Wooohoooo. Finally done with Chapter 5. I'm glad to have finally done this.
I want to thank fadi25402702. Thank you for all of your criticizms. I don't know if that's how you spell it. Lol
I own nothing except for Cole, Clay, and more characters that will come later.
Chapter 5: Left Behind
"He's dead. How?" Peeta asked with a shocked expression on his face.
I told him how Clay had attacked me while searching for Katniss and how Clay was going to rape me again until Katniss and Gale interfered. I also told him how we took him to a lake located in the forest, and that I cleaned him up before leaving.
Peeta must have noticed me shaking because when I got done explaining he wrapped his arms around me and told me to calm down and that everything will be okay.
I nodded my head and turned to Mrs. Everdeen. "So how is he doing? Are his injuries healing just fine?" I wanted to find out and go home since this is the main reason why we left in the first place.
"He is doing fine Cole. Even though it has only been a few days, he is healing quite well. I would say that in a few weeks he will be back to normal."
I sighed in relief. At least something good has happened today. "Thank you Mrs. Everdeen. Well we better get home to let them know that we are okay. We will see you later in the week." With that said, Peeta grabbed his shirt and we headed back to the bakery.
When we approached the bakery, we noticed that the closed sign was up and just walked in to see everyone at the dinner table worried. Well, everyone except for Peeta's mother of course. We approached the table and all eyes turned to us. Peeta's father got up and he embraced me and Peeta in a huge bear hug.
"I was so worried about you two. I thought that one of you was going to get hurt." He then looks at me and notices the bruises. "And I believe that what I thought was correct. What happened to you, Cole?"
I explained it all to the family, and they all looked relieved to know that Clay was gone. I had started to look sad again since I had lost my only brother. When they all noticed my condition, they all calmed down and tried to give me support. I was thankful that they were trying to help me.
Thinking about my brother must have sparked something in my memory because I remember that I have not collected my things from the community home yet.
"Mr. Mellark." I addressed him. "With your permission, may we head over to the community home to get me and my brother's belongings?"
"Sure my boy. Now that Clay isn't around to do you harm, I think that it is safe for you and Peeta to do so."
I nodded my head in appreciation and began to walk to the exit with Peeta. He stopped me at the door and began to ask a question but I interrupted him.
"Peeta, I know what you are going to ask and yes I'm fine. I won't let the loss of Clay stop me from living my life. He and my parents would want me to continue so let's go to the community home."
I saw a grin appear on his face and he just nodded. After that, we left to go to the community home. When we approached the broken down shed that was the community home, I had a chill run up my spine. I always hated this place but I needed to get my things from it.
Peeta grasped my hand when he saw how uncomfortable I was. It meant that I had his support and that calmed me down enough to walk in. When we entered the building, we approached the front desk where a plump lady with dark circles under her eyes and wrinkles all on her face sat. I remembered her name to be Lavelle. She was the one who ran the place. My first night I was here, before I was raped, I remember seeing her beat one of the other kids just because he accidently broke a vase. The boy looked to only be around 6. I hated the woman for doing that to innocent children.
We approached the lady and Peeta spoke towards her. "Hello Madame. My name is Peeta and this is Cole. He was here a few days ago with his brother Clay, but then horrible things happened. My family has decided to take Cole in as part of our family and his brother has been reported as dead, so we have come to retrieve some of Cole's things. If that is okay?"
The lady looked towards Peeta with a look of what I think is approval and nods, but turned to me and I see malice. I turn away as quickly as I can and walk down the hallway to where I used to stay. As we walked down the hallway, I heard the doors creep open and saw eyes trained on us. Out of one of the doors came the little boy that got hit the day of my rape. He walked over to me and I stopped to look at him. I got down on my knees and was surprised when the boy hugged me. I returned the embrace and let go off him to look at him.
I remembered his name to be Logan. He lost his mother last year when she went into the woods. They said that she thought she saw apples and went to retrieve one only to be attacked by a lynx. He lost his father a few months later. His father was in the Hob one day and approached the fruit stall. In there was a lonesome apple that reminded him of his wife, and he was intending to get it for Logan. The only problem was that someone else wanted the apple as well. That led them to break out into a fight and the other man finished it when he grabbed a knife from the cooking area and stabbed Logan's father in the lung. They tried to rush him to Mrs. Everdeen but when they got there, it was already too late. Logan was sent to the community that night. I felt sorry for the boy.
"Logan. I want you to know that you will find a home. I know that you will." I said to show him that I believe in him. I then kiss him on the forehead. I look at him and see a smile on his face with tears gliding down his cheeks.
"Thank you, Cole" He then jumped into my arms one last time. We sat there for a minute until I told him that I had to go, but I promised that I would check up on him every once in a while. He nodded in understanding and ran back to his room.
"You know, Cole. You will make a great father when you grow up." Peeta stated while smiling at me. He offered me his hand to help me up, and I accepted the offer.
"Thank you, Peeta. You will make one too." I said and continued to walk to my old room. When we got there, I opened the door to the room. The room was as bad as I remember it. There was a hole in the wall, cracks on the floor as well as dried blood. The sight of the blood makes me shake again and Peeta gets in front of me to block the sight of the blood. I thanked him and walked to the drawers located next to the bed. I pulled out the suitcase I remember being under the bed and open it. I also opened the drawers and started to pile the stuff into the suitcase until I heard a clatter on the floor. I look down to find my mother's old music note necklace. It's like a locket because you can open it up and put pictures inside of it. I do so and notice the pictures inside of it. On one half is my father and mother. They are happily smiling and my father has an arm wrapped around my mom. On the other half is a picture of me as a baby, and I'm in my brother's arms. He looks younger and is holding me with so much love and care.
I fell to my knees and started bawling. This necklace brought back so many memories of my family. I felt an arm wrap around me and I opened my eyes to see Peeta there holding me in his arms. I instantly calmed down and explained to him what was wrong.
"I'm fine, Peeta. It is just that this was my mom's necklace. This music note here is a locket and inside are two pictures of all of us. It just really got me but now I'm okay so you don't have to worry." I said while wiping the tears from my eyes.
"Ok, Cole. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." Peeta said in a soothing tone. He then stood and finished packing for me. I put the necklace around my neck and grabbed the now full suitcase and left the community home to my new home with Peeta and his family.
I lived with the Mellark's for years, and I loved it there. Everyday I got to help Peeta and his family in the bakery after school, and then Peeta and I would go out to the park where we would relax. Peeta healed fast and was back to regular health in no time, like Mrs. Everdeen said he would.
It had been five years since the loss of my family and I had been doing fine. I woke up one day and was eager to get it over with. It was the day of the Reaping. The Reaping is when the Capitol, which rules over all of Panem, would select one male and one female tribute from each of the 12 Districts to fight to the death for the citizens' amusement.
I hated this day because it would be my first time to be entered into the Reaping. Peeta's would be in there five times seeing how he is 16. I got up sluggishly and roused Peeta up before his mother had time to yell at him.
"Come on, Peeta. It's time to get up. It's Reaping day." I said sweetly into his ear while shaking his body.
"Ughhhh. Ok, Cole. I'm awake." He said while rubbing his eyes to fully wake him up. He sat up and stretched while letting out a big yawn. When he finished, he proceeded to rustle my hair into a bigger mess than it was and I smiled while he was doing it.
"Come on, Peeta. Let's get ready and then head down before your mom has a meltdown." That got a laugh out of Peeta, and we went on ahead to get ready.
After we finished getting dressed, we headed down stairs where Peeta's family was waiting to eat breakfast. We sat around the table in silence while Mrs. Mellark got breakfast set on the table. We ate in silence for a little while until Mr. Mellark broke the silence.
"Well today is the day. I wanted to say good luck to you, Peeta, and you as well, Cole. With enough luck, we won't see one of you two on that stage. We haven't had to see Nate or Mark go up there, so I hope that I don't see either of you two up there."
"Thanks dad. That means a lot to hear you say that. I'm sure that we will be fine though. There are other guys out there who have there names in there more than us." Peeta said confidently.
"Yea, he is right Mr. Mellark. There guys who have there names in there more than us, so I believe that we will be fine." I said just as confidently.
"Don't get to comfortable boys. I remember years ago when my friend Laden had been drawn for the reaping and he was the exact same age as Cole. The point is don't get to comfortable." He warned.
Peeta and I both nodded in understanding and got up to head out to the park. It is something Peeta and I did every year before the Reaping. We did it just in case Peeta had been picked and luckily so far he hasn't been picked. When we arrived, we went to our usual hang out spot.
"Hey, Peeta. Can I tell you something?" I asked nervously.
"Sure, Cole. What is it?"
"I'm really scared of being reaped. I mean I don't want to leave you or your family. All of you have come to be my new family. If I leave you, I'm afraid that I would never see you again. I am also scared that you could be picked. I don't want to lose you Peeta. You have become my older brother and I don't want you to go. If I lost you, I wouldn't be the same." That is where I broke down into tears. Just thinking of losing Peeta or his family had a huge effect on me.
In an instant, Peeta was holding me in his arms and was comforting me. "Cole, don't think like that. If you get chosen, I would volunteer for you. You are too innocent to go into their games. Also if I do get picked, I would do whatever it takes to come back to you. Don't you worry, Cole." That comforted me enough to stop shaking and crying. "Come on. Let's go get this reaping over with."
He helped me up, and we headed to the Reaping.
As we walked to the Justice Building, I noticed Katniss walking hand in hand with Gale and realized that they were together. Peeta saw me staring and followed my gaze to find Katniss with the male hunter. The look on Peeta's face was that of hurt and understanding.
"Are you going to be ok, Peeta?" I asked, concern plastered on my face.
"You know, Cole. I think that I will be ok. She never showed any interest in me, and even though I thought I loved her, I never had the want to kiss her. You don't have to worry about me." He said to me in a relaxed tone.
I put him into a slight embrace and spoke into his ear. "Ok, Peeta. I just wanted to make sure that you were not heartbroken."
When we broke from the embrace, I saw a smile plastered on his face and felt one crawl onto mine as well. We continued to walk to the Reaping and approached the registration table. The man at the table had a little needle, which he used to extract some blood from me, and then allowed me to enter. Peeta did the same and walked in behind me. We had to go our separate ways into our respected groups. I was in a group filled with the other twelve year old boys, which was located at the back. I looked forward and tried to find Peeta in the group of sixteen year old boys. When I finally found him, we held each other's gaze and I mouthed 'I'm scared' to him. He mouthed back 'It will be fine', and I just nodded and calmed down.
It wasn't long after that when District 12's escort, Effie Trinket, approached the microphone with her shoes clipping with every step she took.
"Welcome one and all to the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games." She said with her chirpy, annoying voice. "Let's start off showing you the video provided by the Capitol."
With that said, the same video from years before began to play on the big screens located on both sides of the building. I completely ignored the video and took in Effie's outfit this year. She had on a cotton candy pink wig with matching lipstick. She was wearing a skirt that sparkled different shades of pink when hit by the sunlight. I snapped back into reality when I heard the ending of the video and Effie's clapping.
"Now let's pick the tributes for this year's games, and may the odds be ever in your favor." I became scared again. "Ladies first." She said while approaching the orb on her left which held the names of the girls. She took her time in grabbing one and when she finally did, she clipped her way back to the microphone. "Your female tribute for the games is… Primrose Everdeen!"
The place fell silent as the name of the beloved Seam girl is called. She walked out of the group of girls across the aisle from me, and I saw the look of terror on her face. She was wearing a sky blue dress the poked out in the back and her hair was up in pigtails. She slowly crept her way to the stage and when she was just a few feet away from the stage someone yelled.
"Prim!" I located the source of the scream and saw it to be Katniss. She ran off to her sister and stepped in front of her and surprised us all with what she says. "I volunteer as tribute."
I heard a collective gasp from the group of people behind us but was drawn back to the front when Prim started screaming. I see Gale walk up and take Prim away from Katniss. I see him mouth something, but I couldn't hear him.
Effie asked for Katniss's name and Katniss gave it to her. "I bet my buttons that that was your little sister. Ok give a hand of applause to your female tribute for District 12." None of us clapped but instead to the three middle fingers of our left hands and presented it to Katniss.
Effie must have been uncomfortable because she rushed over to the boys' orb without us realizing it and began speaking again. "Now your male tribute for District 12 is Peeta Mellark."
Peeta was stunned at first when he heard his name being called but finally started to move to the stage.
"Peeta no!" I yelled while shoving my way out of my group. I ran up to him and wrapped my arms around him. "Peeta you can't go. I don't want you to leave me." The tears were cascading down my face and I didn't care that people saw me.
He returned the embrace while trying to comfort me. "Cole, I have to go. I will return to you. I promise you this." He let me go and continued up to the stage where I thought I saw tears in Effie's eyes.
She seemed to sniffle before continuing with her program. "There you have it. Your tributes for the 74th Hunger Games. Shake hands you two and follow me into the Justice Building." The two did so and followed slowly.
As I entered the Justice Building, I saw Peeta's family leave his room and head down the hallway except for his father. His father went into what I thought was Katniss's room. I walked up to Peeta's room and entered slowly. Upon entering, I saw Peeta crying on the loveseat. I had never seen Peeta cry before. He always was strong for me. He looked up and looked at me upon me entering. He got up and opened his arms which I quickly ran into. We just stood that way for a few minutes until we heard the Peacekeeper say that we had five minutes left.
"Peeta, I want you to come back to me. I don't want them to change you and you have to promise me that." I said while whipping the tears from my face.
"I know, Cole. I promise you that I will come back and that they won't change me. No matter what happens I will still be the Peeta you know." He says and hugs me again.
When we break from the embrace, I proceeded to take of my necklace and hand it to him. "Here, Peeta, I want you to have this as your token. When you see it, I hope it reminds you of me." While I was talking, I put the necklace around his neck.
"I will remember you, Cole, no matter what happens." He wraps me in his arms for the last time then I'm ushered out of the room by the Peacekeeper.
I walked to the train station after leaving the Justice Building and waited to see Peeta before he left. A few minutes later, Peeta, Katniss, and Effie arrived and I got one last look at Peeta. His eyes were red and I could see the trails of dried tears. He smiled at me and boarded the train followed by Effie and Katniss.
As the train started to leave, I saw Peeta looking at me through the window and mouthed the words 'I love you.'
I smiled and mouthed words back. 'I love you too and stay safe.' Then the train was gone and out of sight. I had already started to feel lonely until I heard someone talking to me.
"Hey, kid. How would you like to help your friend?"
There you have it. The games have started and what was with that question at the end. Srry i sucked at ending this chapter.
I need to inform you that the 'I love you' part is for brotherly love if you didn't know that.
I will warn you that I will be hard to update the next few weeks. I have a band camp and then school starts soon. Thanks for reading and please review
~ColeInnocencAngel