Victory - Cato Hadley

chapter four

I wake up early to get onto the train. My things are already packed.
I walk into my brother's room to say goodbye to him.

"I'll see you in a few days, okay?" I say and smile.
"Promise me to come back?" he asks.
"Of course I will. Have I ever broken my promise?" I say and shakes his head.

I pull him in for a tight hug. I'm almost sure I can't go onto the train, when I finally let go of him. Carefully I tuck him in again before quietly leaving the room. I close the door behind myself and go on to my mother's bedroom. 

"Bye mom" I say but she doesn't answer me. I'm a hundred percent sure she's awake though, because of how still she's lying there. Her back is turned towards me but I can see her breathing. A lot faster than a sleeping person would. A deep breath comes out of my mouth and I close the door. 

As I leave the door, Enobaria, Brutus, Alora and Velvette are already waiting for me. 
"Are you ready?" Brutus asks me with a deep voice. He's always trying to sound intimidating but he should know by now that he doesn't scare me. Not even a little bit. He never has.
I nod my head and all of them start walking.

"Wait!" I hear behind me and turn around. I see the familiar blonde hair coming towards me. 
"Cato" I say and take a look back at Brutus and Enobaria. Brutus of course, has no expression on his face. Enobaria on the other hand looks very invested on what this conversation is going to bring.
"I came to say goodbye to you" he says with a smile.
"I'll see you in ten days again, that's not very long" I say and chuckle.
"I know, I know," he starts but Brutus interrupts him with a groan. I give him a dirty look before turning to look at Cato again.
"Look after you" he says and pulls me in for a hug.
I take in his scent and warmth, before letting go and walking away. They all start walking too and I look back at Cato. He's still standing at the same position, we stood in seconds before. 

"Bye Cato" I say with a smile before I walk around the corner, just loud enough for him to hear. I think I catch a glimpse of a smile on his face again as the wall blocks my sight.

I know I shouldn't trust him after just such a short time. I'm not stupid, but it feels good to have someone finally making me feel alive again. Making me feeling something besides all the anger and hurt I carry around everyday. I need someone like him.

...

The speeches have been an absolute torture. Telling the dead tributes families how much I love Panem and such shit. I really don't. And I certainly don't support Snow. But I can not tell them that. It would have horrible consequences.

I've killed 6 tributes in total in these games. Not something I'm proud of. The one district I'm afraid of the most, is one. I've killed them both myself. The district one female district was useless. We had to look after her the whole time, while she made this annoying pick-me-act. I hated it. She was clinging onto Elias the whole time but he rather spent his time with me. We were able to trust eachother. One night she decided to kill me, but before she could she had a knife in her head. The other one's story is something I'll always remember. Word for word. Movement for movement. "My victory kill" as Enobaria loves to call it. He had a family too. Probably all of them had one. I took them away from them and now they have to see me on TV going around the districts, and kissing Snow's ass. 

"We're almost here" Alora says and walks out of my room again, closing the door behind her. I didn't even hear her coming in. We're almost back in district two, where we're going to pick up Cato. Tomorrow's district one and in the evening is the party. I've been dreaming about all the tributes non-stop since we've left two. I need this to stop. 

I feel the train stopping. It doesn't take very long for my door to get opened, revealing a tall, blonde guy. He's wearing a rather tight black shirt and sweatpants.
I immediately get up and give him a tight hug.
"Nice to see you too Athena" he says with a wide smile on his face.
"I'm so exhausted" I say. He seems to notice the painful smile plastered on my face. I walk over to my bed again and sit down. 
"What's wrong?" he asks, sitting down next to me.
"It's just all of this. Nothing special" 
"You don't need to lie about it" 
"I know, but I don't wanna talk about it. It's painful enough to see them all the time. I don't want to see them in here too"
"That's okay. You can talk to me, okay?" he says and catches my eye. A slight smile appears on my face.
"Okay" I breathe out.
"I'm going to put my bag into my room. See you at dinner?"
"Sure" 
I watch him leave my room, before laying down again. I need some sleep. I haven't been able to sleep for two days now. Big, dark circles have formed under my eyes and I can feel my body getting weaker and weaker by every minute.