Alyssa Serrano

I've never believed in fate, or destiny. But, for all I knew my fate was to be locked up in my house until I rotted. Okay, probably not until then, but you can get my point.

Ever since I could remember, my mother had kept me locked up inside our quiet lodge like a hostage, she would say that the world outside is full of danger and unexplainable things. This made no sense to me--actually, a lot of things didn't make sense to me at all, I always had so many questions that would never be answered.
I rarely was allowed to go and play outside, which is my view, was very unhealthy for a growing child like myself. Whenever I did though it was the time I treasured the most of my boring childhood. I remember the mild sun embracing around me like a warm blanket, I remember lying on the grass and looking up at the blue sky; wondering about why my life was like it was. I can even recall myself listening to the birds that would sing back and forth to each other, and I would whistle back pretending I was a part of their “show”.

Some days, when I was down, or needing some fresh air, I would climb to the attic where I would lay on our roof, gazing at the sun. What was strange was that I could look at the sun without my eyes burning up like I had read in some sort of science book. This toggled my mind all the time until I had to stop thinking about it before my brain would explode… Sometimes, I would even, well, talk to the sun. I used to think to myself that I was crazy, but the sun was like my only friends I had to talk to. I could never start a conversation with my mother; whenever we talked she would yell at me, probably because I would mention my father or why I couldn't go outside whenever I wanted. Those kind of topics she couldn't stand to hear.

I never went to school, call me a blockhead if you want, but when you’re trapped inside your own house for your whole childhood you don’t have many options on what to do every day. So, I would read books every other day, taking in the knowledge they had inside of their pages (sorta. I was mostly in for the pictures). My favorite subject of all though was Mythology; I was addicted to their stories of the hero’s, the monsters, and mainly the gods and goddesses. I would read about children of the gods too, they were called; Demigods or Half-Bloods. I loved reading about them, sometimes even pretending I was a Demigod. Which now that I think of it, makes me laugh knowing that when I was pretending I was only being who I really was.

The day of my 10th birthday was like all my others; a small, sweet scented cake, my mother actually smiling at me for once and not yelling, and she had even given me the chance to go outside for the whole day; which was a miracle.

I can remember running around in my bare feet and basking in the sun, singing to myself as I twirled around circles grasping every moment, making the most of my time. I sadly knew soon I would have to come in, and once again hope and cry over having this moment again. Or would I?

As the sun began to sink behind the sea of trees and the air became chilly I could tell my time was up. My mother started calling for me to come inside. But, this time I wasn't going back in the house, I wasn't coming near that house ever again. I was running away.

I will never forget the feeling of freedom as I ran faster and faster into the lush forest; my heart racing and my head spinning with joy of being away from that horrid prison. The light from the cottage faded behind the brush, the only sounds were the bothersome misquotes and branches collapsing under my feet. The stars twinkling like diamonds above my head and the moon brightly shining upon me, slightly helping me guide my way.

Note to past self: Next time, wear shoes.

It had been at least twenty minutes before I stopped trying to advance any farther, my breath heavy as I collapsed to the forest floor. I was getting seconds thoughts on running away; I didn't have anywhere to go and I could hardly see three feet in front of me at this point. Tears welded in my eyes and my heart began racing with more fear than I have ever had before.

“What was I doing?”

That thought was now the only thing in my head, it bothered me even more as I thought about over and over. I didn't have a plan for anything. I couldn't go back though, my mother would have been furious with me. She would never let me outside again at all. All I would be able to do is stare out my window helplessly.

Note two to past self: Make a plan before running off.

The crisp, spring air nipped at my skin and my eyes stung from crying, cicada’s hummed loudly from all angles. I hugged myself as I thought desperately for a plan B. Sadly, nothing came to mind no matter how hard I thought.

That was when I heard a loud spine-tingling hiss from behind me. I could instantly tell what happened next was going to be terrible.

Fear ran up and down my spine and my head spun with a bunch of jumbled up words that seemed to be shouting all at the same time. The only thing that I could make out was, “Run, run as fast as you can.”

So I did. I didn't even turn around to look at the creature. I had a clue on what it was though.

It was easy to tell the ‘thing’ was following me as fast as it could; bushes shivered violently as it brushed past them and fallen branches snapped under it as it continued to make a loud hissing noise. I swore I even heard it shifting rocks as it kept pace with me. Though, I probably was just imagining that.

To tell you the truth, I can’t even remember how long I had been running for. I was tired, my feet were getting cut up pretty badly, and my mind could hardly focus on keeping ahead of the large, hissing beast that was on my trail. It seemed as if it was on a mission to hunt me down and not stop until I was dead and out of this world.

If only I knew why or at least who was making a bunch of voices shouting in my head, I would have thanked them by now. That was the only thing keeping me awake at this point… and possibly alive for that moment.

Soon, I felt my foot snag on something that felt like a root of a tree, causing me to fall flat on my face. Tears formed in my sleepy eyes from the pain in my ankle that shot throughout my whole body, the sound of the ‘thing’ that had been following me for who knows how long became louder by each second that passed. The voices had now slowly disappeared one-by-one. As if they knew I was gonna perish anyways, so why try to keep me alive.

By the time I had tried to get up on my feet, the creature was right behind me; letting out a hissing cry of victory that it had finally caught its prey. With a quick turn of my head, I at least tried to get a glimpse of my slithering stalker.

But that wasn't all that was there. My mother was too. Standing between the snake and I as it lashed out towards her.
Last thing I remember was my mother and the snake both exploding into a bright golden powder that trickled down from the air.

Then there was a man, about in his early 20's with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, that appeared in a not-blinding flash of light. He had a saddening smile on his face and held out a hand for me to take.

"Don't worry, Alyssa, I'll take you somewhere safe. Somewhere you won't have to be confused about who you are." I wasn't reluctant to grab his hand for some odd reason, I oddly trusted this man even though I didn't know him at all. He seemed... familiar though.

When I grabbed his hand the light enveloped us and then we were in the forest that wasn't the one we were just in. The hair felt cooler and in front of us was an entrance to what looked like... a camp?

"This is Camp Half-Blood, a place for the child of the gods just like you. Tell them you're a child of Apollo and you got here by me. You'll figure out the rest later." He knelt down in front of me and smiled hopefully, I just stood there blinking.
When he vanished, I felt the tears stop. Finally I was going to understand everything, finally I was going to be able to have all my questions answered, finally I was going to-hopefully-be free.

Without another thought I began walking towards the camp, wondering what was a head for me.