Katniss, the Girl on Fire. The girl that Gale loves. The one that is supposedly his cousin. No matter how many times Madge tries to reason it out of her head, she knows that she has feelings for the stoic hunter. Why else would she trudge through a raging blizzard to bring him medicine that would hopefully relieve his pain?
Try as she might, she also tries to will away the feeble hopes that maybe he could be in love with her too. Maybe there's room in his heart for someone who doesn't shine as radiantly as the sun, but someone who still cares for him just as much. Madge knows that these hopes are pointless and stupid, but they still find ways to keep her up at night.
When the first bomb drops and the screaming begins, Madge awakens from a dream where she's the girl that has captured the hunter boy's affections. In that dream the Girl on Fire's meaningless, and it's only her. It's only Madge; the girl who he occasionally brings strawberries to.
As the ground shakes and another bomb begins its descent she jumps up from the warm blankets and runs for her mother and father's room. They are already awake, her father assisting his frail wife as they attempt to make their way from the lavish room. It is the dead of night but the windows are shining a burnt orange and the startling reality is that the light is not of the early morning, but instead comes from the fires that are burning around them.
T The family of three makes their way down to the second floor where the two servants await them. They could have left, left the family to burn like the Capitol did when they sent the hovercrafts, but they remain at the foot of the stairs, casting concerned glances at the frail woman as she clutches to her husband's arm for support. Then they are off, all five of them, as they do their best to reach the door that will lead them outside to the burning district.
By the time they are in the living room Madge has determined that six bombs have already been dropped and the screaming outside seems to have gotten further away. She has no doubt that many of the citizens have fled from the bombs and are on their way to the fence, as if that can save them. If it weren't for the fact that the fence is still electrified, it is possible that it could.
The thought of this stirs something within her, and despite her father's startled yells and her mother's weak attempt to stop her Madge is already running from the house and to the storage shed that is across from the large home. She knows that this is where the transfusion box for the electricity is, and if she could only remember the pin code that her father uses to open the shed she could possibly help them. Help him.
It is on her third try that the small lock clicks open and she is able to enter the small shed. She runs hurriedly to the metal box and reaches for the lever which she knows will cut the electricity. The fires that burn throughout the streets are much brighter than the dim streetlights, anyway. They won't be needing electricity considering there really isn't anyone left. Using the strength the adrenaline has given her, Madge pulls the lever down and it creaks in protest. The lights go out on the machine and she knows that maybe now he'll be able to make it to safety. She stupidly takes a moment to lean against the wooden shed and relax before an explosion shakes the ground and she falls to her knees. Cold fear enters her veins as she comes to the realization of just how close that last bomb was dropped.
Crawling to the door, she clutches the now warm handle and pushes it with the little strength that remains. The sight that greets her on the other side of the door is so horrific that she cries out and her head spins and for a moment Madge wishes she were dead. Her home is gone and there is destruction and fire as far as the eye can see.
Stumbling to her feet, she runs to what once was a grand three story home and trys to find anything, anyone, that can be saved. She screams out for her mother and father, for the housemaid who raised her and for the cook that always made sure she had something in her belly. No one answers and apart from her screaming and wails the District is silent. The bombs are no longer falling and the moans of the other unfortunate souls have ceased.
The District is dead and so are the people and the only thing that is left is ash and smoke and her seemingly endless tears. She briefly allows herself to hope that her impulsive act of turning off the electricity will have allowed at least some people to get out safe. At least for him and his family to make it from the burning District, but she knows that there's a possibility he's among one of the many that were killed. Her thoughts are interrupted as a loud creak splits the air and a sudden burning sensation is piercing her skin and if it weren't for the fact that she was already wailing she surely would have cried.
She falls to the ground and is unable to move due to the fact that that what little had remained of her house is now crushing her and it's so dark and warm where she lays, curled up in an awkward position with, at the very least, a broken leg. She screams out in agony as she realizes that the piercing sensation on her skin is due to the fact that the beam is on fire, and if the smoke doesn't find a way to kill her first she'll burn to death.
As the smoke literally cooks her lungs and she feels the bottom of her nightgown go up in flames, Madge can't prevent the pained gasp that tumbles from her mouth. While the flames that lead to Katniss' namesake were synthetic, the flames that lead to the Mayor's daughter's death are not. So for a little while Madge is the Girl on Fire, and she briefly wonders if maybe Gale might be able to love her now.