I Care (Solangelo)

Chapter Twenty-eight

There was a tap on my shoulder, causing me to open my eyes.

"Hey," Percy said. His black bangs covered his eyes, but I got a warm vibe from him. "I uh... bandaged your arm."

I gave him a thumbs up because I was too lazy to sign.

"So, about your voice," Percy's eyes darted around the room, everywhere except me. "I'm sorry."

Yeah, you said. I tried to give him a joking smile, which he flashed back to me.

"Anyhow, uh, right." Percy's smile faded. "I use to be with Octavian. We'd do crazy stunts like, oh, I don't know, throwing rocks at windows, stealing cars, lighting abandoned buildings on fire. Stuff like that."

W-O-W.

"Yeah," he took a deep breath. "One... one time your mom had left you in a room for just one minute, maybe less. Octavian saw you through a window; you were about one and a half years old."

Another deep breath, this time more ragged.

"I told him not to do it, you were an infant. But he decided to throw rocks at the window to scare you. And a rock... his aim was good and he must have not just been trying to scare you, because a rock got embedded in your throat." He pointed to a spot on my throat. Right where my surgery scar was.

Yeah, no. I don't remember this. Probably 'cause I was a year and a half, I-D-K.

Percy smiled at me. "Since then I'd devoted my time to making sure you lived, no matter what." The smile faded, once again. "I could have stopped him."

I shook my head, wanting to scream at him to shut up. He saved me a few minutes ago. That's what counted.

"I warned your mother by turning Octavian in. He managed to escape, seeing as it was winter and we were wearing gloves. No evidence led to him." Percy shook his head.

Pen and paper? I signed, not knowing the signs for the words I wanted to commute. Percy handed me a pen and notepad.

You said you've been watching. I've never seen you.

"I wasn't in ways you'd expect," Percy said. "Connor Stoll? He has a brother, Travis. He was kind of like what Hercules Mulligen was to Alexander Hamilton."

I liked that reference very much.

"Travis always told me when they did something too horrible. Like that time in the alley? I encouraged Will Solace to take a walk." Percy, once again, smiled. "I've always been there for you." He gave me a little wink.

This is gonna need prosessing time. I wrote.

"True," Percy kept giving me a warm, comforting smile. "But it's getting dark, the sun is almost set. Head home."

I took about five seconds spelling out Octavian's name. I need to know about his eye.

"Argh, right," Percy cringed as he remembered a horrible memory. "That's a recent thing. Someone -- blond haired, blue eyed male -- he saw what happened in that alley. After you got the crap beaten out of you, they took you home. But came back and chucked a rock into the eye of Octavian."

Deserved, I signed.

"Agreed." Percy said, in agreement. "But you should really get home."

It was hard to tell what happened next, everything was such a blur. I remembered giving Percy a hug at my doorstep. I remember me having to sneak up to my room to avoid waking anyone.

I remember the last thing that went in my mind before my eyes closed: the smile of Will Solace.