~Glimmer Point of View
I woke up before Cato the next morning. His breathing was still steady, but I wondered why I couldn't feel any of his body. Looking down, I noticed he had slept with a blanket draped over him on top of the bed. Ever since that first night when I had almost clawed his eyes out in fear, he hadn't actually slept next to me. I was kind of grateful for it, especially with the clothes Wynn gave me to sleep in. He, like the rest of the world, thought I was sexy and should dress as such. So when my nightgown got "accidently" torn in the door jam, he gave me these wear. I wasn't comfortable being in them alone, much less with Cato next to me. It bared my stomach and accentuated my breasts, hips, and legs. I had tried to keep myself from going to him that night, feeling way too needy. But I had gone anyway because I was too scared to try to sleep alone, even with the memories of my family dancing in my head.
So I had gone to him in the darkness, and even though his room was dim, I had seen the light of desire in them as he had looked at me. I could tell he was in control of it, comfortable with it and me, and I trusted him not to make a move unless I gave the okay. But that quick spark of desire had made me hesitate, until he sat up and patted the bed, and the old him was back.
I was afraid he'd try something, but he didn't. Even when he rubbed my back, he never touched my skin through the sheets. It was as if he knew I was scared. Or that if he did touch me, he wouldn't be able to control himself. The latter scared me the most, and I hoped it wasn't that.
The day was slow after I woke up. I tried to read the morning away after breakfast, but even my book was boring. And as I put the book down and tried to think of something to do, a thought dawned on me. What had they shown the night Thresh came? They liked to show deaths, and they knew where I was, where we both had been. But they hadn't shown what he had done. If they had, Wynn would have known, everyone would have. But Mom and Dad hadn't known, no one I had talked to since the Games had known.
So I looked up at the screen in my room and flipped to Thresh's death. It was the quickest blur of the whole Games. It only showed him beating me with his fists for a few moments, my intense struggling, and then Cato rushing in and killing him. And of course after that they had to show him making sure I was alright, gently scooping me up and moving me so I was comfortable and he could tend to my wounds. They briefly showed him holding a wet cloth to a mark on my head as we looked at each other sweetly before the clip was over.
I stared at the screen for a few moments afterward. They hadn't shown the revenge Thresh had gotten. A shudder ran down my spine when I realized- they had edited that out, meaning they had watched it happen. The Gamemaker and his crew had watched him take advantage of me, maybe even laughed, and they had done absolutely nothing to help. I knew they were heartless, but could they really be that heartless as to watch a girl be abused like that and no one had thought or cared to do anything?
At least they didn't show it though. They probably couldn't. The Games was watched for the deaths, for the survival and battles, alliances and betrayals. It was not watched for anything sexual, and what Thresh did would have been considered in that category. Perhaps they were afraid of an uprising if they had happened to show it. Yes, people went along, grudgingly of course, with children killing children and teens killing teens. But parents, as much as it hurt for them to watch their children die, would not have stood for what had happened to me. It would have been the first time the Capitol turned away from blood, I know. Because even the strange, stuck up people in the Capitol would not have been able to watch, nor let their children watch, blood running down a young girls thighs as a man hurt her in the worst way possible.
It was a strange way to feel comfort, but it brought me some. I was angrey at the Gamemaker, but now I could do nothing.
But how could I stop this from happening again? Obviously it must have happened before, or the crew wouldn't have been able to edit it and handle everything so cleanly. This was one thing no one told you about in training, something no mentor would say or anyone would tell you. It was an untold horror of the arena, as if there needed to be one more to add to the fears we actually expected.
Perhaps I could do something to help. If only to help the girl I might mentor next year. I would tell her, warn her. And hopefully she would be better for it, and would trust no man in that arena. It might have been quite beneficial to know Cato, but if I hadn't been there with him that night, Thresh would never have found me. Not to mention, next year there would not be two victors- there would be one. If there could only be one, it was best to be alone. Because when alliances broke, they usually didn't break pretty.
Cato Point of View
Our off day was boring. I had hoped to talk to Glimmer more, but she stayed holed up in her room. I didn't know what she did in there, but I wasn't going to invade her privacy and go in. She got enough of me at night, though we seldom talked then.
When she had come last night, it had been a little different. I always knew she had a body, always knew she had very fine charms hidden under her clothes. But when she came last night, in those skimpy pieces of clothing, I had barely been able to contain myself. Hopefully she hadn't seen the look in my eyes, a look which would have terrified her. I had looked at her, only for a brief moment, with the desire to take her under me in bed. But she must not have seen that, or she wouldn't have come and lay down next to me. She wouldn't have let me run my fingers through her hair or sit so close to her.
If she had seen it, she would have turn and fled. Because poor Glimmer would have thought I would act on that quick spark. I never would have, unless she had wanted to. But she very clearly was not interested in me, or anyone, like that, which I was fine with. We'd be on this train for a while, and after that possibly living together in the Capitol. They would keep us two victors together, the only ones to win as a pair. And that would mean I would get my chance. One day, she would change; she would get over the horrible wrong that was done to her. And when that day came, I of course would be there. She'd be a woman one day, and all women have needs.
I grinned to myself at the thought. Glimmer would be a very nice prize one day. I was sure I'd be her first, since I didn't count Thresh. He might have gotten her untouched, but I would get her with consent, and she'd still be good.
Me, I had lost count of the times I'd had women in my bed. As a very attractive career, I was used to women and girls alike fawning over me. But only the good-looking and smart ones had the pleasure of me over them in bed. Clove had actually been one of those. She, though, hadn't thought exactly like most had.
My kisses trailed down her neck as I sucked on her pulse, making her moan. I felt her legs wrap around my waist as I laid her down under me on the bed. Unexpectedly, she climbed on top of me, straddling my hips and looking down on me with a sly grin. As she leaned down to kiss me, I gripped her hips and pinned her under me so quickly I knocked the wind out of her. She lay under me, panting with a confused look on her face.
"Why did you do that?" Her breathing was heavy, her chest rising and falling, her legs still under mine.
"Because I'm always on top." I tried to kiss her collarbone, but she jerked away, wrapping her legs around my hips and pinning me under her.
"Not this time."
But I snarled and gripped her legs too hard; forcing her arms above her head as once more she was under me. It was the one and only time I saw fear in her eyes that I had caused. I hadn't meant to frighten her; I had meant to teach her a lesson. But she had been still under me, panting once more as I looked down on her. And then I opened my mouth, talking to her calmly.
"If you want this Clove, we do this my way, understood? You don't get to be on top, because I want to be on top. And I always get what I want, okay? Now, if you're not okay with that, the door is on the other side of the room. I'm sure there are other girls who will be much more willing."
She shook her head, and never tried to get her way with me in bed again. I hadn't been gentle with her that time, and I regretted it now. At the time I hadn't known she was a virgin, I hadn't thought to ask. She had tried being so dominant with me I thought she'd been with a man at least once. And it's not like she had bothered to tell me. Even as I was rough with her, she had never screamed out in pain, never told me to stop, never said I was hurting her. I guess I should have known when she winced, when I had taken her innocence in one swoop without so much as the bat of an eyelash, when she had gasped under me, shuddered, and left tear stains on my pillow that I only found after she left the next morning, just as I had only found the blood on my sheets the next morning. I had debated even then that maybe it was simply her time of the month, that it had come in the night. But I knew now that I had taken her virginity brutally. That partially showed her strength, I had thought at the time. That even as I hurt her without realizing it, she had never begged nor pleaded. I knew then she would fight to the death in the arena, no matter the pain. Because some of the worst pain in the world they say, is being taken harshly for the first time as girl. I had done that to her, perhaps even increasing her confidence in what she could handle. I just wish I could have apologized for what I had done before the Tracker Jackers got her.
