I slowly open my eyes and stare at the blue sky above. For a while I just stay on the bench where I fell a sleep and watch as white, fluffy clouds sail by. It is very peaceful on top of the roof in the early hours of the day because the people of the Capitol have not started their day yet. There is not a sound to be heard a part from the rush of the wind in the air, that is until a calm voice says behind me, "Good morning Mr Jones."
"Good morning Mr President. What brings you up here?" I say politely while sitting up. I turn to face him and see that he is wearing a smirk, which can only mean something bad is about to happen.
"Well, Mr Jones. I thought that the show you and Miss Everdeen put on during the interviews was very…touching. I especially liked the part where you both admitted your love to each other, and so did the rest of Panem." I let out a sigh of relief as he says that, "But I am not here to discuss how you and Miss Everdeen are getting along because it has only been a few days since the end of the games and you still have the victory tour to get through. No, I am here because I was wondering if you knew what your talent will be."
Confused as to why he is asking this I say, "No, I do not have my talent ready yet. Why do you want to know?"
"Well it has come to my attention that since the Hunger games have finished a lot of women have been showing a…interest in you. And I was hoping that you would be willing to satisfy their needs. If you do there will be no need for you to have a talent, I can get someone to create a fake one for you."
"And I guess you have other ways to persuade me into it as well, I don't know, by killing my friends or by getting one of them be involved in a tragic accident that results in their deaths? Or by somehow getting me involved in the killing of my parents, perhaps?" I shout at him.
"Oh no. I only have one way to persuade you Mr Jones. I believe you have a younger sister called Lucy. Well as we speak a little girl called Lucy Jones is in one of the cells beneath my mansion. And how lucky I have a picture of how this little girl looked just before I left." He says in a sickeningly sweet voice before reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a piece of paper. He hands it over to me and I have to use all my willpower to stop myself from screaming with range and punching him into a pulp.
What I am looking at is a picture of my eleven year old sister strapped to a metal bed with tears streaming down her face. Her long, blonde hair has been cut off only leaving about an inch of hair left. Her once perfect face has been cut and bruised. And the clothes she wears are covered in blood which can only mean she has more cuts under her clothes. There is a man with a mask on standing next to her with a knife in his hand covered in blood. Lucy's blood.
"So do we have an agreement?" Snow says.
"Yes, but only if you release Lucy." I say through clenched teeth while standing up to face him.
"But if I release her how will I know that you are doing what is required. No I think I better keep it, just for safe keeping."
"It? My little sister is not an it. She is not a possession that can be discarded at will. She is not an object you can keep just for 'safe keeping' to make sure I do what you want me to do. She is a human being. She does not deserve to be treated like this. She deserves to be loved and cared for. Not abused by her father, ignored by her mother and tortured by you. She does not deserve any of that. If anyone does it's me. If you want to torture someone torture me, if you want to kill someone then kill me. But do not torture Lucy anymore and definitely do not kill her if you value your own life. Because I swear to God if you harm her anymore, everyone who helped in her torture will wish that they had never been born." I say to him.
"As long as you do what is needed of you then she shall not be harmed. And don't worry your torture will be coming very soon. Just not in the same way as your sister." He stands up and starts walking towards the elevator, "Oh and you can keep the picture as a reminder. Now have a nice day."
"Go rot in hell." I yell to the closing doors of the elevator.
I collapse back onto the bench and just stare at the picture of my tortured little sister. My innocent little sister who has had to go through hell just to make sure I keep a few women happy. He makes me sick. How can he do this to someone as young as Lucy? How can anyone live with themselves knowing that a little girl is writhing in agony because they gave the order?
But what disgusts me the most is myself. I was the one who wanted to win the Hunger games. The one who had trained there whole life to go into an arena, kill 23 tributes and enjoy it. I am the one who wanted all of this. All of the fame and fortune. But I was wrong. I don't want any of this.
I'm a monster. A monster that deserves to be where Lucy is now. That deserves the torture that Lucy is going through right now. I should be dead for killing all of those innocent children. But I can't die. Not if I want to save Lucy. Not if I want to free Lucy and kill Snow with my bare hands.
"Cato, are you alright?" My head snaps up to see fire girl standing in front of me with a worried look on her face. I nod my head but she doesn't look convinced. What's that you're holding?" I hand her the picture of Lucy and her expression goes from one of worry to one of horror and disbelief. "W-who is-"
"It's Lucy my eleven year old sister. Snow took her and tortured her to make sure that I do what he has told me to do." I say.
"He did this to make sure that you go through with the whole relationship thing? That's awful."
"No he did it to make sure that I keep Capitol women happy by selling my body to them."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"No you're not. You couldn't careless about what happens to me. As long as you're safe that's all that matters. I bet you don't even care about what happened to Lucy as long as its not your little sister being tortured it's OK, isn't it. You don't know how it feels to watch your sister being cut and beat by your Dad and know that there is nothing you can do about it. You don't know what its like to not be fed just because you were with one of your friends instead of training. You don't know what its like to be cut by your Dad just because you were trying to protect your sister from being the one to get beat." I shout at her.
"Cato, you're right. I don't know how it feels and I can't even begin to imagine the pain you went through but that doesn't mean I don't care, because I do. I care that Lucy is being tortured and I do care that you have to do things against your will just because the Capitol says so. And Cato, even though you don't think so I am here for you. Just because in the arena we were enemies doesn't mean we still are. And as a friend I swear I will help you get Lucy back."
For a minute I just sit and stare at her and she stares right back at me waiting for a reply. Finally I come to my senses and reply, "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you are willing to help me get Lucy back."
"It's OK. Come on shall we go back inside." She says offering her hand to me. I stand up and hesitantly take her hand. She guides me back to the elevator and when we are back on the twelfth floor, back to my room. "Will you be OK?"
"Yeah I will be fine fi-Katniss. Don't worry about me." I say calmly but on the inside I am in unimaginable pain. When she closes the door I go through to the bathroom and take a shower. Once I am changed into something presentable I walk out of my room and through to the living room where I see fire girl, her mentor Haymitch and escort Effie sitting on one of the couches and Tors my mentor sitting on one of the chairs.
"Hey." I say to the room at large.
"Hi Cato." Fire girl says, "Are you feeling better?"
"Why, are you sick?" Effie says.
"No I'm not ill, I'm fine." I reply.
"Well that's good because we are getting on the train to go back to District two and twelve in a minute." Tors says.
Effie's face quickly lights up and she jumps to her feet, "Yes, we have a very busy day today so everybody go and pack your things." And with that she runs off to go pack her many clothes. Tors and Haymitch also get up and walk towards their rooms as well. However fire girl stays seated.
"Why aren't you going to pack?" I ask her.
"I don't have anything with me. Why aren't you packing?"
"'Cause I don't have anything either." I tell her, sitting in the seat Tors was sitting in moments ago.
For a while we just sit and watch the T.V in silence. Neither of us wanting to break the silence. But sadly silence and the Capitol don't mix and soon there is a lot of screaming coming from Effie's room.
"What do you thinks happened in there?" Fire girl asks.
"I don't know. Her clothes hopefully fell on her and she is suffocating while we speak." I say coldly.
"Obviously someone doesn't like her. Do you think I should go see if she is OK?" But before I have time to respond Effie comes running into the room with a rather angry looking Tors behind her.
"What do you think you are doing with that knife?" Effie shrieks.
"I was hoping to kill you with it but it probably wouldn't get past all the make up and plastic you have on." Tors growls.
"I hope you know this is all natural." Effie says proudly.
"I wouldn't be too pleased about that if I were you." Tors answers. I can't help but burst out laughing at her comment and I can see that fire girl is trying to hide a smile.
Effie gives me a glare and if looks could kill I would be dead right now. "Hey! I didn't say it Tors did. So blame her." I say.
She gives me one last glare and turns her attention back to Tors. "And how do you know what beauty is?" Effie says in a false sweet voice.
Tors decides to ignore her question and throw the knife in her hand towards Effie. The knife sticks out of the wall just next to Effie's head and the look of terror on her face is indescribable.
Tors walks up to her and whispers something in Effie's ear. It can't have been pleasant because whatever was said has made Effie face drain of the little colour it had left from the knife.
"You two be downstairs in ten minutes." Tors says and with that she stalks out of the room.
"Umm, yes. Ten minutes." Effie says before tottering off to her room.
As soon as the door closes to Effie's room Fire girl and I burst out laughing.
"Oh my God! That was amazing. I hope Tors get angry at Effie more often." Katniss laughs.
"I know. Did you see the look on her face after the knife went flying past her?"
"Classic!"
I walk down the corridor of the train searching for the room I am staying in until we get to District two. As I walk past fire girl's room I hear a muffled sob. Stopping, I carefully turn the door handle and peer into the room.
On the bed is fire girl surrounded by pictures of something I can't quite see. She seems to be holding a letter in her hands, which must be the reason for the crying. I decide to leave her and I slowly leave the room.
"You can come in if you want, Cato." Fire girl say.
"No it's OK. I'll just leave you a-"
"No! Please come in!" She all but shouts at me. I quickly open the door and walk into her room. "Come and sit down." So I go over to her and sit down. "Look what Snow sent me." She says handing me the pictures that were scattered around her moments before.
I scan through them and what I see makes my blood run cold. The pictures are of Lucy and Fire girl's sister on a bed, surrounded by blood with cuts and bruises all over their bodies.
"He also sent me this." She tells me, handing over another bit of paper.
Remember our deal Miss Everdeen and Mr Jones,
"Is that all it says?" I asked shocked that there isn't anything else. She slowly nods her head, fresh tears making there way down her face. I quickly go and hug her hoping it will make her feel better. "Shhh, don't cry. We will get them back. As a friend a swear we will get them back." I tell her, mimicking what she told me on the roof.
She gives me a watery smile and says, "I know." I return the smile and get up to go to my room but she quickly stops me, "No, stay with me."
So I do. I stay with her that night on the train, and when it arrives in District two she gets off with me and stays at my new house in Victors Village. And by her doing that and me letting her, has led to a silent agreement between us two: I stay with her and she stays with me
Hey. Look how quickly I updated. This is my SORRY THAT THE LAST CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE chapter. I hope you forgive me.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you snoozinghamster, Phoenix Retribution and CountryGeek for reviewing.
Snoozinghamster : I'm glad that you like the idea. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.
Phoenix Retribution : There's a few reasons he didn't fight back, the first was because he was only 15 so his Dad would have been a lot older and heavier, secondly he if he fought back Lucy could have been injured and he didn't want that. Don't worry it will be explained better in a later chapter. And I'm pleased you liked it.
CountryGeek : I am happy you liked it and I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well. Thank you for the review.
Also, thank you to everyone who followed this story, I become happier every time I see someone else has liked and followed my story.
But please don't follow or favourite my story without leaving a review.
Thank you and I hope you enjoyed it.