Hey guys, sorry this update took a while, I've been really busy with school. Well, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
"FUCK EVERYTHING!" A plate full of fancy Capitol food goes flying across the room and shatters on the farthest wall. Cato storms off into his room and I quickly dismiss myself to go after him. The past three days have not gone well for us at all. In fact the only good thing that happened was that Drala and Quincis hadn't told Nilo or Darlie about Cato and I.
We currently have several problems, the first being Glimmer. She had spent most of her time in the training center trailing after Cato and flirting shamelessly with him. I hadn't even seen her pick up a weapon during the past few days. I think her strategy was to find a hot career guy, make him fall for her, then stick to him like glue for protection during the games. Whatever her plan was, it was not going over well with either Cato or I. I had bitched her out on the second day of training for being useless and not showing any talent with archery that she claimed to have. We got into a lovely argument afterwards in which she claimed that I was jealous because she was spending all her time with Cato and I was stuck alone at the stations. I had screamed back at her that Cato obviously wasn't interested in her and she had countered saying that he liked her way more then he liked me. God, how I hate the rule about not being able to harm other tributes before the games. But I had been the bigger person and separated myself from Glimmer, holding back the comment about how I was sleeping with Cato, which I would have majorly regretted saying. God, I can't wait to kill her.
Our second problem was the boy from 11, Thresh. Cato, Marvel, and I had approached him during lunch on the first day and asked him if he would like to come sit with us and he had declined. Cato then told him that it wasn't just an invitation to lunch, but an invitation into our career alliance as well. He told us that he knew that and would rather die in the bloodbath then join us. Cato then told him he could make that happen, but we walked away defeated and a little worried about what Thresh could do to us. Those problems were small though in comparison to what had sent Cato over the edge.
There we were, watching tv and celebrating our training scores (10's for both of us) when what popped up on screen, but the girl from District 12 with an 11. That was impossible. She hadn't shown any skill with weapons at all. What were they basing their scoring off of? Who could tie the best knots? I swear she had spent all her time at stupid stations like rope tying and camouflage. Cato, usually the cool and collected one, had not taken well to this at all. I am right outside Cato's room, hand on the door knob when Drala stops me. "Wait, Clove." I turn and see both Drala and Quincis walking towards me. I tense up. They had joined us tonight to watch the training scores, but now I was sure they wanted to discuss Cato and my's relationship. God, I really cannot deal with this right now. I have too much other stuff to worry about. This is the first time they had been alone with me since the incident a few nights ago. "Yes?" I ask, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "I need to see your district token." Relieved that this is all Drala has asked of me, I unclasp the locket chain from around my neck and hand Cato's necklace over to him without questioning it. "Thank you, now if you could just wait a moment, we are going to grab Cato's." I nod and step aside, allowing Quincis and Drala to open the door and enter Cato's room. I peek in behind them and sense that while Cato is lying on his bed, he has not calmed down one bit. He looks up and sees the stylists. "What?" He snaps at them. "Can I take your district token?" Quincis asks. Cato glares at her and reluctantly reaches into his pocket and pulls out the white rock. Quincis crosses the room to his bed and snatches it out of his hand. "Thanks," she says, then both stylists exit Cato's room without further comment.
"What was that all about?" Cato asks me once I walk in his door and close it behind me. I shrug and say, "What was your outburst all about?" "Come on Clove, you know. This week just sucks and that bitch from 12 probably stole all of our sponsors." "Yeah, but you never get upset over things like that. Is there something else going on?" I see Cato processing my question and watch as his angry expression changes to one of deep intensity and his eyes lock with mine. As I stand there waiting for a response, Cato suddenly rushes into me with such a force that I am knocked against the door. His lips crash into mine, desperately, both his hands gripping onto my arms. Shocked, I return the kiss, but he pulls away, just as quickly as he had entered and says, eyes never leaving mine, "I can't loose you." almost frantically, and I understand. The minor setbacks that had occurred previously were insignificant. What had really been wearing on both of us was the fact that we were so worried about one anothers survival. I extend my neck forward and place my lips on his with purpose. I guess neither of us really has a way with words so we just put our emotions into action. Maybe that's why our relationship is so physical, not that I'm complaining.
Almost simultaneously, Cato and I both reach over to start taking each others clothes off. Cato's pants are off in a record time and I'm undressed before I know it. We practically start doing it right against the door, before Cato realizes how difficult it would be given our height difference, and picks me up and brings me over to his bed instead. I expect to feel him inside me at any moment, but instead he practically pushes me away from him. He looks conflicted and preoccupied. I can now see his anger returning. This doesn't happen often. Usually Cato is always in control, reasonable even. However, right now I see the side of him that he normally reserves for the training gym back home.
In a way, Lawrence brainwashes the kids that enter his gym. He turns normal kids who maybe have a mean streak into unforgiving, merciless, killers. In the gym or in the arena volunteers become someone else entirely and sometimes this transfers over into everyday life as well. I was one of the few who was never affected by this. I guess because I didn't have to be taught how to kill. I never had a problem with killing in the first place. Lawrence had noticed this right away so I was never on the receiving end of his angered speeches meant to get a trainee into the zone. Often anger is the tool that Lawrence uses to get someone into the mindset to be able to kill. His method works a little too well, though. I've seen it happen to other tributes before where they get into the killing mood whenever they are angered. I had seen this happen to Cato. A fight at school that got out of hand, a verbal argument with his parents that had ended with his father needing stitches.
"Cato..." I say delicately, trying to bring him back from his anger-induced trance. "I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill all of them, especially District 12. Maybe I'll cut her with my sword 11 time. One for each fucking point she got." He stands up, abruptly and scans the room, presumably looking for a weapon. "Cato, listen to me. You can kill them once the games start, but right now there's nothing you can do." I'm not sure Cato registers what I am saying, however, but he does turn his focus to me and then, as if remembering something, crosses over to my clothes that lay on the floor near the door. I realize what he is doing too late, and before I can reach him, he has taken two of my knives that I always keep on me. Of course, we are both still naked at this point and I realize just how bad it would be if Cato ran around the building in the nude with knives. So I do the only thing that I can and throw myself in front of the exit. "Move." he snarls. I stand my ground and attempt to wrestle the knife out of his right hand. I almost have possession over the weapon when I feel a thin, sharp strip of cold metal at my neck. The other knife. I stop fighting him for the knife and look up at his face, which is completely deranged. "I'm not afraid to do it you know." he tells me with a menacing look. "Cato, you have to calm down. We're in your room, not the games. I'm Clove, your girlfriend. I'm not an enemy." I feel the balde pressing into my neck, drawing blood, and press my lips together so that I won't succumb to the pain and scream. "Cato, please."
At the word 'please' the knife drops and I press my right hand against my neck. Cato blinks and as her does, the glaze over his eyes vanishes and they return to his familiar blue before his eyes widen in horror. He notices our position, sees the knife in his right hand and looks down at the one on the ground. "Did I hurt you?" He asks, panicked. I don't want to answer him though. He specifically hadn't caused the gash in my neck, I blame Lawrence for that. "Did I hurt you?" He asks again, more forcefully. I shake my head, but he grabs my hand away from my neck, revealing the cut. He swears under his breath and picks up his shirt from the floor and presses it against my injury. "I'm sorry Clove, I don't know what happened... It was like I was in the arena or... nevermind." He walks over to the fancy Capitol bathroom and presses a button on the medicine cabinet causing a first aid kit to appear. Unsure of how badly I'm hurt, I take the shirt away from my neck to see how much I'm bleeding. It's actually worse than I expected, one sleeve is soaked in blood. I quickly bring the shirt back up to my wound, keeping pressure on it.
Cato returns with the necessary items to patch up my neck. His expression is hard to read, but I see that he looks almost afraid, an emotion I never thought I would see on his face. He busies himself with cleaning out my cut with a stinging liquid, then applies some special Capitol ointment to my neck before putting a bandage over the whole thing. I'm not sure if I should say anything to him, or what to say if I were to talk address him. He takes the bloodied shirt from my hand and throws it away into a trash can. He then goes over to the closet and gets into some sleep shorts and tosses me a large t-shirt which I put on, careful not to touch my injury.
"Clove. I... I couldn't control it. I don't even remember the past few minutes. I'm so sorry." He sits down on the edge of the bed and puts his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees. "Cato, you have to pull yourself together. I know that you can't control it because of Lawrence's training methods, but you have to try. If you loose yourself like that in the games, you could make a serious mistake and end up dead." "Really, Clove?" You're worried about me? What about how it's effecting you?" "I'm fine, Cato. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." "Well what if I hadn't snapped out of it? What if I had actually slit your throat?" "I know you, Cato. I don't believe that you would ever do something to seriously injure me, even when you are like that." This seems to take him aback. "Do you really trust me that much?" I nod and walk over to him, taking a seat beside him on the bed. I rest my head on his shoulder for a few minutes before he speaks again. "Maybe it would be best if we slept in our own rooms tonight. You should leave." I lift my head off of him and search his face for an explanation. "Do you think being alone would be the best for you right now?" Cato doesn't answer. "I'm not going to leave you, no matter what." I tell him. "Oh God, does this mean I'm stuck with you?" Cato says. Glad he still has a sense of humor even at a time like this, I smile. "You better believe it." I say with a wink.
If I haven't said it before, reviews would be fantastic! I accept compliments, critiques, criticism, suggestions, or whatever your heart desires.