sighed in relief. I was a shitty dad, but I cared about my dad. If he died, he was getting killed or dying of old age. No kid of mine is killing himself.

"Exactly." Chiron agreed. "He's started to open up. To me, not other campers. From what I can tell, he'll tell Nico and Grover just about everything. And he would be here. He was supposed to be. But there was an accident with a gash he had on his arm and something happened at campfire and it opened up and bled a lot. He just got out, he's fine. So he's taking the day to himself, we didn't bother telling him how we're here. But he did tell me that he would be willing to negotiate so he could get out of camp."

"To negotiate?" I asked, intrigued. Of course, I didn't put the curse down. Zeus did. But he's my son, I can uplift it from him.

He confirmed my question.

"He said he'll drop and stop the production of the play as that seemed to upset you two," the centaur listed off. "He'll call you at least every week. He'll pay you $100 every summer he doesn't come. He'll stop contacting anyone at camp, given three exceptions. He'll have amnesia and forget whatever happened here, ever. He said you can pick whatever three of these you want and he'll own up if it means he can get out of camp and never be thrown back in."

I sighed.

"Just let the kid out." I told my brother. "You know, if he's suicidal and this place hurts him that much, let him go home. I don't care about the play, I didn't realize it was a play when I first saw it. Zeus can suck it up because mortals take it as fiction. It's not a riot. It's their side of the story. Just... let him know that I'd like to hear from him at least every once in a while."

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