I have to squint through the rain but then I see it, the tiny figure making their way down the porch steps
"Undersee? ... What?-" she turns back to me and shivers violently, her lips are blue and she's soaked through
"I-I didn't know where else to go" if I wasn't worried she might die on my doorstop then I'd never have pulled her through the threshold
"What the hell happened Undersee? Here" I say directing her to the seat closest to the fire
"I - I had to get out of the house. I - I didn't - I didn't know where else to go. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here. It's late, I should go, I'm sorry"
"You're not going anywhere Undersee" I stop her from leaving by grabbing her shoulder, she winces and in just a few seconds the pale blue of her dress is dyed red, blood red "hell's teeth! What happened?!"
"It's nothing" I look at her like she's stupid because the blood has now spread it's way through her dress, half way down her back. I can see the blood draining from her face and into the soft, rain drenched material
"Bloody hell Undersee what happened?" I cry, reaching for her collar
"Gale, please" she murmurs, feebly trying to push my hand away "st - stop" she's unsteady on her feet and I know it's because she's losing too much blood
"I need to get you to Mrs. E"
"Please, Gale, no. They can't - they can't know, no one can know" she sounds so desperate before she collapses in to me. I catch her under her arms and have her cradled in my arms a second later
"Gale?" my mother's voice calls sleepily from her bedroom doorway "what's wrong?"
"I don't know, she's hurt. I'm going for Katniss' mom. Cover the table" she does as I say and I place Madge on her front. I can't explain why I stroke a hand over her hair before turning away but I do it "I'll be back, could you boil some water or something" I don't wait for a reply, I don't even stop for my jacket and run into the now torrential rain. I can't lift my head long enough to see where I'm going without the rain blinding me but I could walk the seam in my sleep and once I reach town the path to victors village is lit.
I don't knock, I call out for Mrs. Everdeen before I'm even fully in the door and knowing it must be an emergency both she and Prim are before me in less than a minute.
"Gale?"
"It's the mayors daughter" do they know Katniss is friends with her, they must know of her at least from when she brought newspapers and information before they went to the Capitol, hopefully the fact that she's the mayors daughter will hurry them enough
"Madge?" Prim asks pitifully, I guess they do know her
"She's hurt, she's losing blood"
"Primrose get my bag, Gale could you get the bandages from that cupboard" I snatch the rolls of cloth from their shelf and help Prim into her coat before guiding the two blondes through the downpour to my home.
"She's awake" my mother calls from the kitchen "sort of" she makes her way towards us, greeting Mrs. Everdeen and Prim quickly as they pass her. I try to follow and she stops me "Gale she doesn't want you in there"
"Oh ... shouldn't I help?" my mother shakes her head
"No Gale I don't think you should" I can't work out the look on my mother's face "it'll only upset you" I don't get a chance to ask what she means because we're interrupted
"Gale! Gale! Please!" I step around my mother and fly into the kitchen to have the air sucked out of me. Madge lays face down on my kitchen table, her dress unfastened to the waist to reveal her upper half. The tears that mark her back are too familiar, too much like my own. Some are healing, like mine, some are open, bloody and fresh, but the worst, the absolute most horrific are the ones that are raised and pale, the ones that have had time, a lot of time, years, to heal completely and scar. The most horrific are the ones that she must have received when she was no older than Prim. The marks may not be from a whip, may not be as deep but they are certainly worse. To endure that pain as a child, what could she have possibly done to deserve that? Who would dare do this to a child? I look down at the patch work that is her back, specifically at a spot where the skin has been gouged from the muscle and the imprint of what looks to be a belt buckle, and vow that I will make whoever did this pay. I will never again let anyone harm Madge Undersee "Gale" Madge holds her hand out, even though it pulls at the slashes on her shoulder and ribs and I take it without hesitation. I don't look away from her back until she pulls me towards her "get them away" she swallows "they can't see this"
"They're going to help Madge"
"No, they can't know, you can't know"
"It's okay Madge, we're going to help you"
"Gale please" she begins to cry "please don't let them see me, don't look at me"
"Madge" I kneel so we're eye level and hold her hand in both of mine "it's just Mrs. E and Prim, they're going to fix you up"
"But they can't see, Gale please, they can't know" she pleads and more tears wet her cheeks
"They won't tell anyone Madge, they just want to help you"
"Promise me, promise me they won't"
"I promise you Madge, I promise" I press her fingers to my lips, it feels more intimate than any kiss ever has before "just relax okay" she nods and Mrs. Everdeen goes back to work, she rummages around in her bag before turning with a needle in one hand and a vial in the other
"No!" Madge screams and tries to push herself from the table "no! Don't give me that! Please"
"It'll make the pain go away" Prim calms her
"I don't care!" Madge sobs "please don't give me that"
"It's just morphling" I tell her after recognizing the substance "it'll help"
"It never helps!" she growls "I don't need it, they're not as bad as yours were"
"How do you know I needed - wait, you? You brought the morphling, didn't you?" I accuse "Why?-"
"Mrs. Everdeen, please, I don't need it" Madge says calmly. Mrs. Everdeen looks at the needle in her hands then nods and puts them back in her medicine bag. With the morphling out of site Madge melts back into the table
"You, you brought the morphling" it's not a question, I know. Who else could afford it? Only a victor but neither Katniss, Peeta nor Haymitch had any need for it. That only left the mayor, or the mayors household but why would they have that much morphling to hand?
"You would've died without it" Madge deadpans
"Why did you do that? I can't pay you back for that!" I demand angrily
"You don't have to pay me back for it Gale" Madge winces as Prim pierces her skin with a needle
"Of course I do, I don't know how but I will!"
"You were going to die Gale, what was I supposed to do?"
"Nothing! You weren't supposed to do anything"
"Ah" Madge gasps and automatically squeezes my fingers when Prim guides the needle too deep
"Sorry"
"It's alright Prim" she grits "It's no different than what you're doing for me now" Madge says turning back to me
"Don't be stupid, of course it is. I could work my whole life and never be able to afford that"
"Shut up Gale" she gripes through gritted teeth
"Should've just stayed out of it Undersee, it wasn't your place" Madge looks at me for a long time before she presses her forehead to the table and closes her eyes, she doesn't take her hand from mine but the light grip she had loosens so I'm essentially holding it there. I realize too late that I have broken my own promise, mere minutes after making it. I have hurt Madge Undersee.