i just wanted to let you know I recently reread a few of your fics and wow! I'm truly in love with your writing and felt like going back home after being away for long. Your fics were the first ones I had read a few years back when I was really into PJO. Thank you for them! I really hope you are well!
When Annabeth opens up the Word document again, there’s something about it that reminds her of coming home. The empty page stares back at her, but it’s not threatening. It’s welcoming. It’s nostalgic.
The empty page is a space for words to bring stories to life, to share adventures, to create memories. To make her laugh – or cry. She can’t explain the feeling in her chest but it lingers like a warm hug, or like getting under the bed covers after standing out in the rain. It’s something she can’t quite describe, but it fills her with joy so much that it could make her cry. She wants to savor the moment, capture it somehow, before it disappears.
Annabeth used to be a writer, but life got in the way. And with the ups and downs and stresses of a job and a blossoming family, it became harder and harder to open that Word document. No matter how many times Annabeth swore that she would think of something – anything – to fill those pages, it became easier as time passed to put it out of her mind. Over the years, the distance between her and her writing stretched like a thousand miles until it was so far in the past that it became the past.
Now, she’s home at her family’s house for Christmas, listening to Percy play with their 5 year old daughter, Carter, in the background. The sun is melting in the sky like cotton candy and the winter wind is whispering poems as it rustles the leaves on the ground. She’s not sure what compelled her to sit down in the same seat she used to write in so many years ago, or why today, of all days she decided to try again.
For inspiration, she opens up some old stories saved on her computer to remind herself of what she used to write, and how easily the words came to her. She smiles as she reads through her past adventures, through sentences that seem so foreign and yet are her own creations. The words remind her of her childhood, and reading the stories is just as exciting as when she wrote them because after all this time she can’t exactly remember how they’re going to end.
After some time, she feels a hand on her shoulder, and turns around to see Percy smiling back at her. His green eyes shine brighter than the Christmas lights, and for a moment she is taken back to when she was much younger and life had yet to reveal its path - when dreaming about her future seemed so much more magical than living it. But, she reminds herself that a thousand books could never capture how happy she is. Though life is much harder than what she ever could have imagined, she wouldn’t change a thing.
“What are you doing?” Percy asks, squeezing her shoulder and peering over at the blank page before her.
“Nothing,” Annabeth replies, feeling heat rising in her cheeks.
“We’re about to watch a Christmas movie, we’re waiting for you.” He smiles and for a moment her heart glows.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes, you can start without me,” she states, turning back toward computer and feeling the blood rush to her fingertips.
“Sure, see you soon.” He plants a warm kiss on the top of her head.
His footsteps fade into the background. For a moment, she falters, missing him already and wondering if it would be easier to close the computer and follow him. But, instead, she begins to write. And when her fingers start typing, not totally knowing where they’re going, it feels like sunshine on her face, however fleeting.