"Clover?" Cato breathes, staring down at my face.
"Don't call me that," I say, really debating driving the knife in his heart.
"What..." He trails off, unsure what to say or do.
"Get off me," I whisper. He pulls me up, but still close to me, so that when I'm standing, he has an arm around my waist.
It turns out he also keeps a weapon close by, because I feel a cold blade slightly pressing in the small of my back.
"Sword?" I ask. He nods.
I direct the blade of my knife to slice his throat if necessary, it'd be easier and quicker.
Cato looks at me with a confused expression, his eyes so blue.
Just like my father's.
Just like my father's.
I back away, making the sword Cato was holding scratch at my back, sending a thin trail of blood down my body.
"I have to go," I say hastily, packing up my things in my bag and pulling my jacket over my tank top.
"Clove, wait -"
"Please tell Taxus I needed to go help my mother tend to Val," I say. "He'll understand."
"Who's Va -"
But I'm already running away, back home, back to my mother, my sisters, my brothers, the only people I would give my life away for.
"Iris!" my father calls, thumping down the stairs. My mother peeks from the kitchen, fear etched upon her face, most likely cradling Marcus, my two month old brother.
"IRIS!"
"Yes, Patrcick?"
My mother hands me Marcus, and I know this means to go hide. I take Val by the hand, telling her to hold Tatiane's, and telling Tatiane to hold on to Jamie.
They are eight, six, and five respectively. I am ten. And as we lock ourselves in my room, we could hear our mother screaming, yelling for my father to please stop. Half an hour later, according to the clock on the wall, we hear our father screaming for me to come down.
I tell Val to hold on to Marcus, who has started to cry, and hide them all in my closet.
"Don't go!" Tatiane whispers. I find myself telling her it's okay, I'll be back, don't worry.
My mother is crying silently. She has bruises on her face, on her arms, her neck, everywhere.
"CLOVE!"
"Yes," I whisper. And suddenly, I start feeling the pain my mother feels almost daily, screeching, wailing, because it hurts so much, and I can't bear this, when my mother starts begging for him to stop, to hit her instead.
"No, mom!" I try to say, but it comes out as a sob, and I'm sure Tatiane is scared out of her wits, and Val is certainely hugging her and Jamie close, and Marcus will be sobbing as much as I am.
When my father stops hitting me, he goes upstairs, and I'm scared he'll find my little siblings, and he does.
Only Val has my fight, she's started training in the center, and she's the best in her class. So she knocks him out by kicking his on the head.
The next month, my father keeps hitting me and my mother, until he is shipped off to the Capitol to be a Peackeeper. The day he leaves, he doesn't say goodbye. Just collects his possessions and walks out the door.
A relief to us.
When I get home, I feel safer. My mother seems surprised to see me here early.
"What's wrong?" she asks.
"Nothing," I tell her, adding in a smile. I've turned my jacket inside out to cover the blood. "I'll go check on on Val." Upstairs, a very feverish Val is laying on the bed, Tatiane keeping her company.
"Hey," I greet them. Tatiane stands up and takes my bag. I can hear four-year-old Marcus and nine year-old Jamie in the room two doors across, playing with wooden swords.
Tatiane and Valie have grown as well. They are now ten and twelve, respectively.
"If this keeps up, you won't go to your first reaping," I inform Val.
"That's better," I hear Tatiane say.
I chuckle slightly.
"You'll be going in any year now," Val reminds me with a sore voice. "Who's going with you if you're picked?"
"Cato Gunn," I answer, barely keeping myself from not rolling my eyes.
"Oh, wow!" Tatiane exclaims, her eyes brightening.
"Yes, wow," I snap. I still can't shake the fear I felt when I looked into Cato's eyes. The ones who remind me of the man who used to beat me and my mother, and left without looking back
A/N: Hey, guys! Okay, so this is a Clato story. I have it all planned out, including sequels and whatever. So I have a question: there is no female victor for the 3rd Quarter Quell. How to make it possible to have two victors for the 75th Hunger Games?
Leave your answers in the reviews! Thanks xx
