Fire Fixes Nothing

Kayla

Kayla didn't remember the last time she had ever felt so down. It was all just so dumb of her, she lost one match and suddenly she gets all depressed. Kayla was the outright definition of a sore loser. She had always felt overshadowed by her brothers, they were praised for their achievements. Kayla had looked up to her older siblings, Micheal Yew and Lee Fletcher, before they had died. She had taken up archery so she could be like them. After they died she worked to perfect her skills in their honor. She had become the best archer in camp. It was the one thing that held her above everyone else. And now, she had lost that too.

The day of the match, when she had lost, she lost more than the match.

She lost her sanity.

She had stormed into the cabin, throwing her quiver all the way to the other end, it clattered and thuded in the corner. She screamed out as the tears streamed down her eyes like a flowing river. She yelled out in her rage. It felt as if the whole world was crashing right on top of her, she was getting crushed under the weight. She had gone to her bunk, practically destroying it. She just lost it at that moment.

After that she had given up wearing her quiver. She didn't see the point, if she didn't have her title, why wear the quiver? Why even try to shoot again?

But now, she was wearing the quiver again. She felt she was ten years old again, wearing that ill fitting quiver that Micheal had given her, the same one on her back now. She had grown older, she was thirteen now, soon to be fourteen, so the quiver now fit her. But she felt like that ten year old girl again, who barely knew what to do with it. She kept adjusting the strap, like she had at ten, pulling it up because it kept falling down. Except now it wasn't falling down at all, yet she still kept adjusting it.

She was still in the cabin, not quite ready to leave yet. She didn't know why, but she was nervous. And she had all of this to blame on that girl, Isabel.

But for some reason, she didn't blame her, though Kayla had every right to think so. Instead, she blamed herself. It made no sense, why would she not blame Isabel? Yet that was exactly what she was doing.

Kayla made her way out of the cabin. Stepping outside did not feel as triumphant as she thought it would. It just felt like stepping outside. She adjusted the quiver strap once more. What was she to do now? Austin was teaching a music class, and Will was working. Usually she herself would be teaching an archery class, but not at the moment.

She had other siblings of course, but Austin and Will were special to her. When the titan war had taken place, all of the other Apollo kids had died, all but Austin and Will. As a result, Kayla grew close with her only living siblings, especially Austin.

What Kayla remembered of the titan war was fuzzy, she had only been around ten after all. But she vaguely remembered going up to Micheal, who she saw as an idol, and proudly asking how she could help. Micheal had told her that she could be most helpful by setting traps; he had sent Austin to do the same. Kayla knew now however, that him having them do this was to get the younger kids out of the way, so that they could live. That was when Kayla and Austin had begun to grow close. When they had found out that Micheal was missing, Kayla had broken down. Austin was the one that helped her. They searched for Micheal, Austin being the one uplifting Kayla while they did.

Kayla grimaced as she remembered. They never had found Micheal's body. She remembered sobbing, even harder the day she learned he had died. Those were the type of memories Kayla liked to bury away. The reason she never got close with her younger and newer siblings was because she was afraid. She was afraid of losing them like Micheal and Lee. She knew it wouldn't hurt so bad if they weren't as close. Since the titan war they had gained five more Apollo kids, Kayla hardly knew any of them. Will had grown slightly close to Cora, Kayla didn't understand quite how. Their personalities didn't seem like they'd work together, especially with Kazoo the rat, but somehow Will and Cora had grown slightly close. Kayla knew a bit about Cora, she liked rats and playing the guitar, she was good at singing. As for the others? Kayla had no idea.