Say Something by jungle321jungle

Say Something

"Welcome to your new home kid," the guard said clapping him on the shoulder.

He took a step forward and glanced around at his underwhelming new home. A bunk with a mattress, pillow, and single blanket. There was a window which only showed a glimpse of light through its bars. A toilet stood off to the side.

"Make yourself comfortable," said the guard. "You're gonna be here for a long time."

The guard stepped back as the inches thick door closed between them.

He shifted his jumpsuit a bit. It's orange color sickened him. He stared out the small window to where the guard had been. In it he could barely recognize his own face. With the bags under his eyes and the scars on his face. He couldn't help but wonder,

What she would say?

~~~~

"Are you really him?"

"Wow you're an ass for doing that. I think we'll get along."

"You're kinda famous 'round here already. Your story's been on the news for weeks now."

"Is it true?"

He ignored all the questions as he focused on trying to digest the disgusting mess in front of him some called food. But he had to eat something. He knew she would chide him if she found out he hadn't been eating.

~~~~

He lay awake at night. Too frightened of his own nightmares to sleep. He wasn't sure how long it had been since he last slept.

Faces he didn't want to see always came back when he was tired. Calling to him about how worthless he was. How they wished he was dead for what he had done. How they weren't satisfied he had gotten sentenced to life in prison. Tartarus nonetheless. The worst prison around. They wouldn't be happy until he was dead. But he wouldn't—couldn't give them that satisfaction.

He wanted to see their faces when his appeal was accepted and the judge's initial ruling was overturned. When they all realized he was telling the truth from the start, that he was innocent.

Maybe then she'd say something. She'd finally speak to him.

She hadn't said a word to him since his arrest. She went to every portion of the trial. He would speak to her but she wouldn't react. No words came from her lips. And for the first time in a long time he had no idea what she was thinking.

Her gray eyes looked like gears but nothing came out her mouth. Like she was afraid what would come from her mouth if she opened it.

But he couldn't blame her. Everyone thought he had killed their hero and her best friend. But he hadn't killed him.

Annabeth had been outside the room and she walked into the to find this scene which she had no choice to accept. She never said it out loud so he still wished she didn't think that he did it. Because he didn't.

Luke had killed himself. He had nothing to do with it. The two had gotten in a fight. It went south quickly. Grover had died. His best friend gone in a moment during that fight.

Luke's girlfriend Thalia was badly wounded, still in a coma to this today. No one knew when or if she'd ever wake up. She was the only other living witness.

With two dead and one half dead bodies laying at his feet, a bomb off to the side and a detonator and gun in each of his hands. He wasn't surprised when he was automatically arrested.

He couldn't blame the cops for arresting him. He knew how it looked. But he would never forgive them for what followed.

Officer Ares had interrogated him for hours on end. Until the man got frustrated and ripped him out his chair and threw him on the dirty concrete floor.

The police officer then grabbed him and flung him against a wall. "You know what you are?" He asked the bruised teen. "A terrorist. We don't negotiate with your kind. This is what we do to them."

He slammed the boy on the ground again. Flashes of memory ran through the poor boy's mind. Back to those days where his stepfather had beaten him. Where he would do anything that horrible man said to avoid getting hurt. He felt the same in that interrogation room. He would do anything to get the officer away from him.

Even confess to crimes he never committed.

That's what got him stuck here.

The fact that evidence found didn't match with his story didn't matter. They needed someone to pin it all on. And they found him. A sixteen year old boy. Who's only crime was pissing off the wrong guy.

As he lay awake staring at the concrete above him, he could hear Luke's laughter. That haunting laughter was his lullaby every night. Because even in death Luke Castellan knew that he had won.

He would just wish she was here to tell him otherwise.

~~~~

"Jackson, you got visitors."

He slowly swung his legs off his bunk and on to the floor. Confusion ran through his mind. Visitors. As in plural? He barely got a visitor besides his mother or lawyer.

He was led to the room where other prisoners sat on the phone speaking with their loved ones. The guard stopped in front of an empty booth. Slowly he sat as he stared wide eyed at his visitors.

A pale boy with dark yet baggy clothes sat and behind him stood a blonde girl.

Nico reached for the receiver and Percy slowly followed suit. His eyes landed on Annabeth who stared at him blankly.

"Hey Perce," Nico greeted with a more than forced half smile.

"Hi," Percy responded softly.

Nico opened and closed his mouth one of his hands fidgeting with the phone's cord.

"Sorry I didn't come visit you sooner... Then I could've come with good news..." Nico told him.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked confused.

"There's no easy way to say it... But your mom, she's- she's dead Perce..."

Percy blinked once digesting the information. "What?" He asked his throat feeling set and raw.

"I'm sorry."

Percy's eyes drifted to Annabeth. The girl still wouldn't grace him with her voice but she nodded once. At the simple gesture Percy could feel his heart rate rise as breathing got harder. Tears came to his eyes as he leaned his head against the glass's cool pane.

"How," he managed.

"She was murdered," Nico said quietly. "Police think it was revenge for Luke."

"How can it be revenge if I didn't do anything!" Percy shouted. "I'm innocent!" Everything in the room went silent for a moment. Percy looked up to Nico before he spoke quieter. "There's something else isn't there?"

Nico sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "They found she had broken bones which had healed. Old ones, years old possibly."

Percy wiped his face of tears. He had always worried that hadn't just been him. "Was Gabe arrested? Please tell me he was. Let them bring him here and I'll actually be able to serve a life sentence for something I've done." Percy's voice was laced with venom to which Nico flinched.

"He got away," Nico said finally.

Percy took a few calming breaths but nothing seemed to help he looked back to his Annabeth who only looked away. "Give her the phone."

Nico said something to her and traded places. Annabeth lifted the receiver to her ear.

"Hey Wise Girl," Percy said softly. "It's been a while."

Annabeth nodded.

"Please say something to me. Speak to me."

Annabeth only watched him.

"Come on Annabeth," he pleaded. "You know I didn't do this. You of all people know me. So please speak to me. Say something. I don't care if it's a sentence or a word or a syllable. Just say something."

Annabeth only took the receiver away from her hear and placed it back on the hook. With a final glance she stood and walked off. Nico looked back to Percy before he gave a small nod and followed.

They brought him back to his cell. As they didn't he wouldn't stop repeating himself. Saying the same words again and again. "Why wouldn't she say something?"

~~~~

"Why wouldn't she say something?" He said for the thousandth time. By now hours and passed and his throat had gone dry but he kept going.

"Why wouldn't she she say something?"

"Why wouldn't she..." His mantra was broken as screamed out loud in frustration. He screamed again as he pulled his hair. He stood and kicked his bunk ignoring the pain in his foot he kept shouting and cursing the world. He tore his cell apart. Tears flowing down his face.

He laid on the messy floor catching his breath between shudders and sobs.

The last person who cared about him was gone. Annabeth hadn't cared enough to speak to him since then. She didn't even try to comfort him. Only Nico had. The boy who had once tried to kill him. Who could he really trust anymore?

Another sob bubbled in his throat but food came up with it. And it all spilled across his chest.

Finally he sat up and looked at the mess he made of his room. He stood slowly and grabbed the sheets off the floor to put them back on his bed when he paused.

~~~~

"I heard Jackson finally snapped last night," one stated.

"Yeah I know. He screamed for over fifteen minutes," added the second.

"Guess I can't blame the kid. His mom is dead."

"He's a terrorist. He's the one who blew up the Saint Louis Arch, the Hoover Dam, He messed with Mount St. Helens, and don't forget all those bridges too. Then he had his group kill people everywhere mercilessly. He probably did more. I'm surprised he even has a functioning heart to feel the pain of his mother's death."

"He had a functioning heart," a third chimes in.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I assume you didn't hear the rest about Jackson then either. They found him this morning. The boy made himself a necklace."

~~~~

The blue sheet was pulled off his face as the blonde girl stared down at his lifeless face. She nodded once to identify him. The doctor slowly covered him back and the blonde straightened. She took a deep breath in before she let out a sigh which sounded relieved. She looked motioned for the doctor to remove the sheet once more. She glared at his body with what could be seen as disgust. She bent down to his ear to be sure his spirit would hear.

Then for the first time since his arrest she spoke in his presence.

Her voice was only at a whisper but she was sure that he heard her last words to him. "Finally."