Rhea Watson was the type of person who just looked like a mother. With her smiling pink lips, beautifully aged face with crows feet in the corners of her eyes when she'd smiled; she looked like the type of mom who'd make you cookies and tuck you into bed at night.
She was the exact opposite of the mother Emberly had grown up with.
Bentley was attached to her, it was something you'd be blind not to see. With how he was helping her place a platter of carrots onto the table, telling her to sit down as he got the mugs from the cabinets, how he wasn't as confused as he'd been when they'd first landed in District 1.
Emberly, Kade, and Ruby sat uncomfortably at the table in the Watson's home. Their black outfits contrasting against the yellow wallpaper Rhea had decorating her house. Rhea was watching them closely, sipping the warm tea from her mug.
"I'm sorry for scaring you four, it wasn't my intention." She begins, placing her mug gently down onto the table. "Your father, Emberly, told me to watch over your home before he left. I was just going outside to tend to my rose garden when I saw the front door open and I thought someone was trying to steal something. Hence, why I was carrying a knife."
"That's alright," Emberly says, blowing gently on her tea before taking a sip. The tea is severely watered down and has the consistency of the dirt from outside but Emberly doesn't complain and politely swallows it down. "How have you been? It doesn't look like there's been any bombings here."
Rhea shakes her head instantly. "Oh, no, no. President Snow has been so generous not to bomb us. I can't say the same thing for the other districts though."
Emberly tightens her jaw. There are plenty of words she'd use to describe President Snow, but 'generous' surely isn't one. Rhea doesn't seem to know who she's talking to, being she has no regard for mentioning the districts that have been reduced to rubble.
"Yes, he's been very... strict with the others." Emberly says, licking her lips and placing her barely drunken tea onto the wooden table.
"You don't have to walk on eggshells around me," Rhea says sternly, crinkles forming onto her forehead in either confusion or anger. "I'm very aware the three of you are proud members of the filthy rebel cause."
"Listen here you-" Ruby begins, voice loud as she begins to stand up from her chair.
"We are," Emberly says, grabbing Ruby's arm and jerking her back down into her seat without sparing the red head a glance sideways. "But we don't appreciate you belittling our beliefs."
"You're in my home," Rhea says, a nasty snarl forming onto her lips. It at that moment, the saying 'wolf in sheep's clothing' comes to Emberly's mind when she looks across the table at Rhea Watson."If you don't like it, you can leave."
"I must inform you, we are not here for pure enjoyment of your company. We're here for your-we're here for Bentley." Emberly says calmly, not raising her voice, because like Rhea was strict to mention.
This is her home, they're meant to follow her rules.
"Good, because I normally kill rebels on sight." Rhea grins, pink lips moving underneath the lip of her white tea cup in glee at her insult.
"That's strange, because I've heard it's the other way around." Emberly states, watching as Rhea's blue eyes turn darker in shade and she's slamming her tea cup onto the table. The hot tea splashes out of the cup, some of it landing onto Rhea's hand but she doesn't seem to notice because she's gritting her teeth like a rabid animal.
"You are in my house, you will not disrespect me!" She shouts, instantly cueing for Bentley to walk out of the kitchen. His eyes take in the scene before him, seeing his mother glaring heavily at Emberly; while Emberly looks strictly casual.
"Respect is a two way street." Emberly says, placing her laced fingers on the table in front of her in a way that makes Rhea growl softly in her throat. "You give respect to earn it."
Something shifts in Rhea's eyes and she's plastering a smile onto her face. It's a sudden change in demeanor that puts Emberly on edge. "Did your mother teach you that?"
"Mom." Bentley says, voice hesitant.
"No, I think I learned that lesson when President Snow was bombing an entire hospital filled with unarmed women and children." Emberly replies, feeling Kade tightening his hand on his gun underneath the table.
"Emberly, please. I just-" Bentley says, noticing the situation under the table.
"Shush now Bentley, mommy's talking." Rhea says, addressing her son as if he's five years old and not the adult he actually is. If it's anything that makes the fire inside of Emberly's belly spark, it's the total disregard Rhea has for Bentley's input.
"How about you get your things?" Emberly asks, turning towards Bentley. "We have to get going. We have some business to attend to."
Bentley nods his head, and moves to turn around when Rhea is standing up abruptly. Her chair skidding across the ground. "I'm going to get more tea, please excuse me."
"That women is wired." Ruby hisses, once Rhea is out of their line of vision.
"She's Bentley's mom, we shouldn't talk about her that way." Emberly says, knowing she'd hate for someone to talk about her mom that way. Though, as time progresses, Emberly's starting to realize that not everyone was as fond of her mom like President Coin is.
"Isn't he your brother? That's not his mom, that's a person who's been playing pretend all her life." Kade says. "She's been lying to him all this time. She's not even related to him, if anything, she's his master or some twisted shit like that."
Bentley comes back into the room a few minutes later, followed by Rhea, whom is holding a brown leather journal in her hand. Bentley smiles at them, a jacket hung over his arm as Emberly stands up from the table, Kade and Ruby quick to follow.
"I'm sorry we didn't have such a friendly chat," Rhea says, voice soft. She steps towards Emberly ignoring how Ruby clicks off the safety on her gun. Rhea sticks out the leather journal and places it in Emberly's hand. "It's something your mother asked me to hold onto when she'd gave Bentley to me. It was filled with nothing important to me, so here you go."
Emberly nods her head, trying to be civil with the women as she turns and heads out the front door of the Watson home. The breath enters her lungs once she steps out the prison that was that yellow wallpapered hell.
Opening the leather journal in her hand, Emberly instantly recognizes her mothers chicken scrawl before she's turning the page and something sharp pricks her finger. Looking at her finger, Emberly watches a perfect bubble of blood pop out from her skin.
Frowning, Emberly instantly spots the green stem of a plant poking out from the pages of the journal. It's thorns are sticking out from the pages, so whoever holds it, gets pricked if they squeeze to hard. Flipping to where the stem is sticking out, Emberly instantly see's something that makes her blood run cold.
In the back of the journal, is a perfect white rose.
<
Emberly watched from the doorway of her room as Bentley takes a seat on her bed, the leather bound journal resting on his lap. His dark eyes scanning every word their mother wrote before he's flipping to the page where the white rose is.
"Does this mean Snow read these notes and left a rose, telling you that he'd read them? Or was this something that my mom-Rhea did to get you paranoid?" Bentley asks, looking up at Emberly who shrugs against the doorway, not sure either.
"If President Snow read the notes, why didn't he take the journal for himself?" Emberly asks, stepping into her room and taking a place beside Bentley. "I mean, did he want us to have this journal or is it apart of some other elaborate plan we have no knowledge of?"
"He never mentioned it." Bentley murmurs, before closing the journal. "But then again, he never mentioned much to me besides you and how I was special."
"Special?" Emberly asks, raising an eyebrow.
"He always said something about me being special to his cause. His show of good will to you or something like that. It gets a bit foggy...the memories." Bentley says, rubbing at his eyes. "I actually should be getting back to my room, I'm starting to feel a bit light headed."
"Sure," Emberly says, following Bentley to the door. Bentley makes a move to step out of the room, but Emberly is grabbing his arm. He turns to look at her, a look of confusion on his face as Emberly feels a frog crawling up her throat.
"I'm sorry how I acted, I shouldn't have treated your mother like that and I don't want you to think that I automatically expect you to chose us over her-"
"Hey, hey, hey," Bentley says, stopping Emberly's rambling. "I know-I know all of this already. I've never said this before, but you're pretty easy to read Em. I don't care how to you act around me, I know this is just as weird for you as it is for me. But you're my sister, and I'll always take your word over anyone else, understand?"
A watery smile forms onto Emberly's face as Bentley presses a kiss to her forehead. He pulls away, smiling at her. "Now, get some sleep. I expect to see you in my room bright and early tomorrow."
Emberly nods her head, watching as Bentley stalks out her compartment and heads down the hallways towards the infirmary. Turning and walking towards her bed, Emberly grabs the journal and slides the rose out of the pages and places it on her nightstand. Rolling back onto her bed, Emberly flips to the first page of her mothers journal and begins to read.
<
The next few days are a flurry of activity.
Emberly constantly meeting with Bentley so they can walk around District 13; spending a few hours talking to Noah and Johanna in the lunch room, visiting Katniss and Prim in their next door compartments, training with the soldiers for hours, before she's heading into her room and reading more of her mother's journal.
In the span of it all, Emberly finds herself sitting at a table, watching as Finnick and Annie dance at their wedding. District 4's wedding song is sang by many volunteers as they dance, Annie's beautiful brown hair shimmering in the lights overhead.
Emberly has yet to figure Annie out. She laughs at odd places in conversations or drops out of it distractedly. Her green eyes will fixate on a point with such an intensity that Emberly finds herself trying to figure out what Annie sees in the empty air. Then, for some unknown reason, she'll cover her ears with her hands to block out some imaginary noise.
It's when Emberly is about to declare Annie mad does she see the way Finnick smiles at her, or how he'll gently remove her hands from her ears and whisper something that makes Annie laugh or kiss his cheek and Emberly instantly finds herself smiling. Emberly knows that Annie is strange, but Finnick loves her, and that's good enough for her.
Katniss and Gale keep Emberly company during the wedding, but at times in the night Emberly wonders what it'd be like for Peeta to be beside her. Both of them laughing and smiling as Finnick shoves cake into Annie's mouth, or both of them enjoying how Annie will curl her fingers into Finnick's hair when she kisses him deeply.
No, she doesn't even have to pretend to be happy for them.
Three hundred lucky people, including herself, dance around on the dance floor. Katniss and Gale had exited to the dance floor a few minutes ago when a District 12 song started playing, leaving Emberly to her thoughts.
Sipping a peach flavored champagne, Emberly spots Noah across the dance floor. He's laughing at something Finnick says, while Annie takes up Johanna's time staring at the wedding cake. Emberly removes herself from the table, heels clicking against the dance floor as she makes her way over towards them.
"Hey, where have you been? I haven't seen you all night!" Finnick yells over the music, grabbing onto Emberly's arm playfully.
"Just taking everything in." Emberly smiles, before she's placing her hand onto Finnick's shoulder, giving him a smile. "I'm happy for you, the wedding is beautiful."
"Where's your brother?" Finnick asks, stepping towards Emberly. "Annie made sure to invite him."
Emberly purses her lips, answering. "Bentley kinds of feel out of his....element."
Finnick nods his head, sighing softly. "Well, tell him he was missed. Annie really took a liking to him in the Capitol-he'd made sure she wasn't hurt much."
Much. The simple word that reminds Emberly that though Bentley was Snow's favorite in the Capitol, he can only do so much. It makes Emberly feel warm inside knowing that Bentley was using his power for good instead of bad.
"I'll make sure to tell him." Emberly smiles, before she's kissing Finnick's cheek and whispering gently in his ear. "Congrats on the wedding, fish boy."
<
Emberly shoves the white doors open in front of her, her boots clomping against the white hallway as she sees Haymitch waiting for her outside of Peeta's facility door. His face gives away nothing as she raises her arms in a 'what' gesture.
"What's happening to him?" Emberly asks, brown eyes watching Haymitch's movements.
"I don't know. None of us know. Sometimes he's almost rational, and then, for no reason, he goes off again. Doing the cake for Annie and Finnick's wedding, it was kind of therapy. He's been working on it for days. Watching him...he seemed almost like before." Haymitch says, looking at the door leading to Peeta's room.
"So, he's got the run of the place?" Emberly asks, blinking her eyes at Haymitch. She'd just woken up a few minutes ago from a deep sleep after the celebration of Finnick and Annie's wedding.
"Oh, no. He frosted under heavy guard. He's still under lock and key. But I've talked to him." Haymitch says, making Emberly angry she wasn't the first to see him.
"Face-to-face?" Emberly asks, surprise in her tone. "And he didn't go nuts?"
"No. Pretty angry with me, for all the right reasons. Not telling him about the rebel plot and whatnot." Haymitch says, shrugging his shoulders. He then pauses for a few moments before he's placing his hand onto Emberly's shoulder. "He says he'd like to see you."
The air is knocked from Emberly's lungs in an instant. The screams of Peeta calling her a mutt ringing in her ears as she stiffly nods her head in an act of courage. Though it's not going to be easy, she needs to see Peeta. She needs to reconfirm that he'd not dead, that he's still....somewhat alive.
Handing Emberly an earpiece, Haymitch gives her the run down on how he'll be just behind the glass with Peeta's recovery team if she needs him. Nodding her head, Emberly lets out a soft breath before she's turning the knob to Peeta's room and stepping inside.
Peeta's blue eyes lock on Emberly instantly. He's got three restraints on each arm and a tube that can dispense a knock-out drug just in case he looses control. He watches her, not once trying to free himself, but he does observe her carefully, with a wary look you'd give someone you aren't sure if they will hurt you.
Emberly stands a yard away, crossing her shaking arms across her ribs protectively before she's once again earning the power to speak. "Hey."
"Hey." Peeta responds. It's like his voice, almost his voice, except there's something new in it. An edge of suspicion and reproach.
"Haymitch said you wanted to talk to me." Emberly mutters, darting her eyes anywhere but his face. She can't stand to look at him, not when he's looking at her like she's going to hurt him.
"Look at you, for starters." Peeta breathes, but he doesn't say anything else. He stares for a long time, just watching her carefully and Emberly feels like a zoo animal. "You're not very strong looking, are you? But you are fairly pretty."
Emberly knows he's been through hell, but somehow the comment on how she's not strong just rubs her the wrong way. "I was strong enough to save your life multiple times."
Peeta's laughter is nothing short of mocking. "And extremely cunning and cocky, to say that to me after all I've been though."
Emberly ignores Haymitch's voice telling her to back off and makes a disgusted sound in the back of her throat, not wanting to do this. Not when Peeta's like this. "Yeah, well, we've all been through a lot. So, don't expect any pity from me. I mean, you are the nice one after all, not me."
Peeta doesn't reply, so Emberly just closes her eyes, letting a soft breath exit her nose before she's lifting her eyes to connect with Peeta's for the first time. "Listen, I'm going to go. I'll come by tomorrow, or I won't. I haven't-never mind."
Emberly is halfway to the door when Peeta decides to speak up again.
"I remember holding your pinky finger." He says softly, as if seeing the memory in his head. "I forgot what we were doing, but you'd wrapped your pinky around mine."
His words make Emberly's lung constrict as she stops approaching the door. That was one of the many moments that her and Peeta shared. None of the cameras had seen them, only the two of them had known about the exchange, just her and Peeta.
It was their little secret.
"We were sitting down, and I held your pinky because you were shaking." Emberly lies, knowing she can't reveal any information about the Hunger Games to him quite yet.
"Why did you do that?" He asks, voice shaky and soft.
Emberly looks up at the ceiling, tears welling in her eyes. "Because I wanted you to feel safe....that's all I've ever wanted."
But I've failed.
"I remember enjoying it, and I remember wanting to hold you hand for real. To show everyone that you were holding my hand." Peeta says, voice now barely audible. "I must've loved you a lot."
Emberly's bottom lip shakes, as she heaves in a breath because she doesn't not how to answer that question because she's been asking it herself. "I think you did. We never talked about it."
"Did you love me?" Peeta asks, and Emberly feels his eyes on her back.
It's a question that Emberly answers so surely in her head, but now, with Peeta asking her, she wants to run out and flee. Never having to answer that question because that means opening herself up, telling someone that she cares more about them than herself.
"I did." Emberly squeaks, before covering it up with a cough. She can't tell Peeta she loves him, not when he's like this. She wants to tell him when he can actually say it back with certainty. "I'm not sure anymore."
"That's right," Peeta says, and his voice is cold. "Careers can't love. They only kill."
It's like a knife to the gut and it shatters Emberly's world in an instant. She turns towards Peeta, not caring that he can see the tears slipping down her face.
Emberly nods, stepping towards him. "You're right. You are so right, I can't love anyone because I was made that way.Made to be alone for the rest of my life. Made to be a monster, made to hurt everything I touch. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry Peeta for wasting your time."
Peeta doesn't say anything when she swings the door open and exits the room. Her boots clicking against the ground as she beeline's straight for the elevator, and heads towards her compartment.
Careers can't love. They only kill.
Emberly rushes into her room, the door slamming behind her. Sobs echo from her throat as she falls to her knees on the floor. Peeta finally sees Emberly for who she truly is, and she feels so stupid to think he'd love her anyway.
She's a liar. She's distrustful. She's manipulative. She's deadly.
And no one can love her.
~~~~~~~~~~
comment,
vote, &
follow me on Wattpad.