The sound of shattering glass alarms the sleeping maid, the maid quickly gets up from her bed and runs out of her big room. She moves down the hall following the loud crying, she lets out a gasp seeing her boss on her knees, with her face buried in her hands. "Miss Dirk, what is wrong?" Onyx asks, slowly approaching the sad woman. The closer she got the more glass she saw, she realized it had came from a picture frame, that the woman must have thrown.
"Nothing." The woman says bitterly, Onyx steps close to her boss and kneels down, "Buck," Onyx starts but is cut off. "Why did he leave?" Past victor, Buck Dirk asks now looking at her maid. Buck is 5 foot with a lean build, she has long brown hair and saddening blue eyes, her square jaw only adds to her boyish beauty. The stylists had hated her square jaw at first, saying it was taking away from her beautiful blue eyes.
Onyx looked down at the broken picture frame to see, it held an old photo of Buck and her father, Pax. Pax was a charming man who cared about everyone and anyone, Buck was his world, if he could've, he would have given Buck the world. Together, they would butcher pigs in his butcher shop, it was an odd thing for a girl to love, but she loved every moment of it. They'd even watch the Hunger Games together, Pax would bet against Buck on who would win, loser had to work the meat hooks for a week. Neither of them liked that job, but Pax was too poor to hire any help, so they would take turns every other day.
"Honey, he was sick." Onyx whispers, Pax had gotten very sick one week, no one really knew why at first, but as the weeks progressed, he got worse and passed away. Doctors claimed it had been the flu but she didn't want to believe it. Being seventeen she slowly begun to lose her mind, it was no surprise she kept losing friends, when she was thrown into the 168th Hunger Games, she was titled as a ticking time bomb. Most didn't think she would fight in the games, but it wasn't until the feast that she won.
Buck lets out a shiver and lunges forward, Onyx rubs the 24 year old's back as she began to empty the contents of her stomach on the wooden floor. "I wish you'd stop drinking." Onyx murmurs softly, Onyx is the only one who could get away with saying things like that to Buck, Onyx is the only person she has left after all. Buck falls back to lean against the older woman and closes her eyes. "Why'd I have to be a object to the Capital?" She asks childishly. Onyx caresses the woman's hair, "It wasn't your choice." She responds naturally, this was a nightly thing between them. Buck got drunk and Onyx took care of her.
"They're reaping past victors, I'm the only one left." Buck says sounding sober, Onyx covers her mouth, feeling the tears well up in her eyes, she closes them. "When I die, everything I own is yours." Buck says now staring at the wall. Onyx chokes on the lump in her throat. "Don't say that!" She snaps surprising Buck, Buck looks at her and shrugs, "Might as well be ready for it." She states as if she wasn't already planning her death bed. Onyx was tempted to slap her boss but doesn't do it, it wouldn't be a good thing for Buck to go onto the stage with a red hand print on her face.
"You have to come back, for me." Onyx says, for seven years she has been taking care of Buck. She has grown to love the woman as if she was her daughter, she was not about to lose Buck after all those times she saved her life! Buck looks at her and nods, "Only for you." She whispered drunkenly. Buck had decided to get an maid instead of an Avox in hopes of not reminding her of her time in the Capital. She felt that it is a maid's choice of being a maid instead of an Avox, which you are forced to be when you commit a crime. But she also didn't want an Avox, out of fear of getting her mother, who became an Avox when Buck was only six.
"C'mon, lets get you cleaned up." Onyx says pulling Buck up with her, Buck is hesitant but allows herself to be led into the bathroom. As she stood waiting for Onyx to grab her clothes, she stares at her reflection in the cracked mirror. Scars covered her face, the scars on her face went from the corners of her mouth to the top of her ears, from the corners of her eyes across her nose to the corners of her mouth.
Her attacker had an odd fascination with spider webs. She hates them almost as much as she hates the words and spider web patterns carved into her arms, she was a victim to William Quinta, a crazy boy from District 2, who decided to torture her. Buck isn't sure how she was able to survive all the blood lost, it had only taken her one day to find him again. And when she did, she avenged herself by brutally ripping his throat out with her sickle. Thanks to him, she has been known as Buck Dirk, the Girl with the Spider Web Scars.
Letting out an angry growl, she slams her fist into the mirror causing the mirror to shatter in many pieces. Within a few minutes, Onyx was back into the bathroom looking around in panic. "Damn it Buck! That's t-" she starts but Buck glares at her, "I don't need a shower, I'm fine." Buck says bitterly and easily slips past her.
The bubbly Escort, Lyra, watched the people of District 10 gather, everyone already knew who was going to be reaped. For the first time in 175 years, no one worried for their child's life. Buck walked onto the stage, careful not to sway or walk in a way that would cause her to fall. She didn't fill dizzy anymore but her vision was still blurry. Her head ached but it wasn't anything new to her, she sat down in the empty row of chairs, alone. The mayor must have been running late again, the man was too busy for himself sometimes. When the tall man came up onto the stage, he sat down next to her, giving her an nasty look in the process, she easily gave one back.
People watched Lyra in amusement as she trips over her overly long, purple dress, but Buck is too distracted by a sad Onyx to watch. Buck sighs and rubs her eyes when Lyra finally uprights herself. "Buck Dirk!" Lyra all but sings, Buck stands up and shoves Lyra out of the way. Buck does not wait for people to try and take her photo, she all but stomps straight for the train station.
Train Ride
Buck laid on her bed clutching onto the bottle of whiskey, Lyra hadn't tried getting her out of her cabin and she was glad. Lyra had been crying about how she embarrassed the poor woman, yet Buck didn't feel guilty. Instead she was amused by it. If her father was still alive, she would have been scolded for what she had done, maybe then, she would've felt bad for it.
Buck takes a careful swig of whiskey, before standing up and carefully walking out of her cabin. She could hear Lyra still crying but it didn't stop her from walking right into the dinner cart. Lyra looks at her with pure anger but it doesn't faze her one bit. "You know, I didn't even want to be an Escort for you!?" Lyra yells loudly, Buck raises a brown and smirks with high amusement, "Why is it so amusing?! Do you like to see me like this?" Lyra stands up and dares to move from behind the table. "Bitch, do you really think I even know you?" Buck says blandly, she takes a another swig of her whiskey before holding it out to Lyra. "Want some?" She asks with no expression.