"There she goes again." Posy nudge me on my side and nod at a blonde
girl in a white dress walking across the meadow where dandelions grow.
"I wonder what is she doing?" she wonder out loud. "She just sits
there, it seem so boring." she says with a scowl.
I roll my eyes at my sister and look back at Madge Undersee.
Ever since the rebellion was over and some of us moved back here in
District Twelve, we always see her in the meadow. Just laying there.
"Why don't you go ask her?" Posy dare me.
"Why don't you go ask her?" I shoot back.
She shake his head while rolling his eyes. "Chicken." she mutter.
"I am not!" I exclaim.
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are. Too!"
"Fine!" I exclaim standing up. "To show you that I'm not a coward. I'm
gonna go ask her what is she doing in the meadow."
She smiles triumphantly.
I beam to the meadow where Madge Undersee is laying. When I reach her,
I found her with her eyes close.
I look at Posy who wave her hand at me encouragingly.
I turn back to Madge and to my surprise, my grey eyes met her sea of blue ones.
I blink and stutter an awkward "H-hi,"
"Hey," she says sitting up, her golden locks flowing down her back.
"Do you need anything?" she ask looking at the clouds.
I look around while thinking of something to say. "Er, can I sit
here?" I gesture next to her.
She sigh with a smile. "That's the good thing after the rebellion.
Panem is now a free country, and we are the lucky ones who get to live
in it." she state.
"I'll take that as a yes." I say sitting a couple of feet away from her.
She turn to me, and once again our eyes locked. "Now, are you going to
tell me why are you here?" she ask.
"Funny. My sister wants to know why you're here-" I jerk my thumb
where Posy is. Well, was. She ditch me. "Well, she was there a minute
ago." I laugh humorlessly.
But she just offer me a half-hearted smile. "Everybody already asked
me that." she mutters plucking a dandelion from the ground.
"Why are you always here then?" I ask.
"When I was younger, my mother and I used to play in a meadow. Of
course, when her headache wasn't that chronic."
I remember that.
The mayor's wife, Mrs. Undersee, sitting in the meadow near the Seam
while little Madge run around making tiaras made flowers for them.
"The night before the bombing ... " she sniffle.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I cut her off when I
realise that she's crying.
"No, I want to." she shakes her head. "I want to tell somebody."
My brows crease. "But I thought you said everybody ask you?"
Her gaze drop at her clasped hands on her lap. "But I never said I
told everyone."
My eyes are still locked on her features. Blonde, pale skin. Everybody
says she looks like an angel, but I always thought that they just said
that because she was the mayor's daughter.
Now I'm starting to believe them.
"The night before the bombing ... " she continue. "Mother told me she
was feeling better. I asked her if she wants to go out, get some fresh
air."
She look up the clouds and inhale the sweet scent of grass. "She said
she wants to visit the meadow where we used to play. I promised her
that if she gets even better, we'll go to the meadow every single day
if she wants to." another tear falls down her cheek.
"She made me promised. And I'm keeping my promise, that's why I'm
always here. Even without her."
I scoot over next to her, hoping it's comforting enough.
"The next day, I went to the meadow early to gather some fresh flowers
for her like I used to when I was five."
I absent mindedly put my hand on her and squeeze it.
"As I was walking back home ... That's when the first bomb landed ...
" she stop and put her face in her palm to hide her tears.
The first bomb landed on the mansion where Undersees lived. It burned to dust.
Including the mayor and his wife.
"I'm sorry I asked."
Now I put my arms around her and pull her into a hug.
"I'm so sorry." I whisper in her hair.
"Now I ... I don't have a family ... " she sob on my chest.
I stroke her hair with my free hand and rub circles on her back with the other.
"I'm alone ... "
"That's not true, you're friends with Katniss and Peeta remember?" I
say. "They're your family now."
She lightly shake her head and push away from me, wiping her tears
with the ball of her palm. "Yes, I know. But they have personal
issues to deal with. Peeta also lost his family in the bombing. And
Katniss ... "
I know, Prim.
It's been years since the bombing and nobody really paid attention to
the former district's mayor's daughter.
Nobody really tried to ask her how she really felt about everything
that had happened.
Nobody knows it ... but me.
"I have people around me because of pity," she state through sniffles.
"I don't have anybody-"
I pull her again into a hug. "That's not true." I say, hugging her
tighter. "Now you have me."
a/n: I'm thinking of writing a multi-chaptered Gadge story. What do you think?
