The Boy I Knew

A Case of Stockholm Syndrome

A strangled scream escaped from my lips. My captor turned and chuckled at me, readjusting my gag to silence me. I was frantically throwing myself all over the place, trying to free myself from the ropes that bound me.

"Percy. You don't seem to be getting anywhere with that. Why don't you stop?"

I froze momentarily. Luke's cold, lifeless voice turned my blood to ice. When he turned around to look at me, his electric blue eyes pierced into the depths of my soul. Sighing, Luke approached me and reached out to my face. Terrified, I summoned my last bit of strength and kicked him in the torso. This only made my captor amused, laughing softly to himself as he untied the gag around my mouth. "So here's where the great Percy Jackson is at now, huh?"

"I'll kill you, Castellan."

He didn't even respond to this. My efforts were so pitiful that all he could do was laugh at this statement. He sat down across from me, looking me over. A smirk was on his face, contorting the scar that ran down his cheek. 

"What happened to you, Luke?"

He looked up at me, his eyes empty.

"You were my friend." My voice was quavering. 

I heard Luke exhale. For a moment I could've sworn I saw a glimpse of the Luke I had known. The Luke who had welcomed me into cabin eleven. Just for a second, I saw the old Luke replace the soulless being that sat in front of me. 

"Jackson... I..." 

His eyes looked sad as he watched me.

"Luke." I was almost whispering.

I heard a yell from upstairs. Luke lifted his head and muttered something under his breath, sounding irritated. He looked at me again and his expression hardened. He started to retie my gag.

"Luke. Luke, please listen to me. Luke, no!"

Luke was lifting a baseball bat, the one that was kept in this room especially for me. I was so close...

He lifted up to swing the bat. I braced myself. 

CRACK!

The last thing I saw before everything went black, although it could've just been my mind playing tricks on me... no. No, I'm almost positive. As Luke was leaving the room, I saw him wipe a tear from his cheek.