The Weight of Her Shadows SOLO Closed

It seemed fitting that on a day when her mood was so somber, she had found a place to match her mood. Her appearance seemed thrown together, which was unshocking for the date.

Two years ago to this day. She could still feel the press of the handle of the dagger she had held so close. Silver flashing in the moonlight next to a moon so large it had to have been close to the full moon.

And then there were the screams, spiraling and swirling into sharp pains echoing in her mind. And this time there was no satisfaction for her actions, only cold and dark fear.

Ava dug her fingers into her scalp, as if the pressure could hold back the memories lurking on the edges of her mind. Slowly creeping in, begging to consume her thoughts. It had been so long since she had struggled with this, feelings of deep, dark guilt. And the only person who knew how she felt was long dead, blue as the lake she had died in.

“Lumos.” Ava cast, the word barely a whisper as she dropped to the ground in a half crouch. These were the same feelings she had barely allowed herself to delve in the past months, although she had gotten dangerously close to acknowledging them when she was with Em.

The ground was littered with grime and dust, long abandoned footprints marking the floor as Ava scanned the chambers without seeing.

Her reputation for trouble seemed to be irrelevant in the shadow of what had happened two years ago in January. She hardly allowed herself to think about it, only to acknowledge what she had been realizing these past days, weeks, months.

It wasn’t the thrill of the chase she sought, it was the thrill of the catch. Her fears seemed to double in proportion as each day passed and she faded back into the dullness of the winter months. The excitement didn’t relate to her, and everyday she struggled to keep her name afloat. She waited always just to hear one more time ‘Did you hear what Ava Winchect did?’. But as her pranks stopped mattering and her adventures reached an end, where was she to go?

Although she hated to admit it, she knew she would do whatever it took to claw her way back into the spotlight, just for a few seconds longer. Her fear of irrelevance haunted and taunted her, pushing and pulling her to take the risk, pull the next prank. Risk everything for the chance of just one moment of stardom.

But it wasn’t in the castle where the mindset was born, it was in her home where she was pulled and prodded and compared endlessly until it was once again decided that she was a bad daughter. The castle had meant to be the chance for Ava to restart, to become what she had always wanted. Instead, she seemed to have only created even more of a monster.

The longing for attention wasn’t achieved through academic approval or skills and talents, no. It was achieved through much darker means, forcing her into realization. The faces of those she’d hurt flickered through her mind, leaving the realization that they were never the villains, just the victims of her desperate vying for attention.

She was what she hated.

She was a villain, plain and simple.

@Emily Shephard, @Colin McCoire 01/08/2025