Well here we are day 3 and I'm still going strong!! Please enjoy this second part top a one shot long forgotten!!

Abnormal 2

Percy sat on his tiny bed of his tiny bedroom, wearing a set of headphones over his ears, but he wasn’t listening to any music. His phone was just sitting on his nightstand nearby, the pause screen displayed. Every so often the notifications bar would light up with yet another angry text message demanding answers he couldn’t give to anyone.

Percy kept his eyes closed listen to the water running through the pipes around him. Tyson was in the shower. The sound was comforting, the rhythm persuading Percy just to relax. The drops tapped, the pipes groaned, their own forms of music slinking out of the woodwork and swirling around in Percy’s head. Music only he could hear.

What he would give to be deaf.

“Everyone likes their secrets.” Grover had said, “And no one comes here without hoping to keep theirs.”

Cold goosebumps ran up and down his arms even under his jacket. Percy clamped his hands together tightly pressing them over his mouth.

“You all going to Hell!” The guy had said.

Percy shuddered a breath. His shoulders shook, his chest constricted.

“Really beautiful,” His mother had said.

His knuckles turned white.

Splosh! Her body had sounded.

Percy could still hear it in his head. The same way he could hear the music. He never wanted this. He just wanted to swim.

It had been almost midnight two years ago for everyone else. But for Percy it was just last night. Always, just last night. Percy knew he deserved it for taking her life away like that, but it wasn’t right for his mother and little brother to be paying the price with him.

It was an accident.

That’s what the police said the first time it happened. When Percy had found his horrid step-father lying in a pool of his own blood in the middle of the living room. He’d just been carrying a knife the wrong way. The kid had been in the shower, that’s why he hadn’t heard it until it was too late.

It was an accident, when Michael Yew slipped and cracked his head open on the wet tile floor of the boys locker room.

It was an accident when Lee Fletcher got caught in the seaweed in the pond in the middle of a dare involving a late night dip.

It...it was no accident.

Percy had done those.

Splosh!

It was all Percy’s fault.

He never should’ve gone swimming that night in the public pool. He knew. He knew that something was wrong. He should’ve done something.

“Percy?”

He looked up suddenly to see his bedroom door open and his brother standing in his Scooby Doo pajamas, his brown hair horribly sticking up in random direction. Tyson crept around a box that Percy hadn’t unpacked and jumped on the bed. It bounced twice and Percy couldn’t help but maybe smile a little bit. He combed Tyson’s wet locks as much as he could.

“There,” Percy said, “Now you’re ready for school tomorrow.”

Tyson giggled and hugged Percy real tight. Percy frowned.

“You okay, squirt?”

“You’re not going to leave right, Percy?” Tyson asked in a real quiet voice, “I don’t want you to leave me and mommy.”

Percy didn’t say anything for a moment. He stared at a spot on the fading wallpaper, swallowing a lump that had grown in his throat. When he finally found his voice again it was cracked, “I won’t.”

“Promise?” Tyson squeezed him tighter looking up with his brown eye. His tone was hopeful. It was just a promise. Percy, don’t leave us. Tyson didn’t even know what was going on.

“Buddy, I can’t breathe.” Percy coughed.

Tyson didn't let go. “Promise?”

“Tyson-"

“Promise me, Percy.” The younger boy dug his head into Percy's chest, “Don't... leave me.”

Percy took off his headphones and placed them next to his phone. Carefully he wrapped Tyson in a hug. He wanted to make that promise, he wanted to make it so bad. But every promise he'd made so far was shattered, broken more than glass.

Music only he could hear could rip apart everyone he loved and cared about. He couldn't explain it, at least not to Tyson. Not to his innocent brother. He couldn't tell him that he was a murderer.

So Percy didn't say anything. He just hugged his sibling, convening his thoughts in a single squeeze. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Sometime later Tyson must have drifted off waiting for a promise Percy wasn't going to give. Percy laid back on his bed, gently easing Tyson to his side. The younger boy shifted slightly, but didn't wake up. Percy let him borrow deep into the mattress and tucked a cover over him.

He turned off the light when he left the room, snagging his phone on the the way out. The battery was blinking critically low, his notifications were overloaded. He had more text messages and missed phone calls than articles of clothing in his cardboard boxes. That was just like everyone. No one cares until he was gone.

Percy's mother was at the new kitchen counter with a bottle of white wine. That's how Percy's knew how bad she was. His mother hated alcohol, especially pricey wine.

“Is Tyson asleep?” his mother asked taking a small sip. Her hair was tangled and messed up. Percy felt guilty because she must have been unpacking boxes while they were just lying in his room.

Percy nodded. He quietly shuffled over to her and took the bottle away.

His mother swirled her cup and looked at him. Then she turned around and dumped the rest of her drink down the drain. “It's a good cleaner,” she said, “clears the drain.”

Percy didn't have to wonder how she found that one out. Of all the deaths, Percy was sure his step father was the only one he could forgive himself for.

“Are you going to take a shower tonight?”

Percy placed the wine in a cabinet with unorganized boxes of rip off cereal. The last thing Percy wanted to do was take a shower. He didn't want to go anywhere near the bathroom, anywhere near water.

Water brought it out. Water made the music play.

Water, wherever it came from, made him sing and after that people always….always…

“I going mute,” Percy told his mother instead. His voice itched in his own throat. “For school. I don't want anyone to know I can talk.”

“Percy,” Sally started.

“Maybe if I can condition myself not to speak it will go away.” Percy said, “I can't hurt anyone if I won't talk.”

“Percy that's like cutting out your tongue.” She said.

He looked at her, and straightened, “Did you unpack the knives--?”

“Perseus Jason don't you dare joke about that.” his mother put the wine glass down in the old sink. Her voice was low, barely louder than a whisper, but Percy felt it like a slap. “You aren't going to cut out your tongue, young man. We are going to figure this out, okay? We are going to get you help--”

“From where Mom?” Percy exploded, “where are you going to find me help? We're in the middle of some slum town where every other person looks like they'd cut out our kidneys for a pack of cigarettes! Is this really a place you want Tyson?”

She was quiet for a minute, just watching her oldest son. Percy felt his phone vibrate in his pocket but he ignored it. “Is it, Mom?”

“No.” she said finally. “it's not. But until we figure out what you are--”

“What I am is screwed,” he snarled, “Or cursed. Your choice.” He hated the words coming from his mouth, but he couldn't stop them. It was a week's worth of grievances pouring from his lips. “I don't know if you noticed, but I kill people with my voice! Good people! Michael had a scholarship, Mom. He was going to swim for the university! Lee had a record deal for his band! Bianca….”

Percy let his voice choke up. His throat burned and he kept blinking trying to keep his tears back. “I killed them. I killed them all.”

Sally Jackson reached out towards him, but Percy was already moving away. He rubbed his eyes, trying to diffuse the time bombs in his eyes. “We don't know if tears activate it.” he reminded her miserably, “I'm going for a walk.”

She made a sound of protest but Percy didn't listen. He scooped up his jacket from the hall and was out the door before anyone could stop him. He didn't know where he was going. At this point anywhere other than that apartment sounded great.

He hit the ground floor again, seeing as very little had changed since he'd last been down. It was dark, and the flickering street lights buzzed. Loud rap music played from some nearby apartment. There were more people out, mostly teenagers, who looked to be into some shady things. Somewhere not far away sirens rang out.

He picked a random direction and started walking. Percy looked up at the starry sky. “Maybe if I'm lucky, someone will slit my throat while I'm out.”