kill her freak out | ryan
Oct 12, 2022 12:37:41 GMT -5
Post by goat on Oct 12, 2022 12:37:41 GMT -5
God, did Birdie envy these people. Her affinity for jealousy had waned since she was younger, as it does once you realize big houses and fancy meals come second to staying alive, but she imagined it was so much easier to stay alive here. Easier to breathe with the salt air in your lungs, easier to reach the age of eighteen when you knew you’d have a league of gladiators ready to volunteer for your reaping spot.
Birdie had been a lot of things, but she’d never once been easy.
Anatalia Morrisen had one of the larger homes in the Victor’s Village. Birdie glared up at it from the swath of sand between it and the rumbling ocean. Mayor Annie, she thought, rolling the vowels beneath her tongue. It was so silly. She wondered what was so wrong with the girl to make her want to play president with the same government that sent her to die.
It probably didn’t matter, considering nobody really died that games. Annie didn’t have much to worry about then. It wasn’t like she’d won the games the following year, where the Capitol threw away their labyrinth and their tech and let everyone who died stay dead. Annie got to play killer, and everyone else got to play victim. They’d never get an ounce of pity from her, and she didn’t care if it was cruel to think that. She would’ve taken a zombie daughter over a dead one.
Birdie kicked the sand off her boots before rapping on the door with her knuckles. She’d never been to Four before. It was grittier than she imagined. She wondered if Annie was actually doing anything for the people who lived there, though she wasn’t quite sure anymore if it was possible to enact change through the same systems that sent children to die. She loved her brother, for the most part, and she loved Vasco, but she was starting to think their faith was misplaced.
She knocked on the door again, then tried the handle. It popped open with a hearty click. Birdie stepped back, then looked around. It was just her. No prying eyes. As she turned back to the house, she took a deep breath before nudging the door open with her shoe.
The doorway spit her out into a dining area. The lights were on, dinner was set. It was like a dollhouse. Birdie laughed softly to herself, imagining Annie playing pretend with herself and her housekeeping. She stepped further inside and dragged a hand over the back of one of the chairs, the wood smooth, over polished.
When she looked up, there was a figure in the distance. She assumed it was Annie. It was her house, after all. She’d surely want to know who came in. Or broke in.
Semantics.
“You should probably lock your door,” Birdie said. “I’m sure there are a lot of people around who aren’t very happy with you.”