He embraces me as the tears keep streaming down my face. I rest my head on his chest. The warmth of his muscular chest is enough to make me feel comforted. We stand there awhile wrapped in each other's arms. Speechless. The warmth of his muscular body is enough to make me feel like everything is going to be okay. "Clove" I hear Cato whisper through the silence. "It's going to be okay." I feel a new wave of tears well up in my eyes. I knew this moment was soon going to be over. I felt his hand move down my arm and towards my bandage. I feel his body tense up as he slips his hand underneath it. I hold my breath as I watch the bandage fall to the ground. I feel his finger trace my scar as he breathes in deeply. His embrace tightens as I feel something wet fall on my head. I look up slowly to find that his eyes are closed with tears falling from them. I felt the pain in my chest return as he continues to cry. He is a Career. Careers are the ones who win the games, who bring pride to our district. I had no idea why he was crying, but I was afraid to ask. After a few more moments in his warm embrace, he lets me go. He wipes the tears off his face and smiles an awkward smile. I want to speak but I am completely speechless. He turns to walk again, but not before he puts a hand lightly on my back as we start walking. I quickly dry my tears while he is not looking. Suddenly he breaks the silence.
"I am really sorry about that Clove." He says softly. "The thought of you crying because of being attacked, and you bleeding on the floor breaks my heart every time I think about it" The pain in his voice is clear as day. We continue walking as if nothing happened only moments before. I put my hand on my arm and jump at the fact that my bandage is off then I remember that Cato took it off. I trace my fingers around the scar and cringe. I can't bring myself to look at the scar that much, but I know it's still deep. "So Clove, Are you planning on becoming a Career?" He asks.
"I think so, but I am not sure fully." I say. I haven't put much thought into it. "What about you? Are you planning on becoming a Career?" I ask.
" I haven't decided yet, but I am thinking yes. But it is also up to my trainer." He says. I flinch at the mention of the word trainer because of the wound mine gave me awhile back. I started to wonder how many of the beatings I have gotten have Cato seen.
"This is a really weird question, but how many times have you seen me be beat by my trainer?" I ask. His head snaps towards me. The question caught him off guard. He takes a moment to think about his answer.
" I believe around four or so times." He says. "The knife incident was the one that scarred you and me the most" I can't help but laugh and smile at that, because it was true. "The other ones were more of me looking over and seeing them kick you once or twice or slap you. I heard about this other big one, but I wasn't there to see it or help you." This is true, other than the knife incident there was a big one where my trainer slammed me agents the wall and hit me and hit me until I was barely conscious. I went home that night barley able to see, because all the blood in my eyes blinded me.
"Yeah there was a very bad one." I say as I look down. "What about you. What made you get your scars?" I ask. His eyes light up as a smile emerges on his face. Right then I knew he was about to share something personal.
"Well because of being a sword fighter and being cocky by mouthing off to my trainer I have a scar on my side. It isn't as bad as the one on your arm but it is still bad." He says as he points to where it is. I clench my fist and hold my breath because I remember that day. I looked over because I heard two people yelling back and forth at each other. I later found out it was Cato and his trainer. I didn't understand what was going on fully, but I saw you guys start throwing punches and battling it out. I saw his trainer get extremely mad and he snapped. He grabbed a sword and gashed Cato's side open. He fell to the ground but he never cried out in pain. I have never seen the peacekeepers move so fast to get someone to the hospital. "It hurt quite badly and I lost a lot of blood. Sometimes I am surprised I am alive after that. I was also in the hospital for almost a week, fighting for my life the entire time. What was your longest time in the hospital?" he asks. I take a moment to think about my answer.
"I believe that it was three weeks." I say. His eyes widen in surprise but quickly change into a confused look. "It wasn't because of training though." I say. This is true, it wasn't because of training. It was because of my alcoholic parents. They came home one night and beat me in a drunken rage. I broke many bones and was also bleeding profusely. The doctors were surprised that I made it to the hospital without dying. My parents never apologized for it because I don't believe that they care about me or ever will. My parents only care about my older brother, Nicolas. He became a peacekeeper in district 11 three years ago. I am very glad that I never have to see him because he does exactly the same things my parents do to me.