Born to Kill, Not to Love

by Nacho the Greato

Is Clove really the vicious and unforgiving tribute she appears to be, or is she just misunderstood? This is the Hunger Games from Clove's perspective. R&R please, I love constructive criticism. And if you have any better ideas on the title, that would be great. I promise it's a lot better than the image I chose for it :

4. Motivation

Okay, I wrote this in, like, 5 minutes. I will fix it later. I hope you like it! Please tell me if there's anything you do or don't like about it. Like I said, I love constructive criticism.

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I looked into his eyes, searching for any sign of falsity, but there was none. He was telling the truth. I wanted to respond to him. I wanted to say something nice back, but all that came out was, "In the morning, we might die."

He chuckled as if this were funny. It wasn't. It was the cold, hard truth.

"Cato, this isn't a joke," I told him.

"I wasn't laughing because it was funny, I was laughing because of the whole idea of it," he replied.

I looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"Telling two people that love each other that they have to fight to the death in an arena. That's what I'm talking about. It's not just us, either. The tributes from 12 are obviously playing it, and you've seen the girl from 5 flirt with the boy from 11. It's not just us in love, Clove," he said.

I gazed into his milky brown eyes. He was right. It wasn't just us. The Capitol saw the tributes from 12, but there's much more that they're not seeing. Is it like this every Hunger Games? I wondered. Maybe it's the bond you form with someone who's with you in a similar situation, like the girl from 5 and the boy from 11. Maybe it's a bond you formed much earlier, like Cato and me. Maybe it's something that's been welling up for a long time and now is the time to let it out, like the tributes from 12.

The whole concept is insane. Forcing kids to fight to the death is bad enough, but forcing kids who are in love to fight their loved one to the death is even worse. What if it comes down to Cato and me? What would we do? Neither of us would kill each other and if we killed ourselves it would be just as bad as killing the other.

"It's not just us, you're right. But maybe that's our motivation. Snow thinks it's hope, but maybe it's love. Our goal isn't to keep ourselves alive, it's to keep our loved ones alive," I thought aloud.

Cato just nodded as if consumed in deep thought.

"I just want you to know that as long as you're alive, I will be too. No matter how close to death I am I will always feel as alive as I would if I were fine as long as you're by my side. As long as you're dead, I will be too. If you're dead, for the rest of my short life I will feel as dead as you are," he told me.