VENUS《 FINNICK ODAIR

Chapter 31. SNOWBALL.

HER WORLD WAS ON FIRE, YET SOMEHOW THE GIRL IN HER REFLECTION REMAINED UNTARNISHED.

Edith hated them all. Snow, Mr Candelo, Silvanna. Hated them with all her being, all that was good, all that was bad. All feeling was fire-power, and she was only just beginning to burn. But Mr Candelo was the one to blame tonight. She would be the one to end the tired beating of his charcoal heart.

With each bead of blood, each burn, each ache. She was being fueled. She would be the end of them all.

But not yet. Edith was a snowball, falling, rolling and hurdling to her own demise. She was angry, but a voice itched her brain. She needed to tackle her own demons to remain victorious.

She was cold. Unrelenting. Violet plumed under her swampy green eyes, and her long wafts of chocolate hair remained damp and knotted from her brief shower.

But behind a watery reflection, every inch of her skin crawled, shadows of hands and evil smiles clawed at her memory but somehow she managed to blind herself from the moment. But she could feel it. In the ache in her core, in the bruising of her ribs, in the searing of her cuts.

He had released his sexual desires, then decided to mould her into his own desire.

With a knife.

The white, fluffy robe itched at her freshly unwrapped cuts. They continued to throb at the air exposure, reminding her of what was at stake, what transpired the night prior and who had died for herself.

The cuts he dug were haggered, but uniform stripes that slashed over her shins like tiger stripes, just deep enough to appear over her venom scars. She didn't know what they'd look like once they turned into scars too, she didn't want to think of any of it.

Edith didn't want to be saved anymore.

She didn't feel as if she deserved a friend amongst the Victor ranks, no matter how much she craved for other company.

And Edith definetly didn't care anymore how the Capitol or her home District viewed her.

She just wanted her family safe, out of the spotlight of the Capitol, away from the Mayor's office.

The Med kids and Paylor, her second family of Victor outcasts.

Where were they now? Paylor Mayor, two children down. Then the Hall's and their strays.

She just wanted to go back to how life used to be.

A green ribbon in her hair, a locket of silver and moonstone around her neck, and a red jacket shielding her from the cold. Her worst problems were avoiding envious eyes and theives.

But she was long dead.

Edith sank into a plush, cashmere chair. She was meant to be saying goodbye to Quinton and Arizona, her tributes she didn't even know the last names of. She would have to change that.

But she couldn't ask them anymore. Or at least only one of them. They were already on their way to the arena.

And Edith, well Edith was hiding.

She didn't want to face everyone, not with new scars and fresh memories. The new Edith was revenge fueled with no bite to show off.

The new Edith didn't believe in magic ribbons of green satin, no, she didn't believe in anything.

She couldn't give herself that hope.

The old Edith died in the arena. Buried next to Cade Coran under a bushel of forget me nots. The new Edith, the Capitol's Edith, didn't bear her signature red jacket or her locket, no, her father's jacket was buried six feet into the ground around Vienna's cold carcass, and her locket and hair ribbon... Well...