Apathy - Avengers Fanfiction

Bloody Thumbs

a/n - this chapter along with the one before and after are a bit slow but it'll pick up, don't worry!

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As time passed the red-headed girl managed to keep her strange ability hidden, almost forgetting about it herself. She let herself become distracted by the cameras and prying eyes of the world once more. At the age of eight people began asking for her to participate in interviews, demanding to hear from the daughter of two of the largest politicians. Her parents, of course, gave in to these demands. They wouldn't want people to think they were trying to hide her, if they didn't put little Ophilia on display people would be suspicious of the privacy, that's how the world worked.

On top of all her other lessons the eight-year-old girl had to practice lines in preparation for questions, all of them short and cute. She had to make it look like she'd just come up with the answer, as if she hadn't been practicing day and night. They were making her an amazing lier.

She had an answer for every question you would ask a young girl. "Who's your favorite parent?" One man asked. "I don't think I could choose! They're both perfect." She'd responded in the cute voice the little girl had learned to fake.

Her parents had set up a dinner party during this time for a reason the girl was too young to understand or even be told. All she knew was she had to sit still, look pretty, give cute replies to any words spoken to her and praise her parents given the chance. She was being used to improve their image but Ophelia was just happy to be involved for once.

Her mother had put her in a brand new navy blue dress with shimmery white accents. The bottom was rather poofy and ended a bit above her ankles. It had black sleeves which reached her elbows and her fiery red hair was in a low ponytail. The girl's hair now reached her lower back, her mother mumbling something about getting it trimmed as she left to do her own hair.

Later she helped set the table while her mom cooked and baked, Ophelia was surprised by all of the seats though made no comment as she laid down the plates and silverware. As she was placing the forks and knives at the last seat a bird had flown into one of the large windows, making her jump and accidentally slice open her thumb with one of the knives. With a sharp inhale she dropped the silverware, tears filling her bright green eyes.

At the sound of crashing silverware the politician turned around with anger clear on her face, turning her brown eyes to glare at her eight-year-old daughter. "What have you done, Ophelia? Why would you drop everything like a fool?" She questioned, walking towards the small girl while rubbing her already-clean hands on her apron.

"I- I didn't mean to!" The girl stuttered out, turning to look at her mother who stood like a building looking down at her. "A bird hit the window and scared me, I didn't mean to, I promise!" She pleaded, tears now dribbling down her pale cheeks.

Suddenly her mother grabbed her wrist causing an involuntary gasp to fall from Ophelia's mouth. She watched as her mother examined her bloody thumb before turning her dark eyes to look back at her daughter. "Look what you've done, you're going to get blood everywhere! Now let's get this-" She stopped speaking as the girls suddenly began to glow and the small cut began to slowly stitch itself back together.

Fear struck the young girl and she tried to pull away but her mother only tightened her grip. When the cut had scabbed over and showed no sign of healing any further she looked up to lock eyes with the little girl, a look of disgust and shock in her features.

"What are you?" The woman breathed. "What are you?!" She then yelled, letting go of the girl's small wrist and taking a step back. Her husband came rushing in, concern plastered on his face. "What's going on?" He asked, looking between the two females.

As her mother began describing the events to her husband and he moved closer the girl moved to sit on the floor pulling her knees to her chest as she tried to swallow her cries. After a few minutes one of her parents said something about time and she was suddenly yanked to her feet.

The girl was pulled back upstairs and pushed into her room, her vision blurry with tears as she was sat on her bed. Rubbing her eyes she watched as her parents both moved away and back to the door, their eyes never leaving the girl's broken form.

"We can deal with you later. Our guests will be here soon and we can't have something like you spoiling our image." Her mother's words broke the silence, making young Ophelia curl deeper into herself with a sniffle. "Stay here, we'll tell them you couldn't make it because you were sick. Don't you dare ruin this for us. You will never tell anyone about this horrible thing you possess. Even better, I don't want to see you using this ever again."

"You are Ophelia Lionsby, a normal girl who is lucky enough to have this life." Her father butted in. "Don't you ever do anything to jeopardize that." He practically growled before they both left, him slamming the door behind him.

The eight-year-old girl let out a quiet sob, laying on her back and staring up at the ceiling as she tried to steady her breathing. She failed however and layed crying for what felt like hours before she eventually fell asleep with no more tears left to fall.

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