𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 ｡• - ᴄʟᴀᴛᴏ ✓

𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧

❀° ┄───────╮
𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 - 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭
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*𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼*

The blonde boy grins when he catches sight of her. She runs up to meet him and jumps into his arms. When she finally lets go, they takes a seat on the soft grass.

"I almost thought you wouldn't show." The boy says.

"Yeah well, it was hard getting past my parents but I still managed." Even at the mere age of twelve, she was exceptionally sly.

"We can't keep doing this. Meeting eachother behind our parents back." The boy says sadly.

"I know Cato," She sighs. "They don't understand how we can just be friends." Suddenly her face lights up. "I have a secret to tell you."

"What is it Clove?" He asks, intrigued.

"Well, you can't tell anyone, okay? My older brother Romulus could be killed if the Peacekeepers found out." Clove warns.

Cato, who has always looked up to Clove's sixteen-year old brother, promise to not tell. "Okay so what is it?" He asks again.

"You know how some people are against the idea of the Capitol ruling over us, and they don't like the Games?" Clove asks Cato.

He looks confused. "Yeah, but that didn't turn out well last time. I didn't know those people still exsisted."

"Well there's this undercover group who is starting a rebellion. They have secret contact with the other eleven Districts and things are sparking up!" Clove's eyes shine in excitement. "Anyway, my brother Romulus is a leader of one of those groups."

Cato stares at her in awe. "Wow. That must take big responsibility." He marvels.

"It does. Anyway, you can't tell anyone. Alright?" She says.

"Promise I won't." Cato says.

"Okay. It's getting close to that time. I guess I better start leaving." Clove says. She stands up and brushes the grass straws that cling to her clothes.

"Wait." Cato grabs her hand. "When do you think we'll see eachother again?"

Clove gives it a moment of thought. "Maybe when the school year starts up again."

Cato nods. "See you then."

She smiles. A smile that still haunts him to this day. "Bye!"

Weeks later, Clove sits in her room brushing out her hair. Suddenly, a loud banging nose comes from downstairs. Heavy footsteps stomp and bang on the wooden floor and muffled shouts and screams make their way up to her room. Clove runs downstairs to see the commotion. When she gets into view, she watches, horrified, as two Peacekeepers drag her unconscious brother by his arms out the door.

She finds hears her baby sisters crying in the backround, as her panicked mother tries to calm them down. "Mother! What is going on?" Clove demands.

Tears stream down her mothers face. "They have taken Romulus. They are going to kill him."

A cold feeling washes through the frightened girl, and is soon replaced with anger. "We have to go stop them."

"There's nothing we can do except pray." Her mother says.

Clove sinks down on the step and stares unmovingly at the ground, trying to process everything. Her father arrives home from work, oblivious to the problem. In the backround, she can hear her mother frantically explain to him.

Sobs fill the room and continue to echo through her head over the next few weeks, sucking themselves into a broken record in her mind. Sometimes the sobs are her own, and other times it's her parents. And soon they belong to the attendees at her brother's funeral. She had long ago shed her last tear, leaving her eyes dry and her heart emptied. Only a numb feeling replaced the pain. At the funeral she stared straight at the ground, as if it was some sort of abyss. Only then does she put two and two together of who could have done such a cruel thing to her brother. The only other person who knows the secret.

Cato.

Clove looks up at the boy, who was staring back at her the whole time. A mix of loathing, hatred and feelings of betrayal welled up inside of her, hardening her heart towards him. And she could see from his eyes that he knew exactly what he had done.

He had killed her brother.

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