｛&all I loved, I loved alone—for it was not into my ear you whispered but my heart, and not my lips you kissed but my soul.｝
…
A gasp escapes from my lips as stingy cold water runs down my bare back, drenching my dark blonde hair and pouring down on me, awaking my senses that had been sluggish from sleep.
I reach for the white luxury towels that smelled like lavender mother keeps hanging in every bathroom, and carelessly dry myself clean, leaving my hair in a messy, tousled state.
The cool winter light filters through the windows, into the empty house. As they reflect on my eyes, the light blue orbs seem like shattered ice, the bloodthirsty gaze trapped inside the coldness.
My eyes flitted to my reflection in the large mirror that was hung onto the wall, staring back at it menacingly, as if I hated the thought of it, eyes hovering over myself as a whole before turning away. Pulling the maroon training attire over my head, I could sense the sharp scent of female on it, undoubtedly lingering from last night's activities, and the blood that I had viciously carved from her skin, longing for their anguished cries of pleasure and pain.
Since my mother and father were both victors, they therefore live in a huge house, with expensive furniture and food, as well as anything a victor could possibly want. And as the only child of the household, naturally my parents also want me to take after them and become a victor, in riches and honor.
Yet, I don't train for them, it's all about pride, it's all about how there are so many ways to torture those that I am not fond of with death, how I am able to see the fear in their eyes and hear the satisfying shriek, the snapping of the bone, bathed in their blood and fear.
The academy is not a very fond place in other's eyes, but to me, It is a useful place. It makes me stronger, because those who walk out of the District Two academy are revered, respected. As long as I win the games, I will do whatever it takes, not for honor, for just the look in their eyes when they are about to die, I would kill.
Breakfast was simple and rushed, with eggs, a few sausages and an apple. The door slams behind me as I run out of my house in the victor's village, my breath billowing in white wisps in the winter air.
A smirk crawls onto my face when I see a small figure walking on the deserted road to the Academy, her attire dressed for summer rather than winter— a maroon laced tank and knee-length combat boots, with three knives tucked in her belt at her hip. Her eyebrows knit in concentration, the sunlight glowing on her pale complexion as she paces, and I smirk at the thought of her.
From the way her gray green eyes flicker, I know she's noticed she's not alone.
Her pupils dilate, and she hisses aggressively as her small hand instinctively slinks to the handle of one of her knives.
"Of all the audacious, brawny morons." she mutters, her words hard and rough, her gaze steady and of no emotion.
"You can let go of the knives, they'll be no good when I break you," I growl, my eyes meeting hers for an instant.
"And since when are you so observant?"
"Since I don't give a fuck."
I neglect the fact that she is capable as for being my training partner even with her age and height, because partner or not, there is always an unspoken war between us.
She gives me a blatant stare as we rushed in the towering steel doors of the Academy gym. Conversation here was terse and brusque, instead the silence was filled with thuds of weapons, grunts of concentration, or perhaps low snarls of threats.
I watch as she takes the serrated blade out of her belt, twisting the handle casually as our trainer, Ivo, orated for the millionth time how her approach to others would earn her nothing in the future, giving District Two was usually part of the Careers. Shrugging, I twirled my sword nonchalantly as I listened to the one-sided conversation.
"Clove isn't approaching life like a bitch, she just is one. Okay, Ivo?" This sentence earns me a unappreciative glower from the petite brunette, which I return with a stare of equal hatred, of equal challenge.
Ivo shrugs and shakes his head as if we aren't there, muttering under his breath. "Clove, stop staring daggers at Cato. This is what I was mentioning earlier if you weren't listening."
"It's okay," A smirk tugs at my lips, raising one eyebrow in amusement at Clove. "I've been told I'm very attractive."
Clove's face filled with irritation, but soon turns into pure aggravation when I break the last straw by adding, 'little girl' at the end.
I react a second too late as the blade pierces my arm. Though bringing little pain, it infuriates me, and I slam her to the wall, a rack of vicious weapons clattering on the floor.
"What was that?" I snarl, her face inches from mine. I feel her soft breaths on my neck as a sadistic smile appears on her seemingly placid face. I want to break her.
"I don't have time for this, Cato." she whispered. Her eyes narrowed in anger that pulsed from her fragile body.
"If you want to vent on your own fucking problems," she hisses, "then go fuck your little sluts."
What angers me is not that she enjoys the insults she throws at me time and time again, or the fact that she enjoys my pain and my anger— perhaps it is simply because I cannot bring her to pain internally, in a way that she would fall to the floor and shatter like a mirror in the fragile way that I want her.
I shove her to the ground with as much force as I can muster, my shadow looming over her small figure, my face twisted in a way that brought a flicker of amusement in her dark orbs. How I longed to have the power to crush it, like I would when I crush every bone in her body and watch her beg for mercy.
But I know she won't back down. Because she's here, at the academy isn't she? The one thing that I can find in common is that we are both hollow, our body only living to taste the blood of our victims, because we fill the abyss in our hearts with unsatisfying hunger that burns like a fire.
Sorry, another short chapter. I promise they'll get longer, and I'll try to get them finished sooner but I am a terrible writer so that's going to be quite difficult. Thank you for the reviews! I love you guys.