Let the flames begin {Wicked}

Livia hated this. She hated remembering. Just when she had finally put the terrible thoughts out of her mind, the camp had to come up with some kind of event to force her to remember. Livia did not want to remain in the Athena cabin alone so she came out here to this dreadful beach. It was quite miserable. The darkness seemed to creep into her soul, through her thin sweatshirt and her pale skin. The terrible flashbacks that were always invading Livia’s mind had finally stopped, but the nightmares would always be there to haunt the girl.

Yet, despite her hatred of the event, she would still partake in it. Livia rushed as quickly to the table as was possible in her weakened state and hoped she could just get this over with. She searched for several minutes, searching through the cluttered tables for a lantern that Quell had made for their brother. It was especially beautiful, with a delicately painted owl silhouette framed by words written in ancient greek. Our brother. They said. Livia had watched Quell make it silently from her nest in the bean bag chair which she had so often occupied before the zombies came. But Livia wanted to burn the thing. She wanted to toss it into the lake. She wanted to drown the horrible memories of the half brother whom she had killed. It was beautiful, but it was poison to the girl.

For the first time since the dissipation of the zombies, Livia felt a tear trickling down her face. It was hot and stung as it made a trail down her cheek. Others followed, and Livia found herself sobbing silently as she made her way down from the dunes to the beach. The tears were wet and they stuck to her face. This felt so strange to Livia (even though she had cried so much in the past months) and she automatically wiped them away with the back of her hand.

Livia’s shaky hand grabbed a lighter and carefully placed the flame inside the lantern. She let it go, and as she did, as it rose in the air, a sigh escaped from Livia. It felt like the breath she had been holding was let out all of a sudden. But the relief lasted for only a fleeting moment and soon Livia was sucked back into the drain that her life had become. And there she was, tears streaming down her face. Livia was so welled up in her own emotions that she did not notice a presence next to her.