REMEMBER ONE~
Another sleepless night. These nights happened less often now, but they still come. And it's not nightmares that keep me up. It's the haunting image of his face, engraved into my thoughts. I see him grinning at me. I see him laughing. I see those rare tears he shed into my shirt one night. I can't seem to get Cato out of my thoughts.
I'll usually wake because I can't take anymore of it. I'll find my faces dripping with sweat and tears. I'll carefully slip out of the bedroom, half naked with a blanket covering my exposed skin. After a while of this, I found the only way to get the pictures of him out of my head was to release them onto a canvas. So at two in the morning, with bags under my eyes and my blanket wrapped around me, I paint his face onto the blank sheet in front of me. I keep a stash of hidden paintings of him under the couch, somewhere Katniss would never find herself looking.
There was one painting that I had cried into so many nights it didn't even look normal anymore. Why did I miss him so much? Why did I so desperately need to feel his skin on mine once more? His breath hit my nose again? His hand wrapped around me and him telling me everything would be okay, that I'd get out of the arena alive.
I knew he was gone. That I'd never see him again. So why didn't I give up? Was it because I just couldn't bring myself to erase the one person I actually understood, as he understood me? I mean, sure, I loved Katniss. Enough to marry her. But I couldn't help the feeling that it was all just a trick to help me get over Cato. That she was only here to remind me there were a few other things worth living for. But to me it wasn't enough. Not even close.
"Shit!" I whisper, noticing that in my daydream I had spilled paint on the floor. I wasn't even paying attention because I was so wrapped up in my thoughts. This needed to stop. This wasn't the first time I'd zoned out. Katniss had talked to me about district two the other day- I was so out of it I didn't even remember what she was talking about- and my mind immediately drifted to Cato.
I sighed, removing my painting and sliding it under the couch. I ran to the kitchen to get a rag, dampening it. Then I dash back and push the half-dried paint into the wash cloth.
"Peeta?" Katniss whispers, stepping down the stairs. I shoot my head up. "What are you doing awake?" She asks me. You can see the concerned look in her eyes.
"Well hey, look who's awake." I chuckle, stepping over to her. "Couldn't sleep. To bright out." I motion to the window. Thank god I came up with an excuse. It's probably around 4:30 now, because dawn is arriving.
The day passes quickly. It is maybe five in the afternoon when I get a knock on the door. Katniss is napping, she's been out hunting all day. I leave the stove where I'm cooking a dinner of some sort of bird Katniss shot, and slowly open the door. And the biggest surprise I've encountered in a while is standing right on my door step.
"P-President Lenis! W-What are you doing here?" I ask in awe.
"Hello Peeta." He smiles at me, speaking in his soothing voice. "I have some news. Regarding the Hunger Games." He says to me.
I immediately let him in, offering him a chair in the kitchen. Then went back to dinner.
"So what did you need to tell me, president?" I ask trying to hide the shock in my voice.
"You remember the tributes, correct? From the Games?" He asks me. As if I didn't.
I chuckle a little, covering up the fact that is the stupidest question I've been asked in a long time. "Of course I do. Who wouldn't? There was Glimmer, Clove, Rue, Thresh and..." I swallow hard before saying his name, and I practically choke out "Cato."
"Yes." He says, the smile now fading. "Well, what if I told you there was a possibility we could bring them back?" He asks me.
I drop the spoon I was holding and dash to the table. "W-What? Bring them back?" I mutter.
He nods.
The first thought that comes to mind is Cato could come back. He could. I was speechless. I want to scream.
"Of course, there may be a glitch in bringing them back. But the capitol did have the technology. It is very possible." He says.
"G-Glitches?" I wonder out loud.
"Yes. We have yet to test it out. There is the possibility it may not even work. But we are almost 90 percent sure it will." He smiles at me.
"We would like to bring back a tribute of your choice. We know you must have missed someone." He whispers. "Maybe you'd like to get Katni-" He begins but I cut him off.
"Cato. Bring back Cato." I firmly, almost yelling, demand him.
"Cato? The career tribute from the 74th games?" He asks me. Now he looks a little shocked.
"Yes. That's him." Is all I respond. "Please." I almost beg now.
He stands. "Alright. If that's what you'd like. Thank you, Peeta." He murmurs, then walks away, leaving the house.
Now I cry again. But this time they're tears of joy. I sob over the pan full of half burnt bird. The tears sizzle as they fall into the pan. Then Katniss comes down from our bedroom, yawning and wiping sleep from her eyes.
"Hey Peeta. Who came while I was asleep." She asks, pointing to the dirt stains on the white linoleum floors.
I wipe the tears from my face quickly and turn to her. "President Lenis." I smile.
She gasps. "The president came and you didn't even wake me up? What the hell Peeta?" She angrily says to me, though you can tell she's still tired because she falls into the chair behind her and sleepily frowns.
"Sorry Katniss." I whisper, pulling the charred chips from the bird.
"What did he have to say?" She yawns again.
"They found technology in the Capitol. They are able to bring old tributes back." I almost squeal.
She snaps out of her sleepy trance. "W-What? Are you kidding me? We could bring Rue back?" she jumps.
"Yeah. But they have to test it. Make sure it works. And I think there is only so much of it. They probably only had it for emergencies." I set a plate in front of her. She doesn't touch it.
"Oh my god. Oh my god!" She exclaims, I'm afraid she'll freak out and break something. That's how I felt.
"T-They're testing it on Cato." I nervously whisper.
She pauses. "C-Cato? Why Cato?" She asks. I shrug like I don't know. Of course I know. I'm not stupid. I personally asked for it. I'd almost feel guilty if I wasn't so relieved he was coming back.
Maybe a week passes before we get a phone call. It was no surprise it was the president.
"Peeta?" He answered.
"Yes, it's me." I replied.
"Peeta, the experiment worked. But we're afraid something went wrong..."
I pause. "Something went wrong? What could it be?"
"He seems different. He doesn't seem so... You'll see when we bring him to you. We'll be there in two days." He tells me.
"A-Alright. I'll see you then." I whisper into the phone, then hang up.
What was he talking about, something went wrong? Did he look different? Did they do something to him?
Whatever it was, I needed to know.