Chapter 2

AN: This chapter contains rape and may be triggering for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

"Oh my god, that was awesome." I hear Cato drunkenly slur from the back seat of the car.

"I'm glad you had fun." I say as I give him a smile in the rearview mirror. It's just past 1:00 am and we're on our way back to Cato's parents' house.

The party was all right; I drank soda while sitting on the couch listening to music coming out of the huge speakers in the living room. I smiled and engaged in friendly conversations with the less-drunk people who had wandered into the room to come sit.

But most of the night, I just sat on my phone talking to one of my best friends Johanna who was live-texting me the horrible date she was on with a guy from our school named Marvel.

He had asked her out last weekend, and somehow decided it was a good idea to make their first date a trip to the Ancient Artifacts and Lost Civilizations museum. I love Johanna to death, but she is not the type of person you take to a museum at all, let alone on a first date. Needless to say, I doubt she'll give him another chance.

By the end of the night, I was stuck carrying/dragging a plastered Cato back to my car and plopping him down in the back seat.

"Oh, I had so much fun, Brutus is so fun, his friends are so fun, and every one there was just…"

"So fun?" I finish his sentence for him. He laughs and says "Yeah, fun." He goes quiet for a few seconds and then says "Except you. I wish you would drink with me some time, I know you would like it."

I chuckle and tell him "Maybe, but then who would drive you home?"

"True." He says matter-of-factly, dropping the subject and closing his eyes. I have a feeling he's going to have a very unpleasant headache tomorrow morning.

We pull up to his house and I turn the car off and get out to help him out of the back seat. We stumble up to his front door and he hands me his house keys. I let us into the darkened home; his parents are out of town for the weekend, and turn on some of the lights.

I let him lean on me while I make my way to his room, turning on the light and depositing him on his back on the bed. I sit next to him on the bed and begin removing his shoes, tossing them on the floor, trying to make him more comfortable.

He looks at me, smiling, and says, "You're the best, you know that?"

I smile at him, brushing some hair off of his forehead tenderly, and say "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say". As I brush it away, I realize just how attractive Cato actually is, especially when compared with my less then stellar looks. He has fairly short blond hair and intense blue eyes.

I'm always thinking how lucky I am someone who looks like him would even give me the time of day, let alone date me for so long.

He sits up suddenly and gives me an intense look with his bright eyes. "No, I mean it. You really are."

"Well, thank"-

I'm in the middle of answering him when he crashes his lips into mine, completely surprising me. He shoves his tongue into my mouth, and I can taste the pungent liquor on his breath.

His hands move to hold my hips, and I gently push him away gently, saying, "Come on Cato, you're drunk. You need to get some sleep."

He doesn't hear a word I say, and crashes his lips into mine again, this time with much more force and urgency. I push him away again, rougher this time, and say firmly "No, Cato. I'm not doing this right now. Please, just get some sleep and I'll talk to you in toe morning."

I stand up off the bed and am headed to leave, when I feel him roughly grab my wrist and swing me around to face him. He's standing up now and, even though I'm used to his size, he still looks extremely big and overbearing in this small room.

"Come on Kat, stay the night," he slurs at me, "You're parents won't care, they know you're safe with me, I love you."

I look at him with as much confidence as I can muster and tell him, "Cato, I love you too, but I'm not going to do that with you when you're this drunk. And trust me, they will care, and I'd rather not have to explain to them why I didn't come- "

I don't get a chance to finish what I was saying because the next second Cato has me pressed up against the wall, shoving his tongue down my throat as far as it would go. I let out a muffle protest and push him back roughly.

He looks down at me and his eyes show more anger than I've ever seen; I almost want to cry I'm so instantly scared. This is not the sweet, trusting Cato I know.

I don't even know this person.

He grabs me by my shoulders, pulling me forward a bit and shoving me back hard into the wall. I hear the pictures hanging behind me rattle when my head into contact with the wall, causing instant pain in the back of my skull. When I open my eyes to look at him, I'm seeing stars.

"You ugly, fat little bitch, why can't you ever just be a good girlfriend and give me what I want? Do you know how lucky you are to be with me?

All I do is fucking wait and wait for you, but you never seem to care about what I want. It's always 'me me me' with you and I'm fucking SICK of it!"

I'm starting to really panic and make a futile attempt to calms him down, telling him in a trembling voice, "Cato, let me go. Please, you're scaring me."

"Shut up!" he screams at me, shoving me into the wall again, much harder this time. Next I feel his big, meaty hand lock around my throat. I don't have time to react before I feel myself being lifted up off the ground by my neck, the air in my lungs slowly being constricted. I grab at his hand, trying to loosen his grip, and failing.

He leans down and growls into my ear, "That's it. I'm fucking done with you. I've put up with your bullshit long enough. You need to be taught that you are mine, and I will do with you what I want."

I can't even register what he says because my vision is starting to go black around the edges from lack of oxygen.

"I can't breathe…. I can't brea…" I manage to squeak out before he bangs me up against the wall again and lets me go, my body sliding down the wall and landing on the floor at his feet. I cough wildly and try to regain my breath.

My mind instantly starts searching for a way out. I have to get out of here I think to myself.

Before I can come up with a plan, I feel Cato grab me hard by my ankles and drag me away from the wall to the middle of the room. I turn onto my stomach and try to crawl away from him, but he's just too strong.

I start kicking and flailing my legs as hard as I can, screaming "HELP! HELP ME!" at the top of my lungs, hoping one of the neighbors might hear.

When he finally gets me to the middle of the room, he flips me over and straddles my waist, putting all his weight on top of me. I look up at him and my eyes widen in fear as he punches me so hard on my cheek I swear I hear a crack and start to feel a ringing sound in my ears.

My head is spinning as I look at him. He's screaming at me, inches away from my face, although I can't pick up what he's saying because of the ringing.

He hits me again; equally as hard in the same place, on my cheekbone, and this time I don't think I'm going to recover. I am struggling to keep my eyes open as the blackness starts creeping in, when I feel him take both of my wrists in one of his massive hands and pin them to the floor above my head.

I am slightly aware of his other hand pushing my dress up and fumbling with the edge of my underwear, pulling them down to my ankles, but not taking them off completely.

My hearing returns for a few seconds, just in time to hear the buckle of his belt coming undone and hitting the wood floor as he pushes his pants down to his knees.

I hear him say, still drunk, in a much calmer, soothing voice, "This will only take a minute, I promise. Trust me baby, you'll like it. Just remember I love you."

I feel the tears prick my eyes, and try to tell myself that this isn't love. This isn't Cato, the gentle person I have cared about for so long.

The pain I feel next is the most excruciating thing I've ever felt in my life. He rams himself into me without warning, over and over again, and I feel like my lower section is on fire. The pain is so intense; I am seeing white and I just can't find the strength to fight him back.

I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes, and when they spill over they are hot against my skin. "No, Cato, please stop!" I manage to choke out in a low, weak voice between the sobs that are wracking my body.

I don't know how long this goes on for, only that my mind is shutting out the pain of what is happening, letting the occasional "Please" or "No" slip softly from my mouth.

The tears are pouring down my face by the time I hear his loud moans fill the room, "Oh yeah baby, I'm almost there."

A few seconds later I feel him twitch inside of me, releasing himself and collapsing his body on top of mine. He lies there for a few seconds before rolling off of me onto the floor. I lay there silent, in shock.

This feels like a nightmare, and maybe if I lay here long enough I will wake up.

All I know is that I have to get out of here.

I slowly sit up, grunting slightly with heavy breaths, disoriented. I slowly turn my head and look at Cato, who is lying on the floor next to me, breathing deeply, trying to catch his breath.

I start to stand up ,trying to ignore the pain in my head as the blood rushes there, and begin slowly walking out of the room.

I don't make it very far before I almost trip due to my panties that are still around my ankles. I bend over and pull them back up, my movements slow and deliberate, but not before noticing the long, dark streak of blood running down my inner thigh.

I wipe it away with my hand and grab my purse that had fallen on the floor. I sluggishly walk out of his room, and the closer I get to the front door the faster my pace gets.

By the time I'm outside I am running/staggering as fast as I can to my car, the tears pouring down my face. I get into the driver's seat, and buckle up, hands shaking and fumbling to put the key in the ignition as I back out of the driveway.

And I just start driving.

I have no idea where I'm going; all I know is that I have to get as far away from the house as possible.

About 10 minutes later I pull off to the side of the deserted road, open my door, lean out of the car and throw up. I heave and heave, and it just keeps coming. After a few minutes, I lean back in and pull the door closed, and sit there breathing deeply.

All the sudden the floodgates reopen and I'm crying hysterically. I lean my head forward and put it on the wheel while the cries tear through my body.

I sit there thinking how can these sounds be coming from me? Just a few hours ago I was having a good time at a party with my boyfriend.

I finally get myself under control and try to think of what I have to do next. Should I go home?

No, I tell myself. No, I can't go home and let my parents see me like this.

The slicing pain radiating from my cheek and the back of my head tell me I need to get to a hospital.

I reach into my purse, intending on calling 911 to come pick me up, but when I press the home button on my phone, it doesn't light up.

It's dead.

I look at the clock on my dashboard, and see that it's a quarter after three in the morning. I take a deep breath, trying to figure out where I am. My vision is still a little fuzzy, but I know I have to get myself to a hospital, and soon.

I drive a little ways up the street until I recognize a street sign, and it's another 20 minutes until I reach the Emergency Room parking lot at Capitol General. I take a few deep breaths and turn off the car, put the keys in my purse and bring it with me as I step out and begin making my way to the front doors.

As I walk I feel a horrible burning sensation between my legs, but at this point I feel like my body is on auto-polite, going through the motions.

I walk into the emergency room and up to the front desk, noticing the looks I'm getting from the small amount of people in the waiting room. When I reach the desk, the women sitting behind it looks at me with a startled expression. I'm sure I look like an absolute mess.

"Hi honey, what can I help you with?" she says in a soothing voice. I just sort of stare at her for a minute, not knowing how to answer her. When I finally speak up, I am shocked at the sound coming from me. This is not my voice.

"Uhm, I –I th-think…."

Oh my god just say it! I tell myself.

The nurse is looking expectantly at me, seeming concerned with the way I am acting. "M-my boyfriend just… he just… uhh r-raped me." I manage to get out.

To hear those words come out of my mouth feels like I'm living a different life. Like there's absolutely no way I'm standing here right now, in the ER, telling this nurse what someone who supposedly loved me just did to my body.

Her eyes go wide as she looks at me, immediately talking into a radio sitting on her desk. I try to focus but can't hear what she's saying.

My hearing is starting to fade again, along with my vision, and everything else. I sense the blackness creeping in, but this time I feel like my legs can't hold me up any longer.

The last thing I see before everything goes black as my body hits the floor is the nurse running around the desk to get to me, and behind her a few other nurses wearing scrubs rushing down the hall towards us.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you like it so far! I know this is intense subject matter. Please review and you can find me on tumblr at lovemesomehungergames1029 :)