𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲.Cato Hadley

2.

Then a man enters the room, a complete stranger to me. I assume he's part of the people who live in District 13, but the presence now surprises me. Does he know anything about Cato?

"Miss Clark," He says. "Colonel Boggs, District 13's head of security. I know you've been discharged, but President Coin's requested to meet with you first."

This news makes me raise my eyebrows in surprise. What if this is the moment I've been waiting for? Maybe this Coin knows something about Cato and that's why she's calling me. Although, it's not out of the question that she wants to see me to check if my mental state is okay. No wonder, everyone here still treats me like I'm crazy.

I look at Cato's mom and she motions for me to go. I leave my bed and go with the man who is supposed to take me to President Coin. I just hope she's not the same as Snow...

We get into a sort of elevator that has nothing to do with the ones I've been in the Capitol. This elevator certainly won't take me to the place where I met Cato.

"Is there any news?" I ask, now eager to find out what's going on.

"I'm just here to escort you," Boggs answers.

A minute of silence passes, during which I manage to look around the District 13 building in which we are. Until now, I haven't had the chance to really find out what kind of place this is.

"We were always told there was nothing left of 13." I break the silence.

"Capitol bombed the surface to rubble. But we're military, so we learned to survive down here. Preparing, training." Boggs says but he doesn't dare to look me in the eye.

I can't imagine a life that is led only underground. No going out, no contact with civilization. But I guess it's better than being part of the Districts that the Capitol rules.

We are silent the rest of the time until we finally reach the room where President Coin is expected to be. My whole body is in some kind of excitement, and I am filled with hope to hear the news that I have been waiting to hear for a month now. The door opens automatically, and at that moment Boggs leaves me, which tells me that I must be the one waiting for President Coin.

However, it doesn't take long until Plutarch and a very strange-looking woman enter the room. She looks about fifty years old with gray hair and gray eyes but that's not the unusual thing about her appearance. Her hair falls in an "unbroken sheet" down to her shoulders but it looks so perfect that I wonder if that's a wig.

"There she is. Our Girl on Fire," Plutarch says with a big smile on his face. "Madam President, may I present you with The Mockingjay."

The Mockingjay? Is that supposed to be me? Wait, is that why they called me? At this point, my hope slowly, little by little, began to die again.

"What an honor it is to meet you," President Coin says with excitement. She takes my hand in hers and I look at her with slight confusion. "You're a courageous young woman. I know how disorienting this must be. And I can't imagine what it's like to live through the atrocities of those Games."

Coin talks so fast that it's hard for me to follow every word she says. She seems more excited than she should be.

"Melanie, President Alma Coin," Plutarch introduces her.

"Please know how welcome you are. I hope you'll find some comfort with us. We've known loss in 13, too." The woman says in a sad voice like she has already accepted the fact that Cato is dead. At that moment, I realize, they didn't call me to talk about him.

"This is history. Right here at this table." I hear Prutarch say, but my thoughts are elsewhere.

"I apologize. I wish you had more time to recover, but unfortunately, we don't have that luxury. Please, have a seat," Coin tells me and I do it. "Are you aware of what's happened?"

I find this question difficult to answer because I don't really know what's going on. It would be a lie if I said I was on board with their plan, because I am not. I still can't understand why they wanted to save me when the arrangement was to save Cato. Coin notices that I can't answer so she continues with her words.

"When you fired your arrow at the force field you electrified the nation. There have been riots uprisings and strikes in seven districts. We believe that if we keep this energy going we can unify the districts against the Capitol. But if we don't, if we let it dissipate, we could be waiting another 75 years for this opportunity. Everyone in 13 is ready for this." She says.

Her words make almost no sense to me because they are not what I want to hear. I feel angry that they only want to talk to me because they want to benefit from it. I understand that this is important to everyone, but right now it's hard for me to focus on anything other than saving Cato.

"What about Cato? Is he alive?" I ask.

"I don't know. And I wish that I did. But there's no way for me to contact my operatives inside the Capitol." Plutarch answers. Hearing this, my hope suddenly dies. "Melanie, here's what we need to do. We need to show them that The Mockingjay's alive and well and willing to stand up and join this fight. Because we need every district to stand up to this Capitol. The way you did. So we're gonna shoot a series of..."

At this point, I'm totally shutting myself off from absolutely everything. I am overcome with anger that is stronger than my sadness. My eyes are watering but that is nothing compared to what is happening inside me. At this point, I'm pretty sure that if I were in the arena, I would kill every single tribute with no problem, and that's just because my rage is too much.

"...The fire that The Mockingjay started." Plutarch continues his speech.

"You left him there," I say angrily. "You left Cato in that arena to die."

"Melanie, there are so many-"

"Cato was the one who was supposed to live," I scream sharply, slamming my hand on the table.

"Miss Clark. This revolution is about everyone. It's about all of us. And we need a voice." Coin says.

They want a voice? How can I give them my voice when it's their fault Cato isn't here right now? I can't let people like them use me when they haven't done their job.

"Then you should've saved Cato," I say angrily and excuse myself from the meeting.

I'm not ready to play such an important part in their plan, not when I know Cato is still in the Capitol and who knows what they're doing to him. I can't do without him, I need him for me to believe that I will succeed.

I want my boy back. Without him, everything I've done will be meaningless because I did it for him. If I find out that Cato is dead, I won't be able to survive it.

And then my life will be a nightmare. Just as it is now.

xoxo.