5 year old Percy
Percy’s POV
Hi, I’m Percy Jackson, son of Artemis and Orion. Not that I’m proud of that title really. I live with the hunt and I hate it here. Now you may ask why I hate it here? Well it’s because they hate me and I hate them. Also they do things pretty physical. By that I mean they just slap, kick, punch and a few other stuff. Though I think that they will do worse and they only limit themselves to those things because I’m young. Anyway, I awoke to a burning sensation on my skin. By awoke I mean I jumped and tripped off the bed.
“W-Wha-?”
“Get up you lazy pig, you slept in”
I looked to see who it was; Pheobe, one of the ones who hate me the most. I saw a bucket of boiling water in her hand, so that’s why I felt burning. Anyway, I wanted to say some sarcastic retort but that’ll only make my beating worse for sleeping in.
I willed myself to dry since Orion’s a son of Poseidon and I can do that.
I exited my tent to be met with a slap by none other than my mother: Artemis.
“Useless male! Can’t even wake up on time!” She kicked me in the stomach making me double down. Then slapped me again this time A LOT harder, I felt pain erupt from my cheek.
“I-I’m sorry m-mother” I stuttered
“Just a ‘Sorry’ doesn’t fix things” She proceeded to drag me to the kitchen. “Make breakfast then I’ll deal with you”
I didn’t want to think about what that meant so I just cooked breakfast for the hunters then went to the dining table and served it.
I felt someone touch my ear and drag me to a tree.
I looked at the person and saw Artemis with… rope?
”What are you going to do with that rope?”
”Oh you’ll see”
She proceeded to grab my hands and tied it to the rope and a branch on the tree. She then proceeded to use me as a punching bag, here’s how that went:
After the first punch I started to realise her intentions and since I don’t want to be a punching bag, I started thrashing around.
She only continued and a few hunters started watching. I felt like a what a punching bag feels like (probably) which is painful.
”No please! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
She only continued and started kicking me. That made the pain worse.
After a while when I’m a quarter unconscious (A/N: remember he’s only 5 yrs, he’ll build up endurance on the way.) she stopped and just left, that might be a relief… if she didn’t leave me to the hunters. Let’s just say I looked like a bruised and bloody mess afterwards.
Maybe half an hour after the beating I was let down and thrown in the water to heal. A few scars were left though.
After I healed, I was dragged out.
“Get going and do your chores unless you want that to happen again” She then slapped me.
I hurried to do my chores because I don’t feel like being a punching bag again.
When I was sharpening the arrows, I accidentally snapped one. I hoped no one heard that but unfortunately luck wasn’t on my side.
A few seconds after that arrow snapped I saw the lieutenant of the hunt barge in: Zöe Nightshade. She saw the snapped arrow and thankfully she was one of the ones that were neutral with me, but unthankfully went to tell Artemis.
I imagine the punishment will be worse than when I slept in, so I took that opportunity to RUN.
I dashed across the clearing in which the hunter’s camp resided and ran into the woods. The sunlight seemed to guide me through the forest as I ran and I thought I caught a glimpse of a blond teenager giving me a thumbs up.
I ran and ran, following the sunlight and after what seems like a eternity I arrived at the gates of Athens. The sun seemed to brighten and dimmed after a few seconds, I was confused as to why it dimmed but walked forwards nonetheless.
After a few steps I felt a hand cover my mouth and grab my shoulder and spin me around, the person was none other then Artemis.
”Going somewhere?”
I tried to run from her but her grip just got tighter and tighter until it hurt.
”Oh no don’t try to run from me”
She proceeded to drag me back to the hunter’s camp, thrashing and trying to scream for help but the hand on my mouth muffled any sound coming from me.
I didn’t want to face the punishment she had in store for me, it’s probably going to be painful.
When we got back I was thrown in a cage (I don’t know where they got a cage) where I prepared myself for whatever they have in store for me.
When they dragged me out however, this was not what I anticipated.
My shirt was taken off and my hands were then tied to a tree branch and left hanging for a while before I saw Artemis coming with a… whip?!
I have NEVER been whipped before and I don’t intend on ever being whipped. I don’t think I have a choice though.
I anticipate this to be more painful then any other punishment I have faced before so I started trying to free myself but to no use. So then I started begging.
”NO NO NO, PLEASE MOTHER. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!”
“This is what you get for trying to escape”
I tried to free myself once more, but it was again no use.
I heard the swishing of the whip and tried begging one last time:
”PLEASE PLEASE N-“
I was cut off by the whip hitting my back and oh gods did it hurt. It felt like a stinging sensation and that stinging sensation HURTS.
I already felt blood dripping down my back from that one lash.
My thoughts were interrupted by another lash, it made the already bad pain worse. The pain made is so well… PAINFUL. I suppose that was their intention though, to cause me pain. I almost let out a scream on the third lash but I refuse to scream and give them that satisfaction though.
My defiance crumbled though on the fourth lash and I ended up screaming a loud, pain filled scream. My breathing started getting rapid and my back already feels like it’s on fire.
At this point I was just begging for them to stop:
”please please please, stop, PLEASE!”
But my cries for mercy was unheard and the whipping continued. On the tenth lash I already felt like my back was on Greek fire. Maybe I’m exaggerating but it sure hurts a lot. I just kept quiet because I needed to breath and it’s getting harder because of the pain.
The whipping finally stopped after 50 lashes and I was left hanging for an hour with my back that was still burning like someone burnt my back. I was finally let down after an hour and they won’t let me go in the water to heal, they only allowed my back to stop bleeding.
My back still felt like it’s burning though, just a tiny bit less. I did all my chores very carefully in fear of a repetition of what just happened and when it came to dinner I only got half a cold ham and cheese sandwich.
When I went to bed I had to sleep on my side because my back still hurt too much and I had trouble going to sleep because of the pain.
