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ANGER WAS BETTER THAN TEARS BETTER THAN GRIEF BETTER THAN GUILT
7TH AUGUST 1993
PAIN. PAIN. PAIN.
She couldn't think properly, the sounds of her breaking bones ringing in her head like a never ending echoe in a dark cave keeping her captured in a timeless period.
She loathed it. Every single time it hurt, it would feel like hundreds of elephants were stomping on you and breaking every nerve, every muscle in your body. Like a thousand crucios hitting you until your brain feels like mud and you feel like you're going mad.
And nowadays, at thirteen and freshly entering puberty, she was sure it had got worse.
She just wanted it to stop.
She curled over in pain as another bone in her right arm broke, biting her tongue to prevent a scream so hard, she could almost taste the metallic taste in her mouth.
Her kneecap cracked. The scream escaped her lips before she could stop it, fighting back the tears in her eyes that had blurred her vision.
"Hold it in!" The figure that had been lurking in the dark, watching her carefully, barked at her demandingly.
"I'm trying," she snapped back angrily.
"Then try harder," they retorted, the tone downplayed to indifference, near boredom.
She growled, her blood boiling as her spine made an unnatural sound. Her teeth clenched, gritting so harshly that she was sure her jaw was about to break any second and she tried to focus on something, anything. Anything to distract her from the sickening sounds of her bones shattering into pieces.
"Merlin, I hate you," she managed to bite out, gasping as she panted heavily.
"You do tell me that every time, sweetheart," the dark voice smirked at her like she had just given them a high praise.
She had long ago learned to ignore the nickname they gave her, but a petty part inside of her still spat blood at their feet.
Looking up, her eyes glowed brightly golden, causing the figure in the seat in front of her to make a displeased, disappointed sound as they mused, "Well, it looks like tonight is not going to be the day."
She released a high-pitched loud scream at the unexpected pain pressing in her mouth, echoing in the great place like a haunted space.
A WEEK LATER...
Athena Black was a smart girl.
This wasn't a new finding, it was a truth that had followed her through her early childhood.
