Meant to Be

Chapter 7

"It's almost time," Brutus proclaimed. In only 12 hours. "Make sure to get a good rest, you two." 12 more hours. "I mean it. I don't know what happened the first night you were here, and I don't want history to repeat itself." until we all plan to tear eachother apart. Counting down the seconds... "You guys probably won't be able to sleep much in the arena, so this is the last chance you will get." Okay, Brutus. Move along. We get it. "You guys know this stuff, so why don't you get ready for bed." Finally, he's done talking. If he spoke another word, I could've sworn I would've stabbed a fork straight in that would pierce through his heart. I know I couldn't have because the gamemakers would come execute me. I also know that there's a chance that I would die anyways. I can take those odds. I actually think I'm capable of winning this thing now.
"Clove, I said you can go to your room now." Brutus looked at me. I came back to reality, realizing I was thinking too much.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm going, don't worry." I sputtered out.
My room had been cleaned up very nicely. I looked to see an avox boy putting a fresh new sheet on my bed. He hadn't noticed I had entered the room. I klutstily walked closer to him, to alert him of my presence. He looked up at me, only after he finished establishing the sheet on the last corner.
"Can you finish up quickly please?"
How rude did that sound?
He silently nodded his head wearing a grin, then left.
I didn't know how to talk to an avox. I'm not so talkative by myself.
I crept into my cozy bed, dreading the worst possible outcomes of tomorrow.

"Ouch!" I felt a slight burn and a hard touch of a hand on the side of my cheek. Rubbing it, I found Cato, sitting on the floor, vacantly gazing at me. I heard the small click of the clock on my bedside table. I turned to see it was 12am.
"Cato!"I whispered, but almost shouted "What are you doing here? And why did you just hit me!?" The sore had become a bit numb. "You better have a good explanation for this!"
He stood up and I got out of bed to talk to him more clearly.
"I couldn't sleep, let me take a look" he removed my hand from the bruise "Ooh, that looks pretty bad"
"You think?" I said.
"Let's get you some ice, it's turning red." He held my hand as we both headed towards the kitchen.
The icy cold felt soothing against my blazing pain, it was as if the ice was melting my face off.
"Thanks." I gave him a warm smile.
"So, now would you tell me what's going on?" I asked, a bit irritated.
"Oh, right." he grunted "I can't sleep. I  just keep thinking about the games. I mean, I've seen people change so much because of them. I don't want to be like that. But if I do change I want to have one last embrace with someone close to me before I go."
"So let me get this straight. You woke me up by slapping me in the face, just for a hug?" I laughed, then felt tension in my cheek so I stopped.
"Yeah?" He looked extremely embarrassed.
"Okay."
"Okay?" he asked
"To be honest, it will be nice to hug you. Not in the way you think," he rolled his eyes "but, what if I also change in the games? Don't I deserve to be embraced by someone I care about-"
He tightly squeezed me. Enjoying it, I caressed his back, not having a care in the world. The moment ended shortly after that. We parted in our rooms soon after.

The sunlight beamed through my windows, blinding my eyes. It was time. Placed on my bed were the mandatory uniforms. I thought they would just recycle the ones from our training center, but they paid every expense on us, which made me feel a bit better. My cheek was still burning so I put a new ice pack on after placing my clothes on my body.
We all headed down to the Capitol building an hour later. Cato and I shared another embrace, then headed to separate rooms, where my stylist had been.
Even though I didn't know much about my stylist, or didn't care much for him I hugged him too. He would be the last face I would see before I would depart.
I walked into a platform then ascended to a grassy field, with 23 other people that each had their own platforms. And that's when the counting down began.