A/N: thank you very much for your reviews, guys!
-dominicana, you're very welcome and thank you! :)
Longest chapter so far. Hope you enjoy!
"No, you'll never be alone. When darkness comes, you know I'm never far.
Hear the whispers in the dark."
- Skillet "Whispers in the dark"
"Ready?"
"Hell yeah."
He smirked at her response, as he positioned himself for hand-to-hand combat. He still didn't fully understand why they had told them to fight each other. They were in two different leagues. She was so tiny he could break her within a second. If she didn't stab him with one of her precious knives first, that is. As small and seemingly harmless as she looked, she was in fact deadly. Everyone knew that.
Cato guessed it was just a protocol. To have people of completely different body stracture and skills fight each other, because there was a great possibility they would end up coming against someone like that in the arena. He shook all these thoughts off when Clove threw the first punch and he quickly dodged it. His smirk grew wider.
"Come on, little girl. You gotta be faster than tha-"
His voice was cut off, as her little fist hit a sensitive spot on his neck. He stepped back, his smirk long gone.
"And you gotta stop talking so much." Clove bit back and by then she was the one wearing a sly smile. His eyes darkened, as adrenaline and anger made it into his blood and poisoned his mind, making him forget everything, who he was fighting included. He tried hitting her back, but she was too fast. He tried again and again, but her little form was moving so quickly his trainer himself seemed impressed. That only made him angrier.
The next punch he threw did hit her and she gasped, despite herself. He was very powerful and the hit took her breath away. He took advantage of that and knocked her down, pinning her to the floor. There was no escape for her at this point. But he didn't know just how wrong he was about that until he felt pain in his abdomen after Clove's knee had hit it with a surprising force. She pushed him off of her and ended up as the one on top. She didn't stay like this for long, though, and was trapped under him again in a matter of a few seconds. She struggled helplessly, but he made sure she'd not be able to throw him off this time.
And then he looked at her. His vision cleared up. Anger had passed and his eyes turned light blue again.
He was beating Clove up. Clove. His little partner.
"Shit, Cato, I'll kill you after we're done this." she hissed under her breath and he realized she was in pain. And that made him hate himself more than usual. He felt his grip on her loosen and she was about to throw him off of her when he spotted a group of men, watching them by the door and taking notes. Blood rushed to his face.
He knew who those people were.
"Fuck," he swore and she frowned, sending him a quizzical look and, apparently, forgetting what they were doing for the time being. He stared down at her again and she noticed a ghost of concern in his eyes. "stop fighting me."
"Screw you!" she snorted, struggling again.
"Do as I say!" Cato whisper yelled and something about the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice actually made her stop. Clove's trainer shouted for her to keep going, but she didn't. "The hell you're doing!?" he yelled at her, but it was too late for him to even try to change her mind. It was over. Cato was announced the winner and Clove pushed him off of her. He got on his feet and held out his hand for her to help her up, but she slapped it away angrily and got up on her own with a quiet hiss of pain.
"Locker room." she told him, her eyes shooting daggers "now."
He nodded and followed her out of the gym. Both of them ignored people's stares and Clove's trainer, who was by now openly cussing them both out.
They walked down the hall and Clove went inside the locker room. As soon as Cato closed the door behind them, she roughly pushed him against it, again shocking him with how strong his little girl actually was.
That little girl. She was not his.
"Six words. The hell do you think you're doing?" she snapped through gritted teeth, looking about ready to cut him to pieces.
"That's seven words."
"Cato!" she yelled, unamused "you think you can just go and make them think that I'm weak? You made me forfeit. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't split your face open with one of my knives right now."
He let out a heavy breath, but made no attempt to push her away.
"Did you see those people by the door when we left?" he asked her.
"What about them?"
"They were observing. They watched us fight."
"So?"
"So? Clove, they were Game Makers. They were the ones that choose Careers that will have to volunteer this year."
"I'm not following." she said coldly, but her voice lacked the anger it was filled with a moment ago. Cato almost rolled his eyes.
"And here I thought you were the smart one." he allowed himself a comment and watched Clove's eyes go dark. "Look," he continued before she had the chance to retrieve a knife. "I didn't want us to continue fighting, because we're too good. We work too well as partners. You get it now?"
She still looked puzzled, though her face seemed a bit more relaxed. But he knew she did not get it. She really did not understand.
"Damn it, Clove, they would have picked us to volunteer. Both of us. Together." he explained as clearly as he could, grabbing a hold of her shoulders "do you want that to happen?"
She stared into his eyes, as realization of what he was talking about finally got to her. She stepped back and his arms fell to his sides. He was looking at her in a way he was not supposed to. And it scared her. It scared her so much she almost felt like running out of the room. Yet she didn't. Instead, she just looked down to the floor and shook her head.
"Cato, what did you expect?"
He furrowed his eyebrows, gazing down at her tiny form. A look of disbelief on his face.
"What?"
She looked up at him with emotionless eyes and shrugged.
"That's what happens when you train with another Career, who's just as good as you are." she said, completely indifferent "that's what happens when you work so well with them. I will not be surprised at all if they pick us this year."
He didn't know what to think. He didn't know whether he should slap himself or her first. And she just continued to gape at him, as if she had no idea what had got him so worked up. As if everything was just fine.
Nothing was fine.
"Clove," he said her name angrily for the first time ever. "don't act like you don't give a shit."
"I don't." she said, sounding so sincere that he found himself at a loss for words. Either she was a great, freaking actress or she really couldn't care less. Knowing Clove, it was most likely the latter. And it stung him like a tracker jacker. "I'm going back."
She moved to push past him and toward the door, but he grabbed her arm, pulling her back.
"You're too young to go in the arena. I was trying to protect you."
"Please," she snorted "I am the best there is and you know it."
He couldn't help but let the fear show on his face because she was right. He knew she was. And he knew what that meant. Clove didn't fail to notice the look he was giving her either and it actually made her dark, cold eyes soften for a few seconds. Just for a few seconds, though.
And then she jerked her arm out of his grasp and walked out of the room, leaving him to figure out what in the world he was going to do if they were to end up in the arena together. In the place from which only one of them would escape, leaving the other behind... and dead.
Tears and blood marked the ground accompanied by screams full of pain and agony. To Rue it felt like hours had passed, like she had spent ages covering her ears with Peeta kneeling in front of her, soothing words of assurance coming out of his mouth. Words she couldn't hear, nor understand. She just stood there, rocking herself back and forth slightly.
And then everything stopped. The awful silence froze the blood in her veins when they heard it.
The cannon.
Rue shut her eyes tight, fingernails digging into the skin on Peeta's hands, but he barely even felt anything.
"It's okay," Peeta whispered, keeping his hands on her ears still. "it's over, Rue. It's okay."
They learned soon enough that nothing was okay, as they heard someone approaching them quickly and a few seconds after Cato stepped out of the trees. And as they looked at him, even Peeta wasn't able to contain himself. Fear seized his body and his eyes grew bigger, just like Rue's, who started shaking again in front of him.
Cato just stood there, his dagger by his side, blood dripping from it. But that wasn't even nearly everything. The entire front of his jacket was also wet from dark red blood. And so was half of his face. Thin streams of blood were still running down his cheek to the neck. His chest was moving rapidly, and though his lips were parted, he looked like he wasn't breathing. His eyes were dark, with intense hatred filling them and although Peeta couldn't actually say he knew this guy, he still didn't recognize him. He looked truly evil. Like the devil himself. Like he was rid of everything that made him human.
Peeta felt Rue squeeze his hands hard in fear, but he couldn't think of one thing to do or say to comfort her. Because he was freaking out himself.
"What are you staring at?"Cato growled in his deep voice, his face curved in anger, letting them know just how bad of an idea it would be to open their mouths right then. "Let's move. Now."
Peeta looked at Rue, silently telling her to just snap out of it for the time being. He quickly got on his feet, ignoring how terrified he felt. Rue grabbed his hand in hers and he tagged her along with him, following Cato that was already walking away.
Peeta couldn't help but think, though.. maybe Careers were not bad to begin with. They certainly aren't born just plain bad. And he didn't think that all the training they had done made them bad to their bones, either. It's the arena that truly changes them. It's the first murder, the first time they spill blood that turns them into monsters. As unkind and ruthless as Cato had been from the start, Peeta had a weird feeling that this was nothing compared to what he'd just become. He wouldn't be surprised if his blood was the next thing to land on this guy's face.
"Clove."
"What?"
"Exactly when did you stop talking to me?"
She sighed, not even looking up, as she twirled her fork in the dish in front of her.
"I didn't?"
"Stop playing games." Cato snapped, sitting at the table right across from her and slamming his tray down on it way harder than necessary. That resulted in soup spilling all over his shirt. She glanced at it and went back to digging her fork lazily in the food on her plate. "What's your problem?"
Clove sighed again, as if she was super tired of everything, including his company. Which she was.
"I'm trying to eat my damn lunch, Cato. I don't have a problem. You're the one that stopped hanging out with me."
"No, I stopped training with you. Difference."
"There's no difference. That's all we ever did together. Train."
Cato glared at her, making her look away. He knew she was just pretending. There's no way that all this was just in his head... Was there?
"So you're mad at me? You're mad I stopped training with you?"
"Why would I be mad? I don't care." Clove shrugged and it shocked him how indifferent she was able to make it sound. Why was she acting like this? Why was she so damn stubborn?
"You know what, little girl?" he snapped at her, clenching his fists under the table. "I don't care, either."
And with that he got up, making everyone look at them. He didn't care. He didn't give a damn. Cato stormed off as far away from his former partner as he could, his lunch long forgotten.
DAY 4
Clove woke up, startled, shooting up in a sitting position, sweat dripping down the back of her neck.
Cannon.
She looked up, silently trying to comfort herself that there was no way his face would be the one to appear in the black sky. There was just no way.
Thankfully she was right. A blue eyed and blonde haired, very familiar to her female had just joined the other fallen tributes. Glimmer. Just Glimmer.
A huge relief washed her over, as her heart began to remember its normal rhythm.
"You alright?"
She turned her head and her eyes met Thresh's face, which she was able to make out with the help of the fire that was between them. She had a feeling he'd only asked because it was Glimmer that just died and she was Marvel's district partner. He probably thought that, being that the blonde had a lot to do with her near-death experience, it was going to affect her in some way.
"Yeah, I was just-" she paused because, to her horror, her voice cracked. "... bad dream."
He stared at her a little longer, then nodded slowly in understanding. She swallowed hard and folded her arms across her chest, feeling chills run down her spine. Funny. She never would have thought that a dream consisting of blood and corpses would scare her so much. She'd been dreaming of the arena for years now. This one, though, did frighten her. And she knew why. Things had changed too much. She had changed. And if that wasn't enough, Cato was present in her extremely realistic nightmare, as well. Only he wasn't on her side.
"You know what," Clove murmured, running a hand through her hair. "I will take over for you now. I'm not really up for going back to sleep."
"You sure?" he asked.
"I'm sure." she told him, not giving him any room to argue. She was sure he'd just shrug it off and leave her be. But apparently she had the wrong idea about this guy, which wasn't really that shocking. She had the wrong idea about everyone.
"Are you and the guy from your district friends?"
She froze, her eyes stubbornly plastered to one spot in front of her, as if she wasn't capable of looking at anything else.
"No." she choked out. "Why?"
"It wasn't the first time I heard you say his name in your sleep."
Her body went numb. She had been so good at hiding any sort of feelings she had when it came to Cato and now this? How much did she say? How loud did she scream his name? Because if she'd screamed half as loud as in her dream, then everyone in the arena must have heard. Few minutes had passed, before Clove finally found her voice again;
"We're not friends. We just used to train together."
Thresh was silent for a while, but she didn't dare to look at him. Maybe if he didn't get the chance to look her in the eyes and see all those feelings she was hiding, maybe then he would believe her.
"Okay." he said finally. She sensed he had occupied himself with something else and decided to throw a glance at him. He was writing something in the ground with the sword. And the face she hated so much reappeared in her head again.
"You think he'll cry when he sees your face in the sky tonight?" Marvel's hateful, mocking words echoed in her ears, as if he was right by her side, whispering them to her. She couldn't help but wonder, as much as she didn't want to, how Cato would actually take it if she were the next one to go? How would she deal with his death?
She kept her eyes on the sword until Thresh put it down and lied on his back. His eyes stayed open for quite a long while and then he finally appeared to have fallen asleep. With time, Clove realized that watching him had actually become comforting. That was why she took a liking to him. He affected her in the same way Cato always had. Cato gave her the illusion of normalcy. He made her feel safe, even though she was anything but easily scared and was never the insecure type. He made her feel like she was just girl. Like everything was easy. Around him she was able to forget what kind of world they lived in.
Thresh made her feel the exact same way. She found his deep voice, strong posture and confidence soothing.
Hours flew by and her eyes stayed attached to her ally. As if she was too afraid to look away. As if something bad would happen, if she turned her head. Eventually, though, she realized it was probably time to get going. The fire was long out, sun was up and bright and it seemed like it was late morning already. Clove rubbed the back of her neck and got on her feet. Around her wrist there was a hair tie she had saved back from when she'd undone her hair. She used it to tie her hair in a high ponytail, before approaching Thresh slowly. She stared down at him for a little while, then bent down to shake him awake, when she noticed something on the ground next to him. She moved to take a better look at the words Thresh must have written down last night with the sword.
The odds are never in our favor.
Clove stared at it with a dry throat. If the cameras had caught that, there was a good chance they were in serious trouble. Game Makers were not going to tolerate this act of rebellion from him. They had already made them pay for what she said when she had stumbled over Marvel's body and shouted out how the Capitol was mocking them. She was positive it was her words that had cost them their smallest ally.
Thresh stirred, probably having sensed someone hovering above him. His eyes opened before she had the chance to stand up straight. She took a step back quickly and he sent her a questioning look.
"I was just about to wake you up." she clarified.
"Okay." he said slowly, standing up. He followed her gaze to the ground and put the pieces together. He picked up the sword and she looked up at him with an odd expression on her face, waiting for him to explain his actions. But he just stood there, as calm as always. She decided to let it go, then looked around and spotted Katniss, still sleeping. She opened her mouth to ask where the kid had gone and she actually had to remind herself about what happened. The kid was no more. As indifferent as she knew she should feel about that fact, it still felt odd. Like something was not right. It almost scared her that she felt this way. It scared her she felt any way.
Thresh woke Katniss up and she let out a groan, but did get on her feet pretty fast without a single word or look at either one of them. Her pale and tired face still expressed a great sorrow, yet she said nothing. She just waited for whoever was going to take the lead. Clove tore her gaze away from the other girl, just as her stomach began to growl. She swallowed, happy her appetite was somewhat back.
"Here." Thresh's voice caught her attention, as he threw her a bag of crackers she had never finished. She caught it swiftly in the air before it had the chance to hit her face. She opened her mouth, but her 'thanks' died halfway through her throat. As much as she actually respected Thresh, she still wasn't capable of bringing herself to act more normally. Even saying such a simple word was hard for her. Once was enough anyway, wasn't it?
"Let's go before the audience gets bored with us." Thresh told them, turning around and walking away, the sword flashing in the sun. Just like Marvel's face was still flashing in her mind.
The sound of a cannon interfed her thoughts and they all stopped to look up. It was followed by three more. And then faces began to appear in the sky. Clove found herself olding her breath again She couldn't help but wait anxiously, silently praying to something greater than all of them for Cato to be okay. She still didn't understand what had her care so much. Going in the arena of death was what it took for her to realize he was not indifferent to her. Going in the arena, where she had always known she'd end up one day and it was what she had trained her entire life for. Now how ridiculous was that?
Faces disappeared one by one, just as quickly as they appeared. Boys from district 5 and 6. And girls from 7 and 9. All those kids were gone. She wondered what happened to them. Was there more kids out there that had been given weapons? Or had the Game Makers managed to cook up something new? She realized she didn't even care, as long as he was still alive.
He's still alive...
Thresh was right. They had to keep moving. The faster the better. Maybe Game Makers did not catch the words her ally had marked down in the ground. As soon as she thought that to herself, though, she wished she hadn't.
The ground began to quiver beneath them and it took them maybe a second to realize what was about to happen. Her bag full of crackers fell on the grass.
"Go!" Clove yelled and her allies obeyed immediately, following her as fast as they could to get out of the woods. But they must have been quite deep into the forest, cause as hard as they tried to find a clearing, they couldn't. Trees began to shake dangerously, branches began to fall. Clove dodged one of the big ones by jumping aside, which resulted in her falling and rolling over. She quickly got on her feet and another heavy branch fell where she was lying two seconds earlier. Her heart started to pace in her chest, as she continued to run while trying to avoid getting hit or crushed by one of the many falling trees. Adrenaline had equipped her with extra strenght and so she couldn't feel that she had torn the skin on her thigh open with one of her knives when she'd rolled over. She felt no pain whatsoever. She ran faster, than she thought she could, without looking back. Trees kept falling everywhere around and she began to think this was it. She was about to die. There was no way out. Game Makers wanted them dead. Apparently, they finally realized how stupid the idea to change the rules was. Now they probably were going to just kill them all off. How's that for an entertaining show?
Completely out of breath and rid of every hope for surviving, she started to slow down. And just when she did that, she noticed a glimpse of light in front of her, shining through the trees, like the proverbial light at the end of a tunnel. She ran for it, feeling tons of thinner, sharp branches fall on her head. She did not stop though and pretty soon she was running out of the woods into a huge clearing. When she was finally far enough from the trees, she stopped and bent, resting her hands on her thighs, panting. She swallowed hard and tasted blood in her mouth. The ground finally stopped shaking underneath her feet and her heart was beating slower again.
Clove gave herself another minute to calm down and stood up straight. That's when she felt a lump in her throat, because she realized she was completely alone.
"Thresh." she gasped and turned around, her face and neck covered in cold sweat and minor scratches. "Thresh!" she risked a somewhat quiet yell, hoping that he was about to storm out of the woods, but with minutes having passed by, it became clear to her that... he was not coming. Neither was Katniss.
"Dammit." she cussed under her breath, then looked around helplessly, not knowing what to do. She felt a weird sensation in the pit of her stomach and that didn't even shock her as much as the fact that she knew what that feeling meant.
She was scared. And she was lonely. And most of all, she hated the idea of her allies gone.
"Great." she murmured and bit her lip anxiously, hugging her arms to her chest, as the cold wind made her shiver. She couldn't believe that she was this person. Alone and afraid. Weak. "Get it together, Clove." she told herself, trying to remember how she used to feel as a Career. Trying to figure out how she would have felt if the rules had never changed. How confident she would have been.
Gathering all the strenght and courage she had left, Clove nodded confidently to herself and put her hand on one of the knives she had behind her belt, as a precaution. She started walking across the clearing, her eyes squinting in the sun. She was walking for no longer than five minutes when she made out something that looked like a cabin by the woods on the other side, not too far away from where she was. She held her breath, as she began to get closer. There was a very good chance it was a trap. But it was also very likely she'd find something useful in there. And if she was going to be on her own from now on, then she needed something more than her knives.
On her own.. those words echoed in her head and she felt a pang of guilt burn her insides. She had left them behind. She'd never looked back. For once she had done something the way she was supposed to, as a tribute from district 2. But if that was the case, then why did she hate herself so much?
And why the hell couldn't she throw the image of Thresh's face out of her head?
Cato was sure he had done everything he could to reverse his own actions, reverse the worst decision he had ever made; training with Clove for the Games. By the time he had realized how dangerous that was, he was afraid that it was already too late. He stayed as far away from her as he could during training sessions, but what frightened him was that this probably wasn't even going to help at this point. Clove was the best. And he was the best. They had been watched for months now. Their trainers had definitely got in touch with the Capitol and presented their own opinions about them. Cato was hoping that if they saw how friendly he was with her, they'd give up on the idea, as that'd have them consider a possibility he wouldn't be able to just kill her when it came down to it. That was very unlikely, but even if that was the case, there was one problem. Clove had completely cut him off. He was out of her life. Every time he tried talking to her, she would introduce same indifferent attitude towards him. Which made things even worse. That was surely going to convince everyone how little, if at all, she'd care if she had to kill him in the arena.
The day for announcing names of Careers that were to volunteer came way too fast for Cato's liking. He rubbed his sweaty palms against his pants, as he stood in the hall with other candidates for tributes in the 74th Hunger Games. Everyone was anxious to find out which lucky girl and boy would get the chance to represent District 2 in the most dangerous game that had ever been thought of. Cato had imagined this moment multiple times; how excited he'd feel to hear his name called out in that hall. How proud he'd feel, walking up on the stage with his head high, sending everyone a dark glare.
But as the director of the Academy, to no one's surprise, called his name, he felt anything but excitement. Anything but pride. His legs were numb when he took the first few steps toward the stage. But he made it up there and clenched his fists into tight balls, gritting his teeth to stop them from chattering. And there was only one thing he could think about.
Please, not her. Please, not Clove. Please, damn it. Please.
"Congratulations, Cato." said the man who, for all Cato knew, had just signed a death sentence for him. "Time to announce which one of our female Careers will have the honor to represent our district in the arena in a few weeks."
Cato looked down on the crowd of familiar faces and within a few seconds he found the only one he cared for. She wasn't looking at him, but he was sure she could feel his eyes on her.
Please, no.
"I think we all know who the lucky female volunteer will be," it seemed like his heart stopped beating right then and there... and then, "Come on up, Clove."
He squeezed his eyes shut for a brief moment and held his breath.
No.
There she was. Walking up the stage, looking just as indifferent as she had been to him for the last few weeks. She stopped right next to him and faced all the people, who were watching them with pure envy on their faces.
God, please, no.
"Tributes, shake hands."
He glanced at her hesitantly, feeling adrenaline run through his veins like poison. She turned her body to face him and held out her little hand, waiting. Cato let out a breath he was holding and grabbed her hand in his, shaking it. Her eyes were cold and dark, not a sign of fear, not a hint of regret. He looked into them, searching for the slightest ghost of feelings. Anything. And just as he gave up entirely, realizing he would just have to be okay with the fact she will attempt to murder him in cold blood the first chance she gets, he felt her squeeze his hand lightly. It was so light he almost thought he'd imagined it. But at the same time he knew he didn't.
And then she let go of him, as insincere clapping cut through the silence.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the Academy, I present you district 2 tributes of the 74th Hunger Games! Clove and Cato!"
Everyone was still clapping, but nobody looked excited for them. Nobody looked thrilled. If anything, they all looked like they hoped the both of them would die with the sound of the opening gong.
Cato jumped off the stage and pushed his way through the jealous, hateful crowd. Their murmurs and hissing whispers almost sounded like the buzz of tracker jackers, about ready to go after their target. He ignored them and ran down the hall, hot blood pulsating in his ears. What the hell was he going to do? He almost broke the door to the locker room, as he stormed inside with his hands on the back of his neck. He was panting and desperately trying to control the rage he felt inside. But it was no use.
"Son of a bitch!" he cussed, hitting the nearest locker with such force his punch easily left a deep dent in its door. He hit it a few times more, wrecking it completely, his knuckles screaming in pain. But he was seeing red. He didn't care. He couldn't feel the pain or the blood dripping down his hands. But he did sense someone's presence. His head shot up in hopes he'd get the chance to beat someone up for relief, but there was no way he'd be able to do that.
Because it was her. She stood there, shocked and he felt his heart in his throat at the sight of the only person on this planet he cared about. The only person he had learned to like. Respect. The same person he was going to have to kill in order to survive.
They were gazing into each other's eyes for what seemed like hours and he lost it again. He grabbed the nearest chair and threw it across the room. It hit the window and shattered the glass into a million pieces. Clove didn't even flinch. She just watched him collapse on the ground, his head hanging hopelessly between his legs with his forearms rested on his knees. She closed the door behind her and continued to look down at him. After another minute, she also sat down on the hard, cold floor with her back pressed against the door. Cato let out a heavy breath and looked up, connecting his swollen eyes with hers. She didn't offer him any form of comfort. She offered him no hug, no smile, no pat on the back. She just sat there. That was all she was able to do. That was all the comfort she could afford.
They stayed like that for maybe an hour. Maybe two. Waiting. Waiting for whoever would be the first one to find the courage to leave the other alone.
Clove stepped inside the cabin, her hand resting on the handle of her knife, all alert and ready to attack. The inside looked typical, nothing really extraordinary. It seemed safe. Which was what worried her. In the arena nothing is ever what it seems. She looked around and a huge mirror caught her attention. She slowly took a few steps closer and stared at her reflection. She did not recognize herself. She could not possibly look so thin and pale and useless. Scared. Injured. Blood seeping from the scratches that the earthquake had caused her. If it wasn't for the fact she didn't want to attract any unwanted visitors, she would definitely smash that mirror to pieces.
Clove glanced at her white face and tired eyes once more before walking away and inside one of the rooms to her left. Everything seemed in order. Like nobody had put a foot in here before. There was a bed, a little table with roses on it that were making the whole room smell awfully sweet. But there was also something else to that scent. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on.
Sunshine was trying to get in through the old, dusty window. She opened the door to her right and it turned out to be a closet with outfits inside; everything from nice dresses to coats and jackets. She ran a hand through them and almost smiled. No more freezing nights for her. She was hoping that maybe she'd find some food in here, too. She was about to turn around to go and try to find some, when she sensed someone else's presence in the room. Her heart began to beat faster in her chest instantly, but she stayed focused. She was trained for this after all. They'd taught her how to acknowledge a potential threat; she basically had her eyes in the back of her head. At least she used to. Something was telling her that whoever stood behind her had been there for a while. Her Career instint somewhat failed her.
Clove squeezed the handle of her knife and got ready for whatever was about to happen next. With one swift movement, she turned on her heels and lifted her weapon only to end up being pushed against the wall behind her. The hand that held the knife was trapped by her opponent's arm above her head and she was stuck and unable to move an inch. She looked up, ready to face whoever it was that had taken her by surprise like that.
As soon as she did, her blood froze in her veins and she forgot how to breathe.
Those eyes...
"Hey, little girl. How's life?"
A/N: Nothing like a cliffhanger, right? Again, thank you so much for your reviews, I'm sure you know just how much they mean to me if you also posted something on here before. I really hope you liked this chapter and that you are still interested in where I'm going to take this next. I have started writing chapter 9 already, so hopefully it won't take me long to update.
Please, let me know what you think! Wish you all a great weekend. :)