Quinn Jackson ◊
They say that love punishes, but it's a lie. Love is the cure to all of the things that truly hurt us. Whether it's being alone, rejected, or losing someone, love will always be the cure for it.
It really is. But everybody said that life would get better, and that the pain only lasts for a moment, yet my pain has been going on the past three years of my life. I was supposed to be a senior in high school this year, having the time of my life.
I was supposed to be dreaming about who would become homecoming queen, whether or not I would be asked to the winter formal, if I would be an escort for the potential King, and all of the sporting events and games throughout the year, and figuring out what I'd be doing for the rest of my future.
But that wasn't my life. I was too stressed out worrying about my mother all the time. She was barely in her forties, just turned thirty-eight last year, but she wasn't going to see a day over thirty-nine.
It terrified me. My mother has been so active in my life that when we got the news three years ago, I didn't know what to do. I tried focusing on my studies, but I was too busy taking care of her.
And now, we were moving into a small one bedroom, one bathroom house, because it was all we could afford nowadays.
I leaned my head back against the headrest as the truck engine rumbled as we made our way down the freeway, my eyes fluttering shut as we passed by miles and miles of trees.
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Piercing blue eyes stared at me and startled me as I looked around. A large manor was spread in front of me, the brick aged and glorious in all its standing.
Green vines crawled and climbed along the wall, giving the building a sense of it being alive.
He stood there, watching me as I attempted to figure out my surroundings.
He had blond hair styled perfectly in a quiff, scruff scattered along his jaw with beautiful plump lips with a black metal piercing in them. He had a small button nose, and two blue eyes that looked as if the sky as trapped in them.
He wore a black shirt button up shirt with all of the buttons done except two, with black pants as well, and he stared at me with his arms crossed across his broad chest, his demeanor changing as recognition crossed his features.
"Quinn." He breathed out, his voice just as you suspect it would sound, rough yet gentle at the same time.
He licked his lips, hesitantly walking towards me with a shy expression and he glanced behind me and his expression darkened, but as I turned the scene dissolved into mist.
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"Quinn, dear. Wake up." My mother said, jostling me awake and I groaned as I opened my eyes, rubbing my face and scrunching my nose at the lack of sunlight.
The man was mesmerizing, to say the least. As we continued to unpack and move everything inside, he was on my thoughts constantly.
The house was smaller than expected, the panels on the outside were once a beautiful brown color, but was now a dull off shade.
There was a small sidewalk leading up to the house, weeds in the cracks of the cement with some wilted flowers along each of the sides.
White panels surrounded each of the windows, with a tan brown door in the center of the building, and I reluctantly left the house and watched as men started moving boxes into the house, and I grabbed one of mine and carried it inside.
"Q, a little help?" My mother called, and I sighed as I set my box down and quickly walked over to her, taking the small box from her and carried it into the house.
"Thanks doll." She whispered, settling onto the couch and I nodded as I started to unpack, watching her out of the corner of my eye as I did so.
She was breathing heavily, and when she raised her hand to brush a piece of hair behind her ear, it was shaking.
There was a slight knock at the door, and I immediately went and answered it, signing some remaining paperwork from the movers and shut the door as they left and turned to look at my mom.
"Mom, I'll cook tonight. I'm just going to run up to the store." I said, taking the keys from the counter and she nodded as she turned on the TV, and pulled a blanket over her body, resting her head on a pillow as I left the cozy house.
I turned over the engine, fighting back tears as moving here was the final step in my mothers life. She's accepted it by now, but I haven't.
I couldn't.
I wiped my face as I pulled into the grocery store, if you could even call it that. It was a gas station that had some food to buy, just the basics and all of that. I pulled the key out of the ignition and walked inside, the chime of the bell going off when I opened the door and sighed.
"Hi, welcome to Smith's Station." An all too perky girl greeted me, and I smiled at her as I walked towards the back where the refrigerators were. I grabbed nearly everything I needed, and went back to the cashier who had a knowing smile on her face.
"Is that all?" She asked, and I nodded quickly, grabbing the crumpled bills from my pocket and set it on the counter, and gathered the stuff back into my arms and thanked her as she gave me my change and went back into the car.
As I drove back home, I noticed there was a record shop on the side of the road, and bit my lip as I thought, and quickly pulled off and went inside, browsing around when someone around my age peeked his head out from the desk and smiled at me.
"Well, hey. Didn't hear you come in." He said, scratching the back of his neck and I gave him a smile as I looked around, and I could continue to feel his gaze on me as I did, and I felt my cheeks heat up from his stare.
I glanced at him as I turned my back, rifling through the CD's that were in alphabetical order, stealing glances at him every so often.
He had dyed platinum blond hair, a snapback covering it with strands of hair messily peeking out from it, an eyebrow piercing in his right brow, black ink gracing his pale skin and wore a plain baseball tee with black skinny jeans.
"I'm Michael." He said, and I turned back towards him, his eyes scanning my face.
"Well, if you need anything let me know." He said, a cheerful smile on his face and I nodded, browsing through until I found the newest C.D. and walked to the counter where Michael was standing, giving him a soft smile as he scanned and told me the total.
"Are you going to be going to school here?" He asked as he placed it into the bag, and I nodded again as I took the change and bag from him and he gave a thoughtful nod.
"You must be a senior, right?" He asked, and I nodded once again and he chuckled.
"Awesome, so am I." He said, and I smiled at him as I took the bag from him, and waved slightly as I walked towards the door.
"I'll see you around then." He said as I left, climbing back into my own car and went back home, unpacking everything and smiled to myself as my mom was asleep on the couch, and I got dinner ready.
I unloaded while I waited for everything to cook, only unpacking what we absolutely needed at this point, because there wasn't really a point to unpack when I'd just be packing it all back up again.
"It smells good." A weak voice said, and I smiled as she sat up from the couch and looked at me.
"Well, macaroni and cheese is my specialty." I said, and she chuckled as I brought a bowl over to her and sat beside her, watching as she took small bites of the noodles in the bowl.
"You should be all enrolled for class tomorrow. I know you won't like starting in the middle of the semester, but I want you to finish." She said, patting my knee and I nodded.
"Well, I'm going to bed. Wake me up before you leave, darling." She said, struggling to stand up until I offered her my hand and she smiled as she took it and went into the small bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
I sighed as I gathered the dishes up and placed them into the dishwasher, before glancing at the clock on the stove and I frowned. It was nearly ten already, so I changed and got settled on the couch, my thoughts keeping me awake as I laid on the uncomfortable furniture.
Each day I prayed to someone I thought protected over all of the creations that were placed on this earth, but each day I lost more and more faith.
My mother never really pushed faith onto me, nor did she push any of her beliefs either. She never really talked about religion before, I just learned from television shows and other kids around me.
The only story my mother really told me was about the Greeks, but those were just silly bedtime stories.
There were two that I remembered greatly, but the one that stuck out to me the most was how humans were created. According to legend, humans were originally born with four arms, four legs and one head with two faces.
However, the creator split them into two beings, and condemned mortals to spend their lives searching for their other half.
The other stories were about all of the Greek gods and goddesses that existed, and all of the different traits and characteristics that they had.
I never know why I remember the Greek stories the most, but it's always vivid in my mind. But I've always heard about God from those who were Christian, but never experienced the true faith and spirituality that others seemed to have.
Maybe it was because throughout my experience on this earth, was that I never had a true reason to believe.
Lately, thought I would try this out. There's always the adorable stories of how a family prayed away the illness, and it got my hopes up.
But now as we were at the final place my mother wanted to experience, I knew there wasn't a true God above us all.
I didn't know if there were any gods looking over humanity, only because it seemed as if there wasn't one.
Poverty, violence and illness littered this earth, and if there was a god, why wouldn't they have stopped it by now and created the perfect world?
I groaned as I rolled over on the small and uncomfortable couch, adjusting myself but I immediately got out of bed as I heard my mother whimper and ran to her room.
"Mom," I breathed as I opened the door, wincing as she was crouched beside the toilet in the bathroom and shook my head.
"No, Quinn you have school tomorrow. Go to bed." She whimpered, and I rolled my eyes at the stubborn look she gave me.
"I wasn't asleep anyways, now come on." I said, crouching beside her and pushed the small plastic cup of water into her hands and she smiled weakly up at me as she took it and sipped slowly at it.
"Thank you. Now try and sleep my dear, you have a big day tomorrow." She replied, and I pressed my lips into a line but nodded as I helped her back into her bed once she brushed her teeth and laid down.
I slipped out of the room quietly, shutting the door behind me and collapsed back onto the couch, pulling the blanket over me and glanced beside me to see the clock reading three in the morning and I groaned.
This is just great.
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authors note - hello!! this is my new Greek A.U. with Luke :-)
I hope you guys about this!! this is probably one of my favorite Greek stories besides all of the stories by Uncle Rick (aka Rick Riordan) but yeah, totally stay tuned for the rest of the updates. I'll be fast updating and truly hope to see you guys comment & vote so I know if you like it or not.
thank you so much for reading! lysm :-)
much love ; becca