Scars Of Our Love | Cato Hadley X Male Reader | Vol. 1

21 ~ Down By The River

My aching body finally relaxes as I fall back against a log that lies on the ground. There were not many of us left in the arena. If the Capitol wanted to they could push us all together with some sort of creature or natural disaster but I think there has been enough blood shed for one day. They might leave us alone long enough to get a good night's rest.

Katniss stays silent next to me, her head resting on a log as she stares up at the sky. Her eyes are red and dry from the constant crying.

I wanted to comfort her somehow since I knew what it was like to lose someone, but I didn't know how. Over the past few days, we had only spoken to one another when needed to. If she needed me to find firewood or fill our canteens with water, all the other conversations were through Rue. She would ask questions and try to figure out the people we were back home, occasionally asking Katniss about Peeta or me about Cato. Although I felt weird admitting so much to her, it kinda helped.

Just to have someone who was there for you, someone who made the worst situations feel ok, she made everything so much better.

Cato made me feel better at one point too, that night on the roof almost made me forget about the situation we were in. I thought that I had changed him, and made him realize what the games really were, but apparently I didn't. Watching him chase Katniss up that tree with excitement made me feel sick. He enjoyed this, he enjoyed the killing the rest of us dreaded.

I wanted to believe that he saved me back at the cornucopia, that he saw that boy from three about to kill me and he just leaped forward out of his love for me. I desperately wanted it to be true, but I couldn't help but think he killed the boy just because he wanted to. Of course, the boy had a purpose when the supplies were there, but once Cato came back to everything destroyed he had no use for him anymore. It was just another

opportunity to get rid of someone. Eliminate the competition.

I couldn't let Rue die in vain, one of her last requests was for one of us to win, and if that was going to happen Cato would have to die either way.

"Where did you learn that song?" Katniss finally spoke, her eyes still staring ahead. "My mom. She used to sing it to me when I was little," I say, my lips curving into a brief smile as I think of her. She turns to me, face drained of any emotion, "She must be worried." I feel my stomach turn in on itself in response to her words.

"Actually," I mutter under my breath. I try to speak but nothing comes out. Come on, why is this so hard for me to say? "She's," I froze as I realized I had never had to say it before. I had never had to say she was dead, because everyone already knew. At least back home. She was well known, always helping anyone who needed it, so the news of her death spread fast.

After that, I was filled with overwhelming sadness and everything else just seemed pointless. For a while, I just shut everyone out. I became practically invisible in school, after the initial shock nobody cared anymore. Even the few friends I had left me, all but Sky that is.

"She's dead," I say, Katniss's expression lightening. Her eyes go from dark and angry to a look of pity."Oh, I'm sorry for your loss," She says quickly before looking down to her lap. "You?" I ask. "What?" she says.

"Where did you learn the song?" I say. She slowly looks up to the canopy formed in the leaves of the trees, staying quiet as she thought. "It was well known around my District, but," she paused, taking in a stuffy breath, "my dad was the one who taught me before he died." I bite back my lip, unsure of what to say. After Rue's death I had assumed this was her first loss, I guess I just didn't think.

Aside from the career districts and the few wealthy we had, everyone else was miserable. The districts were starved, tortured, and overworked. Most of us probably have seen death and watched our loved ones be taken. Sometimes even right in front of us.