zeldavine cauchemar | district thirteen | fin

The night was dark, but a single light illuminated the entire room. It came from beneath a sheet, which did a poor job of hiding one teenage girl with dark hair and wild eyes. She stared at a crystal ball, mumbling under her breath and waving her hands around it. "Show me something," she hissed, impatience evident even in the quiet words. The bags under her eyes always seemed to darken when she was displeased. Her eyes always grew wide and her nostrils flared and her cheeks flushed. "Gah!" She shouted, flinging the ball off of her bed with a single flick of her wrist.

It tumbled to the ground in a thunderous CRACK, and she heard it begin rolling freely around the room. Two weeks. It had been two weeks since she had even gotten a hint of something from the piece of trash. Two weeks, and she had never felt more powerless. She stormed across the room, not worrying that she might wake Helle or Ros, not bothering to be quiet, and began rummaging through her trunk. The bottom was lined with books, all old and dated and all read at least a hundred times (before and after they came into her possession,) and each taught the magic of a gypsy.

Yes, she believed with every ounce of her being that she had gifts beyond that of normal human beings. She could glance at a palm and see the grim events that had occurred in one's life, the ones that hadn't just yet. She could speak a rhyme from her lips a curse those that crossed her, or bless those who did not. And until recently, she could look into her crystal ball and see anything and everything she wanted. However, for whatever reason, she had been blocked lately. She suspected one of her sisters had something to do with it. Perhaps Hellemine had placed a spell on her, blinding her abilities. Perhaps Rosangela had been praying for her again. There were other options but she wouldn't even begin to consider them sicne they included things like "Perhaps this is all in your seriously disturbed imagination!" and "Maybe you are just finally opening your eyes and realizing magic isn't real!" Because what she could do was not in her head.

And her magic was real.

She skimmed the spines of each book until she found the one she needed. After hefting it back over to her bed, she shined the tiny flashlight onto it as she skimmed the pages. One after another, line for line, she read. Yes, the only possibility was that someone had crossed her. It was the only thing that made sense. Now, Rosangela she could see doing it. The poor girl had always been envious of Zelda and Helle. At times, the pair even forgot they had shared a womb with a third member, and only spoke to each other. They had their beliefs and while they were not the same, they were certainly closer to each other than what Ros had chosen to believe.

It had created a rift between them, separated them into two parties, and Zelda was not entirely sure they would ever be able to find each other again.

She had to admit, though, that in the last few years, she and Hellemine had lost touch (which was awfully hard to do when they were confined to an underground torture chamber for the entirety of their lives.) At first, the girls were only playing with magic: seeing what they could do. Eventually, Hellemine became obsessed with her witchcraft and it frightened Zelda (though she would never admit it.) She watched when her sister's eyes would roll into the back of her head, as she would convulse on the floor and spit hateful slurs. She watched as her sister lost control, and so really she only delved further into her magic to try and find a way to save her.

However, Zelda had a bad habit of following in Helle's footsteps. Like her sister, she became obsessed with the magic her new world showed her. It was no terrifying matter like Hellemine, of course. Her magic was focused on that of other people's nature, not her own. As true as that was, she found that if her sister wanted help she would ask for it, and in the meantime, she was just going to explore her own abilities.

Perhaps if they hadn't been born in an institution things would have been different. Perhaps if they had been given a chance at life outside a prison, they wouldn't have developed such odd ideas and beliefs. Even Rosangela, with her big high and mighty feet, seemed a bit obsessed more than devoted. Perhaps living life in fear of the Hunger Games was worth seeing things like sunlight and trees and happy people.

In all the years of her life, Zeldavine Cauchemar could deduce that she had been outside the gates of District Thirteen less than twenty times. Because of that, her skin was pale and flushed. Her mossy green eyes were the only source of life brought to her face, and even they were usually surrounded by swollen black tissue from lack of sleep. Her hair was long, dark, and flat, and usually hanging in her face. Her lips were plump and pink, her neck long and skinny. Like everyone from Thirteen, she was a frail person from a constant diet of "enough to survive, not enough to satisfy!" Meaning every meal she had ever consumed was made up of some disgusting goop that kept her alive and provided her with enough energy to help out where she could, but never enough to quench the empty feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Hellemine was a bit taller than her, Rosangela a bit shorter. The girls were all obviously related, with the same big front teeth and skinny fingers, the same disgusted expressions. But as of late, none of them acted anything alike. Zelda could remember when the three of them were young and they would play together, and they would actually smile. They loved each other. Every night, their parents, Alonse and Miriam, would tell them stories about the place they'd come from. District Seven was supposed to be rich with forests and beautiful flowers and fresh air, and those were all things they had taken away from their own children.

Zelda thought perhaps they had pictured life in District Thirteen as a bit more lavish than it had turned out. Their aunt Gretchen, who had escaped when their parents did, has mentioned on more than one occasion that really all they did was leave one prison to walk straight into another.

---

Unable to contain her fury, she stormed over to one of the three beds in the room and slammed the book down on Rosangela's sleeping stomach. "Are you doing this to me? Is it you that keeps blocking my powers? Because if it is -- No, I know it's you, Ros! I'll make you wish Mom and Dad left you in the fucking woods if you don't stop!"

It took the girl a moment to get her bearings, but when she did she sighed. "Don't flatter yourself, Zelda. I no longer waste my time on lost causes. Whatever is happening in that fictional little world you've created is up to you to fix. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be going to sleep now." With that, her triplet rolled over on her side and drifted back asleep. As she did, Zelda rose her hands into the air and spoke clearly enough that her sister could hear her:

"You look down on me
You look down on others
Now get down on your knees
Or you'll soon birth two brothers

Your religion you must gamble
while they call you a whore
Your good life will be in shambles
And Ripred won't answer:
Not anymore."

"Please," Rosangla called. "The moment I get on my knees for you is the moment I condemn my soul as you have condemned your own." Zelda smiled in the dark. "Have it your way."

Now she would wait and see. It was only a matter of time before her sister regretted what she had done. It was only a matter of time. And Zelda would win oncemore.

ϟ
table by zoe