SNOW AND BRIAR ~ coriolanus snow

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕴; 𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖉𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖘

A bar of soap slipped from Enyo's hand and into the sink as she began to thoroughly clean her hands, waiting for the blood underneath her nails to disappear down the drain with the hateful water.

She closed her eyes, the rushing of the water a soothing lullaby to her ears. If she breathed steadily enough she could picture it was rain, falling on the roof and sliding down her window like beads of diamond.

But of course, she couldn't stay and picture the rain when the old bathroom door was thrown open abruptly and she was thrust into reality like a bullet shot from a gun.

Enyo didn't have to move to know the person who'd interrupted her momentary peace. She could hear the raspy breath and light footsteps she knew all too well.

"En!" A voice called, stricken with panic like a bolt of thunder in the midst of a storm. Her brother rushed forward, his hands grasping the edge of the sink as he peered over to examine her hands. "Oh my god."

The corner of Enyo's lip lifted at the worried tone lacing Everett's voice, softer than kitten's fur. "Don't worry," she mused, reaching over and turning the tap off. A jolt of pain echoed in her stomach when she spotted the dried blood remaining underneath her chipped nails. "I won."

Everett rolled his eyes, a habit he'd picked up from Enyo when he was only little. She remembered the first time he'd done it, just a tiny toddler rolling his eyes. Now eleven years old, Everett still let out the tiny huff he always did afterwards. "Of course you did. But what happened?"

Enyo tried desperately not to remember the ringing of the sirens, the blue and red flashes of torture. She hated those sirens, those lights, more than anything in Panem. It was quite ironic, really, considering that she wanted to be a detective.

"Mathew Norden and his gang jumped me on the way home."

Enyo wrung the cloth of water, watching blankly as drops of murky water intertwined with blood fell from the fabric, rolling down the walls of the sink and leaving trails of horror.

"What did they want?" Everett squeaked out, his eyes fixated on the large cut across Enyo's check. He reached behind the sink and pulled out their first aid kit, shoving it into her chest childishly.

"Money."

The lie fell from Enyo's lips undetectably, like a drop of clear spider's blood amongst her own. Unnoticed.

She knew very well what Mathew Norden and his gang wanted, but she would never tell Everett. Not even if they were twenty years older. There were some things she would never tell Everett, and this was one of them.

No one wanted to know that their sister had narrowly escaped sexual assault.

And so she lied, and he believed it. As he always did. Everett never noticed her lies, he never would.

"We don't have any," he murmured, his brows furrowing and his eyes crinkling. Enyo's eyes sparkled with fondness as she suppressed the instinct to reach over and ruffle his hair.

"But they don't know that," she reminded him, sitting down on the cold tiles cross-legged. Everett copied, sitting across from her. He watched as she opened the first aid kit and rummaged through their scarce supplies.

"Why can't we just tell them? Maybe they'd leave us alone," Everett queried and Enyo gave him a tiny smile. A smile that she gave to no one but her brother, not even her cousin, or her best friend. A smile reserved for Everett.

"It's complicated," she replied. Everett seemed to understand she didn't know how to explain and left it alone, watching as she grabbed a roll of bandage and began to wrap up her hands.