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CANDLE
ft. Astoria Greengrass cw: referenced child abuse
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Astoria was hiding again. From her sister this time, though. Daphne had gone on and on about how they needed to celebrate Samhain, that they couldn't just drop the tradition when they weren't at home, they had family to honor, family Astoria didn't want to honor… so Astoria was hiding, cooped up in one of the abandoned tower rooms with only a pale candle for company.
Astoria passed her hand through the flame again, approaching from beneath where the heat wasn't. She sighed, and rested her cheek against her knee.
"I wished you'd just stop, Daphne," Astoria whispered to herself, squeezing her eyes shut after. She sighed, a wet, congested sound, and wiped away the half-formed tears from her eyes, hovering her wet fingers over the flame and letting her skin heat up.
She let her hand drop and buried her face further between her knees. Her sister always thought she knew best, always thought Astoria had been too naive and too young and too stupid to know what Samhain was all about, too young to remember why mum and dad always wanted them to say their prayers and light candles for their grandparents. Daphne didn't get why Astoria didn't want to at least try to remember them…
But Astoria remembered them. Remembered how they'd sneer and call her weak, how her grandfather had hit her with stinging jinxes until she stopped collecting flowers and leaves and playing with insects, how they'd scolded and hated her all her life.
Daphne didn't get it. They'd loved Daphne, of course she didn't get it.
Astoria passed her hand through the candle flame again and watched the wax drip slowly down the side until it reached the golden boat beneath.
Daphne never remembered anything but goodness from their family.
Astoria never experienced goodness in the first place. And she wasn't about to start honoring her family for giving her nothing.