clever as the devil, and twice as pretty.
It is a known fact that when you lie, you do it for a reason - but Nina was lying unhinged and she loved it. she loved the way they left the tip of her tongue. She loved the adrenaline she felt whenever she'...
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WHEN NINA WAS IN FIRST GRADE, SHE HAD LEARNED THAT LIFE WASN'T FAIR. The whole class was playing pin the tail on the donkey, and she had gotten it on her first try. Unfortunately, little kids are sore losers and Nina was accused of cheating and given time-out just for being lucky.
Illiana pulled her out of school and started homeschooling her (and had the academy shut down, but Nina never realized that until she was thirteen.) This was when her dear mother had told her that life isn't fair. It is not worth getting mad at or stressing over. Sometimes it's about accepting that it is what it is.
She latched onto that excuse with her dear life - Illiana pinning her down on the floor during one of their many training sessions and breaking it? Life isn't fair. When she shot a woman in cold blood? Life isn't fair. And for a while, she understood it. She accepted it. Life isn't fair. That's just how it is.
But now, she was just pretty sure that the much younger version of herself had just suffered from a severe case of Stocklym Syndrome which manifested into something way worse during her teenage years.
Because no child deserves to be beaten black and blue with the excuse of life not being fair. No child deserves the trauma to see a man's brain blown out with the same silly excuse. Three words, twelve letters of pure bullshit: Life isn't fair.
That's what Nina tried to remind herself while she and Valeria waited by the kitchen counters. Ilianna was a bitch and those fleeting memories that passed through her mind, no matter how soft and tender could never overpower the fact that the cold-hearted criminal was the reason why she was like this.
"It's half-past seven. Where the hell are they?" Nina gritted her teeth, grabbed a red apple from a white fruit basket, and took a big bite out of it. The scenery looked way too casual for two teenage girls who were to possibly face the biggest threats of their lives: a murderous, violent criminal who had mastered the art of manipulation and Samara, who, despite not being as violent, had the power to kill them in a blink of an eye and followed every single thing that Illiana said.
"Probably just New York traffic. Calm down." Although she attempted to sound all casual and collected, Nina knew Valeria for too many years that she was well aware of the facade she was setting up. Her sister was nervous, if not as much then more than she was. Illiana was never late, no matter what it was.
Nina could only describe the whole thing as no motivation to do anything, followed by the fear of failure because she isn't doing anything. It's both not caring at all and caring all too much. It's a vicious cycle of hell.
In a merciful twist of fate, the keypad at the front door beings to beep, which meant one thing and one thing only.
The two girls glanced at each other, sharing a nod of understanding. When they were kids, Valeria and Nina were inseparable - she understood her older sister in and out, and in return, Valeria understood her. That understanding between them went to shit the moment Valeria had turned into a teenager... but now, Nina could see it - that short spark of what they used to be.
