Victory - Cato Hadley

chapter thirteen

I open my eyes, to find Cato sleeping next to me. The bruises in his face are a dark blue now. We definitely need to cover them for the reaping. Not everybody needs to know. Most certainly not Brutus and Enobaria. His face looks peacefull. As if nothing can hurt him now. I wish he wouldn't have to leave today. He doesn't deserve this. And the worst part is, I can't even protect him in there. He needs to go inside without me. Hopefully he'll have a better Arena than I had. I had one with almost no oppertunities to hide. It was like mountains, but it had no forest or such thing. Elias and I hid in a small cage for most of the time. I wasn't able to kill people, not mentally. That's why he hid with me. I had to kill a few though.

"What are you thinking about?" Cato asks me. His eyes are still closed.
"The reaping, you, my games" 
"Why your games?" he asks, now opening his eyes. 
"Because I thought about yours and then somehow I thought about mine and, I just don't want anything to happen to you. I had Elias. He looked after me the whole games. You have no one"
"I have Clove" he says, and I roll my eyes.
"Please, she'll shoot you the first chance she gets. Especially when you're the last two left. She has much better reflexes than you. And she can throw these god damn knives. She has a much better chance then"
"I feel like you don't believe in me" he says sarcastically, and we both laugh.
"Cato, I'm serious. You two are allies. Stick with her until the last minute, that's your best chance of winning. If you two are the last two left, beware" 
"Okay, I will" he says with a comforting voice. He pulls me in close and gives me a kiss on the forehead. We continue lying like that until it's time to get ready. 
"You need some clothes" I say.
"Yeah. I guess I'll have to get some from home" he says, and starts walking out of my room.
"No, I'm going" I say, holding him back.
"No way. My father is going to crush you" Cato says worried.
"Please, if I want to your dad is on the ground in two seconds. We both know that. I'm better than Brutus, and everybody is afraid of Brutus"
"Fair. But be careful" he says, and pulls me in for a hug.
"I always am" I say smiling, and leave the house.

Cato's house isn't too far away. It's about a five minute walk from my house. It's down the hill. He lives in the wealthiest area in district two. His father is headpeacekeeper, so they're very known in the area. I take a deep breath before walking up the stairs and knocking at the door. It takes about a minute before a beat up mister Headly opens the door. 
"What are you doing here?" he spits in my face.
"Nice to see you too. I came here to get clothes for Cole and Cato for the reaping" I say with a smile on my face. 
"They can come and get them themselves" Cato's father says and tries to close the door, but I slip my hand between and hold it open.
"They don't feel like it. That's why I came here. And they need them" I say, and push the door further open.
"As I said., they can come and get them themselves" he says getting angry.
"As I said, they don't feel like it" I say still keeping the smile on my face.
"You're annoying, you know that?" he mumbles, and opens the door for me to come in.
"Thank you" I say, and look at him questioning.
"They're rooms are upstairs. First one on the left and the one on the end of the hallway" 
I nod and make my way upstairs. A few pictures are hung up at the wall. Mostly, Cato and Cole. 
I continue walking and enter the first room to the left. Must be Cole's cause it looks the same as my brother's. A lot of boy stuff. Not really something Cato would have in his room. I go through his closet and get some jeans and a white shirt. I then go on to Cato's room. 
It's dark and not very lovely. He only has his bed and the closet. Not more. It doesn't even look like someone lives in here. More like he only sleeps there but nothing else. There's one picture on his nightstand though. As I take a closer look I notice that it must be Cato's mother. It's a beautiful woman holding two children. Cato and Cole. She has beautiful long, blonde hair and wears a blue dress. Cato is about ten on this picture. He looks a lot happier than he usualy does. No wonder, with a dad like that. 
I decide to not further thing about it and take the things I came for. I open his closet, to find it perfectly arranged. Every shirt, every hoodie, everything is perfectly merged and sorted. I take out some good-looking jeans and a black shirt. Must be it.