Vindictive | Chapter 6

“Thirty-seven…thirty-eight…thirty-nine…”

Sweat trickles down my forehead as I push myself harder to achieve my goal of fifty push-ups. I have not been training for the past couple of months and regaining that lost strength is hard work. Finnick tells me that the mission is starting to get substantial and I really need to be in my best shape if I want to go against the syndicate. Not really Brutus himself but his men.

Also, being around Thresh and Finnick is starting to make me conscious of my body. They both have buff, built statures with toned arms and abdomen. Another factor that made me realize I need to start training again is when Rue and I had that run. Usually, six miles isn’t that hard for me but after months of not having any exercise, I feel like a slug crawling my way to the finish line.

“Forty-eight…” I push harder. “Forty-nine…” I clench my jaw, feeling the burning sensation in my arms. “Fifty.” I push myself up using my arms and give it a light stretch. Sipping from my water bottle, I make my way to the punching bag located at the center of Thresh's mini-gym.

I place my hands on both sides of the punching bag and before I can even take my first punch, Fox (we decided to call her that) walks in. The team decided to let her stay for the night because tonight is when we’re going to "rob" Glimmer's house and get those needed weapons. She stalks to the other side of the gym, retrieves a pair of gloves and joins me in the punching bag section.

She notices my staring and places her hands on her hips before nodding towards me. “So, what’s your plan for tonight, big guy?” She asks, taking her first punch.

I take my first hit as well. “I thought Finnick is in charge of that?” I ask back a question.

“He’s not the only person assigned with the thinking, Cato. You must help as well. You know, bouncing off ideas with each other.” She answers.

I feel a warm sensation taking over my cheeks. I try to hide myself behind the punching bag, eager to not let Fox see my blushing. “I know that.” She has a point, honestly.

“Well…?” She holds out the last two consonants as she high-kicks her own punching bag.

“Well, of course, the first thing we need to do is to get Glimmer out of her house. I remember her telling me that her father is rarely home and her mother’s gone, so I don’t think we have any problem.”

“Any maids? Caretakers?” Fox inquires, purposely leaving the sentence hanging.

“Oh. She doesn’t have maids.” I reply. “Her father wants to raise her as an independent person.”

Fox nods. “Good.” She catches her punching bag and hugs it, as if she’s trying to stop the object in order for her to take a quick rest. “Then I guess we don’t have any problems at all.”

“How about the security cameras?” I question, punching.

The redhead flashes me a wide smile. “We’ve got that covered for you, already.” She responds.

Fox continues punching as I absently watch her do her thing. I am pretty confident about the whole strategy I planned in my head and I shouldn’t be worrying about it a lot. But I am. Different scenarios on how the night will turn out keeps on playing in my mind. What if my plan on keeping Glimmer out of her house backfires and she catches us robbing her combat room? If that happens (knock on wood), the whole plan to avenge my parents will go down to ashes as well. Clove is our target and I can’t risk losing her. She’s the closest person I have to getting to Brutus. Au contraire, this night may turn out to be just as we had planned. Running through the step-by-step I conjured in my head, my confidence in getting this job done suddenly returns. I just have to make sure the English girl stays out of her abode and then poof! I’m done.

“Excuse me. I have to go.” I tell Fox as I take off the gloves I’m wearing.

She gives me a nod as a response, the same time she kicks her punching bag. Fox makes weird noises when she punches and kicks.

I exit the mini-gym and quickly head up to my room, which unfortunately is next to Rue's. It’s hard getting sleep at night when you know that you have a hyperactive teenager settling next to you. I roll my eyes once I reach the stairs for Rue is playing her music superfluously loud. I make sure to bang on her door when I pass by it.

Just as expected, I hear a “hey!” from behind her door.

I reach my room, just in time for Rue to open up her door and attack me. I briskly twist the lock so she can’t get in. I just hope she don’t know how to pick locks. I wait for a moment to see if she will attempt to open it, but, five minutes later, nothing happens. That decides it; it’s safe to pry away from the door.

Reaching for my phone in my jeans back pocket, I look out my window and see that it’s already complete darkness outside. Although the medications and other treatments Thresh gives and teaches helps me get through my complicated state, the feeling of being followed is still pretty much there, especially at dark. I should bring company with me then, tonight.

I’m lucky I have Glimmer's phone number, which makes sense since she’s the first person I met in Panem High School. I click on it and place my phone against my ear, immediately hearing her ringtone. I can’t help but smile.

Glimmer is a really great girl and I almost feel bad about what I am about to do to her tonight. She’s one of my friends, even though Thresh told me that I shouldn’t get attached to anyone, as befriending Clove's friends is only part of the plan; temporarily friends, but not permanently. On the bright side though, I shouldn’t even be feeling this way as we’re only borrowing her weapons. The only difference is that we’re not asking for any of her permission. We’re only going to be taking and then returning it.

Her sweet voice rings in my ear and I’m taken back to reality, where I’m suppose to go to this innocent girl’s house and steal her most valuable prized possessions in a few hours. “Hello?”

“Hey Glim, it’s me Cato.” I say. “Um…I was just wondering if you have any plans for tonight?”

I hear her chuckling. “Wow. Is Cato Hadley asking me out?” She teases. I know she’s nowhere near interested in me as she already has her eyes set on someone. A guy named Marvel Weignman in particular.

“Actually, no. I know you like someone else but…can you do me a favor tonight?” I answer.

“Sure, anything.”

“Um…Clove is going to a local band concert a town over tonight and she asked me to come with her but I couldn’t. But I just can’t leave her alone, right? So I figured maybe if you’re free, you can come with her?” I ask.

It is entirely true though. Clove mentioned a while ago in school that she’s going to a concert tonight and she needs someone to come with her. Obviously, I wasn’t her first choice but…at least she asked me! It’s considered an improvement in our relationship.

“Wait. She asked you first?” I can clearly hear the mocking tone in Glimmer's voice.

“I’m not exactly her first choice but…”

Glimmer laughs. “Okay, okay. I’ll go with her.” She says.

After we say our goodbyes and I telling her to remind me that I owe her something (which she counters that I don’t), I hang up, feeling victorious about the night’s plan. Even though it’s not taken into action yet, I know it’s going to be remarkably successful.

* * *

Putting on our ski masks, Rue and I unload the car and sprints through Glimmer's extravagantly luxuriant lawn.

Both of us are wearing full-on black attire. Since Rue's hair is black, she only has to put it up in a bun and hide it in her mask. I, being the one with the blonde, has to temporarily spray my hair black. Rue, of course, made fun of it.

“I still can’t get over how ridiculous you look with black hair.” She comments, running up the steps leading to Glimmer's French doors.

“For Christ’s sake! Can you stop it? We’re on a serious shit right now!” I half-whisper. From the corner of my left eye, I see Rue rolling her eyes. On my right, I see the security cameras turning to focus on us.

There really is no need to worry for that because Fox has got in under control. She’s actually inside the van right now, parked two blocks away from Glimmer's mansion. This morning, she and Thresh drove all the way here and since Glimmer's in school and her dad’s at work, nobody’s around. They did pretty well with the lurking (maybe they took Rue along with them to do the job), and taking the security tape with them. Like most cliché people do in the movies, they use the recording from the last hour and let the same video run for two hours, to have a faux appearance that nobody is breaking into the house. Though I’ve seen that technique tons of times before, I still think it’s pretty genius.

I decide to lead Rue to the backdoor instead and enter the house through the sliding doors. I found out the last time I was in Glimmer's house, before I completely left that day, the backdoors have less security alarms than the front. In my opinion, I think the whole setup is highly unintelligible. The back part of the mansion should contain more cameras, as it is always where most burglars break in. I mean, who in their right minds would go in through the front door when the neighbors can easily see you? Unless you’re trying to purposely send yourself behind bars.

When we are nearing the sliding doors, in the corner of my eye, I catch a slight movement coming from the far end of the backyard. I stop in my tracks, causing for Rue to slam face first onto my back. I hear her hissing and cursing under her breath.

“Geez, Cato.” She says.

“I think I saw someone.” Completely ignoring her comment, I notify her about the shadow moving in Glimmer's yard.

“But you said we’re alone!” Keeping in mind that we have to keep silent throughout the whole duration, she half-yells at me.

“I know but…” I turn to her. “We may not be the only ones trying to break in.”

Suddenly, I see the outline of the shadow again. It moves relatively fast. One second it stands by the fence, and the next thing I know, I see the shadow inside the house. I close my eyes and shake my head trying to clear my mind of any unwanted thoughts slowly invading every part of my brain. I focus on the more important agendas of the night, like, getting in to the house and gathering all the necessities we need. I focus on the marvelous team we have. Thresh, for tracking people down; Finnick, for strategies and sometimes for tie breaking; Rue, sneaking around she says is her best factor, and Fox, the mastermind of breaking even the most complicated code in the universe.

But neither of those helped me from taking my mind away from those thoughts that haunts me as of now.

“Cato, are you okay?” I hear Rue asking me, her tone overflowing with worry.

I open my eyes and there it is again. The moment I lay my eyes on the shadow, I feel like the world around me stops, freezes, unmoving. It may have only been an outline of a person but I can’t be mistaking myself. I know that figure like the back of my hand. It could have been anyone, but I know deep inside me that I’m seeing it – him – again.

The shadow materializes and my breath hitches.

It is the same man I’ve been seeing for the past eleven years. His head is bald like I remember, and his eyebrows still as bushy. His lips are slightly thick and his teeth are the perfect evidence that he’s been smoking his whole life. His body is still just the way I remembered. His shoulders leaning forward, his back causing to slouch, and his upper body too buff that it seems like his lower half couldn’t carry its weight any longer. He’s always wearing that tattered worn out red shirt and faded blue jeans and hat. I always see him with a cigarette being held in place by his teeth, and tonight is no exception.

Knowing for a fact that I standing in the open can easily catch his attention, I should be moving somewhere covert, some place where he won’t see me. But as the world around me freezes, so do my legs and feet. My brain can’t transfer its signals to move my lower half as much as I try hard to. I open my mouth to scream at myself to move but as I do so, no words are coming out. I’m mute.

All of a sudden, the figure moves and turns its head towards my direction. He catches my eye and I know I’m doomed. He does a 180-degree turn to entirely face me. For a moment, he just stands there watching me. He’s grinning harshly and cackling at me, obviously aware of the matter that I can’t move my legs, meaning I have no escape. Once again, I try to help my brain send signals for my legs to move but it’s futile. No matter what I do, it’s useless.

The man resumes cackling and smirking like he wants to decapitate me, but maintains his spot in the backyard. Never moving an inch closer. In that moment, I’m confused. If I’m standing out here in the open, completely impotent and unmoving, shouldn’t have he attacked by now?

I wait for another moment to see if something will happen. Nothing. Still on the same standing position, never lifting a foot to take even a single step towards me.

Then I begin to hear it. The man in front of me opens his mouth and bellows, his halfway finished cigarette falling onto the grass. His fists are shaping into balls whilst his knuckles are turning the brightest shade of white, as he leans forward and continue screaming. It’s not the natural high-pitched roar, albeit it is extremely loud. I avert my gaze away from him as if it can block all the unwanted noise ringing in my ears, only to glance back at him again abruptly hearing a girl’s voice. He’s still in his spot; never moving, alone, and yet, I hear a woman’s voice mixed in with his. She screeches like nails on chalkboard.

My hands find its way to my ear. The screaming grows louder and the balls of my palms press harder, in an attempt to banish the noise.

I thought it couldn’t get any worse. The earth beneath my feet begins to shake and the furniture from the inside of Glimmer's house dance across the polished marble floor. I sink to the ground and dissolve into tears. The sound is too overwhelming and the shaking of the ground is inexorable that there is nothing that I want at that exact moment but to exile these verisimilitude nightmare. My head soon starts pounding as tears continuously pour onto my already sallow skin.

Soon, the whole situation is too much to handle and I’m relatively certain I screamed.

* * *

Halfway into consciousness, I feel a dainty hand reach for my pockets to retrieve the small portable radio link that allows Rue and I to have clear communications with the team back in the van.

I can hear Rue's unsteady breathing and frequent pants as she struggles to find the device she’s looking for. She mumbles something under her breath once I feel her removing the portable radio from my pocket.

“Thresh!” She yells on the gadget. “Thresh! Come here quick! Cato, he’s…he’s…something happened and I don’t know what it is. He’s…” she tries to produce a sentence but fails miserably due to her irregular breathing.

I hear a scratching sound, which can only come from the radio, and Thresh's voice follows after it. “Where are you exactly? Are you already inside?” He questions, as muffled noises can easily be heard in the background.

“We haven’t even gotten inside yet. We’re at the backyard and Cato started telling me that he saw a shadow and then…something weird happened after that.” She breathes heavily, but at least it’s soon turning to normal.

I decide to open my eyes to let Rue know that I’m conscious and nowhere near dead. I gasp for air once I lift my eyelids open, causing for the girl to jerk back in surprise. She sees me awake and springs herself onto me, flinging her arms around my neck.

“You’re awake. Oh my gosh, you’re alive!” She utters, still holding me tight as if once she let go, I’ll be gone and fall into unconsciousness yet again.

She presses a button on the portable radio and speaks into it. “Thresh, he’s awake! Where are you? You gotta be quicker!” She demands.

The same scratching sound erupts from the device and I soon hear Thresh familiar voice again. “I’ll be right there. Hang on.”

Rue holds me in her arms, her embrace still as tight even after Thresh comes to rescue. My eyes look past him and see Finnick and Fox running behind him, eager to find out what the whole commotion is about.

Thresh kneels beside me and offers me a water bottle. “Cato, are you alright? What happened exactly?” He interrogates.

I take a swig of the water bottle before I tell him the past events that occurred. Once I’m done, I hand the bottle to Rue, which she gladly takes. “I…” I clear my throat. “I was preparing to break in to the house, so close to asking Fox if she’s punched in the lock code for the backdoors when I saw this shadow in the corner of my eye. I thought someone was trying to break in as well, but it was far more than that. The world around me suddenly stops and…and I can’t move my legs and that’s when I saw him, Thresh. I saw that man again. He started yelling at the top of his lungs and then there’s…there’s an earthquake out of the blue and I just…I just couldn’t handle it anymore and…” I can’t finish my sentence any longer.

“That’s when I saw him collapse and he grew unconscious.” Rue finishes for me. “For a moment, I thought he was dead and…and I panicked.”

Thresh studies me for a while before letting out a heavy sigh. He instructs me to take another gulp of water, before pulling me towards him and enveloping me in his arms. Usually, I don’t like it when I’m engaged in a man-to-man hug, but I couldn’t care less tonight. All that is running through my mind is that I’m alive and I still have Thresh. We still have each other.

“You told me they weren’t occurring anymore.” Thresh utters once he pulls away from the hug.

“I didn’t say they’re not coming back forever.” I reply. “I only said that it happens rarely since the treatment. But when it does, at least it comes with warning.”

“Did tonight had a warning?” Thresh questions.

I shrug my shoulders, not really sure if tonight’s hallucinations did have a forewarning. I try to remember the events leading up to it and already I have my answer. “I guess it was when I saw that shadow.”

Thresh nods, pursing his lips together. “Do you want to go home? Let’s do this some other time.” He says.

I shake my head; my eyes going straight into Rue's. “I don’t want to do this later. I want to finish now. If I keep on setting Glimmer up, she might get suspicious.” I explain.

“Are you sure, Cato?” Rue asks me. “I know you’re only trying to consider what I feel about this. I’m excited, yes, but I’m okay if we don’t do it tonight. I’m worried about you and your condition.” She says, her voice soft.

“No.” I protest. “We’ll do this tonight.”

“But—”

“No. Not some other time, but tonight.” I stand up to my feet, already heading back to where Rue and I left off. I do not want to hear anymore saying about what had happened to me. I try to put up a gallant demeanor to convince my team that I’m indomitable. I’m still standing and won’t be backing down anytime soon.

I’m Cato Hadley for a reason.

I look back to my team and see a mix of trepidation and incredulity. I smile at them before speaking. “Trust me. I can do this.” I turn to Thresh. “Please.”

He stares into my eyes for a tad longer. His own eyes soften and something about it tells me that he knows I am capable of continuing the plan, but at the same time he worries about my condition. We both know I’ve never had that kind of hallucination before. It seems like it purposely left me alone for months only to fire back with such ultimatum that it brought me to my weakest peak.

I see Thresh placing a hand on Rue's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. His sister turns to look up at him and he smiles once their eyes meet. Thresh mouths ‘go’ to Julia and she immediately comes running straight to me. She snakes her arm around my waist, her touch so gentle as if to remind me that she won’t be making any further harm and will be with me throughout.

I nod at her in response.

“So…” Fox, unexpectedly, speaks up. “Are we back on?”

“Let’s do this.” Rue and I say in unison.

* * *

We manage to get in the house with Fox dictating a series of numbers into our portable radios. Once inside, I guide Rue towards the hall that leads to the combat room. She knows well enough not to get distracted with the elegance of the mansion. The unusual set of furniture and rare figurines don’t do much to her goal-set mind. She has one intention, and she sticks to that.

“Fox, we’re at the door right now.” I speak through the radio as my hand explores the wall, trying to find that certain spot that will make the ghostly keypad to appear. “Have you gotten the codes yet?”

“Already got it.” She comments back, perfectly in time for the keypad to make its appearance. “Alright, here it is: five, five, three, seven, nine, eight.” I punch in the numbers as she dictates.

“We’re in.” I say.

As we’re breaking the pass codes, Rue searches for that spot on the wall while I punch in the numbers once Fox tells us she has got it. Three more and we’re in.

I keep on looking behind my back in case a caretaker or even Glimmer decides she forgot something in the house and find us snooping around. Luckily, we’re still alone.

“Alright, we’re officially in.” Rue whispers as the last of the metallic doors open and reveals the humongous gymnasium. Rue gasps at the sight whilst I remain calm, as I have seen this place before.

“Stay here and keep watch.” I order. “I’ll go grab the guns.”

She nods and tosses me the duffel bag. I catch it with ease and wasted no more time. I sprint towards the part of the gym where the guns are located. I know I said I wasted no time, but as I lay eyes on the precious life takers, I am at awe. I surprise myself because of my unknown and unrecognized interest with such matter. I never thought I’d be this delightful with just a single sight of a gun. I guess Ryan’s interest rubbed on me with neither of us knowing it.

I run my hands through a few of them, admiring the structure and its gloss. I adore the fact that each are carefully made and differ from one another. Some of them are painted with black tint and possess a glossy shine, while the others are in different shade and color but adorn no luster unlike the others.

“Cato, hurry up!” Rue half-yells.

Snapping out of my trance, I zip the duffel bag open. I load it with whatever is in my reach, agog to fill it up and get out of the place, remembering to leave no trace that I was there.

I already have my hand on a pistol when I hear Rue running towards me. “Someone’s coming!” She warns.

My eyes widen when I hear footsteps coming towards the combat room. I glance around the area in search for somewhere to hide, but I realize it’s impossible as the gym is an open space.

Rue clings to my arm as the pistol remains in my hand, my finger absently ready to pull the trigger at any moment. I’m aware that the weapon is loaded but I have it ready as protection. Besides, the real reason why we’re doing this in the first place is because we need something to protect us when going against Brutus.

I’m becoming aware of the footsteps growing heavier and heavier as the person nears us. Rue hides behind me, terrifyingly clutching onto the fabric of my shirt as if her life depends on it. Every fiber in my body betrays me once again when I can’t instruct myself to move. I’m frozen for the second time. My heartbeat going at the same speed of sound, I feel like it’s going to burst out of my chest.

The person reaches the last metallic door and comes running inside the gym. The last thing I remember is hearing a blood curling scream and my finger applying pressure on the trigger.

The man from a while ago steps back from the bullet’s impact before staring at me wide-eyed and falls onto the cold, unforgiving floor.

“Cato, what have you done?”

Rue's voice takes me back to reality and I turn to her, confused with her statement. I notice her deep blue eyes widening and staring at something in front of us. I follow her gaze and the gun literally falls out of my grasp as I soon realize what had happened and what I did.

It wasn’t the man I saw a while ago that I shot. It wasn’t him lying lifelessly on the gymnasium’s floor, blood flooding beneath his cold body. It was Glimmer. And I killed her.

What have I done?