FOUR. THE FAULT LINE

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"I'M SORRY FOR YOUR loss. It is an unimaginable pain — what you must be going through."

Matheo Shin was sitting next to aunt as an older man talked to her. She had tears rolling down her face, her pretty makeup washing off slowly.

Matheo remembered watching her do it, mesmerized by the way she seemed so talented. He didn't think it was weird to watch her, but she certainly did. "Stop looking at me."

Matheo peered up at the man, who had a hand over his heart as he closed his eyes. "Ewan was a wonderful man. He will forever be in our hearts." Matheo had heard that name before. It took him a little while to realize it was his dad's real name. He was only three.

He didn't understand why everyone seemed so sad. His dad was just sleeping, right?

"Hana, know that if you need any help taking care of his son, our family would be more than happy to help." The man said kindly, placing a gentle hand on Matheo's head. The young boy smiled at this and looked up. His aunt cleared her throat as she nodded at the man.

"I appreciate it. I'll definitely keep that in mind. Thank you." She said, looking at Matheo with a glare. It went unnoticed by everyone.

"I will be taking my leave. I hope this life becomes nicer to you." The man bowed and turned, walking over to where his wife sat, holding their infant daughter. Matheo wondered if he would be able to play with her when they got older.

"You did this to him." Matheo hummed as he shifted in his seat, looking at his aunt. She was angry, and sad, and not pretty. Matheo frowned as he reached up, wiping some of the tears off of her face. "No cry. Not pretty."

The woman only seemed to cry more at that, and Matheo wondered what he had done wrong. He looked around and noticed a box of tissues on a table near them. He got off of his seat and made his way over to them, just barely being able to reach them.

He walked back up to his aunt and held them out to her. She gripped the fabric on her black dress as she looked down at him, her lips curling as she tried to stop crying.

She reached forward and snatched the tissues from him, wiping her tears away. When she pulled the tissue away, it had been stained with black and tan. But she looked pretty now without the black tracks going down her face.

Matheo smiled at her and pointed at her face. "Pretty now." His aunt sniffled and reached forward, picking Matheo up from the ground. She got up from her seat and let him rest on her hip.

"No cry. Happy." Matheo whispered, placing on of his small hands on her face.

"How can I be happy when you took him away from me?"

He didn't understand. . .

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"I WOULDN'T GET TOO close to him if I were you."

"His dad died a few years back. I heard he's the one who did it."

"I don't know what's wrong with him."

"Yeah, something about him is just. . . not right."

"What is his problem?"

"I feel bad for his family. Does he even have any left?"

"I heard his aunt just left him here. She did the right thing."

Those were the words Matheo Shin would hear any time he passed by his fellow campers.

When he was seven, he tried to become friends with them.

It was a warm summer day, and he was wearing a bright blue pair of jeans and his Camp Half-Blood shirt. His hair was shorter then, maybe just past his ears.

He had been walking around camp for a while when he saw a group of campers who seemed to be a little older than him, maybe by a year or two.

He approached them with a smile on his face and even bowed out of respect. The children looked at him in fear, pushing themselves off of the ground before running off in the other direction, huddling close together.

Matheo was left by himself as he watched them run away.

"Did you see his smile? That was so scary. I thought he was going to curse me."

He never smiled at anyone again. It was too much for them and himself.

He didn't understand it at first, he just knew he couldn't do it anymore if he wanted to make friends.

The next time he tried to make some friends was the day of his ninth birthday. It was during the spring, and everyone was happily chatting amongst each other.

He approached a girl who was also having her birthday that day, a freshly picked yellow rose in his hand. He had read somewhere that the yellow rose meant friendship — and he could only hope it could be an omen.

She was fiddling with some wildflowers, weaving them into a colorful flower crown.

When he held the rose out toward the girl, she smiled and took it. "Happy Birthday." Matheo said, his voice soft so that he didn't frighten her.

But then, she looked up and she saw who was giving her the rose.

The smile fell from her face and she dropped the rose, discarding the flower crown in her lap as she ran off in the other direction.

Matheo tried to hide the hurt look on his face, tucking his lip under his teeth as he looked at the rose on the dirt. The vibrant yellow petals had been tinted with small specks of brown, now dulling the color.

He knelt down on the ground and picked up the rose.

Maybe he could give it to someone else?

No.

No, he couldn't. He knew that.

"Why are you messing with our sister?" Matheo looked up and saw two older campers. The boy was around fifteen, and the girl was around sixteen. They were the girls siblings. Oh. I scared her that bad? Matheo questioned as he looked at the rose in his hands.

"I was just trying to give her this," said the boy, showing them the flower. "Just trying to wish her happy birthday." The girl scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest, yanking the flower out of his hands. "Likely story. Let me guess, cursed?"

Matheo went silent. He didn't even know how to defend himself, it's not like they would believe him, anyway. He watched with tearful eyes as the boy grabbed the flower and tore the petals off of it, throwing them back into his face.

"Don't let us catch you again, or I swear we'll have you kicked out of camp." The boy practically spat in his face before the two of them walked away, going to comfort a crying nine-year-old.

But no one came to comfort Matheo.

"Did you hear he tried to curse that girl from Aphrodite cabin?"

Matheo should've stopped trying there, but he didn't.

He wanted friends so desperately, that he was willing to keep trying. Even if that meant scaring more people off. If he could just find one person.

He was ten years old when he tried to befriend the pretty girl from the Athena cabin.

He had heard many things about her, and thought that maybe since she was so smart, she would know he wasn't a bad person.

That was his first mistake.

His second mistake was approaching her on a random day of the week one winter. It was cold out, and she was wearing a puffer jacket and a pair of thick gloves on her hands. Matheo was only wearing a thin jacket with the hood pulled over his head.

The snow was falling that day, falling hard and making it difficult to see. Looking back, Matheo wonders if the snow was trying to warn him.

"Excuse me?" The blonde looked up, her stormy grey eyes practically shining from the white snow. Her nose was a little red from the cold, and she had snow hanging onto her eyelashes and loose strands of hair.

She froze upon seeing him.

"I was wondering. . .  maybe you wanted to make a snowman with me?" He asked her, looking down at the ground as he did. He was afraid to see the look on her face.

"Uhm." She forced out. She looked around for a moment before looking back at the boy in front of her. "Uhh. . . sure. . ?" She didn't seem so sure, but Matheo was just so happy that she had agreed.

His eyes shot open and he looked up at her. He thought she was joking. "Seriously?" She seemed uncomfortable, and he could tell because of the way she shifted on the bench. She carefully got up, keeping her distance.

She was younger than him, he thinks. She hadn't been there for as long as he had, but she had been there for a while at that point. He remembered she lost a friend on her first day, and thought maybe he could make her feel better.

It just took him a while to find the courage.

"Yeah, just. . . just don't get too close." Matheo was so happy that he didn't even realize the connotation to those words. He was so happy that he smiled — despite saying he never would again.

He couldn't mess this up.

"Come on!" He said happily, racing over to an area that had more snow than some others. She took a while to follow him, but she did eventually.

"My name is Matheo." Matheo said as he dropped to his knees. The blonde looked at him as he stretched his hand out toward her. "Annabeth." She grabbed his hand and gave it a firm shake.

He was glad to see that Annabeth was slowly warming up. He knew that she had most likely heard the rumors about him, and he was desperate to prove her wrong.

The two of them got to work after that. It was kind of awesome to see a brain like Annabeth's make a snowman. She was very adamant about the angle at which they built it.

He didn't mind. He was just happy he had a friend.

When the two had finished, they looked at their work proudly. It looked amazing. It was better than any snowman Matheo could've built by himself, anyway.

The red-haired boy smiled and looked at Annabeth, who smiled right back at him. "You're not evil, are you?" Annabeth asked him, a hint of relief in her voice as she looked up at him.

"Not at all. I don't know why they say that about me." Matheo looked down at the footprint covered ground. "They haven't liked me since I first came here."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You didn't know any better. I'm not mad at anyone here." Annabeth frowned at that and tapped him on the arm. It was a major difference from her trying to keep her distance.

"I'll put in a good word about you, Matheo. I'm sorry everyone is so mean." She looked upset, like she was sad for him. Matheo shook his head and gave her a sweet smile. "It's okay. As long as I have one person who knows, that's enough for me."

When the two of them bid their goodbyes, they had made a promise to hang out another time.

But it seemed like Annabeth was just liked everyone else.

She never tried talking to him ever again, and she avoided him if he tried to start a conversation.

He wondered if he had done something wrong that day to make her upset. Or if someone had told her something about him that she didn't like. Maybe she was just lying to him and was just as mean as everyone else.

The fault line had been broken.

The earthquake had caused irreversible damage.

Matheo Shin told himself he would never make friends. No matter how long he lived, everyone would avoid him and tell him he was evil.

He was sure of it.

Or he thought he was, anyway.

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VANA'S CORNER !
a little backtrack!
trying to get something out while i work on the next chapter
also, NO! i do not hate annabeth, i promise i love her

(the whole her being mean thing may or may not be a big misunderstanding between the two of them, guess we'll have to wait and see)