come, they told me :: mcwerewolf

Archer slumped out of bed before dawn broke; it was still dark outside, the sky painted a beautiful indigo with fading stars in the background, all shades of yellow and blue and white and silver, a canvas of wonder. His twin was still sleeping, covered up in blankets. If he’d been snoring loudly, Archer couldn’t hear it. He couldn’t hear anything, really. Not since the explosion had rendered him legally deaf, though by some godly measure he was still able to hear loud screams and eruptions and heartbeats. There were times when he loved the silence, craved it even. It came in handy when Landon was trying to talk to him about something that Archer simply wasn’t interested in. But there were times that he would forget about his deafness. You’d think that after about three years of not being able to hear you’d get used to something like this, but apparently not, for the demigod still screamed when he couldn’t hear voices of those nearest to him. Archer put on a pair of cargo pants and a dark red tank top, the color of blood. 

Because it was nighttime, and well past curfew, it was easy for Archer to get out of the Hera cabin, making sure to not let the door squeak or slam as he shimmied past it. Being in that bed was too confining, there was stuff he wanted to do and explore. During the daytime it was relatively harder because Archer couldn’t communicate with the others where he wanted to go and why. Plus he always ended up getting bullied about him being deaf, so he was ever more reluctant to go out. At one time, the boy had been the most popular kid in school, full of charm and grace and wit, and to an extent he still was, but it was buried deep inside him. Archer was a shell of the person he once was. He’d gotten to the lake just then, and sat on the damp sand, digging his feet further into the earth, listening to silence forever and ever, feeling waves lap against his legs. It was quite peaceful.

Archer understood that most people didn’t know that he was deaf. How could they? It wasn’t like he wore a big sign around his neck that said Deaf Kid Walking or anything of that sort. He counted on his twin to communicate for him, and he also counted on being at the right place at the right time, which meant staying away from all people unless he was with Landon, lest he be laughed at. It wouldn’t have mattered anyways, it wasn’t like Archer could hear their derogatory remarks and their sarcastic snide comments, but it did hurt Landon, that he knew from experience, and so he took heed to his brother’s feelings and stayed out of harms way. Things had become a lot harder for the both of them when their parents mysteriously died in the explosion, neither had it worse than the other, although everybody seemed to pity Archer more for some reason. He couldn’t tell you why they did. It wasn’t as if Landon didn’t have his own problems, because Archer knew that he did. Landon was the one who had to deal with Archer’s shit when he went off the deep end (which was surprisingly easy to do when you lost one of your senses) and he had to deal with the after effect of everything. 

The waves felt nice on his skin, like soothing silk receding and then climbing back up his legs. The cuffs of the pants he wore were soaked, but it didn’t matter. Archer quite liked clothes that were wet. It was a weird feeling, something most people didn’t enjoy, but the demigod was strange, after all. When a girl sat beside him, he didn’t notice until quite a long time later. She looked expectantly at him, as if she’d asked him a question. Well there was the problem, that was the reason Archer didn’t know the stranger was by him. Deafness was the cause. Archer pointed to his ears and shook his head, knowing that she probably didn’t know sign language. That was a pity, as the male demigod loved to talk, but could only do it with his brother as no one else in camp had bothered to learn how to talk with their hands. For extra measure, in case the girl was thick or something, Archer grabbed a stick that was beside him and wrote in the sand. I’m deaf, I can’t hear you. Sorry. 

It didn’t matter that the girl didn’t apologise. Archer had long since gotten over the fact that he was deaf, and that it wasn’t people’s fault when they didn’t know he couldn’t hear them. He wasn’t looking for an excuse or anything, and even if she did it wouldn’t have made a difference. The girl didn’t say anything about him being deaf, instead wrote in the sand next to Archer’s note, and continued their conversation. It was as if she treated him like a normal, teenage boy with his entire future ahead of him instead of some idiot kid who didn’t know left from right. Archer smiled at her softly, though the night was dim and vision was horrible. This was a first, because he hardly ever smiled, but she was nice to him, she treated him as any other person and that made him grateful on so many levels. Respect had been a big thing in the Thrush household, and the values still lived in the twins today. Archer didn’t like bullies, he didn’t like people who treated people like they were less. 

The water was cool, relaxing, and peaceful. Silver moonlight shone down upon the waves like paint strokes. Nature was beautiful, and Archer had more time than ever to observe it. Well, he did when he wasn’t obsessing over his parents death, building model houses and destroying them in a fit of rage. It wasn’t easy living with the guilt that he had, and often times it got the better of him so Landon had to restrain him. Clearing those thoughts from his mind, however, Archer dug into the sand again, talking to the girl. ‘Nothing. There’s really not much I can do. You?’ If he was able to, the young demigod would act normal, like he could hear her voice. Archer supposed that was what he missed most; the different cadences of the human voice. He could vaguely remember Landon’s voice and his own, but that was about it. Did this girl have a nice sounding voice? He would never be able to tell.

It was nice to be with a person, Archer had almost forgotten how much he had craved human companionship. A long time ago he’d been popular, top of his class with everything to gain and nothing to lose. Every path that life had to offer him was open and was his for the taking, all the demigod had to do was choose which one he wanted. Would he have taken the road of popularity, going to parties every night and having a massive social life? That seemed like the best option for Archer, who at the time had juggled so many people he was rarely at home. High school was the only time when the twins were somewhat separated, though Landon still was pretty high up on the social ladder. Everybody knew the Thrush twins, all the girls swooned when they walked down the hall. But that had all changed and now Archer was alone. Except for right now. Now there was a girl talking to him, which made him the happiest he had been in a long time. He brushed away he messages that were written previously so that he had more room to write and the words were actually legible. ‘Shut up. Being depressed is relatively happy for me.’ The only problem with being deaf and having to rely on written words and hand gestures was that sometimes the meaning was hard to get across, but Archer wasn’t trying to be mean. There was hardly a mean bone in his body, and if there was it only came out when Landon was being hurt in some way. 

Archer didn’t actually notice the coldness of the water until the girl mentioned it. His senses nowadays were heightened, trying to compensate for the loss of one of their brethren. His blue eyes could see better than anyone else he knew, sharper as well. Now there was no need for glasses. Archer’s sense of smell of very acute; he could often smell whatever the hell they were cooking in the mess hall when he was locked up in his room. This also meant that the sense of touch had also been enhanced, but he tended to ignore whatever he felt, whether it be externally or internally. Twirling the stick in his hands, the boy hesitated before writing. He was cold, but not so much that he was shivering. If anything, Archer was numb to the waves at best. ‘No. Are you?’ This was a stupid question to ask, the boy realized, was the girl wasn’t the one who was halfway in the water. But hey, it was a conversation starter.

Before the explosion had occurred, Archer had a wonderful family. The Thrush family had consisted of Olivia and Spencer, two demigods of Athena and Apollo who miraculously survived to adulthood and married to have three children; Archer, Landon, and Mallory. They weren’t a terribly big family, but it was small and quaint and there as nothing that the demigod would have changed about them. They were, quite literally, the perfect suburban family. With the parents racking in buckets full of money from their science projects and theories, the children had everything they could ever possibly want. Archer pursued his talents in singing and shooting bows and arrows, and had aspired to become a doctor when he grew up. Landon, of course, had supported him, as any brother would. Archer did the same for him. Mallory was loved by both of them and everything was perfect. However, nothing ever lasted for too terribly long, and all good things must come to an end. Hence why the gods had decided to punish the well loved twins by destroying everything they’d ever known. 

While thinking this, Archer’s face had tensed up, his jaw was twitching and his eyebrows slanted down. Remembering his family never went well for him, not even the happy memories, those hurt the worse. He grabbed the stick, saw the girl cover her mouth. She must have been laughing because of the way her eyes were set. Archer just rolled her eyes, not having the energy or time to be mad at her. That was Landon’s job. If his twin was around, there was no need for Archer to ever get angry at a person because he always had his brother to help him out. Of course, most of the time he wanted to let the teenager walk free, but that simply wasn’t an option anymore. ‘Not exactly…’ He answered back. This was getting tedious, but it couldn’t be helped. Archer wanted to become friends with someone, anyone, and it seemed like this girl would do. They’d never have a normal relationship, but then again, what demigod did?

Archer closed his eyes, breathing in the night air. He loved nature, he loved the way the wind rustled secrets through the leaves, he loved the soft ground beneath his bare feet. He didn’t understand how anyone hated anything about the outdoors. The girl sat a little away from the waves, and Archer wondered if she was afraid of water. Obviously that was a stupid thought, as the lake wasn’t deep enough to drown most demigods of his size, and she if she’d been traumatized by the waves she would have stayed far away from them. Still, Archer would have like to meet someone like him, though he wouldn’t wish the curse of deafness on even his worst enemy. ‘Normal people wouldn’t be out at 5 o’clock in the morning talking to strangers.’ The topic changed then, causing Archer to glance curiously at the girl through the dark. ‘Yeah, I have a twin. Landon. Why?'

If Tessa had seen one of them around camp, it probably would have been Landon. Landon was the twin who went out more than Archer, though not by much. The deaf boy was just more reclusive than his brother for what seemed like obvious reasons. One being that he couldn’t hold a normal conversation. The other being that his hobbies included building magnificent replicas of his childhood house and smashing them, screaming and running his throat as he did so. What happened to him wasn’t fair, but Archer had glad it had happened to him. After playing in the water for a few moments, he started to write in the sand again. ‘Did he have green or blue eyes?’ He asked Tessa. That was really the only way you could tell the twins apart, unless you looked closely on Landon’s skin. Instead of losing one of his senses like Archer had, Landon merely contracted burns and scars all along his body. Archer knew that he tried to hide it, but if you looked in the right spots when the sun hit his skin at a certain angle, you could still see them. Whereas Landon had green eyes like a green candy apple, the other boy had blue eyes the color of a stormy sea.

‘I’m Archer.’ He wrote hesitantly, but after a slight pause wrote the last few letters quite quickly. If Archer wanted to become his old self again, there would have to be changes. Changes that involved him becoming as social as he once was and coming out of his shell. The demigod needed to stop being a Boo Radley just because his parents and baby sister died. That wasn’t a good enough reason to shut yourself inside for days on end, only coming out for bathroom breaks. As it was, he barely ate, only stopping to inhale an orange here or there every other day. Archer just sat inside doing arts and crafts all day, trying to keep from going insane or depressed or possibly a mixture of both. ‘Tessa… Pretty name.’ Archer said, peering at her with sad eyes through the darkness. He wondered if their relationship would develop with him being deaf. After all, that would out a damper on anyone’s relationship, not just theirs. ‘Are you planning on doing anything this fine night?’ This was a bold question to ask, but that was how you made friends in the world; boldness.

Archer, even as a little boy, was known to be a bit reckless. When he was about five years old, he’d climbed the big oak tree in the backyard because he was bored, and he’d fallen about ten feet off the ground, resulting in a broken arm, but in his mind it was worth it. Was was life without some adventure? Dull, that’s what it was. Dull and grey and meaningless. That spark had never left him, even after he spent all those weeks in the hospital. Although it was almost out by that time, because seriously what was the point of continuing on if you were deaf? There was nothing out there for him, Archer decided. He promptly fell into a bout of depression so severe that he even scared himself. Luckily by some miracle, he pulled himself out and became a different type of adventurous. This time, he wanted to explore science and how far he could take it. Mostly he wanted to see if there was ever a way he could have saved his parents. Yes, it wasn’t healthy, but what more could he do? Archer turned his attention back to Tessa. ‘Oh. You probably saw him anyways.’ She was a complete stranger to him, and the boy remembered every face he’d ever encountered. 

The night, as Archer liked to call it, because it was never daytime until the sun rose and then set again, was getting quite boring. Their conversation was coming to a screeching halt faster than a train, which made him sad. Because if he was boring then Tessa would surely leave, and then he’d be alone at the lake again. You’d think that over the years Archer would be used to being alone, to the silence. However, that simply wasn’t the case. He loved being around people, and he loved sounds, and so this was truly a cruel trick of nature. ‘We could go swimming?’ Archer looked at Tessa, hoping that she’d nod her head. In the darkness, it was hard to tell exactly what she looked like, and even with Archer’s great eye sight it was nearly impossible. ‘I mean, it’s really cold out but it’s something to do?’ 

When Tessa agreed to go swimming with him, Archer was ecstatic. He didn’t care what the weather was like, or the temperature of the water, he just wanted to do something fun. Besides, he was sure they wouldn’t be in there for very long, as a salmon coloured streak began to taint the otherwise dark sky. The sunrise would start soon, the day would begin, and Archer would be back in his bed before that happened with soaking hair and tired limbs. If any of his cabin mates questioned him, the demigod would just shrug and continue to sleep, not caring that there might be a surprise cabin inspection. ‘Great!’ He wrote in the sand, and half smiled at Tessa. Archer, so far, thought that she was really nice, and a pretty good friend if they chose to become them. Archer always made friends easily from the get go, and he hardly got into fights with any of them, mostly because he was so loyal and did whatever they wanted him to do, though he was the leader of most of his group of friends. Sometimes he daydreamed that all of his school friends were here at camp, and that he wasn’t deaf, and they all went to play soccer.

But he knew that dream would never in a million years come true, so Tessa would have to do. It was too early to tell, but Archer sensed that he’d form the same bond with her as he did back home with the others. Loyal and happy and nice. Well, happier. With this demigod, his good days were either a hit and miss. He stood up and walked knee deep into the water, not bothering to take off any of his clothing. Cargo shorts and a tank top were good enough, never mind that they were about as thin as a rag that was torn and frayed at the edges. He didn’t get cold easily, and so he didn’t think the freezing temperature was gong to affect him all that much. Then Archer dived in, swimming through the muck and the mud, coming up again in the middle of the lake, kicking his legs to stay afloat. On top of being an excellent singer and soccer player and having an IQ of a genius, Archer could also swim magnificently. He waved to Tessa, waiting for her to join him deeper in the water.

As Archer was deaf, it didn’t matter if he got water in his ears, and so when he dived down to try and touch the bottom of the lake, he didn’t bother to plug his ears because of the pressure. He could almost faintly hear his own heartbeat, the only sound he heard that was consistent, and it be a in time with a rhythm that was soothing and calming. Swimming was one of the things the demigod could actually do nowadays. He’d sing, but he didn’t know what he sounded like, even though when he was a kid his voice was said to be spectacular. When he nearly ran out of breath, Archer popped up again, shaking his head to clear the water from his eyes. With each minute the sunrise was more prominent and vibrant, with each minute he could see the outside world clearly. When Tessa joined him in the middle of the lake, Archer noticed how awkward her moves were, like she wasn’t a natural born swimmer and as gifted as he. The boy wished that she knew sign language so that they could communicate, but she didn’t. Any sentence that Archer could form with his nimble fingers wouldn’t make any sense to Tessa. So he just stayed in that spot, kicking to keep afloat. 

They swam together for some time, and he occasionally splashed her on purpose as a friendly gesture. Then the sky turned different colours, pink and yellow and red and dark blue gradient that signaled that they should probably get out so they could dry off. He pointed his hand towards the shore, indicating that he was getting out of the water. Once back on land, Archer laid on the sand, panting with exertion because of exercise. Tessa soon joined him, and Archer looked at her. He could see her clearly now, although the vibrance of her hair, eyes, and skin were faded by the dawn. The sun was peaking out from under the trees; soon the others would be awake, and Archer would have to go back to being invisible. This was a one time thing, and after this he might never see Tessa again. He didn’t think that he necessarily left a very good impression on the girl, and so it was likely Tessa wouldn’t want to see him again. Even so, he wrote in the sand. ‘Thanks for swimming with me.’