ruins . charade

[cass]

A U D R E Y

There was no flood of relief as she took a gasping breath. There was just disappointment, cold and bitter pain resting in her chest as her eyes slowly flickered open again. Her fingers stretched forwards, plea on her lips, but nothing came out. The tears followed, that godforsaken prickle building behind her eyes before they pooled at the edges, spilling across her cheeks. Through the black haze that danced across her vision she watched as the man that had almost killed her fell to the bar floor.

Her chest twisted, a shadowy figure stepping closer to her broken body. She didn’t know if she should try and hit them or thank them for stepping in when they did. Right now, she wanted to stab them. The blurry shape looked familiar, and Audrey turned her head, heart filling her chest as recognition set itself firmly in place.

“Ames,” she croaked, fingers clawing at the air to grab a hold of her twin sister. “You came to save me.”

I’m supposed to be the one that saves you. And yet, here she was, vomit coated and filthy and once more requiring the aid of her twin. What was happening to her? She was the one that came in, knives swinging to drag Amelia’s body away from the danger. When had the roles switched? When had she become the one in need of saving instead of being the hero of the story? She'd drown herself a thousand times over if it meant Amelia was here beside her. She'd do whatever it took to keep her twin by her side forever.

“Why’d you do it, Ames?” The words were drowned out by the noise that filled the bar. They were broken, shattered like her ribs as her lip wobbled and a sob slipped past. “Why’d you leave me?”

There was no response and the thrum of the busy bar echoed in her ears, drowned out by a high pitch squeal that felt like a scream inside her skull. Audrey blinked, the hazy darkness around her eyes fading and suddenly Amelia was no longer there. Her eyes widened, a silent stream pouring from her them as she cradled the deep wound on her arm.

“She left me again.”

Audrey stared past the woman who now stood in front of her. It wasn’t Amelia. It wasn’t her twin sister, because her twin sister had volunteered for her. Her twin sister had sacrificed everything Audrey had spent her entire life trying to protect her from. Part of her was angry, part of her wanted to punch Amelia in the face for doing something so inconceivably reckless and stupid. But it didn’t matter, because she was gone, and Audrey didn’t think she was ever going to see her again. It was the reality.

“You wanna finish off what he started?” She asked, the words thick in her mouth. Audrey looked away from the woman, arm sagging in front of her as her shoulders slumped in defeat.

“You’d be doing me a favour.”

H A L E

kaitlin

[charade]

H A Z E L

She’d been watching the young woman for a while now. It was hard to miss her. It wasn’t every day that a twin got reaped in their district, much less had their sister volunteer for them. It was a face she was already used to seeing on television. But Hazel had seen the two of them around the district as well. The Hale sisters. Trying to make a name for themselves as freelancers. Brave, but foolish. Freelancers never lasted long, not when it was safer to declare loyalty to a crew instead of riding the fence.

But this must have been the stabby twin, because she was a mess, snarling like a mangy dog. Drank a whole bottle of tequila—pitiful, because mescal was much better. Pitiful, because when it came to recruiting her own squad of Valkyries for Odin’s Warriors, the Hale sisters had been at the top of the list.

Had she been wrong about them?

Hazel shook her head in silence as Audrey created a mess, pissing off some members of the Skulls who were playing a card game. It was one thing to spill drinks. It was another to refuse to pay for them. It was another thing entirely to pick oneself up off the floor and laugh about the violence after getting slammed into the table. Audrey had potential, that much was clear. She was also dumber than a sack full of rocks, though that might have been the alcohol doing her thinking for her.

It was around the time that Audrey projectile vomited onto one of the men she was pissing off that Hazel decided it was time to get involved. Her boss had a particular like of the bar they were in and if it got raided by the keepers and he knew that one of his own had been there and done nothing to stop it, she’d get in trouble. She got up from her stool slowly, putting out her cigarette on the ashtray at the end of the bar.

Hazel was in no rush. Audrey had asked the Skulls for a beating and they were only delivering. But when the big lug started choking the Hale girl until her lips started to turn blue, Hazel put a firm hand on his shoulder and dug her fingers in.

“She’s had enough.” She said gruffly.

“Back off bitch,” he grunted in response, fixing a steely eye on her. “I got a score to settle with—“ he trailed off when he saw the sleeveless vest she was wearing. Only one gang wore this particular style in black.

“Not going to ask again.” she said coolly.

He made a mistake then, letting go of Audrey in an attempt to punch her. Hazel bobbed and weaved, smashing a fist into his jaw. He went out like a light, collapsing to the ground. His buddies went for their knives, but Hazel was ready for that too.

“Valkyrie.” She said, tapping her chest before inclining her head towards the mess on the floor that was blubbering about Amelia leaving. It was an ancient word. One that meant chooser of the slain. In modern context, in the bar, in the situation she was in? It meant that the Hale girl was under her protection. That was enough to get the other two skulls to back off, taking their buddy with them.

The rest of the bar resumed what they were doing.

Hazel sighed and turned to look at Audrey.

“You wanna finish off what he started? You’d be doing me a favor.”

Hazel shook her head.

“Up.”

When that failed to elicit a response, she grabbed Audrey by her collar and forced her to her feet.

“I said up.” She growled, heading for the door and dragging Audrey behind her. Once they were outside she shoved the other girl up against the wall. “I don’t make a habit of sticking my neck out for idiots. But don’t come to my neck of the woods and start shit you can’t finish.” She took a step backwards and folded her arms in front of her chest. “So what the fuck was that? I heard you Hale sisters were up and comers. That? Was. Pitiful."

M E H R O T R A

kaitlin

[cass]

A U D R E Y

It seemed endless, the throbbing despair that rippled through her. As the girl grabbed her by the collar and dragged her out of the bar Audrey didn’t protest. Her feet sagged behind each step, lost to the world of alcohol, head buzzing from the lack of oxygen. The ache around her throat was a promise, the linger traces of near-death echoing in her limbs like a foot in the grave as she was thwarted from her meeting with the reaper. Reality crept behind her, digging its claws into her shoulders as she was shoved against brick.

Audrey blinked, staring at the dark brown eyes that narrowed in disgust when they met her bloody, vomited soaked appearance. She wore the vest that marked her as a Valkyrie, and if she wasn’t drunk and out of her mind Audrey would have been impressed. It was lost on her today, another fleeting dream she had shared with her twin. A view beyond the world of freelancing when they had built a strong enough reputation to get an in. But that was gone now, and she was tumbling down the side of the cliff, desperate to snag onto anything that she could to stop herself from breaking.

The pushy words just made her angry, as though Audrey had asked her to step in an save her. She hadn’t. She had been perfectly happy with the death that was waiting to embrace her and welcome her home. She’d spent years playing with it, dangling her feet at the edge and being held off by her twin sister. How many times had Amelia saved her life? She was so used to charging into danger without a plan that she never had a way to save herself. Throwing it all away for her twin was the plan. Surely, no one could expect her to survive without Amelia? No one would want Audrey without Amelia. Amelia was the brains and talent behind everything they did, Audrey was nothing more then a weapon used by her twin.

“Up and comers?” She echoed, the word barely more then a hoarse whisper. Blood dripped down her arm and Audrey brought it up to her chest, cradling it as she stared at the woman. “What a load of shit,” a spark erupted in her gaze as she narrowed her eyes, “Amelia and I were fucking amazing.”

She stepped forwards, there was a ripple in her chest, a tightness that, for a moment, drowned out her hellish desire to cease existing. It was flamed by the notion that someone could even imply that Amelia wasn’t the smartest person this district had ever seen. “We were the top of the freelancing world, people asked for us and wanted us.”

As quickly as it rose it evaporated, and Audrey’s shoulders slumped, her gaze dropping to the dirt at her feet. “But that’s the problem,” she swallowed, running her good hand through her hair as the weight of her wounds settled beyond the haze of the alcohol. She winced, the pain demanding to be heard as she leaned against the wall once more. “It was us they wanted, Amelia and Audrey, and I-“

I'm not enough for them. It was her they all really wanted. It wasn’t born from pity or insecurity, it was the simple reality that had evolved from hundreds of jobs. None of them could be completed without Amelia, hell, half the time Audrey couldn’t even piece together the plan without Amelia spelling it out for her. She’d never had to try, because her twin was always there.

“Well, you’ve seen exactly what I am without Amelia.”

H A L E

kaitlin

[charade]

H A Z E L

A part of Hazel had been hoping that the chill of the night air might wake the girl up from her stupor, but it seemed to be lacking. Audrey talked back, a hint of pride coloring her words at first. Hazel rolled her eyes. They were good, she’d give Audrey that. But top of the freelancing world? Is that what her sister had convinced her they were?

There were older, more experienced mercenaries than they. Maybe it would have been better if this twin had been the one fighting for her life in the snow. Amelia might have been easier to sell the idea of joining up to. Someone that needed protection. 

Not this—this loser drenched in blood, vomit and tequila.

“Stupid. Without your sister you’re stupid.” She said bluntly. She didn’t have the patience for this girl to keep wallowing in her pity party. She’d put her rep on the line for Audrey, and maybe she didn’t understand how significant that was. Or what it would mean if turned out to be a dud. “That’s fine. I can work with stupid.” She put a little emphasis on the word, trying to get a rise out of the girl. There couldn’t have been more than two years separating them, but in district nine, two years bought a lifetime of experience.

She’d been scouting out potential talent for months, wanting her squad to put all the other cells of Odin’s enforcers to shame. It was a damn shame that one of the Hale’s had been reaped, but she’d always had backups if her first picks became unavailable before she could approach them. It was a stroke of luck that one of them had come around her first.

If the gang’s namesake was real, maybe he was watching over her after all. In any case, it was her desire to craft the gang in miniature. Reflect the way the Warriors were structured in her squad makeup. Audrey had potential. Skilled at knifework, a real fire lurking beneath the surface. Her skillset would complement the other girls in the squad in a good way.

If she stopped acting like a jackass.

“You’re right. People do want the both of you.” She smiled cryptically.“But I can settle for one.” She pulled out her pack of cigarettes and lit one up. She hadn’t gotten to enjoy the whole of the last one on account of having to stop the Skulls from decorating the inside of the bar with Audrey’s guts. She blew a puff a smoke at Audrey’s face. “Like I said, I don’t make a habit of saving idiots. But I could use someone with your talent for bloodshed. You ever think about being a Valkyrie?”

M E H R O T R A

kaitlin

[cass]

A U D R E Y

The retort flew to her lips instantly, but after a moment it fell, swallowed back into her stomach as she simply pursed her lips and nodded. The woman wasn’t wrong; Audrey was stupid without her sister. It was evident in the blood covering her arm, the bruising popping up on her face and throat. Each passing second had her face swelling more, her field of vision disappearing like the night. Audrey ignored the rise, resting her head against the brick as the chill of the night air stung the wounds on her face. She breathed in, ignoring the tightness as she closed her eyes and fought the nausea that threaten to upturn her stomach.

She didn’t know how to stick herself back together, and she was at a loss on where to even start when it came to being her own person. She was a mess, a fucking mess. Her heart ached; fingers curled into tight balls as she tried to slide the broken pieces into places they didn’t fit. By the time she was finished it didn’t even begin to resemble what it had once been. The very concept of continuing her life and filling in the gap that had been left behind was something she had never allowed herself to wallow in. Yet, here she was, left with this exact problem and unable to answer it.

The smoke blown into her face caught her attention and she opened her eye, glaring at the woman as she wiped at the bitter and disgusting smell that now filled her nostrils. She wasn’t the biggest fan of smoking, the stench it left behind filled the space where you stood. Smoking was not the best habit for sneaking into places or trying to keep your presence hidden.

The question caught Audrey off guard, and lips parted as her foggy brain scrambled for a response. Her first instinct was to reach to her side, fingers ready to grab hold of her twin’s arms as she expressed her excitement over the opportunity they had both dreamed of. There was safety and danger within a gang, but there was protection beyond the scope of their own means that the two of them had always desired.

Audrey’s head twisted, eyes landing on the empty space beside her, there was no one there. She had almost expected it this time, the hollowed out emptiness that followed that realization. There had been a point where joining a gang like the Valkyrie’s had meant everything to them. Audrey could remember the endless conversations they’d had about the pros and cons of certain gangs- who to stay the fuck away from and who to try and align with. But now?

Audrey shrugged, letting her bleeding arm drop to her side as she stepped away from the woman. “Tempting, but it seems like joining would mean I’d have to listen to you,” she glanced backwards, the first sign of life breathing itself back into her eyes, “and quite frankly I’m not the biggest fan of smokers.”

She waved her hand, giving the Valkyrie a mock salute, “thanks for saving my life, I owe you one.”

H A L E

kaitlin

[charade]

H A Z E L

Hazel wasn’t sure what to make of Audrey Hale, now that she’d gotten a good look at her. There was fire there, but it was smoldering. There was potential, but it was being wasted. Hazel had known gangbangers like Audrey before. Most of them were dead. The Hale girl had enough presence of mind to try for an insult. Decent effort, terrible execution. Really? The cig? “That’s fine,” Hazel replied airily, staring pointedly at the vomit on the front of Audrey’s shirt. “I’m not the biggest fan of people that can’t hold their liquor.”

“And yes, you do owe me one.” Hazel stared at her quietly, examining her face and going for a tactic her dad liked to call sifting the soul. It made most people uncomfortable if you refused to break eye contact but wouldn’t say anything. After a moment of study, she spoke. “You’re cute, I’ll give you that,” she said with a dangerous smile. “But I’m not a patient woman. I stuck my neck out for you in there, even extended an invitation. I expect an answer by this time tomorrow.” Her eyes drifted over mess that Audrey had made of her outfit. “And clean yourself up, for Odin’s sake.”

She took another drag and blew the smoke up into the air like a fountain.

Audrey reminded her of a lost dog. A mangy, dirty dog likely to bite the hand that fed it, but it was in the eyes. Girl was drifting toward the edge. Did her sister’s guidance mean that much to her? Hazel couldn’t relate. She had no siblings and while she obeyed orders, she had the freedom to accomplish the tasks set before her as she wanted to.

“If you choose poorly, I better not see you on this side of town again.” That was it. Hazel turned and started walking away, her boots crunching on the gravel. Audrey was only one thread in the tapestry she was attempting to weave, and there were other things she needed to attend to. Namely, recruiting the rest of her squad for the boss man. She had them picked out already; the hacker, the seductress and the mechanic. Each with a role to play, a function to fulfill alongside the enforcer.

If Audrey was smart, she’d say yes.

Then again, the smarter Hale twin was in the games.

Ah well, Hazel thought. There was a backup plan for a refusal too.

What was one more body in the gutters of district nine?

M E H R O T R A

kaitlin

[cass]

A U D R E Y

Audrey thinks the woman likes to intimidate people, pushing them with an air of power and strength and words that try to cut deeply. But by this point, kicking the broken pieces of Audrey’s soul is just the same as making a mess; it’s a waste of time. Audrey simple nods, taking each layer of the advice onboard as it’s thrown her way. The woman promises repercussion’s for making the wrong choice as if that weren’t a consequence of existing in district nine.

None of it really mattered, not when her face felt like she’d been hit with a battering ram. The pain was starting to creep past the alcohol, making its way into her skull as she continued to stumble her way down the road. She wondered if when she returned home Amelia would be dead, and the thought bit more violently through the fog in her brain than anything else. Her hands clutched at her chest; deep gasping breathes slipping past her bloody lips as she reached for the brick wall of the nearest house.

The echoing jibs and warnings from her saviors followed her into the peaceful night, ruining whatever serenity she might get from the high-pitched ringing in her skull. The cold air stung, cruelly washing over a dozen wounds as she leaned her forehead against the brick, trying her best to steady the ache in her heart. She swallowed, fighting back tears as the last remaining drops of alcohol slowly dissolved from her system, leaving behind the skeleton of the woman who had just tried to get herself killed.

Whatever courage she’d clung to faded, and she slumped against the brick, sliding down until her butt greeted the pavement. She stayed there, swollen eyes peering up at the sky as the light of the morning slowly began to creep through the rows of buildings and houses. Audrey knew she had to move, to get up and get home before the next lot of fights began. She’d never forgive herself if she returned home and found her twin’s dead body being paraded across her television screen. By the time she stirred, the sun was visible over the edge of the nearest roof.

Moving as though encased by stone, she slowly stood, teeth gritted as she grunted through the pain that spiked through her entire body. Carefully, she took one step forward, feet uncertain and feeling like rocks. She sighed, pulling herself along the river of regret as she made her way home.

H A L E

kaitlin

[ end of thread ]