Prompt #005 - Outsides

Prompt # 005 – Outside

Boundaries
Time Frame: Chapter 4 of “The Lightning Thief”
Pairing: None

**

“Before I had my child, I thought I knew all the boundaries of myself, that I understood the limits of my heart. It's extraordinary to have all those limits thrown out, to realize your love is inexhaustible.”

-Uma Thurman
(haha, Medusa! Coincidences make me smile!)

**

To Sally Jackson, nothing is more important than Percy. He is her reason for living. When the rest of the world dims and blurs into the dismal grey apartment and the awful smell of Gabe and her exhausting job and she almost can’t take it anymore…Percy walks through the front door and she has the strength to carry on.

To Sally, Percy is the only thing that keeps her from drowning.

Because when she sees his messy black hair she can feel a sea breeze pulling it in all directions. Because when she looks into his eyes she can see the ocean, the waves lapping at the beach.

Because when she looks at Percy, she sees not only her beloved son. She sees him—her constant reminder of the only thing that ever went right in her life.

But now as she sprints across the dark path up the hill, sees her son’s terrified wide-eyed expression, she wonders if it was worth it—to have a child with him, to put Percy in such danger, to risk his life like this.

She sees the horror, the confusion in his eyes and it almost makes her sob in fear and hopelessness. Her legs are burning and her heart is pounding and her breath is coming in short gasps, and they are dragging Grover behind them, desperate to get up the hill.

To the tree and he’ll be safe! To the tree and he’ll be safe! She chants it over and over in her mind. It is their only hope now.

Sally Jackson is not worried about what she’ll do once Percy is safely within the magical boundaries of the camp—the boundaries which she cannot cross. She doesn’t much care what happens to her now. Once he is in the camp, he’ll be cared for, he’ll be safe!

Her mind races as he pelts her with hurried, breathless questions as they run. She can’t answer—her mind is to full of panic and adrenaline and quilt.

They reach the top of the hill and she yells for him to go, but he doesn’t. He is yelling at her to come with him. Good, sweet Percy. He is much to kind for the life he has been dealt. That kindness will be his downfall.

She screams for him to run, for if it ends here, so close, so close…she will not be able to bear it. So much she has tried, so much she has given up because all she wants is for her son to live a happy life—that is all any mother wants. She can feel the barrier repelling her mortal blood from even a few feet away; she can feel the Minotaur behind her—both ways are an end, but there is a way out for him—a boundary which she cannot breach.

She will always be on the outside of this world that she does not belong in but he does, and he does, but not her. No, not Sally.

And because of this, Sally is sure she will die tonight.

But because of Percy, it does not matter.

Because of Percy, she does not care.

There are no boundaries of how far she is willing to go to protect him. And because of that she stands on the other side of the pine tree—forever on the outside looking in.

~fin~