Disclaimer- I do not own the Hunger Games or any of its original characters.
Rated T for violence, maybe some self-harm, mild lemons, and a LOT of swearing because Eve and Cato are feisty.
Eve Hadley and Cato Larek have hated each other for as long as they can remember. When they both volunteer for the 74th Hunger Games and an unlikely enemy poses a threat, they're forced to deal with each other. But things are changing.
Before anything else, Eve felt the warmth.
The suns harsh glare was wriggling its way into her room, illuminating the pastel walls with a soft golden glow. She flinched as a ray shone in her eyes, groaned and rolled over. It was always hot in District Two, a fact she didn't particularly like. But today she didn't mind. She grinned to herself.
Only an hour left.
She got out of bed and stretched her back out before slowly wandering over to the window and glancing around at the surrounding streets.
Eve and her family, the Hadley's, lived in the richest part of town; a complex of large, white villas in the very center of the District. Their house was just around the corner from the Academy and about a three-minute walk away from the Town Square, which was handy when it came to training, and maybe five minutes from the Nut. Being top girl at the Academy, it helped that Eve wasn't too far away.
Walking away from the window, a thought tumbled through her brain and she lifted up her grey top, then frowned.
Of course it was still there. The bruise was now a deep, vein-filled purple, stretching from just above her belly button and around her right hip, but the yellow around the edges showed obvious signs of healing. She ran her thumb around the edge of the bruise wistfully. After wincing at the contact, she inwardly slapped herself.
Showing pain and fear means you're weak, and if you're weak you're as good as dead to me.
The words her father had said a couple of weeks ago swam through her head, but no matter how much she hated herself for showing weakness and him for being an asshole, the faint pain was still there.
Her father had gone overboard when they'd been sparing the night before. She had managed to successfully hit him in the jaw and had kicked him where it hurt most, but he had straightened up with a murderous expression on his face and punched her strongly in the gut, knocking every inch of breath out of her. She had collapsed while he laughed at her, and been left with a broken rib; it was good that she found some Capitol medicine in one of the bathrooms for broken bones. Her rib had sorted out overnight and the bruise would be gone soon, but her relationship with her father obviously wasn't at its best.
Eve was now an only child, meaning that she and her mother got the full impact of her father's controlling, abusive attitude. He hadn't been the same since Carson, Eve's older brother, died.
She balled her fists up at the memory. He'd been shot through the neck by a District One tribute about ten years back in the Games, and ever since then, her father had turned into a monster. Eve had been six when Carson died, but the years hadn't taken away the sadness she felt for her lost brother. She missed him, but the hole in her heart paled in comparison to the swell of hatred towards her father.
Then a reoccurring thought popped into her head. I could always just kill him. She had considered it dozens of time, but she pondered it again. She definitely was capable of doing it, and somewhere deep inside her she was desperate to get rid of him. But if she did, and she knew this, she'd be locked away, and she couldn't let that happen.
But that was what she had trained to do for all these years, wasn't it? She'd been learning how to kill.
She felt another smirk spread across her face as her mind repeated the word over and over. Kill kill kill kill. The thoughts of killing so mercilessly and torturing her enemies to the brink of madness filled her with a thrill nothing else could.
She took off her shirt and pants, replacing them with her pastel orange reaping dress. It was a good fit on her; it showed off her curves and beautifully complimented her long hair. Her mother had done a good job in picking it out for her. Eve looked at herself in the large floor length mirror.
The dress was short and way above the knee with a low neckline, but Eve liked it. She brushed it down and grabbed an eyeliner pencil from one of her drawers.
Her hazel eyes looked incredibly dark today; a fact she noticed as she drew a thin line of black eyeliner on the bottoms of her eyelids. She curled her eyelashes and coated both top and bottom in black mascara. Her mother had said to make an effort, and she had promised her she would.
Looking in the mirror and seeing herself all dressed and ready, she felt a wave of excitement pour over her like boiling water. She was volunteering for the Hunger Games today. Cato Larek, a guy from her training, was volunteering as the male tribute, but she absolutely despised him. Cato was hideously sleazy and infuriating, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to wait the few weeks until the Games to kill him. She hated him as much as she hated her father. Maybe even more.
After brushing her hair, she glanced in the mirror again and examined herself. Her hair fell gently from a middle parting down her chest, reaching down to her hips. Dead straight as always, she had no need for straighteners, and she hated it curly. She cocked her head to the side and looked closer at her face and hair.
People had always said Eve was striking, but she'd never believed anybody. She hated herself. She was confident with her fighting and many other things, but when it came to her appearance she wasn't at all happy with it. But other people disagreed. Her many boyfriends, her mother, Carson when he was still alive, strangers too. And with her also being the best fighter in District Two it was needless to say that she got a lot of attention, though half of the guys and men were sexist pigs that didn't think of her as anything more than a dumb slut incapable of doing anything.
With a huff she wandered out of her room and down the hall into the kitchen. Her tummy ached slightly as she reached across the counter and grabbed a cookie from the tin, and it was only then that she heard her father and mother talking in the dining room. With her biscuit in hand, she walked over to the door and opened it slightly.
Her father sat at the head of the table with her mother on his right, who was as white as the tablecloth she was leaning on. Suddenly her mother whispered something about not wanting to send another child into the Games and her father suddenly raises his hand to slap her. Eve walked in with a glare plastered across her face. Her mother's lip was quivering profusely, and there was a long pause before anybody spoke.
"You look very pretty, Evie." Her mother said shakily as her father lowered his hand. Her cracked lips manage to form a thin smile.
"Thank you." Eve smiled back at her, then threw a cold glare towards her father. "We're going. If you come with us I'll kill you." She hissed before practically dragging her mother out of the house, leaving her father alone and breaking things. She couldn't bear to stand any more time under the same roof as him, and she wouldn't have to from now on.
The two of them walked to the square engulfed in a harsh silence. Her mother had begun wringing her hands nervously, and Eve had stopped her. "Don't do that." She had said calmly. Her mother hadn't done it anymore.
They arrived at the square about ten minutes before the reaping was supposed to start, but everyone else seemed to have arrived early too. Eve gave her fragile mother a light hug before getting her finger pricked and entering the roped-off "17" section. She positioned herself in between a tall girl with short dark brown hair and a larger girl with shoulder-length ginger hair, both of whom looked petrified and weak.
Eve smirked up at the two weaklings and stood there smiling and clapping a perfect white smile as the usual group made their way up onto the stage, greeted by a raging applause and lots of cheering and whistling that made Eve smirk.
The mayor, Prolus Cooper and his wife Constantine marched up to the stage with plastic expressions and sat down on two of the four blood-red seats at the back of the stage. Enobaria Crell and Brutus Partoum followed them and sat down on either side, the two Victor's smiles looking vicious and cruel. That'll be me soon, Eve thought, and her smile widened. She raised her head slightly so she could see more of the stage.
Being short did have its disadvantages.
The next was the overly enthusiastic Esme Magdalene, the representative of District Two, who clattered up to the stage in ridiculously pointy wooden shoes; she looked even worse with the diamonds in her skin shimmering brightly. The applause was still going.
Suddenly a hush fell upon the audience as Esme spoke."Hello, District Two!" She called out excitedly, and the deafening applause picked up, but Esme continued into the microphone. "Today, we are selecting the two perfect tributes for the 74th annual Hunger Games!" Eve cheered at the words. "Now, I'm sure you don't need to watch that silly little promotional video AGAIN, do they Mayor Prolus? No!" Another cheer from the crowd. "Enobaria, could you please come and select this year's female tribute, huh?" Here it comes, Eve thought eagerly. She couldn't wait. Esme called out to the Victor, who stood glamorously and swished over to one of the big glass bowls in her long blue dress. Her dark hand dove straight in and she fished out a single slip of paper.
Before she even had the chance to unfold the paper, Eve proudly yelled out "I volunteer!" and felt everyone's eyes on her. People broke away clapping and cheering at her, and leave a loud path to the steps up to the stage. She started smiling her most beautiful smile and flicked her hair, and she knew that she must've caught the sponsors eyes already.
"And what is your name, darling?" Esme stumbled over to Eve with her microphone held out.
"Eve Hadley." She flashed a flawless smile at the audience and Esme nodded enthusiastically before galloping away.
Eve waited on the stage with her head held high and her weight on one hip. She crossed her arms and kept smiling while Esme called Brutus up to begin the short process of picking the male tribute.
"Kane Forsythe!" The male victor bellowed, and a boy with an increasingly pale face slowly emerged from the "12" section, looking sick to the stomach. Eve knew that Cato was waiting so long to volunteer just to give the boy the fright of his life. Just before the boy touched the stage, the blonde-haired boy from the "18" section raised his hand and spoke.
"I volunteer!" Cato called out. He glared at Eve quickly but washed it away with a perfect grin that made the girls nearest to him swoon. Eve saw the twelve-year-old slink back into the crowd crying as the square erupted into another applause and she smiled wider.
Cato held his head up proudly and walked strongly and made his way up on to the stage. A beaming Esme started talking again. "What is your name, gorgeous?" Esme drooled at Cato as he winked and waved at the crowd.
"Cato. Cato Larek." He flaunted his smile like a girl might show off her new dress and it was all Esme did not to collapse in awe. She cleared her throat before speaking again.
"Come now you two, shake hands!"
The pair glared at each other, momentarily forgetting to smile and became caught up in the deep hate between them. Then Cato strode over to Eve coldly and they shook hands, both of them barely hiding their disgust. Neither of them could look each other in the eye.
Esme suddenly spoke and Eve ripped her violated hand away from Cato. "And there you have it! This year's Hunger Games tributes, Eve Hadley and Cato Larek!" She said proudly before another deafening cheer arose, and she followed the smiling tributes into the Justice Building.
And that's the first chapter DONE! I know, not that great of a chapter but please give it a chance :) I hope you liked it!
This is my second story on here but my first was a complete and utter flop, but I've been working on this one for months and I've gotten pretty far through! This chapter basically just introduces you to Eve and her life and all that jazz, so I assure you things get better as the story develops :) I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters from it.
And just a heads up, this will be a long story so if you don't like long stories I suggest you turn back down your short story loving road right now and heed my warning.
And you're all probably wondering about the mysterious 'plan' mentioned in the summary... I guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out about that! It becomes clear in Chapter 6 so just bear with me until then :)
If I get more than maybe 3 reviews then you can expect an update really soon, probably in under a week :) I swear though this story gets SO much better as the chapters go on. If you don't like this chapter please tell me and give me pointers on how to fix it; I'm new to Fan fiction so it would be really amazing if you could help me out :)
Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!
Eva xox