eden ohara | district three | fin

She scrubbed her hands again, but the water wouldn't wash away the bruises and the cuts on her knuckles. Over and over again, she cleaned, until they were raw and tender to the touch. She looked at herself in the mirror, tears filling her eyes. What had she gotten herself into? What had she done to herself? So many years she had ran, so many times she sneaked out of the warmth of a bed given to her after the death of her parents and found herself on the streets, terrified but refusing to show it. After all of that fighting against it, she had given up, and now she had grown to depend on the orphanage just as much as she depended on her parents, and she hated herself for it.

She swore she wouldn't let anyone or anything inside again, and she could feel it within her. They had warned her countless times before, but this time she knew they meant it. "No more fighting! Next time you're done, kapeesh?" But it wasn't entirely her fault. They should have expected nothing less from Eden, a girl that would always stand up for herself before she let them walk all over her, but they had given her an ultimatum: either the fighting left, or she did, and it seemed that right then, standing in the bathroom of a small shop, she knew which would leave.

She watched her reflection, mesmerized by how... foreign the girl looking back at her felt. She didn't let herself cry. Ever. Yet tears fell from slanted eyes, the color of which were a lot like molten chocolate (so dark they were almost black). Her face was slender, with high cheekbones and a pointed chin. Dark hair fell around her shoulders, brushed but not really styled. Everything was the same, yet the tears made everything different. It was like she was completely herself, and also nowhere near herself at the same time.

Forcing herself to stop crying, she wrapped her fists in cloth bandages and exited, hoping no one would notice, or that she could think up a decent lie to tell the owners before they caught her.

---

"We tried, Eden!"

She bit her lip, not wanting to help dig her own grave. "Over and over and over again! We warned you not to do this, and you did!" This time she did speak. "No! I didn't! Not on a person, I promise! I just... needed to get some stress out, so I beat up a brick wall, and it obviously won." To her it seemed like a good enough lie, but the red-haired lady only peered at her over the thin pair of reading glasses that were perched on the end of her nose. "Eden..." "Please! I'm sorry, okay? I'm trying to be better, and I know you said no more fighting, but I didn't. Why would I risk losing the one thing I know is mine?" She was standing now, leaned over the large wooden desk that marked the center of the room and separated the two of them.

The lady scoffed. "Don't try and pull that on me, girl. You ran away eleven times in two years. That's..." "I know that, but I was stupid! I didn't realize what this place meant to me, to people like me!" She watched as the woman's brows squeezed together and she tapped an ink pen on the surface of the desk. "One more chance, Eden, and then we are done trying to help you." There was a moment of silence. "I am done trying to help you. Is that understood?" Eden stood up straight, a genuine smile on her lips. "Yes! Ms. Gordon... thank you!" Then she stormed out of the room, a blur of happiness. But also a blur of lies. She wasn't going to stop fighting. That was never her intention.

She was just going to become better at hiding it.

---

The evening air was always soothing to her. It had a calmness to it, but also a taste of excitement that kept her on the edge of her seat, always excited for whatever came next. This time what came next was a group of three, two boys and a girl, all dressed for fun and all wearing an expression that said they were hellbent on making sure it happened. They came her way, all of them laughing and practically tripping over themselves with laughter, and when they eventually reached her, they didn't bother looking her way. First one of the boys, and then the girl ran into her, and again, they didn't even bother to acknowledge her existence. "Excuse the hell out of me?" She spat.

"Don't pick a fight, don't pick a fight, don't pick a fight!" Her mind warned her, but she didn't care. "Watch where you're going next time." They stopped as a group, all turning to face her with solemn expressions. "How about you don't talk to us that way again?" It had come from the smaller of the two boys, and the other two stood by and nodded in agreement with their friend. "How about you get out of my face before I break your's in half?" She stepped forward, and so did the boy, but the others blocked his path.

"If you do it then you'll be the one to get in trouble!" One warned. "It'll be you that's punished." After a few more moments of trying to break through and get to Eden, the boy stopped and turned to the girl. "Fine then, you fight her." "W-What?" She protested, and Eden laughed. "Aw, gotta get your little girlfriend to fight for you? Real cute." "Shut the hell up!" He yelled, then turned to the girl. "Either you do or I do." She sighed, and reluctantly turned to face Eden.

"Show time." Eden purred.