Hours later, she lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling and unable to sleep. She was twiddling her thumbs over the silver sheets, a habit she hadn't done for over ten years.
She was worrying about everything. The pathetic romance between the Twelve tributes. The fake one between her and Cato. The Games tomorrow. Brutus and Enobria. Her dead brother Carson and his Games. Her weak little mother and whether or not she'd left her abusive husband yet.
Showing pain and fear means you're weak, and if you're weak you're as good as dead to me...
She pushed the bed sheets away and rose up off the bed. She was in a pair of blue pyjama shorts and a grey top, so luckily she didn't have to worry about changing into more decent clothes for where she was going. She pulled her pony tail tighter and opened the door almost silently before she made her way into the lift and pressed Training Room.
After a couple of seconds, the lift doors swung open with a comforting 'ding' to reveal the all but empty Training Room, the lights reflecting off the blades almost like a challenge, daring her to use them.
Eve forced air into her lungs through the thick layers of anger and sadness and annoyance and began walking over to the shelves of knives on the far wall of the room, when she suddenly heard somebody cough.
Eve ducked behind the closest pillar instinctively, but after realising that there wasn't an actual threat she straightened up and looked around.
Cato was standing over by a crowd of dismantled dummies to her right, holding a sword in one hand and wiping his nose with the other, his face looking especially pale in the dim lights. Eve was too pissed off to deal with him, so she spun around and started walking back towards the lift.
He must have heard her, because as soon as the lift doors swung back open, his voice froze her to the spot. "Who's there?" When he realised it was her, he huffed and turned his back to her. "Eve."
Noticing the aggression in his voice, Eve turned to face him and folded her arms. "Sorry to interrupt whatever you're doing. I was just going anyway." She snarled.
"Fine by me." He hissed back.
Eve turned back and was about to start storming back towards the lift, but she refused to leave without making him as miserable as she was.
"Actually, I'm fine here." She said. "And if you've got a problem with me being here, then you can be the one to clear out."
Cato turned to face her. "Look, Eve, I'm really not in the mood to deal with your shit right now. So either stay here and don't talk to me or leave." Eve picked up on the tiredness in his tone immediately. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he looked lonely and weak, though just as strong and stubborn as he usual.
She noticed the bags under his eyes and a thought ran through her head. "How long have you been down here?"
He put his sword back on the rack and picked over the spears. "Minutes, hours." He shrugged. "Does it matter?"
"Considering the Games are tomorrow, I think it does." She huffed. "It'd be pathetic if you died from exhaustion before they even started."
"We both know that's not going to happen." He grabbed the largest spear and weighed it in his right hand.
Eve held up her hands in fake defeat. "Alright, blondie."
Cato narrowed his eyes at her in response and positioned himself near the next set of dummies. Eve grabbed a smaller spear from the rack and took her place next to him.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm knitting." She spat out, sarcasm dripping off her words. "What the fuck does it look like I'm doing?!" She threw her spear and watched as it slammed through the groin of the blue dummy. Cato flinched and grabbed his crotch, as if he felt the spear drive through him. "You have no idea how much I wish it were you in front of me, instead of the dummy." She hissed.
Cato humphed and threw his larger spear, the whole thing diving straight through the forehead of one of the dummies and emerging out of the other side. Eve shrugged, as close to a compliment as she dared to get, and Cato walked over to the set of dummies and pulled out both of them. He held the smaller one out to Eve.
"I could've got that."
Cato tilted his head and shoved it at her. "I beat you to it." He said before walking over to the metal bench nearby.
Eve noticed just how cold it was in the Training Room at that moment. Goosebumps were prickling up all over her skin and her arms were beginning to shake.
"You cold?" He said, picking up on her shivering.
"Of course I am. It's fucking freezing." She said icily.
"Do you want my jacket?"
Eve stared at him with her mouth open for a few seconds before finally answering. "What?"
"You heard me." He started taking off his jacket as he spoke.
"No. No I don't want your fucking jacket." She finally managed to say, still wholly surprised by his sudden niceness.
"Here." He held it out to her.
"I don't want it." She hissed, and turned away, but he got up and draped it over her shoulders. She gaped at him.
"What?" He said as he sat back down. "I was overheating and you said you were-"
"Don't. Just don't." She held up a hand. "I don't know what you're trying to do but stop. It's making me cringe."
"I'm trying to be as friendly as I can without wanting to kill myself." He snarled.
"Watch yourself. If you go around being nice, people will think you've gone soft." She spat out, and pulled the jacket tight around her.
"We've both been forced into this, Eve. It isn't just you having to deal with all of it." He said, ignoring her.
She looked at him. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't realise how big this is?"
"That's not what I'm saying."
"Then what are you saying, Cato? Please. Enlighten me."
"I'm saying that maybe we should actually try." He ran his hand over his face and leant forward. "Maybe we should actually just go for it and be madly in love. It's fowl that they're making us do this. Fuck, it's hell. But we can't back out of it. It's everywhere. Come on, you've got to admit you've seen the reports. They've made fake photos of us kissing, for fucks sake." He took deep breaths. Eve realised he was twiddling his thumbs.
Eve sat down next to him. "You make it sound so easy." She bit her lip and turned to face him. "But it isn't. This is one of the hardest things I've ever done, and I'm sure it is for you too."
"That's what I'm trying to tell you. We can try to make it easier."
"And how are we going to do that?"
"Well first of all you need to be nice to me."
She glared at him, but he was smiling. Her look eased, and she felt her eyes soften. She was soon smiling.
"I'm kidding."
Eve smiled. "I know."
"But seriously, we do need to be nice to each other if we're going to make this work." He said.
"Well that's a given." She laughed and Cato joined in.
"So." Eve started, changing the topic and breaking the laughter. "Have you noticed the little crush Esme has on you?" Cato furrowed his eyebrows. Eve continued. "Every time she's in the same room as you she gets all hot and flustered and has to leave." She laughed.
"That's because of me? I thought she had some sort of disease." Cato smiled. A genuine smile, and Eve noticed how it lit up his face. He suddenly looked a lot more handsome. He looked into her eyes, and though Eve felt uncomfortable she looked back, faintly hearing a hum coming from the lift. Then he started to speak; his tone slow and calm."I was thinking..."
Eve listened for a second, but Cato seemed unsure if he should continue. Eve was curious, so she pressed on. "What?"
Cato took a deep breath. "I was thinking maybe we should try some survival stations. I know the instructors aren't here, but it would be good to know the basics."
Eve felt disappointment bloom in her gut, but she nodded and stood up. "Where do you want to start?"
"It's okay. I think this side isn't fully burnt..." Cato said, turning over the opossum meat and narrowing his eyes in concentration.
The two of them had found a storage freezer behind the locked doors at the back of the Training Room and, after using a bobby pin from Eve's hair to pick the lock, they'd grabbed a few frozen dead animals and attempted to cook them on a fire they'd made with the leftover moss and twigs.
"You know, my mum never let me cook back home. Now I see why." She glanced at Cato. "Sorry about the meat."
Cato looked at her and grinned. "My dad once told me that people get offended if you tell them the truth about their cooking."
Eve frowned at him, but he just laughed.
"Everybody has their weaknesses though. For example, yours is cooking and mine is plant recognition." He smiled, but Eve wasn't listening. She was too busy focusing on the hum coming from the lift.
"Someone's coming down." She murmured, and sure enough just as soon as the words came out of her mouth, the lift doors slid open and Crellis stepped out.
"How touching. The lovebirds from Two fucking in the Training Room."
Eve's hands formed fists.
"You seem jealous." She snarled, and began walking towards the lift, towards him. Cato was already in the lift when Crellis stuck out his arm, obstructing Eve from advancing.
"Maybe I am." He hissed, but Eve saw the mischief in his eyes. "We're going to have a little chat, Hadley. Cato, could you give up some privacy?" He didn't look away from her.
"I'm not sure I should." Cato narrowed his eyes. This time Crellis looked at him.
"Cato, just go. I'll be fine." Eve told him. Cato looked confused at first, but then angry. He pressed one of the buttons and didn't look at her as the lift doors slid towards eachother.
He grabbed both of her shoulders as soon as they clicked shut and slammed her against the wall so hard that she felt the shock drum up her spine.
"You've been avoiding me." He murmured, and Eve shivered as she felt his breath on her cheek. "Why?"
"I would've thought you'd got the message." She hissed, just as he pressed into her leg. "It isn't like you to fawn over a girl is it, Crellis?"
"These are... different circumstances." He grinned, and before Eve had the chance to make a wise retort, he kissed her.
The kiss wasn't soft, it wasn't gentle. It was brutal and forceful and menacing. For a second or two Eve couldn't even understand what was happening. As soon as he shoved his tongue down her throat, she leapt into action. Her body moved fluently and instinctively, shoving, kicking, punching, thrashing... But he didn't budge, and instead he growled against her lips and pushed his tongue deeper, his hand shifting up her thigh. She fought and screamed, but nothing was making a difference. She felt his legs shift so that one was on either side of her bunched-together legs, a bulge pressing against her upper leg. He'd opened himself up.
She brought up her knee so hard that she almost felt the impact herself. Crellis stumbled backwards groaning, and Eve basically ran over to the lift and punched the button thrice, and she was in the lift within five seconds, the doors sliding comfortably shut. Just before the doors were fully closed, Crellis stood up still holding his crotch and smirked. A hideous, gruesome version of a smirk that was halfway between a grimace and a sneer, filled with blood and murder and mercilessness.
The Games. He mouthed, and then he was gone, the doors acting as a barrier between the two of them.
As the lift rose, Eve realised that she didn't want that barrier to be removed.
Cato walked out of the lift and towards his room with his head cloudy and his thumbs twiddling together. He was worried about whatever Eve and Crellis were talking about, but more so he was confused.
He had gotten on with Eve. He had gotten on with the girl he hated more than anything else. It was wrong, so incredibly horribly wrong. But somehow it was so natural and so enjoyable and right... He shook his head. Whatever thoughts he was having about Eve didn't matter. He still hated her.
Cato groaned and pushed open the door to his room, but froze when he heard somebody cough behind him. He swung around. Enobaria sat on the edge of the sofa, her arms propping up her head.
"Enobaria? What are y-"
"Shut up and take the phone." Cato realised that she was holding telephone, its sleek black colour shimmering.
"Who is it?"
"Your dad." She paused, smiling weakly. "You know District Two gets special treatment. Calling home is one of the many parts." She got up, still holding out the phone, and pulled him into a hug. Cato froze. What the fuck?
"Just... don't break anything." She added, and after patting him on the back and shoving the phone into his hand, she left.
He put it up to his ear, still completely confused.
"Hello?" He said.
"Cato." His dad's voice cracked. And them he started sobbing uncontrollably.
"Dad? Dad, what is it? Are you okay?"
"Nothing's okay. N-nothing at all." Cato sat down, afraid he'd fall over.
"What's happening? What's going on?" He was getting frantic. Something big had to have happened. His dad hardly ever cried.
"It's... It's Aaron... H-he got trans-transferred to District T-Ten after you l-left. A r-riot broke out and the r-rebels set of a... a b-bomb and... and..." His dad was bawling so much he couldn't even finish. Cato felt tears pricking at his eyes.
"What happened?" He choked. Aaron was his only brother. He was a Peacekeeper, and the two of them were like peas in a pod. If Aaron was injured, he needed to find out. Now. "I need to know." He barely managed to say it. His dad cried harder.
"Cato." He blubbered. Cato started sobbing. "A-Aaron's dead."
Cato sat on the couch with the phone still pressed to his ear, crying so loudly that he was all but positive everybody in the building could hear. His dad was still on the other end, and they were crying together. He cradled his head in one hand and was almost crushing the phone in the other.
The two of them stayed connected for what felt like hours. Eventually, Enobaria had come back through and calmed him down, telling him that it was all going to be okay and forcing him to hang up the phone. He didn't fight her when she hugged him. He didn't tell her to fuck off or make any attempt to do anything. He just sat there crying, shaking, feeling like a weight had been shoved down his throat.
Aaron.
After Cato eventually pulled himself together, Enobaria led him to his room.
"You'll be okay. Just don't let it ruin you until you're out of the Games." She said calmly, and nodded once before turning on her heels and walking away.
He slid into the bed sheets silently, thinking about what his mentor had said. She was right: the breakdowns could wait.
He'd had his cry, but now he just had to shove the thoughts to the back of his mind. He'd put up a barrier. He'd continue hating Eve, despite what had happened in the Training Room. Whatever she and Crellis were doing together, he'd stay out of it. He'd be his old self. He'd forget everything and get on with it.
With one last tear rolling down his cheek, Cato closed his eyes.
He'd win. He was sure of it.
I was crying as I wrote this chapter. Cato's shown this side of him that he doesn't let anybody see and I feel so horrible to have made his brother die to establish that. Cato's secretly this massive softy and is a really nice person underneath all his anger and violence, and I needed to get that across. As a side note, Aaron technically means 'brother', so I thought it would be kind of cool if I had that thrown in.
But seriously, poor Eve! Crellis is horrible and now she's also got some mixed feeling about Cato? Sheesh.
Anyway, thank you all so much for reading! I'm incredibly proud to say that this story has now had over 2,000 views which is AMAZING. I love the world. Please leave a review or PM me if you have any comments or queries!
Eva xox