aurelie fray || district one || resub done

 AURELIE FRAY

She's got eyes made of shattered mirrors but no truth in their reflection. Her smile stretches too wide, maybe unsettling if she weren't so magnetic. She is nothing if not beautiful, bloody fingers bracing the cold glass of her silhouette - the only affection she's ever known. Her hand print seeps down the contours of her neck and she closes her eyes against the ghost of the sensation, imagining the warmth it brings and unable to feel a single second of it.

For one blissful second, she knows peace. Then the chair she'd shoved under the door handle begins to rattle. "Third fight this week!" The keeper is fuming, Aurelie's reflection smiles at her. She swipes a hand through it, rushing to clean the pristine porcelain before her makeshift lock shatters beneath the weight of the Keeper's rage.

Red runs pink down the drain, a pleasant color like withered roses trampled underfoot. There's split skin on her knuckles, rendered numb by how long she's kept them beneath running water. Five years ago she'd have flinched at the sound of splintering wood, at the rush of stale air filling the bathroom as the old woman stalks into the room like a bat out of hell.

Lucky for Aurelie, this isn't five years ago.

"Sorry ma'am." She keeps her fingers clenched into a first behind her back, red lips stretch into a kind smile as she regards the stout woman glaring up at her. Her reflection sneers. "But she started it, I was defending myself." She dips her head in feigned humility, fooling no one. Aurelie lies for the sake of it.

The Keeper doesn't soften, she hasn't in all the years Aurelie's known her. She's an iron paddle and an open palm, as brutal as she raises all her children to be. This is a loveless place for the sake of those nestled in its gaping maw. There's not an ounce of weakness to be found in any of them, least of all Aurelie. "You're not slick, little girl." Acrylic nails dig into her shoulder, just shy of her throat, "Congratulations, you've chased off yet another family."

She can't quite suppress her smile at that.

If there's one thing she's certain of, it's that she's meant for greater things. Aurelie is an odd girl, happier in the company of flickering candlelight and a good book. Her mind is a mess of silver threads, wound into yarns of glorious heroes dripping with congealed blood. No one’s allowed to see the soft edges underneath calluses, instead there’s only a girl with no patience for jesters and fools. The universe might not yet know her worth, but as far as Aurelie’s concerned that makes her goddamn invaluable.

A queen waiting for her crown is no less royal.

”They didn’t deserve me.” She pushes past the keeper, shoulder colliding with shoulder hard enough to send the woman stumbling back against ceramic tile, ”One day you’ll find someone who does,”

It’s written in the stars, after all.

The keeper’s laughter follows her all the way to the communal bedroom, wiggling under starched cotton sheets alongside Aurelie full of far too much pride. After all, she is a monster of her own making.

Whether she likes it or not.