Chapter 2: His story
My story… is a strange one. For starters, I'm a half-blood, that's right- a half-blood.
You might be like me, but if this term is new to you, then you must be confused. You see, when I first heard this term, I wasn't sure what to think. Halfblood? What on earth could someone mean by that. I never asked to be one. It was just something I couldn't control. One could say it's my 'destiny', but I don't believe in rubbish like that… at least I didn't. Being this so-called 'Halfblood', it was dangerous… for me, danger was either something exciting or had me wishing I were dead already, deciding whether or not I should just give up running for my life and let myself die- surely the pain would stop eventually.
Are you like me? A half-blood? One thing I learned early on about being one is that once you know you're one- that's it, they'll keep coming, so be safe out there because I don't have time to be saving anyone. I'm barely surviving as it is- do you know how much travelling it involves!?
Ah, right. My name is Doron Sawn- not Dorien, not Doren and surely not Darren. My name is Doron, which my mum named me, it's Greek for 'gift'. I like it. It's… well, different? But not too different. It sounds like 'Doren' but is spelt Doron. If it's full names I should be giving, then my name is Doron Ross Sawn. Mum named me Ross after my dad, so I'm guessing his name is Ross, but she didn't exactly say 'His name is Ross,' but I'm still going to assume that's his name. It made sense, right? Not only do I like my name, Doron, but I also like my last, which is Sawn, only because it sounds like Swan. Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked. People usually tell me I talk a lot. I'm starting to think their right- um, where was I? oh! Right, I'm eleven, but that doesn't mean I can't fight. I'll be twelve soon, though.
Back to my story. Up until a few months ago, I lived in upstate Newyork. When I was nine, my mum fell in love, to my annoyance- don't get me wrong, I'm glad she found 'love'. I guess you can say I was jealous at the start of their relationship. Still, I supposed that all dialled down when they married when I was ten… unfortunately the man my mum married, David Williams, came as a package deal of two kids of his own. Alex Willams and his sister Stacy Williams.
You might be wondering, what about my real dad? Well, I never knew him. Mum said he was an astronaut… who never came back down. When mum told me that, all I could imagine was a man's head blowing up because of the atmosphere of space… though I had something that he left me, a pocket watch which I carry around in my good ol' red backpack, which is ready for everything- especially getting mauled by the rottweiler down the street on the way to park.
Ugh, how he hated 'Ben', what a dumb name to call a rottweiler. Ben's are supposed to be nice, not mouthy.
There are many points I could start my short miserable- may be interesting, or just strange- Nah, weird, my short weird life to prove that I'm not making things up. I don't lie… well, sometimes, but that- you know what, just forget I said that maybe I should also include I'm an idiot, so do try to keep up.
Things really got bad last May when David decided we should take a group trip to Manhattan while my mother took a trip to Boston. She said there was something she needed to do. I really don't see why she couldn't have brought me with her instead of leaving me here. It was a completely stupid idea, handling the three of us. None of us thought it was a good idea to take us to a museum, something about art- Greek, Roman? Yeah, all that stuff. At least it'll make good footage.
"Pst."
"Psssst"
A shift in the bed was made, and an eye pried open slowly, open to be faced with a camera in his face. "Seriously, Doron?" Alex slurred out, bringing his hand to his face, picking at the dryness at the corner of his eye, "If you don't get that camera out of my face, it's going out the window", he threatened.
Turning the camera in my hand, I point the lens at me, "You hear that, guys? Alex is threatening to throw you out- ridiculous. Can you believe him? It's approximately 7:30am in the morning. He should have at least taken a shower by now. Here's what I put on today," I lowered the lens to show what I was wearing. I had a short-sleeve white shirt which was grey on the short sleeves and a grey zip-up hoody on top, then of course for my bottoms I'm wearing some jean shorts. "Today, I decided to wear my white Adidas just in case we run into some trouble so I can run efficiently," I said to my camera lens as I raised it from my outfit.
"Why are you still in my ROOM!" Alex yelled. It was really 'his' room, rather 'their' room, we share it, but Alex is too keen on claiming it, always calling it his room. One of the reasons he hated that his dad married my mum was because we had to share a room until we moved.
My eyes widened as I gulped nervously yet to look away from the lens, "Alright, guys, I think we'll go now", I said before closing the side of the camera and ending the recording. "Alex, you have to get up. We're having breakfast at 8 and leaving by 9. Your dad is really serious about leaving early."
We got along, well, sometimes. As long as I wasn't doing something to annoy him, but I'm starting to think just breathing was a 'thing' that annoyed him. Maybe even my presence. He made it clear which side was his and which side was mine, with a long line of dirty clothes which he'll soon be forced to have washed mushed together in a line, splitting the room.
I don't blame him. He's 15 now. I'm pretty sure all teenagers are as particular about having their own space. Having to share that with me, a nearly 12-year-old, wasn't something he would wish for.
He groaned in response, shoving his face into his pillow, and I sighed in response. Quickly I rushed to the mirror in the corner of the room I shared with Alex. I didn't forget anything, did I? again, my grey eyes widened- my bag!
Heading towards the other side of the room, I dove to the wooden floor, my stomach flat on the floor and my arms stretched underneath my bed, dragging out my trusted red bag, which at some point I'm pretty sure I call Alf… because he could? Mostly because it was the first thing they had given him was he first came here.
I opened the bag, the zip was loud, and I bit my lip awkwardly. "DORON!" Alex yelled in annoyance before shoving his face back into his pillow, "Sorry!"
My hands rummaged through the litter of stuff. There it was, my watch and picture. I took the picture out and smiled lightly, "Hey, mum", I whispered before shoving the picture back into the bag. I'll have to ask David later to call mum for me. I throw my camera in there too, definitely can't forget that!
I gave one last glance at Alex, the redhead still resting in bed. It would be his problem when he gets in trouble… yet I'll get in trouble too. I can already hear the nagging, 'Why didn't wake him up', I did, and I tried.
I rushed through the hall, bumping into crazy Stacy, "DORON!" she yelled in annoyance, "You smudge my lipstick!" I turned around and had to stop myself from laughing… he really did smudge it, "It's a nice look", I offered. She frowned before marching away.
Stacy's 13. He wasn't sure why 2 years made such a difference, once she became a 'teenager', she changed completely… she got scarier. They usually said she was mean- which she was, but he saw something else, a shield. I believe she's just hurting, but fixing someone who doesn't see their own truth isn't easy, and there are only so many times I can try to help. All he could really do was be the 'annoying brother'. He knew it made her forget whatever haunts her at night.
It seemed she was in some sort of rebellion streak, with all the makeup and the clothes she was now wearing. She had on a mini skirt and a shirt that showed her belly button. There was no way David would be getting his wish to leave early.
I ran down the stairs, my hand trailing the wooden railings as I did, my bag struggling to stay on, seeing as I only put on one strap. "What have I said about running down the stairs?" that was David. He looked at me from the island he was standing at. It was the first thing you saw when getting downstairs, that and the door.
I shrugged my shoulders, "Where are the others?" David asked. I shrugged once again before rushing to one of the counter stools, placing my bag on top to take my camera out. "Doron." The voice was stern, and he already knew what he wanted to say.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, old man. No camera in the kitchen." I said, reluctantly placing it on the side. I found myself sniffing the air. What was that? Was something burning?
"Did you cook?" I asked hesitantly. David looked sheepish, giving an awkward chuckle, "Well, I guess you can say I tried. There was some bacon that didn't burn. You can have them, and the scrambled eggs are fine."
I nodded. Mum never let him cook, something about it being a hazard, which now I'm understanding.
They sat in silence. The food wasn't too bad, the bacon was nice and the toast of course, but the eggs? One bite, and it went back onto the plate, pushed to the side for offending my tastebuds. It was already half nine. David kept yelling for Alex and Stacy, with neither of them yet to make an appearance. He looked anxious. David hated being late for things, not that his kids helped in that department.
"Dad", Stacy greeted as she finally made it down the stairs, the smudged lipstick fixed. David slapped his hands to his face, muttering something under his breath. "Upstairs. Now. You will not be wearing that," he ordered.
Stacy looked offended, "What? Why?"
I took a bit out of my toast before answering her obvious question, "Because you look like a prostitute."
Stacy's eyes widened.
"Doron! Apologise to Stacy!" David spoke. I frowned, but I told the truth, "But I was telling the truth. You always said to tell the truth. I was just listening to you for once."
"Why can he bring his stupid camera everywhere, but I can wear what I want" Stacy yelled. "Stacy, a camera is very much different to-" before David could finish, Stacy yelled again, "It's because I'm a girl and he's a boy, is that it?!"
"Stac-" Again, Doron watched as his stepsister cut David off again, "I can't have anything in this house! Everyone is always against me". She shrieked after marching upstairs, her sneakers striking the steps with force.
Turning around, he saw how his stepfather had his head pressed against the kitchen counter… well, at least she went to change?
Next down the stairs was Alex. He was stood stretching at the bottom of the stairs wearing a large white shirt and a white and blue Flammer shirt on top and was wearing a pair of brown trousers. "Where's Stace?" Alex said through his yawn, placing his stretched arms behind his head. "Just get something to eat", David replied.
I felt as though I should get some sort of reward. I was the first to come down- in time, might I add. While Stacy took years to change her clothes, it was obvious to David that if he made a comment about her makeup, she would just have a breakdown, so he stayed silent, just happy she was wearing something more… some just 'more' compared to what she wore at first. He was just as happy that Alex actually got out of bed and had kept his complaints to a minimum.
The ride to the museum was a quiet one, with Alex struggling to stay awake. The only sounds there were the typing on the buttons of Stacy's phone made when she was texting her friends, probably to tell them about their 'lame trip'. I had sat in the back seat, behind the driver seat my taping the scenery outside the window throughout the whole way.
I turned my camera towards Alex. Alex was staring out the window on the left, his head resting on the cold glass, "Hey Alex, Do you know anything about the Greek and Roman stuff?" I asked, staring at the little image showing Alex through the camera. Alex turned his tired eyes on my camera and sighed.
"Stop calling them 'stuff'. Just say Mythology. Greek mythology is more popular than Roman. I couldn't tell you shit about Roman-" Alex said, "Language", David said from the front seat. Alex rolled his eyes and continued, "Mythology."
"Then tell me about Greek Myth- mytho…?" I said unsurely, "Mythology" Alex helped me, "Well, I guess I know a few gods. Surely you know some?" He looked at me expectantly. I turned the camera to me, "Here you hold it", I told him, and he took it unsurely, looking at it with interest before focusing on the image that was showing me.
"I think I know some. There's Zeus, right?" I said. Alex nodded, "Yeah, he's what people call the father of gods… and he's a whore," Alex said, "Alex, Language," David said, giving Alex a quick glare, and Alex rolled his eyes. "He's the guy with thunder, right?" I said.
"He's the god of the sky, idiot", Stacey snapped from the front passenger seat, her fingers still pressing the buttons at a fast pace, "What is it with you to and not respecting language! You're going to corrupt Doron!" David snapped.
"Why do we even need to go to some museum? What's the point of staring at things that no longer matter, their history, of some made of story random old and very dead people made up. Let's focus on now and the future… like tomorrow, dad Lily is having this party-" Before Stacy could finish, "No."
She looked offended, "But dad!"
Ignoring their back and forth arguing, Alex asked a question, "Okay, so far, you know Zeus. Name another god."
I hummed in thought, "Hera! She's his wife, right? Then there's the god of the sun, Apollo. I can't really think of other ones." Alex just snorted, "Well, then you'll be learning on this trip."
"We're here," David said, "So I really can't go? Allison would let me." Stacy spoke. David turned to her, "Well, I'm not Allison am I?"
They started arguing again while Alex and I had just gotten out. The parking lot was packed with a lot of people and a few buses. I stared up at the big building, the name of the museum right there, yet the words were just a bunch of jumbled words, a perk of having dyslexia and apparently, I was diagnosed with ADHD- a bird.
My camera was immediately pointed at the bird that flew above us. It was a Kestral, "That's an American kestrel, often known as the sparrow hawk, is North America's smallest and most common falcon. Its size varies from around two-to-one depending on subspecies and sex, ranging from about the size of a blue jay to the size of a mourning dove. It's also found in South America, and it's a well-known species with 17 subspecies adapted to various environments and ecosystems across the Americas. Although both sexes have a rufous back with significant barring, it demonstrates sexual dimorphism in height and plumage. Its plumage is bright and appealing, and juveniles have plumage that is comparable to that of adults."
Awesome, "The colours are nice", I murmured as I lowered my camera as the bird was gone. "Doron!" I heard my name being yelled, I turned to see the group of three waiting at the steps of the museum, and I ran towards them as I was clutching my bag in my front. I hadn't closed it yet from when I opened it in the car.
I put the straps of my bag on, but of course, the wrong way. My bag sat in front, still open after dropping my camera in it as we walked in. They were they for hours. Eventually, David just let them wander around, having enough of Alex and Stacy arguing. He was pretty, sure that Alex had gone to the Roman side, while I was stood pointing my camera at a tall statue of a man- no, a god. For some reason, I just knew he looked nothing like this.
Of course, he didn't. None of the sculptures was actual copies of the gods. No one knew what they would have looked like. It wasn't like they were real anyway. "This is the god of Time and…." I trailed before continuing, "some other stuff that I can't read." I pointed the camera from the name to the tall white marbled sculpture, "There's like a lot of gods…." I turned the camera to me, turning around, so the statue was behind me, "I've learned more of the names, of course. There's Zeus, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Kairos- that's him" I pointed behind me, "Kairos is the god of time and other things like I said before, then there's Demeter…." I stopped talking after hearing some footsteps.
I glanced to the side to see some woman, she looked about fifty, and there was a kid following her, looking nervous. Looking around- where was everyone else? It was all empty. Slowly I lowered myself, manoeuvring around the statue, hiding.
Before I knew it she was standing there where he was hiding well not too far from him, she stood in front of the goods, her back faced away from them, only having me see her back while the boy that looked my age stood in front of her. Her arms were folded, and I quickly took my camera out, feeling a bit nosy. It was obvious the kid was in trouble. I clicked record after opening the camera side, watching it all through the small image.
At some point, it was like she turned her head, looking right in his direction. His mind was messing with him, right? Did she know he was there?
My camera slightly dropped, and from the image, I looked towards the real thing with my eyes, my brows furrowed. What was she doing? She was making some weird noise in her throat, like growling. It kind of reminded him of Ben, but maybe a female version of Ben, maybe a Belina?
That sounds cool, Ben and Belina- I snapped out of thought as I finally heard their voice. "You've been giving us problems, honey," the woman said. The boy responded, "Yes, ma'am", a safe choice of words. The woman began to tuff on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"
What did he do? "I'll- I'll try harder, ma'am." He sounded scared. Like the idiot he was, he stood up, was she about to hit him, "Excuse me-f" as he spoke, thunder shook the building. "Her piercing gaze turned to him, and he found himself taking a step back, his camera completely lowered. She grinned dangerously.
The weirdest thing happened after that- something I couldn't explain. I wished I just stayed hidden. What was I even planning on doing? I thought maybe I could get him out of trouble. The other boy as well had seen what Doron himself saw as he moved towards her, "Um, ms Dodds?" he said hesitantly before taking a step back to where I was.
Her eyes began to glow. They were really dark, dark as the dark night. My heart was pounding. It felt like something was in my throat as I tried to process what was happening. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large leathery wings- that… an ALIEN. He raised his camera immediately. He had to document this! A real-life alien!
She was a shrivelled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to… right, not a nice alien then. She was ready to slice us where we were. Before anything could happen, some man in a wheelchair was in the doorway. He was holding something, a pen? Holding it in the air- was he just going to ignore the alien right now?
"What, ho, Percy!" the man yelled before tossing the pen towards the boy at his side. Percy? So that was his name. He then heard a loud growl from somewhere else. Was there another one?
Suddenly, the alien lunged at us, and I dove to my right, falling to the floor, avoiding her and my things falling to the floor. My camera fell from my grip, sliding against the tiled floors. My bag didn't exactly stay and fell to the floor, everything rolling out.
I took a glance back to see the boy. He was not holding a pen anymore but a bronze sword. The monster screeched at him, "Die, honey!" it seemed Percy was handling it.
His watch, the one his dad got him! He crawled towards it quickly- then he heard a growl; looking up from the floor was a beast like no other- it couldn't even compare to Ben. It was just as monstrous as that Bat winged woman… another alien, perhaps? His hand just landed on the watch as it lunged at him. What he didn't expect what it to freeze in mid-air. I felt like I could even breathe or move.
It was so close, its razor-sharp mouth open, ready to tear him apart right in his face, but it wasn't moving- what was happening? He stumbled backwards, holding the pocket watch tightly, and then the growling became a loud screeching sound. It was hard to explain.
It happened too fast; the monster exploded into nothing, dust? The particles flew into the air, disappearing. Everything was quiet. What about the other one? He turned around to see the boy, Percy? Was stood trembling then pen in his hand.
I looked around to look for the monster, but nothing. I stood up, both of us just staring at each other, "Um, what just happened?" I asked, was this just a dream? Did I imagine it all?
The boy shook his head vigorously, "I- she, Um, I don't know?"
"…Well, what happened was we nearly died, by some bat lady and a rabid dog… I'm um, Doron, by the way."
"…Percy?"
I nodded awkwardly. He was obviously still in shock. I threw myself to the floor, my head in a mess, as I quickly grabbed my things, "We have to get someone – tell-" I stopped him there, "Tell them what? That we discovered aliens? Don't be an idiot; we're kids. They believe nothing that comes out of our mouths."
He nodded dumbly, his fist tight around the pen.
It was best to just pretend none of this even happened.
I grabbed my camera. Maybe… would my camera has gotten footage of it? At least the sound? My breathing had at least calmed down. I zipped my bag, throwing it over my shoulders, "I should get to my class", the boy whispered. Class? Lucky I'm homeschooled.
"Right… um nice nearly dying with you? I should get back to my mum's husband and, um, his kids," I said, and we both went out separate ways. As he rushed to find David, all that played throughout his mind was how the dog froze, then just erupted? It was ridiculous. No one was going to believe him.
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