Chapter Two

Pinakabagong kabanata

• Rise Above Them   Chapter Five

  CHAPTER FIVE“We can do this one of two ways,” my parents state.“Do what?”“Athena, you are a danger to this world and must be removed” My mom says. She is wearing a sad smile. “No,” I breathe.“We can either hold your head under the water until your brain loses oxygen and you pass away, or we can inject you with a liquid that will stop your heart.”I scream.I am shaken awake, and Apollo is kneeling beside me.“Are you okay?” he asks.No, I’m not okay. My parents tried to kill me when I was fifteen years old and I wish they had succeeded.“Yes,” I mutter. “I’m fine.”“You were screaming in your sleep”Am I really that messed up?“I’m sorry, I just had a nightmare.”“Okay, let me know if you need anything. And don’t be sorry. You have nothing to apologize for.”He smiles a warm, sincere smile that only an old friend would give. I’m momentarily disarmed. The man that tackled me not a day ago i

• Rise Above Them   Chapter Four

  CHAPTER FOUR I open my eyes, and immediately hope that I’m in a nightmare. The room I lay in is an architectural masterpiece. Colors burst from the wall. I’m under plush silk blankets. Beautiful curtains cover the windows. I hate it. I want to throw up. This is blood money.Nobody deserves this luxury in the current state of our world.I wonder what they could have done with all of the money spent on just this room. Cleaned out an ocean, at least.Are there even oceans anymore?I don’t know. The bombs must have destroyed everything. World war three was a very short one, orchestrated primarily by the Kronos family. They were incredibly smart about the execution.All they did was drop bombs in areas of their choosing.The bombs had dropped seemingly out of nowhere. Nobody expected them, or detected them. The public had no protection. However some of these bombs were different. New. Unknown, and never before enginee

• Rise Above Them   Chapter Three

  CHAPTER THREEIt feels like it takes me years to wake up. My arms and legs are still somewhat limp, but at least I can open my eyes. I try to sit up, but don’t have the strength to. After a few minutes I start to regain feeling and motor skills. I turn my head to look around, and immediately notice that there is an IV in my arm.I reach my hand over and pull the needle out of my arm before I have a panic attack.The monitor next to me starts beeping loudly, and the same man from before walks in, this time in a lab coat. His hands are carefully covered in leather gloves.Clever man.He glances at the needle now dangling near the floor.“You really shouldn’t do that.”“I don’t like needles.”He grimaces.“I’m well aware.”I ignore him, and take inventory of my surroundings.One bed, pillow and blanket graciously included. One bag of red liquid hooked up to an IV pole, presumably either painkiller or sedati

• Rise Above Them   Chapter Two

  CHAPTER TWOI move my head side to side, reveling in the bliss of the warm bathwater I’m practically swimming in. Resting my head on the side of the tub, I watch the little ripples and patterns the water makes every time I shift.So fluid. Flexible. The water can work with and around anybody and anything. Nothing can stand in its way, and if it’s ever blocked off, it serenely goes into a different direction.Ever moving. Ever rippling. Ever changing. Ever flowing. I wish I was more like water.My dad walks in with tear stains evident on his prominent cheeks, my mom walking behind him. They have a strange, sad look on their faces. I pull my knees up to my chest and look up at them. I want to ask questions, but I already know why they’re here. And I’m ready to face them. I’m ready to face my fate. For months I’ve been dreaming of doing what they’re about to. They’re sparing me the effort.

• Rise Above Them   Chapter One

  CHAPTER ONEFour walls.I have been staring at four walls for 47 weeks. Four grey, moldy, sullen walls.Imagine being an 18 year old, doing nothing but staring at four walls.Most of time I like to examine the different shades. The grey ranges from a moldy greyish green to an almost black grey. If you look at it long enough its hypnotizing.A doctor tried to hypnotize me once. He sat me on a chair in his office and told me to listen to the ticking of his clock. He told me to do that for 30 minutes. Nothing happened. So instead he decided to get a team of doctors from around the world together, and had them poke and prod with needles until I wished I was dead.Actually, I did almost die. I was strapped down to a metal table, and they filled 15 tubes with my blood. They took so much that a few tubes overflowed. Then they left. And I got so, so dizzy. I was dizzy to the point where I could no longer see straight.I felt myself slow down,