: Auburn Willowbyrd- 7. FIN.

If you asked anyone what they thought of Auburn Willowbyrd, they would say they envied her. They wanted to be popular and beautiful just like her. Oh how they yearned. But if they knew her real story, they would soon shy away in shock, stunned as to why they had ever wanted to be like Auburn Willowbyrd. Because what the public sees is not her. It's a mask, a shell, an act, to hide the fact that she's not okay. Never has been, and probabilities are, never will be.

That glow that you might see is just an illusion. There's no light in her eyes, no happiness she can see in her life. Inside, all she can feel is emptiness. Loneliness. One may ask, how, how is it possible for someone so popular, so pretty, to feel empty inside? Because she knows her social life is all an act. She puts on a brave face because she can't face the ridicule from living, breathing people. The voice of her father insulting her, the visions of his hand raised above his head, poised to strike her, is bad enough. Even if the old man is gone, she can still hear and see him. Inside, she's just a hollow person. She can't feel anything.

Auburn believes she has no emotions. Which means she would lack a soul. That must be why the light is gone from her eyes. Why it never was there. Well, if she can't feel, why does she feel so lonley. Okay, maybe she thinks she lacks every emotion but pain and lonleniss. Which leads her to think she has one tiny shard of a soul. One little part of a soul, the negative part.

Basically, she's depressed beyond a wildest thought. Is she? The answer is yes. She has been for a long while. She's in a deep hole, and it's black at the bottom, the cold bottom, which is where she is, curled in the fetal position, all alone. Not even one ray of light seems to reach her.

So how does she put on a brave face? She has to be a good actress. She is. When she was little, before her innocence was stolen from her, she would act with her best friend. Ex best friend. They haven't talked in years. Eventually, she figured out how to use her skill to her advantage. She wanted to know what is was like to feel wanted, actually. Even her sisters don't care for her. They just see her as a way to be fed. And, she did figure it out. But nothing could repair her broken spirit. She'd felt too much.

When her face is not seen around the halls at school, something has driven her over the edge. Normally, it's something that had to do with her father's degrading voice in her head. She'll lock the door to her bedroom and curl into the fetal position on her bed and just stare across the room. She won't eat, she won't move at all. She just stays there like that. Sometimes, Auburn will lay there for days at a time. She's just so easily wounded by things, especially by his voice. It's not like it's something she can escape. He's in her head.

There's not much that can save her from this. She's just sinking deeper down in the waters of the deep end. There's not a lot that can save this pretty girl. If she would just learn to rid herself of her demons, she would probably live a wonderful life. She's just too mentally weak. Her self esteem is too low to face the monsters of her past, which are still haunting her now. Like the voice of her father. The love of a man is what can save her. She wants it in her heart, even though she thinks she will never find it. She wants love. It's the thing at the top of her wishlist. Now, it's the only thing that can save her, before this tragic story meets a tragic end.

She started with a glance. Lilly Patterson was drunk at a bar. She survived her last reaping. Or more importantly, the last of her family's. Her 18 year old sister had made it through without being reaped. She was 21, and was out celebrating. She caught the eye of Mark Willowbyrd, and the two ended up hooking up in the bathroom. The next week, they ran into each other, and a relationship blossomed between the two. However, the memory of their hookup was faint, and when Lilly revealed she was pregnant Mark didn't think it was his.

For a while, the two never talked. Lilly was fearing it was over, and her child would be born without a father. She knew Mark was the father, but he wouldn't listen to her pleas. When she had the baby, she showed her to Mark. He saw his eyes, and he knew Lilly wasn't lying. This child was his.

And that was how Auburn came to be. She was doted on by her parents for a full four. She was a happy, healthy child, and was doing perfectly. Then her mom had another baby. That ruined everything. Auburn wasn't number one anymore. This new child was. This new child was Breccen, a baby girl, and all the attention was sucked away to the new baby girl. Auburn felt neglected, and started distancing herself from her parents. The only time she really gave them notice was when she needed food.

Two years later, her parents had another child. Now, Auburn, six years old, had no attention at all. It was all on the toddler Breccen, and the new baby, who was named Caymarie. Auburn began to spend a lot of time with the friend she had made while in the park on day. Auburn was at Ebony's house a lot. Ebony's mother loved Auburn, and she would fill her ears with a promise of letting Auburn live in her home if Auburn ever wanted to run away. Auburn adored Ebony's mother as well. However, if she had met her best friend's father, she never would have decided when she was eight to flee to Ebony's home.

Back in Auburn's home, her parents' relationship was falling through the seams. They had always had enough money to get by and a little bit extra, but Mark had become a vicious drunk, and was blowing all of it on whiskey. He would come home drunk, and sometimes he would beat Lilly. One time he even put a pillow on Caymarie's face to get her to stop crying. Auburn was afraid of her father. When she would lock herself in her room, scared when we would start to roar, he would degrade her through the door, tell her she wasn't special, that he never loved her, that she was a mistake, and that he hated her. She would often cry herself to sleep. So, one night, she slipped out the window and ran away to Ebony's house.

She lived with Ebony for a week without issue. She still hadn't met Ebony's father. She assumed he had just worked late, which he did. One night, Ebony and her mother went out for a party, but Auburn wanted to stay home. So she did, and she fell asleep on the couch. When she woke up, a man was on top of her. Ebony's father. She was too young to fight back, and she was helpless. He raped her, right then and there. Sobbing, she put back her clothes and ran back to her house, never to return, ot speak to Ebony again.

When she got back, her father beat her. He called her everything horrible one could imagine. She dragged herself to her room, broken and crying. That was when the depression stared to leak into her soul, wearing her down. For three years, she suffered verbal and physical abuse from the man she loved. Her mother left him, and the children. Soon, Breccen began to suffer from his abuse too. Auburn still got the worst of it. Caymarie, still being a toddler at the time, Lilly took with her, fearing the child would die of neglect. She figured her other two children, ages twelve and eight, could care for themselves.

Auburn suffered until she was fifteen, when the man died from an overdose. They were free of him. Her popularity act had already begun, and she was living a life any girl wanted- from the outside. But she would come home with food she had stolen from school, as well as lunch money, and would try to support the family. Caymarie showed up as well. She had ran away and returned home, expecting a better life. Apparently, Lilly had married again, but the man hated Caymarie and she returned his malice. So she ran away, wanting to meet her father, but instead found a depressed older sister and a snobby Breccen. She couldn't turn back.

With her return, it only made things harder on Auburn to support the family. Every day she steals from school, and will work when needed. Breccen does her own thing now, being the little smartass she is, and seems to feed herself. Caymarie is more dependent, but her relationship with Auburn isn't the best. Life if hard, and it isn't getting better anytime soon.