the memories are coming back [private]

Emily remembered the last time she had come here. That was a while ago. She had been trying to avoid it, but every time she opened her sketchbook the drawing was unfinished. She always finished her drawings. She hadn't had a chance to finish though, or that's what she kept telling herself. Being cabin leader didn't give you much time to do anything.

Emily walked down to the beach with her sketchbook in one hand, a water bottle in the other, and her pencil behind her ear. She wanted to spend the whole day at the lake, capturing every detail of the lake. It was what she always did. Her drawing of Central Park took a bit over a week. Her lake drawing was taking way longer. She sighed and sat down in the sand. She placed her water bottle next to her. She took her pencil from behind her ear and started drawing.

It felt good to be drawing again. It made her forget everything else that was happening in the world and made her focus on one thing. The drawing. She had been sitting there for hours, taking sips from her water bottle here and there. She was about to finish her drawing when sun started to set. She was thinking of finishing her drawing before curfew when she felt someone staring at her. She turned around and saw a girl staring at her. She smiled at her. "Uuh hi." She said.

Emily smiled at girl. She was pretty definitely, and the first god parent that came to mind was Aphrodite. She never liked the Aphrodite kids. Always about their looks and being dumb all the time. There were many other reasons why she hated them, but she felt bad. When she had just joined camp, she had played pranks on them all the time. It was fun at the time and something everyone used to do. Now, she felt bad and tried to be nice to them as much as she could. It was her duty as cabin leader to get along with everyone.

This girl didn't seem that bad though. "I'm Emily. Nice to meet you. Can I call you Anna for short?" She asked. Emily put down her pencil and put out her hand for the girl to shake it. She tucked a piece of her long, blonde hair behind her ear before asking, "Who's your god parent? Mine is Zeus." She smiled again at the girl. She used to be proud to say Zeus, but really it was just a pain in the neck. She learned only a few weeks ago that she could send small electric shocks through someone. She was angry at the time, but luckily she had quickly gained control of the new power. Emily did have a bad temper but tried to control most of the time. The last bad temper she had since about last month was when she was about eight years old. When her father died. The memory was still fresh in her head even though it was a bit over eight years ago. She tried not to remember that memory. But it came to her almost every night in the middle of a dream, in the middle of a nightmare, in the middle of just blackness. She had gotten used to it by now, but she still didn't want to see it anymore. Repeating over and over and over again in her head.

When she asked about her drawing, Emily forgot what she was thinking about. She smiled to be glad not to be thinking about it. She glanced back at her drawing before answering her question. "The lake." She responded. gesturing to the lake behind her. She picked up her sketchbook and looked from it to the girl. "It's not that good, but you can take a look if you want." She said offering the notebook to Annaleigh.

At the mention of Annaleigh's family, Emily thought of her own. Her step-dad was gone. Her mother and the twins were all that was left. The twins didn't really like her that much, more then ever now. She missed her mom though. She hadn't seen her in awhile, she could barely remember the last time she had seen her. She wondered how she was doing, taking care of the twins on her own. She wanted to help, but that would only make it worse. She had learned that the hard way. Hellhounds had attacked almost everywhere she went. She hadn't visited them in awhile, but she did talk to them on the phone. Only once in a while because it was hard to call from camp to London. She only talked to her mom, the twins didn't want to talk to her. She didn't really care because she was used to it by now.

Emily raised her eyebrows at her god parent. It was different, but totally opposite form hers. She didn't know a daughter of Eirene. Annaleigh was the first. She seemed really nice, and at least she wasn't an Aphrodite child. She seemed a bit more intelligent then them. She smiled at her when she took a seat next to her. Her grin grew when she took the notebook back. "I could teach you if you'd like." She said with another smile. Emily looked back at her drawing to the lake. It looked similar to her, but not identical. She hadn't colored it in yet. She had left her colored pencils back at her cabin. She was a bit upset that she had left them, but it was getting dark and she had to eat dinner soon. Emily looked back at Anna. "Do you want to eat dinner with me?"

Emily smiled at her question. It was definitely different then hers. It was a funny story actually if you thought about it. It was a long story too which she didn't feel like explaining. She was just going to give her a bit of information. "I uh hitched a ride from the circus to New York City and then walked the rest of the way." She said remembering it. She also missed the circus. That was the most fun she ever had traveling with them across the country.