I Swear I Won't Forget You - 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙤

Cato, Dont Leave Me

I squeeze my eyes shut, preparing for the sword to make contact with my face.

I'm going to die. I'm never going to see Cato or my family again. I'll never know what it's like to walk down the aisle. I'll never see my future children's faces. I'll never see Cato's smile or bright blue eyes again. I'll never feel his lips on mine ever again.

A million thoughts race through my mind at once. This is goodbye. I wait to see death's dark face, but it doesn't happen. I slowly open my eyes, to see boy is standing over me and staring off into the woods, his sword in his hand at his side. After his eyes dart around the trees, he crouches down, his knees pinning my arms down and places his hand over my mouth. He is still looking into the woods when I hear rustling. Then I hear Cato's voice.

"Clove! Clove, please! Answer me! Where are you?" He shouts in the distance.

The sound of Cato's voice paralyzes me. Cato. His name floods my head with fun memories of us as kids, playing together in District 2. I wish just him and I were the only people in the world sometimes.

I look at the tribute pinning me down. I think I recognize him now, his name is Rex and he's from District 8. By the look on his face, I think he sees Cato. We are hidden in between some brush. Rex glances over the brush and without warning, he jumps off of me and darts in the direction of where he was looking so intently. As I make it to my feet, I hear heavy rustling.

"Cato!" I scream as I spot him lying on the ground. He's not moving and Rex standing over his unconscious body with his sword in his hand. Blood drips from the end of the sword. I gasp as my eyes trail back to Cato. My only glimmer of hope is that a canon hasn't fired yet.

Rex draws his sword up again and is about to strike Cato, without thinking I jumble around my sheath belted to my pants for a knife and throw it at Rex. It hits his back and he falls a few feet away from Cato.

"Cato?" My voice cracks as I stand behind the brush in shock.

A canon sounds. No. No, Cato can't be dead. Not now. Not ever. I slowly walk over to him and my eyes fill up with tears. I look at Cato. There is a huge wound on his head from Rex's sword, a huge cut stretching from the tip of his ear to the edge of his forehead. Blood pours out of it. Though it's not a deep cut, it is still capable of killing him if he's not already dead. I kneel beside him. The tears in my eyes break and pour down my cheeks.

"Cato?" My voice is muffled and jumbled from trying to hold in my sobbing. I place my hand on top of his. I just stare at him for a minute focusing on the birds singing in the trees. Their whistles are so elegant, distinguishing a Mockingjay. It reminds me of peace, of security. I pick up Cato's wrist and feel his pulse. It's still beating, his heart is still pumping. But I don't know if he'll survive this though. I don't know anything about wounds. I can't handle it anymore and I break down sobbing, half happy sobs, half sorrowful sobs.

"Cato, I'm so sorry." I whisper quietly. I wipe the tears away from my cheeks. Then something happens that I wasn't excepting.