I wrote this in a different style than usual . . . . I hope you like it!
The Reaping
Word Count: 3,416
Chapter 25
Clove steals a glance at Cato as they make their way to the Justice Building. He was dressed in a navy blue suit with his hair gelled back rather than its usual tousled mess. She was beyond nervous at the moment and she couldn't stop herself from toying with a loose string on the hem of her skirt. He was volunteering today, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't afraid for him. So many things can go wrong in the Games. You could starve, get eaten, become sick. . . . get killed.
She let out a shaky breath as this thought came to her. She repeatedly reminded herself that there was nothing to worry about and that he would be completely fine. He would, after all, get many sponsors. The Careers never ran out of food, water, or weaponry. So what did she have to worry about?
Everything.
She knew that he would probably be the most deadly tribute in the arena but the fact that he only had a one out of twenty-four chance of coming home made her feel sick. Her fingers were intertwined with his and he could feel as the muscles in her hand clenched around him until her knuckles were white.
"Don't be so nervous." He told her smoothly.
"Don't be nervous?" She hissed. "How can I not be nervous?" She demanded.
"Well, for starters you can let go of my hand, you're starting to cut off my circulation." He informs her.
She quickly releases his hand and watches as he flexes his fingers back and forth until his skin returns to its normal color.
"Hold on." He tells her as he abruptly stops walking and reaches into his pocket. A moment later he pulled out a small blue pill.
"Here, take this." He instructed while holding out his hand.
"What is it?" She asks him hesitantly.
He rolls his eyes at her. "I knew you were going to freak out about the reaping, so I got you this." He said while pushing his hand closer to hers.
She reaches out and takes the small blue pill between her fingers.
"What is it?" She repeats.
"It's from the capitol, it's supposed to calm you down." He tells her.
"Is this legal?" She questions.
"No." He answers with a smirk.
"Will it kill me?" She presses.
"Why would I want you dead? It's just supposed to calm you down." He explains, slightly surprised by her question.
"Side effects?" She asks while examining the pill a little closer.
"It might make you a little loopy, that's all." He reassures her.
"What do you mean by 'loopy'?" She asks him hesitantly.
"You might be a little. . . . .out of it." He says to her.
"Whatever." She mumbles. She needs something to relax her nerves before she has a mental break down in front of the entire population of District Two. The last thing she wants is for people to think she's weak. She tilts her head back and releases the pill, allowing it to fall down the depth of her throat without any effort.
"When will it start working?" She asks him while looking up.
Cato glances down at his wrist watch.
"'Bout twenty minutes." He tells her.
She frowns. "Well that's no good. I need it now. What good is it if it starts working after the reaping?" She asks him.
"Because I know you'll be even more of a nervous wreck once I'm actually in the Games." He tells her.
She sighs. "You're probably right." She mutters.
"I'm going to be completely fine Clove." He tells her seriously.
She lets out a long sigh. "I know." She mumbles.
"Before you know it I'll be back." He reassured her.
They both remained quite after that.
As the sun beats down on them from above they see the large gray structure known as the Justice Building coming into their view.
"Don't worry." He says calmly. "I've got this."
Clove nods her head quickly, unable to speak for fear her voice would crack.
"Clove." He said firmly.
She looked up at him.
"How many years have I been training?" He asks her knowingly.
"Five." She said so quietly he barely heard her.
"Exactly. Five years. One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five days." He says firmly. That's how long I've been waiting for this moment and trust me why I say this, I will not screw it up."
Her eyes find the ground as he finishes his sentence.
"But what if-"
"No buts." He cuts her off.
"B-but..."
"Ah ah ah. No buts." He repeats.
She sulks and turns her head away from him.
With every step closer to the Justice Building Clove feels a little bit more light headed. She becomes slightly unbalanced and occasionally grips Cato's arm for support.
Get it together. She thinks. She's not sure if her nerves are responsible for her wooziness or if the small blue pill is to blame.
Despite her best efforts she still looks visibly upset, and not to mention a little shaken. Once the Justice Building is a few meters away Cato pulls her to the side and places his arms on her shoulders.
"Calm. Down." He says slowly.
She swallows the lump in her throat.
Cato leans in and ever so gently places a much needed kiss on her lips. She kisses him back half halfheartedly, feeling a little bit too sick to put all of her strength in it.
When he pulls away he gives her a genuine smile, one she's not able to return.
"Let's go." He says as he grabs her hand and continues walking towards the Justice Building.
Clove's eyes dart around as she tries to identify everything at once. Peace Keepers on the left and right, age groups twelve to fifteen are in the middle, the blood sample table resides at the left hand exit . . . . .
Cato eventually finds their age group and begins to pulls Clove in its direction. Despite his protest, Clove remains at his side, even if she is supposed to be in the girls' section.
"You're going to get in trouble." He hisses.
She doesn't answer him, instead she simply grabs his hand and turns her head the other way, too afraid of what might come out of her mouth if she were to say how she really felt.
I'm scared. I love you and I don't want you to volunteer. She wants to tell him this, but it was too late. Plus who did she think she was asking him not to volunteer when he had been dreaming of this moment his entire life? It wasn't her place.
She needed to snap out of this mood, and fast. It was starting to effect her more that she thought it would. He would volunteer and win, it was that simple. Why did she have to obsess on it to the point where she was about to fall apart?
Because she's Clove. And no matter how much she tried to deny it, she knew that she couldn't help it.
The echo of the loud speakers snaps her back into reality.
"Welcome, welcome!" The female escort said happily into the microphone. She wasn't the same escort from last year. Her skin was a light blue color with small diamonds embedded around her neck and arms along with a few on her legs. Whenever she would turn at the right angle the sun would catch them and a small light show would be put on display. Her hair was a bright magenta color with yellow tips on the ends. It was somewhat short but since it was spiked up in all different direction it gave the allusion that it was much longer. Since their age group was placed so close to the stage Clove was able to see her long orange eyelashes from where she stood.
She internally cringed at the sight of the young woman. Who would ever want to look like that? The escort smiled with a level of enthusiasm she didn't think was possible, showing the audience a set of sharpened gold teeth.
Clove blinked several times in an attempt to see the stage better. Her vision was suddenly becoming slightly foggy and was making things difficult to see. She told herself in was just the sun, but the haze was closing in on her to the point where the stage was just a blur.
"Cato." She whispered to him, trying to let him know that whatever he gave her to calm down was having the opposite effect on her.
"Not now Clove." He hissed under his breath.
Clove felt a slight ringing in her ears as the escort began speaking again.
"I want you all to know what an honor it is to be escorting one of Panem's finest districts." She says sincerely. "Now it's time to find out who will have the absolute privilege of representing District Two!" She squeals in her annoying Capitol accent.
Clove tightens her grip on Cato's hand as she says this.
"How about we start with the boys? Hmm?" She muses as she walks over to the glass reaping ball. Her spiked heels click loudly as she makes her way to the right hand side of the stage.
"Cato." She whispers again, this time with a little more urgency.
His eyes flicker to her but he refuses to answer, fully knowing that the cameras will be on him in just a few moments.
"Are you ready to see who is going to make history?" The escort asks the crowd with exuberance. In response people cheer loudly and whistle. Clove turns her head to each side as she tries to identify the people in the crowd. Her vision was returning slowly but it was replaced with a low humming sound in the back of her head.
"Well since you all are so excited I better not keep you waiting!" She sings while flashing a blinding smile, literally. Her gold fangs caught a ray of sun causing a small beam of light to be projected into the crowd.
She lets her fingers skim along the edges of the reaping ball lethargically before sticking her hand in the bowl.
She reaches in and hesitates before she grabs the slip of paper. The second before her fingers make contact with the piece of parchment she changes her mind and chooses a different one.
She pulls it out of the reaping ball and smiles once more before unfolding it.
"Micheal Levean!" She says happily into the microphone.
Before the kid even has a chance to move a centimeter Cato's booming voice is silencing the whispering crowd.
"I volunteer!" He says in a loud menacing voice.
Clove releases a shaky breath. Cato shrugs her carelessly off his arm before making his way to the stage. He struts across the platform with his head held high, staring daggers into the crowd. No one in their right mind would try to volunteer for him at this point. Usually several people each year try to fill the spot as male tribute. Whoever the last person is to volunteer gets the role. However, if the first person to volunteer is big enough no one will usually challenge it, most likely fearing what would happen to them if they made it home.
"What's your name dearie?" She says in a chipper ton once he reaches her.
"Cato. Thomson." He says slowly with an extreme amount of composure. Several people exchange confusing glances as his tranquil tone echos into the crowd. No one in their right mind who actually think he's that calm right now. It's an act, and it makes people wonder what he'll be like in the arena. It makes his look desirable.
The escort grabs his hand and holds it high in the air as the crowd erupts into an enthusiastic applause.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Cato!" She booms.
People cheer and shout and a few even whistle as she says his name. The applause slowly dies down after a minute or two.
The escort begins walking to the reaping ball that holds all of the female names. Clove notices how several of the other girls shift anxiously when she reaches the glass sphere. They're honestly clueless. Anyone who's not in the Career Academy doesn't even stand a chance of getting into the Games. They may get reaped, but someone always volunteers for them.
As she looks back up she's feels a pang of uneasiness hit her when she realizes that the majority of her vision is being covered with small black dots. They're scattered around in small clumps, blocking out some her vision. They fade in an out to a point where it makes her dizzy.
As the spots fade she sees a brief image of the escort reaching into the reaping ball and grabbing a slip of paper.
Clove looks up to see a slightly blurred Cato staring at her. She knows that look. He's excited. He can't wait to get out there. To bring pride to District Two and his family. Clove briefly wonders why Cato's parents aren't in the stands but she quickly decides that they must already be at the Capitol.
"Are we ready to see which courageous young woman will become the tribute for District Two?" She questions.
There's a scattered applause along with several people shushing those around them.
She unfolds the paper and stares at it for a moment before looking up and smiling.
"Clove Williams!" The escorts says proudly. Her voice continues to echo for several long moments.
Several people gasp and whisper thing like 'they're screwed' or 'His girlfriend.'
Clove feels her blood go cold. She's not sure if it's out of fear or just a side effect of that stupid blue pill. The world around her begins turn as she tries to make sense of what just happened. There has to be a mistake! It's not supposed to end up like this!
This whole thing might no even be not even real. She decides.
Cato did say that the small tablet might make her a little 'loopy.' She made a mental note to kick his ass when he came home. There was a really good chance that none of this was actually happening, and that she was just having another awful nightmare.
The moment before she begins to cry is when she realizes that someone is going to volunteer. She lets out a sigh of relief and quickly regains her composure, despite her dazed state.
Whatever girl was chosen to volunteer would never pass up the opportunity to be in the Games just because she got reaped. Everyone knew that next year would be her year. She had nothing to worry about.
She looks up at Cato and tries to gives him a comforting smile but knows that it probably isn't that comforting considering the fact that she's pretty sure she's about to black out at any moment. Cato's face looked extremely pale almost to the point of sickness. He stares at her with such a blank expression Clove begins to feel slightly concerned for his well being, even though she should be more concerned about herself at the moment.
"Do we have any volunteers?" She sings. In an instant Clove realizes what's happening.
No one's going to volunteer. But. . .why? Every single person around her knows that it's not her year! What was wrong with them? Why would they do this to her, children no less! She had never maimed them, she never did any of them wrong, so why would they do this to her?
The silence of the crowd made her blood boil. They were mocking her.
You're gonna die! The silence whispered to her.
He might even kill you! The voices in her head shouted.
Clove instantly froze. The voices weren't in her head they were. . . .here. Somewhere close by. She whipped her head around in an effort to locate the source of the voice, only causing the world around her to spin slowly. Clove cranked her neck to the side in an attempt to rid herself of the whispers.
"Come on dear, where are you?" The escort said while looking through the sea of people.
She ruffly pushed past the others in attempt to get to the stage.
She wasn't herself.
The real Clove would be a mess and practically tripping as she tried to make her way to the stage.
But not this Clove.
At the moment she looked demoniacal. She made her way to the platform with such grace and agility it didn't seem possible. A few seconds ago she was seeing stars and felt sick. But now a strange air loomed over her, almost as if the worst had past and new and stronger her had emerged. The blurred spots in her vision had vanished and everything around her seemed to be vivid and colorful.
And when the women asked her to introduce herself to the crowd she grabbed the microphones and said in a slow, slurred voice, "Clove."
She dropped the microphone and turned to face Cato. He wasn't completely aware of what was going on around him but Clove wasn't able to tell that in her state.
Something had finally snapped inside her. All of those years of being so confused about everything had brought to the point of insanity. Or maybe it was just the medicine. The Capitol has very low standers when in comes to prescription narcotics, anyone can buy almost anything without being caught. Whatever was in that small blue tablet made her surroundings so bright her head was pounding.
"You." She whispered to him.
Kill him. The voice from before murmured.
"-were not-" kill him. The voice repeated a bit more firmly. Should she listen to it? Of course not! What the hell was she thinking? She loves him so much it hurts, why would she ever what to kill him? She was somewhat surprised at how her thoughts had taken such a murderous path, directed towards Cato no less.
"-supposed to-" Do it! The voice urged in a hushed whisper.
"-let this-" Are you scared? Do you want your mother? It taunted.
She turned her neck to the side in a final attempt to get rid of the voice.
"Happen." She said slowly while walking towards him, stumbling slightly.
He slowly backed up, still in shock of the events that took place just moments ago.
"I'm going to kill you." She told him sweetly.
Yes. The voice praised.
"I'm going to kill you!" She sang with a laugh.
"Clove. . . . . ." He said slowly while taking a step toward her.
Before she can get any closer to him a crowd of Peace Keepers is pulling her back, trying to restrain her as she tries desperately to claw her way towards him.
"I'm going to kill you!" She screams.
Cato's face remains completely blank as he tries to hind his hurt. He knew she didn't really want to kill him. . . .right? He shouldn't have given her that medicine, he knew that. It was from the Capitol, and he knew it was a stupid move on his part.
He didn't know how he was going to get her out of the arena, but she was coming out.
With or without him.
A/N Over the past two chapters I've lost about 20 reviewers and I'm starting to get scared. . . . Did you guys leave me? :( Did I do something wrong? :(
This was a really important chapter so please review, It'll make my day. I need something to cheer me up because my week sucked and I'm feeling really discouraged about everything, including my writing.
Thanks for reading, Clove was a little crazy in this chapter because I'm too deprested to write fluff.
Also don't do drugs. Like I say, pugs not drugs.