TWISTED // Clato | ✓

Chapter 20: Trapped

CLOVE'S POV:

My excitement over discovering my past and seeing Cato for who he really was to me is instantly dampened by the terrible sight that reaches my eyes. The look in Marguerite's eyes. Why does she want us imprisoned in her apartment?

My blood begins to run cold while Marguerite scans us, discerning our response.

Finally, Cato speaks up. "We were just--"

"Get over here!" she yells sharply. We exchange glances, trying to decide whether or not to make a run for it. But she found us once; she can find us again. And then the consequences could be even worse; who knows?

We finally oblige. I reach out for Cato's hand. He looks at me questioningly, but takes it without too much hesitation. A cold feeling slips down into my heart. He still doesn't remember me. Seeing the ring had no effect on him. Why, since he was the one who gave it to me? Did it really mean anything to him at all?

We follow Marguerite in defeat. She leads us triumphantly back into the fancy apartment and back up to the twenty-sixth floor. After we enter her apartment, she slams the door defiantly behind us. I don't know what made us follow her. Maybe fear. She doesn't look very intimidating, but her electric doorknobs and her sudden appearances everywhere have started to get to me.

Whatever the case, Marguerite disappears into her room again without another word, leaving Cato and I in the living room. I look over at the French windows and do a double take. 

The glass is perfect again. Upon closer examination, I discover that it's been replaced. And not just any glass; heavy-duty ultra-thick unbreakable glass.

I sink to the floor in dejection, feeling even more like a prisoner than I did before. Now that I remember everything.

How did I get here? I thought I died. I must have died; I remember Cato fading away above my departing eyesight. But this is not heaven. Besides, in heaven shouldn't you remember your past life? I shake my head. 

Then I realize that it must have been planned. Our sudden "appearance", lack of memory; Marguerite's already prepared rooms and heavy security. But who was behind it? Certainly not those psychos at the Ward where we arrived. Marguerite, on the other hand, might know a thing or two more than she's letting on. A wave of suspicion rises in me.

In the meantime, I have to find a way to reach Cato. Whether he loves me now or not I don't know. But it doesn't matter. I'm not going to seek to win his heart while he is still in this state. Because it won't be the same Cato who went through the death of the Games with me and still lives. He won't love me in the same way until I bring his memory back.

"Cato?" I say, turning around. He's slouched boredly on the couch, fiddling with the TV remote. "Cato, I've remembered."

He looks up at me. "Huh?"

"I remember it now. It happened when I saw that ring." I walk over and hold it out in the palm of my hand. He looks down at it and his grey eyes drift up to my face.

"Come again?"

Tears spring to my eyes and I drop my lids to hide them. He doesn't know me for who I am. Clove Holly Kentwell, the knife-throwing girl from District 2. The girl he gave a ring to in the Black 'en White Cafe. Why won't he know me?

"Cato." I step closer to him. "We were both from District Two! We lived there, training for the Hunger Games! You--you gave me this!" I stammer, holding up the sapphire ring.

His eyes latch onto the ring, but he shows no signs of recognition. More than ever, I want him back. Now that I know, now that I remember. Now that I'm seeing those beautiful eyes of him gaze on me with little affection or concern. It's not that he hates me. He's just... indifferent. Which is almost worse. It's like he doesn't even know who I am.