It was her. She just knew it. Sure, her jawline had sharpened a bit, and her eyes were so much narrower when not constricted by fear. And yes, with her hair piled high on her head with the Capital's artificial touch she was nearly unrecognizable. But the way she had looked at her, the way her eyes widened once again with the same mix of confusion and terror that was once plastered on her face several years before, Aspen new. Whether it was a look of recognition or a look of puzzlement she knew not, but that didn't seem to matter anymore. She new that the girl who was on fire was the one who had watched like a statue while everything she had ever loved was taken away. The one who had witnessed the day her life had changed forever, and the one who didn't so much move.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" she blurted out, startling Aspen out of her thoughts. How stupid was this girl, thinking that there was any acceptable excuse to talk to an Avox, other than to give orders. She shook her head quickly, maybe a little too quickly. Aspen walked away, all too aware of the uproar the girl's comment had caused. "Why would you know an Avox?" she heard the fat, alcoholic one slur before she walked into the kitchen and out of earshot.
Although she knew she was angry, Aspen didn't really know what to feel. She laughed at the irony; that girl had watched a part of her die, now all of Panem would watch her die. She had wanted nothing more than to shout at the girl, and had, in fact, reflexively moved her mouth to do so. And yet she couldn't. Yes, there was once a time where her voice could do anything, but that was in another life. It was gone now, nothing more than a small scratch on the window of her past.
"Bring this out to the District 12 table!" the kitchen head, Dean, ordered, awakening Aspen from her thoughts. She trudged on over, resenting having to see that girl again. She wondered if she knew what she had been through. She hoped that girl could not read her thoughts.
When he died, she thought her life was over. And, in all honesty, she wasn't that far from the truth.