Evie Harlot {d4} fin

Golden hair whipped across my face. Closing my eyes, I revel in the feeling of the wind kissing my pale skin. It felt like an embrace, hugging my body tight, filling me with warmth. The sun had started to set by now, painting the sky in vibrants oranges, pinks and reds. I loved this time of day. I loved watching the colours interlace with one another, linking together as the sun disappeared below the horizon. Each sunset was never the same, the colours changing every time and there was something exciting about it, something exciting that never knowing what to expect. Opening my pale blue eyes I watched, enchanted. I was perched in my favourite spot, on the edge of the roof of my families little shop. Ever since I could remember, I would climb up here almost every evening, and just watch. Watch the sun set. Watch the world around me settle in for the night.

A disturbance behind me causes me to come back to reality. Blinking I turn to see my best friend. My sister. Darla smiles at me as she comes to sit beside me, her blonde hair turning gold as the setting sun reflects from it. We had been friends from day one. Our mothers were in love. They went to school together and even though my mother married her high school sweetheart straight out of school, she knew that she didn't love him. Not they way she loved Darla's mum, Anges. She realised, after many years of long weekend trips out on the boat, that she would never love him they way she loved her. They parted ways shortly after that. There was no maliciousness about the break up. I think deep down my father knew that Mum never really loved him the way he loved her, so when she left he was relieved. He felt like he got the closure that he needed.

Now they own a successful trawling shop.

And they were so fucking happy.

"Nervous about tomorrow?" she asks. She doesn't sound worried, she'd given up worrying about me when it came to this. She knew that worrying wasn't going to change my mind and I respected that about her. I knew that she didn't particularity like that I participated in events like this. I think it was more that she couldn't understand how I enjoyed being beaten up on a regular biases. And to be fair, that wasn't exactly my favourite part about it. My favourite part was the rush I got. The feeling of power when I took down a person who was double my size. The way the crowd cheered, how they howled my name... It was a feeling that I could not let go of. I loved the feeling of adrenaline pumping through my veins, the roaring of blood in my ears. It was addicting. There wasn't a lot about myself that I let go out of control, but in the ring I let it all go. I wasn't Evie the quite, introverted girl, who was awkward in social situations, the girl who hide behind her best friend. But I was Evie the strong, confident, dare I even say, sassy girl. And I liked her. I liked being her.

Outside the ring I was a very shy girl. I mostly liked to keep to myself. Darla was the more outgoing one. She was someone who could weave her way comfortably into any social situation. I was the exact opposite. I stumbled over my words, often my mind moving so fast that the words flying from my lips can not keep up and I end up mashing words together and sounds like a complete fool. But once I get to know someone I'm able to calm down and become more comfortable in the presence of someone I can be quite open. But I'm getting better at it, and Darla is always there to gently (most of the time) push be along. She would often convince me to do things that I would otherwise not do, things that pushed me out of my comfort zones, and it was getting easier and easier for her to convince me to let go. But we still had a long way to go.

I always took my training seriously, but never so seriously that I would ever want to take part in the games. I liked fighting, but I would never attack anyone outside the ring. That would be wrong. In the ring there was consent. You knew what you were signing up for the moment you placed a foot inside... and if you really wanted to you could always back out. No harm no foul. But the games. They were brutal. They were nasty and they made my blood run cold.

Tomorrow was my championship fight. I had been training for weeks for this. I've endured black eyes and bruised limbs and I was ready. Ready to take the win this year. I felt like I could win it this year. "Yeah, a little, but I think I can win it this year, you know? mum says she can feel it, she says she can see something different in my aurora." My eyes roll into the back of my head, my full lips pulling back into a grin. "I think she had been smoking the strong stuff that night." Laughing I turn my gaze back to the sun. "You will be there, right? I know you don't like these types of things... But I want you to come." I think I needed her to be there, I wanted to know her, mum, Anges and dad would all be in the crowd. Supporting me.

A frown creases Darla's forehead and I cant help but feel slightly disappointed, even though I knew that watching it would make her feel sick. She didn't understand it, and I don't think she ever would, just like I could never understand how she likes pushing the boundaries with her own life, wanting to see how much she can push before one day she pushes too far.  Like the times she liked to test how long her oxygen intake would last as she submerges herself beneath the oceans surface. Test. Testing. Testing. Until one day she just wouldn't reemerge.  

But when I thought of it like that, maybe I did understand somewhat and I just wished she would find a more suitable way of feeling that thrill. "I don't really have a choice... Besides, If I don't go, there wont be anyone to drag you home once your done."

"Good. Besides, I wont need dragging home. Not this time." I smile at her, before watching the last rays of the sun say good bye for the night and disappear from site.

Evie Harlot

Seventeen

District four

Female
career
weapon: throwing knife