The memories of the rebellion haunted Madge. Ever since she and Gale escaped from the bomb-shattered District 12, she's been having nightmares. Now that her family is gone, and possibly even her best friend, she's traumatized. Though, she tries to keep it to herself. In more ways than one, the chaos back at her old home made her both stronger and weaker. She knew one thing for certain – you can never underestimate the power of the Capitol.
That leads to another reason she keeps her thoughts to herself. Gale hated the Capitol more than anyone else did, even before the rebellion. In fact he loathed it, and he still does to this day. Because of that, she has no one to go to.
Rising up from her bed, she decides to take a walk down to the lake. She slips her feet into her sandals and grabs a jacket before heading out the door. For the time being, her and Gale have been staying in a fancy sort of motel. It was definitely a lot different from back home. District 2 was much more advanced you could say, while District 12 was – well – now it was gone.
Quietly, she cracked the door open and began walking down the hallway. Surprisingly, there is no familiar sound of Gale's snore from the room next to hers. That could be both a good and a bad thing. On one hand, he wasn't making all that racquet that usually kept her up at night on top of all the bad dreams. On the other, it meant he could possibly not be asleep, or even having trouble doing so. Madge tried not to let it bother her and she continued on.
The crickets chirped tiresomely outside. She zipped up her jacket, the cold evening breeze already sending shivers down her spine. In a way it was calming, combined with the soothing sounds of the waves crashing onshore. She had almost forgotten that it's only sunset until she saw the descending golden sphere on the other side of the lake. Her and Gale had been trying to fall asleep earlier since they came to District 2. They thought it would ease the pain. But so far, she's had no such luck.
Squinting her eyes, she couldn't believe what she was seeing – Gale was standing not too far away from her, gazing out at the water. Apparently, he hadn't noticed she was here, and she wasn't sure yet if she wanted him to.
He could help you, she thought to herself. Isn't that what you always wanted anyway, Madge? To feel his arms around you and make you feel better? No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't push those thoughts away.
Without thinking about it any more, she strolled along the shoreline over to where he was. Only then did he turn his head to look at her.
"Madge? What are you doing here?" There was a hint of worry in his voice, as if she had just snuck up on him when he was writing in his diary.
What was she supposed to say to him? She wasn't just about to pour out every agonizing detail of everything that had been bothering her. He wouldn't care about any of it, would he? No. She came up with a more acceptable response instead.
"I just… I needed somewhere to clear my head, you know? After everything that –" She immediately stopped herself, biting her lower lip. Great, now she had just done exactly what she told herself not to.
She averted his gaze, but still felt his eyes on her all the same. Her heart beat faster as he came closer to her, so close that only a piece of paper could fit between them. This really wasn't helping her at all.
Suddenly, she felt Gale lift her chin up so now she had no choice, but to look into his eyes. Her insides were starting to melt at his delicate, but overwhelming touch. "You'll always have me, Madge." And with those five words, he kissed her full on the mouth. She didn't even have time to react, not that she would've stopped him anyway.
That night, Madge was seated on Gale's lap as they watched the last rays of the sun disappear behind the trees. And as she laid her head back on to his chest, with his arms around her waist, she thought to herself: This is all I need.