VENUS《 FINNICK ODAIR

Chapter 39. GOLDRUSH.

T/W: Slight discussion/mentioning of rape, sexual and physical abuse.

THE QUAD OF PEACEKEEPERS WATCHED THE MISMATCHED FAMILY ARRIVE AT THE GATE, AWAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE GUEST STARS OF THE REAPING.

Candy led the pack behind the first two bodyguards, then Woof with Lucy by his side and Cecelia after with Dawn and Arlo - both clinging tightly to her hands. Kaif sidled by next to Edith, both focused on their family in front of them with heavy lidded eyes.

Each step boomed like a thunderous clap, but Edith was beyond it. Ever since she got back from the Capitol her realisation of what this week was had set in. Also her realisation that it would be the anniversary of her stripes kept her in a constant numbing pain. Her world was shifting of it's axis once more. She was used to the nausea.

But the nightmares were more feeling than remembering, and life seemed to continue as seamlessly as it did before. It became the ongoing narrative, waking up each day knowing who was dead, why she had scars, why she didn't see her family anymore.

It wasn't like she was the only one feeling horrible on a Reaping Day. Edith wasn't in the bowl of course, and she doubted Snow would let her family be there knowing the riots it would cause if they were chosen. She just felt horrible for something different than the usual reason. But she wasn't boasting it.

Distractions were best to rid of the pain.

"How you feeling?" Edith asked Kaif camly, her words scratching like chalk on pavement.

Kaif didn't respond, he just kept walking. Determined. Frustrated.

And just like chalk, her words washed away with the numbing silence left after fresh rain.

"Kaif?" Edith repeated herself; the serious demeanour etched into the older man's face made her stomach curdle.

"Something feels off this year..." he said blankly. The words fell into the open air, carried away with the breeze as he sniffed away a bout of hayfever.

Edith gulped, a shiver sending her vision straight,"How so?"

"I don't know, maybe its just because I'm worried for Cece and Lu, but something just feels wrong," Kaif mumbled, the summer wind hiding his words from the latter half of the pack.

Edith felt her stomach sink, "Is Cecelia okay?"

"She didn't want you fretting, but she's just been blanking more lately. It started with when you got sent to the Capitol for a month, and it got worse with what happened with Jo. She's worried something bad will happen to Lucy. Snow already rigged the reaping once to pick her, what's stopping it a second time?"

As a shiver ached down her skin, a blinding hot sear passed across her scars, causing Edith to hold in a soft cry. Edith had a feeling she knew at least a small root of Cecelia's blanks. It would be a year since Mr Candelo in less than a week, and Edith visually played the part. Cecelia noticed silently, keeping her promise not to tell a soul. She never showed her legs anymore. Not in front of people anyway.

Edith choked on her confidence, but saying the words out loud made them feel true, "Snow won't try rigging it again, not here. Even with Paylor being elected fairly, and no large scale riots since her appointment, he won't stir things up in our Reapings for a long time. I wouldn't even be surprised if he took out Lucy's name and all my sibling's names. He knows how fragile 8 is and what would happen if they were picked."

"It wouldn't be the first time he did something stupid," Kaif grumbled, picking up the pace as the group headed onto the bridge.

The Vein, 8's river camly swelled below - the twinkling of water was invisible from the bridge's view, only a black mass divided the city in two.