Post by countlivin on Apr 23, 2019 4:48:56 GMT
Chapter 18: Twisted
Aura Cantarella
The Owl is a friend... The Owl is a friend... No matter how many times Aura turned the phrase over in her head, she could not pull any meaning from it. And who was Schrodinger? Throughout all her life she had never heard such a name. As she gazed down upon the small owl pendant in her palm, so many questions flooded her mind.
The path behind her was empty. She wondered if Cass and Garth would miss her quite as much as she would miss them. The Haven was a couple miles in that direction, but it felt like she could walk forever and still be farther away.
When Aura turned back around, she was met with the serene glow of the Victor's Village: a large row of identical houses, each and every one of them more spectacular than any other house you could find in all of District Seven. Hers was the one on the corner, with a sign in front labeled "the Cantarellas." She sucked in her gut and prepared herself for the lecture she would inevitably receive from her father upon arriving.
Yet, as she stepped closer, Aura noticed something very strange. The door hung ajar, by one hinge. The top one had finally rusted away enough to give... But Dad would never leave the door open like that. He was always scolding each of them about the draft... She clutched the small owl pendant tight and deposited it in her pocket, picking up speed towards the door.
When she reached it, she wasn't greeted with harsh words, but instead with nothingness. The room inside was completely empty—not trashed like the open door would suggest. In fact, it was almost cleaner than when she had left... It was baffling, as her father had been blackout drunk when she left.
She closed the door behind her, making sure it didn't fall over completely as it shut. On the kitchen table was a small note. She picked it up and couldn't help but cover her mouth in shock as she read.
“Dear Aura,
“I am sorry that I haven't been as good a father to you as I should have. After all these years I'm still just one drink away from throwing something at the wall. I'm not afraid to admit that I could have tried harder over the years. All that mattered to me were the Games and my booze... Aura... I'm proud of you after today for what courage you showed at the Reaping, even if it didn't turn out well. Thank you for hearing my words last night. You have earned that Cantarella name despite me.
“But now, by the time you get home, I'll already be gone. You have convinced me that I am not the one you need for a father. I am reckless. I am stupid. You deserve more. Your Uncle Crispin will be there to take care of the boys while you're away. I'm sorry that we didn't leave each other on the right foot, but I still love you, no matter how hard it is for me to show it.
“Sorry... Daddy."
A wave of emotions flooded Aura's mind—many different ones. One of them was regret. The last thing she had told her father was that she hated him... Even upon her worst enemy she wouldn't wish that fate... Another of them, though, was anger. Her father was just going to leave the three of them alone with Crispin. Aura wasn't sure what the man was like when they were growing up together, but he was completely different now.
In a rush of fury, she clutched the note and tore it into a dozen tiny pieces. She felt betrayed and abandoned... She felt like the walls of her life were collapsing in on her... Drowning her... It was a terribly overwhelming sensation. She felt more alone now than she ever had before. She threw the scraps of paper and screamed in agony. When she collapsed onto the table, she felt as though the next straw would break her.
"I see you got your note," came a voice from behind her. She opened her teary eyes and glanced over to spot her uncle leaning against the doorway. Crispin's thick eyebrows wrapped tightly to his eyes, giving him an even more sinister appearance.
"Crispin!" Aura shouted back, strategically leaving out the "uncle." "What the hell are you doing here? Where are my brothers?"
"Whoa!" he laughed, bringing his hands to motion for calm. "No 'Hey Uncle Crispin. It's good to see you?' What's gotten into you, Aura?"
"Corvin and Barker. Where are they?"
"Oh, they're fine. They're in bed, honey." He came forward and sat on the table next to his niece. "We need to work on your manners. You aren't going anywhere with your attitude."
Crispin was a relatively tall man in his late thirties with short brown hair wrapping around his scalp. He won the Third Games, at a very young age, and although Rowan had been older, it was Crispin's play in the arena that inspired him to volunteer. His eyes were very spread from his nose, like a vulture. It matched perfectly his personality. Crispin was not a man Aura enjoyed being around, for great reason...
But Aura got out of her loathing for a moment to ask a needed question. "Did you see my father before he left? Why did he go?"
"No," Crispin answered. "When I got here, he was already gone. Vanished into thin air. Probably sitting at some bar... pity. He isn't good to raise a family... Not like me."
“I know my dad can be a piece of work sometimes—"
He cut her short. "Oh, you got that right."
“But this doesn't seem like something he would do." Aura looked down at the shredded pieces of the note, trying to place them back together in her mind. "He was a stubborn guy... It's one of the reasons he's so hard, but he was stubborn about us too. It doesn't make any sense to me..."
"Rowan is gone," Crispin stated plainly, bringing his eyes to narrow slits. "It cuts deep, but you have to forget about him. I'm all the family you need." He stood up from his seat and placed his hand on the counter. "In a way... I could even be your father. Would you like that? I could be your daddy!"
Crispin began to come forward towards her, but she spat hard on the table before he managed to invade her space. "You're lucky we're even related, Crispin." She stormed toward her bedroom, but one question was left in her mind before she reached it. "Crispin... Do you know someone by the name Schrodinger?"
“Can't say I do," he smiled. "Who is that? Is it a boy?"
Aura reached into her pocket and clutched the owl pendant inside. "No. Just someone I heard about..." She turned into her room and as the light from her lamp washed over her face, she shut the door behind her. She let go of the pendant and whispered to herself, "The Owl is a friend..."
She sat on her bed for a few minutes, but then laid down. Her pillow was very soft—almost velvety. There were a few perks to living in the richest neighborhood in Seven. She doubted any other people in this District could claim to have such luxury. It sickened her. She wanted to take everything she had and go give it to those who really needed it. There were some in this District that had never even felt a pillow. Unfortunately, she only had the one. It was just one more thing she would have to say goodbye to...
As the thought ran through Aura's head, her door creaked open. She braced herself for her uncle, but it was only her brother, peeking his head through the crack. Corvin quietly entered the room, closing the door behind him. "Aura, you're home!" he whispered. "What took you so long? You've been gone forever."
"Sorry, bud. I had to make a stop by the Haven before I came home." She tilted her head in an apologetic manner. "Where's Barker?"
“Asleep. I couldn't go to bed with his snoring in there. You spent a really long time out there," Corvin said. "We ate the entire banana bread you bought us."
Aura frowned slightly, but then sat up on her bed and ruffled the boy's hair. "I was hoping you'd save some for me."
Corvin sat down on the bed next to his sister. "You took too long. We figured we had to punish you some way."
She shook her head, chuckling. "I plead guilty."
“So are you really going to volunteer? For the Hunger Games?" he questioned her, with worry in his eye. "Dad said you were going to give us another house to live in."
"Wait, you saw Dad?" Aura perked up. "Did he say why he left?"
"No," Corvin replied, shivering. "He just told us to go out and play... And when we came back inside, Uncle Crispin was here. When's he coming back?"
Aura covered her mouth with her hand. Not only had her father left without the intention of ever returning, but he also left without saying goodbye to his sons. She couldn't bring herself to tell Corvin the truth, so she fabricated a lie in its place. "He's... He's coming back soon. Probably not for a week or so."
“Where did he go?"
"He didn't tell me."
"Why didn't he tell you?"
"I don't know."
Corvin was staring at the door, and Aura knew he was thinking about who was on the other side. "We have to stay with him?" he whispered with pleading eyes. Aura could never say no to them. "I don't want to. The last time we stayed with him—"
"Don't," she interrupted. "Don't think about that. Look, I know that Crispin is dangerous, but you need to stay with him for a while."
“Can I just run away?" He began to grow frantic. "I swear I'll come back once you get back from your trip."
The words hit her hard in the chest. When her brother had entered the room, she had hoped this would be a chance to say goodbye to him, but as the conversation had progressed, that hope had slimmed to nothing. Now, she would only tell him what he needed to hear. "It's not a good idea to run away. If Crispin comes after you... I don't even want to think about what would happen."
"But he wouldn't find me!"
“But he'll be looking..." Aura replied. "He may be an asshole, but—"
“Swear."
“Sorry. He may be a piece of poop, but he will do anything to keep a promise." She looked back to the door and made an effort to keep her voice down. "He has to watch you until I get back. He'll look for you. It's dangerous to run."
"It's dangerous to stay too, though!" Corvin cried, mirroring the volume of her last statement. "I mean, Aura, he's Uncle Crispin. Do you really think Barker and I would be safe spending a week here alone with him?"
60% of readers chose to [A. Tell Corvin to stay with Crispin.]
"You may not be safe, but you'll be keeping him happy," Aura replied. It hurt her to say those words, but she didn't have much of a choice. "Just stay here. Keep your head down. When I get back, we'll get out of here immediately, but I won't be here to protect you or Barker for the next few weeks."
"I don't want you to leave," he cried.
Aura wrapped an arm around her brother, and pulled him into the tightest hug she could give him without hurting him. "I know you're afraid. I'm afraid too. But, something tells me you'll turn out alright, kid."
"Thanks," he sighed. "Now if I can only convince Barker. He was crying for half an hour when you didn't come home. He thought you'd left without saying goodbye."
"No," Aura told him. "I wouldn't do that. You guys are my brothers! You and Barker are the most important people in my life right now. If you think I'm going to leave without hugging you for two or three hours, you need to get your head on straight."
"Ok," he said, getting up from his bed. He started to sulk towards the door, but before he opened it, he turned back with nothing in his eyes but a dead stare. "You're going to die, aren't you?"
The words hit Aura harder than she expected them to. She had been trying so hard to keep the truth away from them, but her chances weren't that great. "What makes you say that?" she asked after a long pause. The tears that she thought had all flowed away began to stream back again. "I'm going to come home, Corvin. I would never leave you."
"Ava died," he replied. She couldn't see his eyes. "And now you're going to die too. And Dad left us here with Crispin. He's not coming back."
"I won't... I can't..."
"I don't believe you," he told her. He opened the door and stepped out. "Good night."
Aura was shunned silent as he closed the door, unable to tell him goodnight. She laid back on her bed and closed her eyes, but that didn't stop the tears from coming. "That was very touching," came a liquid voice from the hallway. When she looked up to see Crispin standing there, he was smiling. "I'll make sure he doesn't forget you when you are gone."
"How long were you standing there?" Aura asked, trying to distance herself.
"Not very long. Enough to realize that boy is not as stupid as I thought before." He laughed.
"Shut up," Aura barked.
"That's not a very nice thing to say to your father." When Aura turned away, she could see his false expression of hurt turn to a sadistic grin. "So how do you feel?"
"Pretty bad!" she frowned at him. "I'm going to die in the Games, for crying out loud."
"Aura!" he said, coming over to sit beside her on the bed. "The Hunger Games are a great honor! Don't you see? You get to take a moment and be part of something bigger than yourself. You bring honor to your District—honor to your family! The Cantarella name suits you well."
"It's not an honor," Aura said. "How could you even say that? How can you praise a government that sends twenty-four of its children to die every year? It's wrong."
"Well, that's just not true, Aura." Crispin shook his head, with a malevolent grin. "Twenty-four tributes go into that arena to live." He reached into his pocket and before Aura had a chance to object, the man had pulled out his switchblade and extended it. The knife was shiny and clean just like he always kept it. He began to stab the air with it. "On the first day, I was... stabbing this little orphan girl in the woods. It was right in the sternum. She bled for a few seconds... coughing... screaming in agony. As the life left her little fingers, I could feel it enter mine. The adrenaline rush was so real... so magnificent! It was the first time I ever killed."
Aura pushed herself farther away from her insane uncle with her feet. "You're sick in the head..."
"No," he sighed, holding his knife in his hands longingly. "I think everyone else are the ones who are missing out. It's like a drug, you know. That girl wasn't the last either. I know you know my record. Go ahead and say it."
"...most direct kills in history."
"And how many was that?"
"Fourteen..."
"Fourteen kills, Aura." Crispin's eyes lit up with excitement. "I went down in history as the most bloodthirsty tribute ever to enter the arena. Those people didn't go down by natural causes or anything like that. They went down by my blade, by my rope... By my hand. And when I crushed the last tribute's face in, and I was staring down at this sort of bloody husk, I knew that I was alive. I could feel my heart pumping in my chest, the blood flowing through my veins... I felt... Alive. Aura, the Hunger Games are an honor."
"The Hunger Games are an abomination," she objected. As soon as the words left her lips, there was a squeaking noise from the corner of the room. At first she thought it was an old floorboard, but it was a tiny mouse with light gray fur. Crispin noticed it as well. He got up from the bed and walked over to it, and Aura immediately knew his intent. "Uncle Crispin, no!"
He fumbled around with the animal for a moment, but eventually took firm hold of it. It looked so sad as he held it up to her. Its legs flailed around more rapidly and it screeched the longer he held it there. "I'm going to teach you a lesson, Aura." He took his knife and tossed it at her feet. "Pick it up."
"No," she said, defiantly.
"Aura, so help me, you will pick it up."
"No."
"You will listen to your father!" he shouted, leaning in in his rage.
Aura looked the man straight in the narrow eye. "You're not my father."
Crispin went white with rage, but then collapsed back into calm at a moment's notice. "Very well," he said. Then he began to squeeze the tiny mouse in his hand. Its squeaks became more and more panicked, but died down every minute. Not five seconds had passed before the mouse's head went limp and fell to its shoulders, dead. Its solid black eyes gazed longingly into her own. Its lifeless feet hung just below Crispin's palm. A single tear let loose and rolled down her cheek. Crispin reached out and wiped it away. "There, there. Don't cry. You won't have a chance if you stop to dwell on the loss of life."
"You're a monster," Aura cried.
Crispin stepped away from the bed and tossed the dead mouse into the trash can at the foot of Aura's door. He looked back at her. "In case you were wondering, don't worry. I'll take good care of the boys while you're away. Good night, my little angel."
When he shut the door, Aura laid her head back on her pillow. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep having that image on replay in her head. She closed her eyes anyway. But, before she was able to get comfortable, she felt a lump on her back. She reached underneath her to find what it was and pulled out the wooden owl pendant. Its large yellow eyes stared back at her with a sense of empathy. Then Aura realized something.
The owl was the only hope Aura had left. She was leaving for the Games within the week. Her brothers were being left at home with a psychopath. Her father vanished without a trace and the last words she ever said to him were to tell him that she hated him. But the Owl was a friend... She realized this was her last hope for a better life. The Owl was a friend in a world with none left. The Owl sees where the Hawk does not. The Owl is a friend...
End of Chapter 18
Aura Cantarella
The Owl is a friend... The Owl is a friend... No matter how many times Aura turned the phrase over in her head, she could not pull any meaning from it. And who was Schrodinger? Throughout all her life she had never heard such a name. As she gazed down upon the small owl pendant in her palm, so many questions flooded her mind.
The path behind her was empty. She wondered if Cass and Garth would miss her quite as much as she would miss them. The Haven was a couple miles in that direction, but it felt like she could walk forever and still be farther away.
When Aura turned back around, she was met with the serene glow of the Victor's Village: a large row of identical houses, each and every one of them more spectacular than any other house you could find in all of District Seven. Hers was the one on the corner, with a sign in front labeled "the Cantarellas." She sucked in her gut and prepared herself for the lecture she would inevitably receive from her father upon arriving.
Yet, as she stepped closer, Aura noticed something very strange. The door hung ajar, by one hinge. The top one had finally rusted away enough to give... But Dad would never leave the door open like that. He was always scolding each of them about the draft... She clutched the small owl pendant tight and deposited it in her pocket, picking up speed towards the door.
When she reached it, she wasn't greeted with harsh words, but instead with nothingness. The room inside was completely empty—not trashed like the open door would suggest. In fact, it was almost cleaner than when she had left... It was baffling, as her father had been blackout drunk when she left.
She closed the door behind her, making sure it didn't fall over completely as it shut. On the kitchen table was a small note. She picked it up and couldn't help but cover her mouth in shock as she read.
“Dear Aura,
“I am sorry that I haven't been as good a father to you as I should have. After all these years I'm still just one drink away from throwing something at the wall. I'm not afraid to admit that I could have tried harder over the years. All that mattered to me were the Games and my booze... Aura... I'm proud of you after today for what courage you showed at the Reaping, even if it didn't turn out well. Thank you for hearing my words last night. You have earned that Cantarella name despite me.
“But now, by the time you get home, I'll already be gone. You have convinced me that I am not the one you need for a father. I am reckless. I am stupid. You deserve more. Your Uncle Crispin will be there to take care of the boys while you're away. I'm sorry that we didn't leave each other on the right foot, but I still love you, no matter how hard it is for me to show it.
“Sorry... Daddy."
A wave of emotions flooded Aura's mind—many different ones. One of them was regret. The last thing she had told her father was that she hated him... Even upon her worst enemy she wouldn't wish that fate... Another of them, though, was anger. Her father was just going to leave the three of them alone with Crispin. Aura wasn't sure what the man was like when they were growing up together, but he was completely different now.
In a rush of fury, she clutched the note and tore it into a dozen tiny pieces. She felt betrayed and abandoned... She felt like the walls of her life were collapsing in on her... Drowning her... It was a terribly overwhelming sensation. She felt more alone now than she ever had before. She threw the scraps of paper and screamed in agony. When she collapsed onto the table, she felt as though the next straw would break her.
"I see you got your note," came a voice from behind her. She opened her teary eyes and glanced over to spot her uncle leaning against the doorway. Crispin's thick eyebrows wrapped tightly to his eyes, giving him an even more sinister appearance.
"Crispin!" Aura shouted back, strategically leaving out the "uncle." "What the hell are you doing here? Where are my brothers?"
"Whoa!" he laughed, bringing his hands to motion for calm. "No 'Hey Uncle Crispin. It's good to see you?' What's gotten into you, Aura?"
"Corvin and Barker. Where are they?"
"Oh, they're fine. They're in bed, honey." He came forward and sat on the table next to his niece. "We need to work on your manners. You aren't going anywhere with your attitude."
Crispin was a relatively tall man in his late thirties with short brown hair wrapping around his scalp. He won the Third Games, at a very young age, and although Rowan had been older, it was Crispin's play in the arena that inspired him to volunteer. His eyes were very spread from his nose, like a vulture. It matched perfectly his personality. Crispin was not a man Aura enjoyed being around, for great reason...
But Aura got out of her loathing for a moment to ask a needed question. "Did you see my father before he left? Why did he go?"
"No," Crispin answered. "When I got here, he was already gone. Vanished into thin air. Probably sitting at some bar... pity. He isn't good to raise a family... Not like me."
“I know my dad can be a piece of work sometimes—"
He cut her short. "Oh, you got that right."
“But this doesn't seem like something he would do." Aura looked down at the shredded pieces of the note, trying to place them back together in her mind. "He was a stubborn guy... It's one of the reasons he's so hard, but he was stubborn about us too. It doesn't make any sense to me..."
"Rowan is gone," Crispin stated plainly, bringing his eyes to narrow slits. "It cuts deep, but you have to forget about him. I'm all the family you need." He stood up from his seat and placed his hand on the counter. "In a way... I could even be your father. Would you like that? I could be your daddy!"
Crispin began to come forward towards her, but she spat hard on the table before he managed to invade her space. "You're lucky we're even related, Crispin." She stormed toward her bedroom, but one question was left in her mind before she reached it. "Crispin... Do you know someone by the name Schrodinger?"
“Can't say I do," he smiled. "Who is that? Is it a boy?"
Aura reached into her pocket and clutched the owl pendant inside. "No. Just someone I heard about..." She turned into her room and as the light from her lamp washed over her face, she shut the door behind her. She let go of the pendant and whispered to herself, "The Owl is a friend..."
She sat on her bed for a few minutes, but then laid down. Her pillow was very soft—almost velvety. There were a few perks to living in the richest neighborhood in Seven. She doubted any other people in this District could claim to have such luxury. It sickened her. She wanted to take everything she had and go give it to those who really needed it. There were some in this District that had never even felt a pillow. Unfortunately, she only had the one. It was just one more thing she would have to say goodbye to...
As the thought ran through Aura's head, her door creaked open. She braced herself for her uncle, but it was only her brother, peeking his head through the crack. Corvin quietly entered the room, closing the door behind him. "Aura, you're home!" he whispered. "What took you so long? You've been gone forever."
"Sorry, bud. I had to make a stop by the Haven before I came home." She tilted her head in an apologetic manner. "Where's Barker?"
“Asleep. I couldn't go to bed with his snoring in there. You spent a really long time out there," Corvin said. "We ate the entire banana bread you bought us."
Aura frowned slightly, but then sat up on her bed and ruffled the boy's hair. "I was hoping you'd save some for me."
Corvin sat down on the bed next to his sister. "You took too long. We figured we had to punish you some way."
She shook her head, chuckling. "I plead guilty."
“So are you really going to volunteer? For the Hunger Games?" he questioned her, with worry in his eye. "Dad said you were going to give us another house to live in."
"Wait, you saw Dad?" Aura perked up. "Did he say why he left?"
"No," Corvin replied, shivering. "He just told us to go out and play... And when we came back inside, Uncle Crispin was here. When's he coming back?"
Aura covered her mouth with her hand. Not only had her father left without the intention of ever returning, but he also left without saying goodbye to his sons. She couldn't bring herself to tell Corvin the truth, so she fabricated a lie in its place. "He's... He's coming back soon. Probably not for a week or so."
“Where did he go?"
"He didn't tell me."
"Why didn't he tell you?"
"I don't know."
Corvin was staring at the door, and Aura knew he was thinking about who was on the other side. "We have to stay with him?" he whispered with pleading eyes. Aura could never say no to them. "I don't want to. The last time we stayed with him—"
"Don't," she interrupted. "Don't think about that. Look, I know that Crispin is dangerous, but you need to stay with him for a while."
“Can I just run away?" He began to grow frantic. "I swear I'll come back once you get back from your trip."
The words hit her hard in the chest. When her brother had entered the room, she had hoped this would be a chance to say goodbye to him, but as the conversation had progressed, that hope had slimmed to nothing. Now, she would only tell him what he needed to hear. "It's not a good idea to run away. If Crispin comes after you... I don't even want to think about what would happen."
"But he wouldn't find me!"
“But he'll be looking..." Aura replied. "He may be an asshole, but—"
“Swear."
“Sorry. He may be a piece of poop, but he will do anything to keep a promise." She looked back to the door and made an effort to keep her voice down. "He has to watch you until I get back. He'll look for you. It's dangerous to run."
"It's dangerous to stay too, though!" Corvin cried, mirroring the volume of her last statement. "I mean, Aura, he's Uncle Crispin. Do you really think Barker and I would be safe spending a week here alone with him?"
60% of readers chose to [A. Tell Corvin to stay with Crispin.]
"You may not be safe, but you'll be keeping him happy," Aura replied. It hurt her to say those words, but she didn't have much of a choice. "Just stay here. Keep your head down. When I get back, we'll get out of here immediately, but I won't be here to protect you or Barker for the next few weeks."
"I don't want you to leave," he cried.
Aura wrapped an arm around her brother, and pulled him into the tightest hug she could give him without hurting him. "I know you're afraid. I'm afraid too. But, something tells me you'll turn out alright, kid."
"Thanks," he sighed. "Now if I can only convince Barker. He was crying for half an hour when you didn't come home. He thought you'd left without saying goodbye."
"No," Aura told him. "I wouldn't do that. You guys are my brothers! You and Barker are the most important people in my life right now. If you think I'm going to leave without hugging you for two or three hours, you need to get your head on straight."
"Ok," he said, getting up from his bed. He started to sulk towards the door, but before he opened it, he turned back with nothing in his eyes but a dead stare. "You're going to die, aren't you?"
The words hit Aura harder than she expected them to. She had been trying so hard to keep the truth away from them, but her chances weren't that great. "What makes you say that?" she asked after a long pause. The tears that she thought had all flowed away began to stream back again. "I'm going to come home, Corvin. I would never leave you."
"Ava died," he replied. She couldn't see his eyes. "And now you're going to die too. And Dad left us here with Crispin. He's not coming back."
"I won't... I can't..."
"I don't believe you," he told her. He opened the door and stepped out. "Good night."
Aura was shunned silent as he closed the door, unable to tell him goodnight. She laid back on her bed and closed her eyes, but that didn't stop the tears from coming. "That was very touching," came a liquid voice from the hallway. When she looked up to see Crispin standing there, he was smiling. "I'll make sure he doesn't forget you when you are gone."
"How long were you standing there?" Aura asked, trying to distance herself.
"Not very long. Enough to realize that boy is not as stupid as I thought before." He laughed.
"Shut up," Aura barked.
"That's not a very nice thing to say to your father." When Aura turned away, she could see his false expression of hurt turn to a sadistic grin. "So how do you feel?"
"Pretty bad!" she frowned at him. "I'm going to die in the Games, for crying out loud."
"Aura!" he said, coming over to sit beside her on the bed. "The Hunger Games are a great honor! Don't you see? You get to take a moment and be part of something bigger than yourself. You bring honor to your District—honor to your family! The Cantarella name suits you well."
"It's not an honor," Aura said. "How could you even say that? How can you praise a government that sends twenty-four of its children to die every year? It's wrong."
"Well, that's just not true, Aura." Crispin shook his head, with a malevolent grin. "Twenty-four tributes go into that arena to live." He reached into his pocket and before Aura had a chance to object, the man had pulled out his switchblade and extended it. The knife was shiny and clean just like he always kept it. He began to stab the air with it. "On the first day, I was... stabbing this little orphan girl in the woods. It was right in the sternum. She bled for a few seconds... coughing... screaming in agony. As the life left her little fingers, I could feel it enter mine. The adrenaline rush was so real... so magnificent! It was the first time I ever killed."
Aura pushed herself farther away from her insane uncle with her feet. "You're sick in the head..."
"No," he sighed, holding his knife in his hands longingly. "I think everyone else are the ones who are missing out. It's like a drug, you know. That girl wasn't the last either. I know you know my record. Go ahead and say it."
"...most direct kills in history."
"And how many was that?"
"Fourteen..."
"Fourteen kills, Aura." Crispin's eyes lit up with excitement. "I went down in history as the most bloodthirsty tribute ever to enter the arena. Those people didn't go down by natural causes or anything like that. They went down by my blade, by my rope... By my hand. And when I crushed the last tribute's face in, and I was staring down at this sort of bloody husk, I knew that I was alive. I could feel my heart pumping in my chest, the blood flowing through my veins... I felt... Alive. Aura, the Hunger Games are an honor."
"The Hunger Games are an abomination," she objected. As soon as the words left her lips, there was a squeaking noise from the corner of the room. At first she thought it was an old floorboard, but it was a tiny mouse with light gray fur. Crispin noticed it as well. He got up from the bed and walked over to it, and Aura immediately knew his intent. "Uncle Crispin, no!"
He fumbled around with the animal for a moment, but eventually took firm hold of it. It looked so sad as he held it up to her. Its legs flailed around more rapidly and it screeched the longer he held it there. "I'm going to teach you a lesson, Aura." He took his knife and tossed it at her feet. "Pick it up."
"No," she said, defiantly.
"Aura, so help me, you will pick it up."
"No."
"You will listen to your father!" he shouted, leaning in in his rage.
Aura looked the man straight in the narrow eye. "You're not my father."
Crispin went white with rage, but then collapsed back into calm at a moment's notice. "Very well," he said. Then he began to squeeze the tiny mouse in his hand. Its squeaks became more and more panicked, but died down every minute. Not five seconds had passed before the mouse's head went limp and fell to its shoulders, dead. Its solid black eyes gazed longingly into her own. Its lifeless feet hung just below Crispin's palm. A single tear let loose and rolled down her cheek. Crispin reached out and wiped it away. "There, there. Don't cry. You won't have a chance if you stop to dwell on the loss of life."
"You're a monster," Aura cried.
Crispin stepped away from the bed and tossed the dead mouse into the trash can at the foot of Aura's door. He looked back at her. "In case you were wondering, don't worry. I'll take good care of the boys while you're away. Good night, my little angel."
When he shut the door, Aura laid her head back on her pillow. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep having that image on replay in her head. She closed her eyes anyway. But, before she was able to get comfortable, she felt a lump on her back. She reached underneath her to find what it was and pulled out the wooden owl pendant. Its large yellow eyes stared back at her with a sense of empathy. Then Aura realized something.
The owl was the only hope Aura had left. She was leaving for the Games within the week. Her brothers were being left at home with a psychopath. Her father vanished without a trace and the last words she ever said to him were to tell him that she hated him. But the Owl was a friend... She realized this was her last hope for a better life. The Owl was a friend in a world with none left. The Owl sees where the Hawk does not. The Owl is a friend...
End of Chapter 18