The day her father dies is the day her world falls apart.
There's no wake to commemorate his death, no heartfelt goodbyes; only a handful of peacekeeper that come to take her father's corps away. Madge stands crying silently unable to move as they carry her daddy out on a stretcher. She watches her father leave their house for the final time, the wind blowing off the white bed sheet the peacekeepers had allowed her to throw on her father's corps. As the sheet blows away she catches a glimpse of her of her father's grayed peaceful face she breaks.
A pair of foreign hands rubs her lower back as a deep voice shushes her pitiful sobs. She looks up long enough to notice the head peace keeper Cray. Even in her state of despair she can see through his thinly veiled mask of comfort. He leers at her in way that she is not comfortable with as he asks if there's anything he can do for her in her time of need. The answer is a resounding no. Everyone in twelve knows about Cray.
She deadbolts the door when he leaves.
Madge cries herself to sleep that night, and every night since. Her father is dead and she has nothing left. She's a sixteen year old, with no income and a sick mother in a world that has long forgotten the meaning of the word fair.
A capitol official assigns her a week to gather her affairs before the Peacekeepers drag her out. She is assigned a new house, a small claustrophobic hut with single a kitchen, and bathroom. There's the smallest of space between the kitchen and front door where she arranges for her mother to sleep. Madge sleeps in the kitchen.
She has to watch with the rest of the district, clapping dully as a new mayor is assigned. And she is reminded once more that this is her new life.
After nearly a month of careful rationing the food runs out. Katniss tries to help at first, she brings by a bird and some goat cheese. Even teaches Madge how to skin and cook the animal. After that she brings a strange tasting rodent and berries. Madge is grateful but the arrangement doesn't last for very long. Katniss can't afford to feed her own family let alone Madge and her useless mother. The price of being a Good Samaritan is simply too high.
After Katniss, Madge is left with no choice but to fend for herself. She has no particular skill, she cannot hunt like Katniss and District 13 is not an easy place to be unemployed. All she has is materialistic goods and a house too small for it. Madge finds herself somewhere she never thought she'd be, the Seam. The first time she steps foot there she's frightened and reluctant to talk to anybody. Nobody talks to her either.
It's like a different world here. The people here seem more at home within the tiny hub than they would on the streets. It's loud. Hordes of voices attempt to be heard over one another, the sound of boots scuffling against the floor resonates, and the aroma of stew teased her empty stomach. Madge is out of her element. Her shiny blond locks and clear eyes;even simply dressed she stood out amongst the dirty inhabitants of the seams. She has to remind herself they're dirty because they've been digging through coal-mines and risking their life hunting outside the fence to provide for their family.
After the first couple of weeks the dealers there are more inclined to do business and less likely to stare at her suspiciously; As though talking to her will result in group of peacekeepers raiding the black market. She's pretty sure they're charging her more than they would anyone else. But, she's too grateful they're even doing business with her to complain. Aside from Katniss everyone in thirteen hates her because of how easy life is- was for her. Well now she was just as broken and starving as the rest of them, not that it makes a difference in their eyes. To them she is still a spoilt princess.
As the weeks goes by her house begins to look bearer and bearer. She starts looking for jobs, because before long she'll run out of things to sell. She doesn't hold any hope. Unemployment is a common occurrence in twelve. Everyone's starving, she's just another statistic. At least she doesn't need to add her mother's medicine to her list of worries. Her daddy was always paranoid about the medicine cabinet being stocked, there's at least a year's worth.
A month later she's still jobless and has sold everything she's deemed unessential. She finds herself at the seam with a handful of her mother's medicine. As soon as she sells it for weeks' worth of food she regrets it. She tells herself that a cabinet worth of morphling will be worthless if she starves preserving them. But, the disappointment on her father's face if he knew. Madge can't bear to hurt her father, not even in memory. She never could.
She has no choice left when she finds herself outside of Clay's door. She's hoping the darkness conceals her from the neighbors prying eyes. And a small part of her prays that he won't answer. He does. He invites her in, knowing without either party needing to say what she came for. It's a sight he is used to by now, she tells herself, young girls desperate and starving on his doorsteps. He tells her to wait. His house -a disorganized mess that reeked of alcohol- is four times bigger than the one she now lives in. When Clay comes back he hands her enough money to last her a week. She stuffs the money in the pocket of her dress as Clay leads her to his bedroom.
He watches her hungrily as she undresses. It's difficult to undo the buttons when her hands are shaking so bad. Soon his also naked and they're on the bed. Clay is not gentle and doesn't care too much for her tears. Madge closes her eyes and does her best to imagine somewhere else as she lies still. When it's over she takes her money and leaves.
She tells herself it's just a one-time thing. She feels dirty. And knows deep down that there's a part of her she'll never get back.
It's a not a one-time thing. Two weeks later she's outside Clay's door again. This time she wears a dress without buttons.
That same night she finds herself in her mother's room imagining how easy it would be press a pillow to pillow the woman's face and smother her to death. Every day she fed and bathed a woman who on most days didn't even recognize her. She was supposed to be the mother, not the other way around.
The violent thought shocks Madge. She wasn't supposed to think such things- She never. This wasn't her. Madge was a nice girl, who loved her father, cared for her mother…and… and lived a happy life, She doesn't even know who she is anymore.
She doesn't go through with it.
Instead she goes to her makeshift bed in the kitchen. Once more she cries herself to sleep.