Highway to hell

03. Midnight Stroll

Mara's POV:

I turn around to find Clove behind me. "What the fuck was that?"

"I don't want to know." I answer. We're already headed for home, since we live really close, we always go home together.

"Did he just ask you out AND get you to go?" She asks.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" We're already halfway home.

"Well of course I am!" She exclaims.

"Piss off." Already there, finally. Thank goodness the station is close to our neighborhood. My house is quite small, but I've seen smaller.

I enter the living room after saying goodbye to Clove and find my two older brothers sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. "Hey. I'm back." I say.

The living room used to be my favorite place in the house, that's where dad and I would play. It used to be a welcoming place, but since he died, the feeling the place gives me is overwhelming.

"Sup little sis?" Says Caspian, my eldest brother. To be honest I like him better than my other brother Jaster. We just get along better although they both like to team up and mess with me for a while.

"Hey." Blurts out my other brother, Jaster.

"Whoa! What's up your ass?" I grumble in a mocking tone.

"You are Mara!" He starts. "You're always picking on fights with kids that double your size! What if someone beats you in a fight? What if you get hurt?" He notices the bandage on my face. "Never mind." I've never actually thought about that before.

What if someone else, who isn't Clove, wins me in a fight? With my reputation already formed, everyone is willing to try to win me in a fight. And if someone actually does, they'll try to hurt and humiliate me as much as possible. But that won't happen, right?

"Well... I suppose it's a bad moment to say this but..." I pause a second before continuing. "I may have in mind volunteering."

"YOU WHAT?" He yells so loud that I'm quite sure all of district 2 heard him. "No you're not."

"Gee, never thought you'd care for me so much." I say. "Plus, I already made my choice I'm not going to back up now."

"Yes you are!" He insists.

"No I'm not!" I argue.

"What's going on here?" My mother enters the room.

"She wants to volunteer for the Hunger Games." Caspian explains.

"Ah. I see." She points at me and then points at my Jaster. "And you don't want her to go."

"She'll die there!" He yells.

"Oh so that's how much you trust me!" I say.

"I do trust you! But I'm not willing to lose you." He storms out of the room and I hear a loud thud which I assume to be the door of his room.

"Well that was something." Caspian sarcastic as always.

"Shut it. Will ya?" I demand. It may be true that I'm always in a fight, but it's not my fault. Is it?

"Go to your rooms." Orders mom.

"I can't, Jaster's in there." Argues Caspian.

"Go!" She says. Caspian lets out a small sigh of frustration as he leaves the room. I am following him when I remember my meeting with Hadley, I spend a while thinking about going or not. I decide I won't go. I'll deal with him tomorrow.

I go to bed after a dinner of carrot soup and bread with my family. But I can't sleep, I'm scared of my own mind, my nightmares. After a few sleepless hours, I decide to have a walk outside. I get dressed in leggings and a sweater, all black. Put on my hunting boots and as always, tuck a knife in my right boot.

I go down the stairs without making any noise, but no one seems to be awake. I look at the clock, neatly placed on the kitchen wall, 3:00 am. I doubt anyone is awake at this time of the night.

I step out of the house when a cold stream of wind hits my body. I rush back inside, take my father's leather jacket from my room and get out the door for the second time this night.

The jacket isolates me from the cold night air and the streets seem to be watching me as I pass by. The feeling of someone observing me is overwhelming, so I take the knife out of my boot. Like this I feel safer.

A few meters behind me, I hear the sound of boots stomping on the ground. I can tell the owner is trying to be quiet but he must be too heavy to keep quiet his feet. I can feel the pain on my left cheek from the cut earlier this morning. And I sense the person following me is getting closer, by any moment now, they'll have caught up to me. I feel a hand on my left shoulder.

I turn around swiftly and punch the person right on the face. The body falls to the ground and I can tell that I did a good punch. But then I see his face, the blonde hair and the blue eyes. "Oh shit, I'm sorry" I kneel down beside Cato and help him get back on his feet.

"You really should look out who you punch sweetheart." he says with a smile, his nose bleeding.

"And you should try to be a less of a creep, sweetheart." I put his arm around my shoulder and lead him through the streets getting covered in blood by doing so.

"What are you doing marauding the streets at this time of night?" He wanders.

"I could ask the same thing." I state.

"Oh please, I'm a guy, I can protect myself." He says with a mocking voice.

"Watch it, I can still let you bleed to death." I warn him. I know that I'm being unrealistic about bleeding to death but I could still let him laying on the streets.

"Now, now sweetheart, you wouldn't want to lose your district partner, would you?" He says

"I actually would, thank you very much." I mumble softly, but loud enough so he can hear me. He's starting to get heavy and my body can't take so much weight. So I sit him down on a bench and think about how to stop the bleeding. "Oh no, no, don't lift your head. Cover your nose with your fingers, yes, that's it."

"You really are a know-it-all are you?" He asks. "An annoying little know-it-all."

"If it weren't for me you'd probably have swallowed half of your blood." I reproach.

"If it weren't for you, my nose wouldn't be broken."

"Oh c'mon sweetheart, did a girl break your nose?" I tease.

"Shut up." He demands. I laugh at his frustration.

"Cmon sweetheart let's take you home." I'm still laughing hard.

"I can do it myself, thank you." He complains. But the moment he gets on his feet, his nose starts bleeding again. Surprisingly, Cato hasn't fainted yet but he seems to be going more pale by the moment.

"Sure you can." I assure. "I'll take you home."

"Why are you being so nice? I thought you hated me." He asks in clear confusion.

"I do, it's just... I don't know, it kinda feels wrong to leave you on the streets with a probably broken nose." I say.

"Well we can talk strategy on the way." He smirks

"Don't get your hopes up sweetheart." I roll my eyes at him and he leads the way to his house.

On the way there, we pause three times, I fall once because I couldn't take any more of his weight and his nose starts bleeding again twice.

"Well this is it." Says Cato. Finally there.

"Ok bye." I get ready to go when his voice interrupts me.

"Aren't you gonna give me a good night kiss, sweetheart?" He asks, I see a smirk creeping on his lips.

"Piss off, Hadley."

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