this is what i lived for || Marley museum
Jan 3, 2020 4:02:31 GMT -5
Post by ryan on Jan 3, 2020 4:02:31 GMT -5
OOC, I dont feel like coding a table right now, so you get blockquotes until probably saturday.
Years have passed and nothing has changed here in the orphanage where I still live to this day.
That’s not true. I know it. Everything has changed, and for the most part, its been for the worst. Every year, fate decided to be cruel and take another one of us into the arena.
It all started with Bella.
I cant lie to you, or anyone for that matter, about how much I miss her. The way her hair bunched up in a giant poof of gorgeousness. Her simple way of making sure that all of us were taken care of. A gentle smile always on her lips.
Especially when she saw me.
And even now, I still thought about her. How she would have raised me to be a woman of power and grace. How she would have made sure that all of us got along, even Rogue. How she would have taught us how to cook, and grow crops, and make sure that we knew how to live once we had outgrown this orphanage and been sent out on our own.
She would have been proud of the people we have become.
At least, that’s what I thought as I washed my hair repeatedly in the well that was outside of our run-down house. My hands fell on peonies and daffodils, both planted for fallen family, with the help of Rogue. We grew close over the years as we both watched Bella and Ollie and Enzo and Maggie all fall prey to the entity that Bella had been so afraid of. Bella was the closest to coming home too, that was until Enzo had gotten the chance to actually come home. Even when I had heard the news of the 80th quell twist, I realized that no matter what, I was not getting Bella back. She would escape through my fingers time and time again, and even though I prayed I would get a chance to see, no, even think about her, it would never come true.
After all, we lived in a world of oppression, and that’s exactly what the games were for.
To crush any hopes and dreams.
Enzo made it out though, and so did a girl named Temple. I could only do so much to get to know them. I knew that much. Enzo had been adopted almost immediately by that one victor couple that people raved about around the district. I had a brief interaction with Temple when she came back to the district, but I never made the time to try to see her again.
Maybe the memory of what could have been had been keeping me from it.
Her.
Bella Rose.
My sister, a strong, independent person of grace and civility. Strong and kind, perfect victor material? I shook my head at the last one. I knew she wasn’t meant to make it out of that arena alive. Death had locked its hands around her the moment she stepped off that plate.
Still, it hurt, and every year the pain goes away slowly, but surely. Everyone says that I am a strong girl, full of passion and grit, just like Bella was, and I almost hate it.
Almost.
I try not to think about the word hate, or the emotion behind it, because that is something that Bella would have laughed at me about. She told me to never waste my time on negative energy, because it would do nothing but ruin me. I almost let myself buy that lie, until I watched her in the games, cursing the snow that Aeson Kight had walked on. How she had told Euley and Isaac that they would not live to see the end of the light. How she spat at Violetta, no, all of them for trying to take her life. Just like she cursed death of trying to capture her as well.
I could remember the words she spoke as she watched them strike down Gillian Imberline, but they were murmurs compared to the ones she spoke once she dealt her own form of justice by taking the life of the career. She wasn’t afraid of them, and still, even to this day, I like to think that she was never afraid of them. I had to accept the fact that she would have been a changed woman coming out of that arena.
But unfortunately, she didn’t make it out.
That was hard.
I still had some of her things. What I could hold onto through the years. Most of it was, simple things. A photo of her, a piece of her favorite shirt that she left behind, the locket that had been returned to me through some sort of miracle. Everyone thought I should get rid of them, and maybe start moving on from what had happened to my sister, but I always shrugged them off.
I didn’t want to forget her, because without her, I would not have learned to become a mother figure myself. I would have never discovered my love for gardening, and my passion for making sure that every single one of these orphans were taken care of.
The pound would never be the same, especially when it was ravaged four different times, including Bella.
I still left roses on her grave.
I would change them every weak, and even learned to grow them in a different weather conditions just so I could change them even through the rough winters in ten. Her memory would not die until I died myself.
I would make sure of that.
I was told to go to the justice building today. Told to dress nice for some party that would be important for the district. I don’t know why I was tapped for this event, but I knew it was wise to do what I was told. So I pulled out a new dress that had been made for me by the orphanage mother, a kind gesture, even though most of it was just altered from the clothes that Bella had left behind.
Still, I thought the shade of purple made me look exquisite, and the moment I crossed through those doors, I did feel like eyes were on me. Like I was one of guests of honor.
Was I though? Were any of us really? That’s what I wondered as they told me to do nothing but smile and act gracious. They fed us as soon as we walked through the door, and I had not been accustomed to such hospitality. I might have partaken a little too much, but I could worry about that tomorrow. Or the next day.
Or when I was dead.
It felt like eons when they finally came out of the woodwork to make an announcement they had promised them. Behind the doors of the room we were in was what they had called a museum, and while I had not a damn clue what that was, they said that each guest that was invited should have a chance to go in and experience it.
They started with the anyone that knew someone in the 54th, and that’s when I realized that most of the people here knew someone that had perished in the games. I recognized the victor of the sixty fifth, Saffron Lowe, though it wasn’t hard to pick her out of the crowd, especially since Enzo had been sitting at the same table as them.
I wondered what was going through her head.
Hours passed as I tried to piece things together. They would tell us nothing, and while my sister taught me patience, that didn’t mean I couldn’t be antsy.
They had finally escorted me into the room, the Winchesters on standby, a tacit thought as I looked back at them and gave a very faint smile.
A woman dressed in a lab coat and asked me for my name. ”Marley Rose.” Then my age. ”Eighteen… Oh fuck, its my birthday.” I said as my mouth stayed open for a moment, time really did fly. She wished me a happy birthday and then asked me if I had known any of the tributes that had been in the games. ”A couple, but I can think I know who you want me to say.” I was honest in my response, and I was also nervous. My legs were clacking together.
She handed me a device and told me to put my thumb onto it. Then with a couple flickers and a whirl of the machine in front of me, it began to move in weird motions that I had never seen before. Then a beam of light had appeared and before I knew it, Bella had been standing ahead of me.
”Wait…” I said as she materialized. My first instinct was to go in for a hug, but the moment my hands reached out of grab her, she phased out of them. ”What is this?” The technician simply sighed and walked away to give us a little privacy. ”Bella?” I said as soon as she had left the room.
”Hi Marley.” she gave a light smile as she held up her hand and gestured for me to come closer to her.
Of course, I was hesitant. I had no clue what was going to happen next. ”Is this real?” I moved forward and watched as she sat down on one of the benches that had been in the museum. ”Are you really here?”
”Yes.” she said as I took my seat next to her. ”Its been so long Marley. You look just like mom.” She offered warm words of kindness that I had to believe were fabricated. Right? There is no way a hologram could remember what our real mother looked like?
”Tell me something only Bella would know.”
”That locket you wear around your neck has a picture of dad on one side, and mom on the next. You probably haven’t taken it off since it was returned to you no?” she pointed to it, giving a light smile.
I grabbed it, realizing that she was right. This was Bella. But not in the flesh. The memory of Bella.
The tech came back in. ”Go on, ask a question.”
”No.” I was quick to snap back. I didn’t want to believe this was her. ”Fine, I will. Bella Rose, how did you die.” She said it so quickly that I couldn’t cover my ears.
”I died by the hands of Raven Sayer, second place tribute of the 78th Hunger Games. I came in Eighth. I was stabbed in the heart.” Bella said in an almost poetic way. ”Death finally got a hold of me Marley. I wish I could be there to watch you grow up.” The hologram looked away as I stared at its check. A simple puncture wound on the left side told me exactly what I needed to know.
This really was Bella, in some weird foreign way.
”Bella… I…” I was speechless. My sister was right in front of me and I had no clue what to even ask. ”I miss you. So so much.” I wanted to hug her, but I already tried that once. I didn’t need her scolding me for attempting a second time. I stood there trying to rack my head around the questions I wanted to ask.
”You don’t have much longer. Just so you know.” the technician said rather flatly. ”This place will be open after the event, but for now, we are on a schedule.” She made her way out of the room again, probably to prep the Winchesters or something like that. I didn’t know at this point, and I didn’t care, because Bella Rose was standing right in front of me and I had no fucking clue what to even say to her.
”Bella, do you regret anything?” I asked as I clenched my fists, realizing that I probably had some pent up anger at the bottom of all this strife. ”Do you miss me?”
Bella simple shook her head at me. ”Of course I miss you Marley. I wish I never had to leave. I wanted to watch you grow up and become the beautiful woman that I see you are becoming now.” She was soft in those words, but they hurt as she spoke them. ”I was so close, and yet I let you down. I let everyone at the pound down. I was so so so close…”
I could hear the sadness in her voice, ”I wish you were here too Bella. So much has happened, and I don’t know if I have enough time to unpack all of it right now…” I was honest with her, because that is what she had always taught me to do. She valued it more than a good night’s sleep. Its probably why she was such a fan favorite of the capitol.
”We have time Marley. Im always with you.” She came in close again, her hand extending out and pointing to the locket. ”Open it and flip the piece with our mothers picture in it.”
I wasn’t going to question it this time, I was just going to do it. I pulled up her locket turned my locket and slowly flipped the clasp like a page in a book. To my surprise, I didn’t notice the picture of me and her on the flip side of it. The tears had begun to stream down my face. ”I miss you so fucking much Bella.”
”Language!” She smirked as she began to walk away. ”Remember, stay strong Marley. You are stronger than you will ever know.” She turned around and gave the biggest of smiles. The technician had made her way back into the room.
”I love you Bella.” I said as I realized that my time was up.. for now.
”I love you too Marley. I always will. Oh, and Happy Birthday. You really are beautiful.” The technician had begun to click a couple of buttons. ”Oh, and I hope if you get reaped, someone steps in for you. You don’t deserve this fate.”
But before I could say anything back to her, she disappeared.
I was escorted out of the room promptly, told to come back anytime though.
And I would do just that.
