Resurrected

Tommy's POV

I woke up in an interrogation room. The floor was made out of wood, and the boards were cracked and dry, like they hadn’t been polished in decades. The walls were dirty and the paint was chipped in multiple places. The ceiling tiles were littered with holes like someone had pointed a shotgun straight up and had gone on a field day. Directly in front of me was a table, made of a metal like steel, and it was immensely cold to the touch. The table was the only spotless part of the room.

Even the two-way mirror in front of me and past the table had some spots that needed cleaning.

But the table was perfect.

Then, after looking around, I realized I wasn’t alone. One form sat across from me. Then, after my eyes adjusted, I realized that the figure was Ethan.

“Ethan,” I exclaimed, “what are you doing here?”

When he heard my voice, he picked up his head, and I could see that he had been crying. But after seeing me, his face lit up and he said,

“Tommy, you’re alive! Or…maybe not, but can you hear me?”

“Yeah,” I responded, confused, “what’s going on?”

“Tommy, there’s no easy way to put this. You died…again. Chiron’s arrow went through your spine and punctured a lung. You bled out under one of the pine trees. Luckily, Annabeth survived your beat-down with a couple bruises. She’s fine. We thought you were gone forever. But then I had a vision from my mother, and she told me to try to contact you in this room. Kronos has been dragging me here of his will, but this is my first time coming here voluntarily. I think this room signifies a place in between death and life. A sort of middle ground.”

That made sense…I guess. Then I realized Ethan was crying. I realized my death must have been hard on him. But I couldn’t let him be weak, so I said,

“Ethan, I’m fine. I’m here, right? I can return from this place. I have an idea.”

He looked up at me and sniffled, trying to pull himself together, saying,

“What’s your idea? Tommy, there’s no way—”

“Don’t talk like that!” I scolded, “you sound just like your old self, back on the Andromeda!”

He snapped his face up to me, and I kept the parental anger in my eyes, and he looked down again.

“Sorry,” he said, “I knew I shouldn’t have let you be alone. You should have stayed in the Infirmary.”

“I know,” I sighed, “but I had to get out of there. You were creeping me out.”

He looked up at me, his eyes a mixture of shock, inquisitiveness, and guilt.

“How?” He asked softly.

“You were acting weird around me,” I admitted, “I thought you had a crush on me.”

“That’s because I did, Tommy,” He responded, “I always liked you, from the moment we met. We were like brothers. I’ve never admitted that, even to myself. But now that I’ve met Alex…”

His voice trailed off, and part of me smiled. But part of me let Ethan’s words echo around my skull like a bouncy ball. After about a minute of silence, I cleared my throat and said,

“Ethan, can we be done with this? I mean, I have to know. Do you still like me in that way?”

He took a while to answer, which scared me, but then he responded,

“No, Tommy. I mean, we’re close and all, but after I met Alex, something changed. She makes me feel accepted, like I have someone to turn to that understands both sides of the argument. Tommy, you and I both know that we only can understand one side.”

We were silent for another minute, and I realized that I was starting to feel disappointed, even jealous, as I thought about Ethan’s words. I mean, I was glad he didn’t want me as a boyfriend, but I also wanted to have someone like he had Alex. Someone that made me feel accepted. But it didn’t matter. I would find my someone later.

I opened my mouth to say something, but just then, a big man walked in, dragging in Luke Castellan by the collar. The big man’s collar was ripped, the top two buttons of his shirt broken, and his dress slacks were riddled with holes by the ankle. His entire outfit was caked with dirt and dust making him look like a businessman who had been attacked by a muddy dog with rabies.

“Sit, slave,” he spat at Luke, and I knew what to do.

Kronos is trying to get you angry, a voice said in my mind, how about let’s let him. Let’s show him who controls your mind.

Notes

I know, I know, this one's short. BUTT, if you'll wait, I'll give you Part Two to this one later.

Enjoy,
Grafon.