𝐌𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍 - 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘳

― 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

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chapter thirteen: good riddance

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𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐀'𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐑. Not even twenty-four hours into the Games, and she already has a sponsor. Not bad, she thinks to herself. As she unscrews the lid, a thousand thoughts run through her mind. But nothing can be better than the singular leaf that lays inside the metal cup.

Under the leaf, is a slip of white paper. Visha pushes the leaf gently to the side and picks up the note. In slanted but still legible cursive reads,

Should've known. I guess lying your ass off really is what you do best - H

H― Hunter. His words to Visha before her interview flash through her mind. "Do what you do best," he had told her. When she asked what that was, he had laughed and said, "Lying your ass off".

He knew what Visha was about to do.

And he supported it.

An unfamiliar warm feeling rushing through her body, Visha looks up. Into the night sky, she whispers, "Thank you." Then she places the mandrake leaf under her tongue and trudges back to where the Careers were waiting for her.

"Took you long enough!" Basil laughs upon Visha's return.

She rolls her eyes. "I'm not going to apologize for being competent," Visha tells the group. "I could've grabbed a whole lot of nightshade for you. Be grateful," she teases warningly. What she has brought back is much worse.

Paralysis with a side of stabbing.

Visha hands out the plums and the chestnuts, leaving the lotus berries for last. Desert, in an odd, sadistic way.

The Careers laugh about their plans for the next day, while Visha munches on her plum quietly. She sits on a fallen log, careful to avoid the sharp branches that came from the trunk. Her knee bounces up and down, anticipating what's to come. As cruel as it sounds, she can't wait to murder the Careers in cold blood.

It's what they deserve.

"Why are you so quiet?" Scarlett narrows her eyes at Visha, realising that the girl hasn't said a word throughout their conversation.

Visha replies with a graceful shrug of her shoulders.

"She's always like this," Blake puts in with a roll of his eyes. "Quiet, I mean. It's a good thing, though― I don't want to listen to your grating voice any longer than I have to." He says this last bit staring at Visha directly.

She scoffs at him. "Hilarious, coming from you. I don't know how many more times I can listen to your 'I'm so amazing' speech before going insane." To the rest of the Careers, she informs, "He used to do it every single morning in the mirror of our shared bathroom while I had to wait forty-five minutes to take a shower."

Basil, Lynn and Cove howl with laughter. Scarlett, although still slightly suspicious, cracks a smile, too. Blake only glares at Visha, who grins innocently.