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

2 ~ Lumberjack

My hands scrape against the top of the stone wall as Sky holds me up by one leg. The crack I had climbed through before was a decently far walk from where we were now so we decided just to climb it. I pull myself over with all the strength I have, finally reaching the top after struggling for a bit. "So are you gonna help me?" Sky shouts while looking up at me. I smile from where I sat, "I'm debating."

I take his hand in mine and pull him up as much as I can. My arm hurt a lot but I was able to get him to a point where he could pull himself up. The both of us leaped off and tumbled into the patch of grass below. I rolled over to my side and groaned a bit, the air inside my body felt like it had left for a moment. My chest heaved up and down as I caught my breath. "Now look at who needs help," Sky says. A grin formed on his stubbled face. I reluctantly took his hand, leaning against him as I recovered for a minute.

"Thanks," I let out as I stepped forward. "Are you sure you're ok?" He asked while quickly stepping to my side, arms hovering around me in case I fell. I rolled my eyes and lightly pushed him back.

"You've known me for a long time. I can take care of myself," I say.

 He shakes his head at my protests, "Couldn't kill you to ask for help every once and a while."

The Canopy was pact today, most there for the discounted items and huge sales. The shop owner's way of showing gratitude to us kids during the day of "Reaping." I shuffled through bins of produce, walking around in hopes of finding more eggs for Ana. I look around the large maze of crates and shelves, all of them illuminated slightly green, due to the color of the canopy that the sunlight passed through.

I sigh and quickly turn around, Sky walking up to me with a huge toothy grin on his face. "You'll never guess what I found," He said while pulling a carton of eggs from behind his back.

 I gasped and took the box in my hands, "How much do I owe you?"

He shook his head, "Mr. Ewing gave it to me for free." I bit my lip and looked past Sky, the old man watching us with a sense of worry in his eyes.

"Really? He's never this nice," I say, turning back to look up at Sky's face. 

"I know, he wished me luck too." I shrugged my shoulders and made a barely audible noise of confusion.

The two of us spent about another twenty minutes there before heading home, both getting everything our families would need in case one of us were reaped. One girl was running her mother's shop while she was out. We stopped by her stand and I could tell almost immediately that she had a thing for Sky. Most girls around 7 did, plus a couple of guys. Sky was just the type to sort of get along with anyone, and with the addition of his charm and good looks, people couldn't help but fall for him.

Which made me wonder why he still walked around with me, but I guess we were just those types of friends. The ones that just wound up talking to one another one day, and accidentally growing a bond so strong they just got stuck with one another. That's the best way to describe how it was when we first met. I still cringe thinking about the two of them talking in that way.

Afterward, she wound up giving Sky a wooden duck statue from her shop. He took it, thinking of his younger brothers.

This is one reason we hadn't tried to run away by now. Although we could be killed, Sky and I would plan out ways to escape. We never actually planned on doing any, but they were nice to think about. The huge problem with any of our plans was always Ana and Sky's twin younger brothers, who had absolutely no survival skills and would probably get us caught.

Sky waved bye before splitting away toward his house, shortly after I made it back to mine. I step up the molding stairs of our front porch, the door in front of me opening as if on cue. Ana greeted me with a pouty face. "Dad can't do my hair right," She whined.