[Life was weird. Life was always a little weird for Luke but it he always assumed that was just how life was. It wasn't that his life was bad by any means. He has a loving family including a little sister who's brighter than he is most days and one of his most trusted confidants, a decent future ahead with the idle idea of maybe becoming a teacher, a girlfriend he'd been with for several years, friends as far as the eye could see and a part-time job teaching kids how to fence. The world's in the palm of his hand and there's nothing more he could ask for.
But, life has a weird way of working out. Even if there's nothing more he could ask for, he finds himself receiving more in ways he doesn't understand. The first echo happens years ago when he's fourteen and he and Thalia are goofing off at a petting zoo at a local fair, a date they'd settled on for no reason at all. At first it seems as though it's a normal goat, but Luke looks again and suddenly he realizes he and Thalia have chased a goat before. It makes no sense to him because it's not possible for a goat to really exist with its curlicue horns and glowing wispy fur. He says nothing but tightens his grip on Thalia's hand, a sense of dread settling into his stomach as he pulls her away.
The echoes continue to occasionally plague him as he gets older, haunting him in various places. A clear picture of the Panama Canal in his head that he accurately describes in class one day despite never seeing it or being near it. For that matter, knowing how to steer a boat at all which surprises him because he isn't really a fan of water. One day he looks at himself in the mirror and jumps in shock as his eyes seem to glint gold at him, but by the time he blinks they're back to their normal blue again. He's in the hallway at school and a blue plastic hairbrush soars through the air as one girl tosses it to another, and despite being on the far end of the hall he flinches and covers an eye. It's little things like that that almost seem normal but he knows are out of place and rooted in irrational knowledge.
That's not counting the fact that on his sixteenth birthday he was able to steal a car off of the lot without notice and no one ever caught him for that. He came up with a quick lie about where it came from but even that was something he knows was unusual enough.
The worst part, Luke thinks, is the dreams. He hears a voice in his nightmares that he doesn't recognize but he does know it's familiar, knows not to listen to it this time because the last time he had it lead to something bad. He doesn't quite know what, but the visions in his nightmares are familiar. He's learned to stop screaming in terror as to not worry people.
Maybe that isn't the worst part. There's something else, something from a different dream tonight but he's afraid to look if it's really true. It's late, maybe in the morning it'll go away. It's a little dark in his room and even if it's late he's awake because of said-dreams keeping him up. He's laying on his side in bed and when he feels Annabeth punch his shoulder he reaches up to wrap a hand around her wrist to stop her.]
You couldn't say my name before punching me? I'm already up. [He's not lifting his head from his pillow but he raises an eyebrow.] Did you just get home? [That's how the Clarke siblings handle things. They don't ask "what's wrong" but they talk around the subject.]
no subject
But, life has a weird way of working out. Even if there's nothing more he could ask for, he finds himself receiving more in ways he doesn't understand. The first echo happens years ago when he's fourteen and he and Thalia are goofing off at a petting zoo at a local fair, a date they'd settled on for no reason at all. At first it seems as though it's a normal goat, but Luke looks again and suddenly he realizes he and Thalia have chased a goat before. It makes no sense to him because it's not possible for a goat to really exist with its curlicue horns and glowing wispy fur. He says nothing but tightens his grip on Thalia's hand, a sense of dread settling into his stomach as he pulls her away.
The echoes continue to occasionally plague him as he gets older, haunting him in various places. A clear picture of the Panama Canal in his head that he accurately describes in class one day despite never seeing it or being near it. For that matter, knowing how to steer a boat at all which surprises him because he isn't really a fan of water. One day he looks at himself in the mirror and jumps in shock as his eyes seem to glint gold at him, but by the time he blinks they're back to their normal blue again. He's in the hallway at school and a blue plastic hairbrush soars through the air as one girl tosses it to another, and despite being on the far end of the hall he flinches and covers an eye. It's little things like that that almost seem normal but he knows are out of place and rooted in irrational knowledge.
That's not counting the fact that on his sixteenth birthday he was able to steal a car off of the lot without notice and no one ever caught him for that. He came up with a quick lie about where it came from but even that was something he knows was unusual enough.
The worst part, Luke thinks, is the dreams. He hears a voice in his nightmares that he doesn't recognize but he does know it's familiar, knows not to listen to it this time because the last time he had it lead to something bad. He doesn't quite know what, but the visions in his nightmares are familiar. He's learned to stop screaming in terror as to not worry people.
Maybe that isn't the worst part. There's something else, something from a different dream tonight but he's afraid to look if it's really true. It's late, maybe in the morning it'll go away. It's a little dark in his room and even if it's late he's awake because of said-dreams keeping him up. He's laying on his side in bed and when he feels Annabeth punch his shoulder he reaches up to wrap a hand around her wrist to stop her.]
You couldn't say my name before punching me? I'm already up. [He's not lifting his head from his pillow but he raises an eyebrow.] Did you just get home? [That's how the Clarke siblings handle things. They don't ask "what's wrong" but they talk around the subject.]