With the games over and having District Twelve's half victor, Madge's life was flipped. The house crowded with Capitol people setting up for Peeta's return. Katniss slowly faded into a pleasant memory for some. Her parents were regarded with pity, the Mellark's congratulated.
Madge herself wasn't sure what to do. She was now completely isolated in school, sitting alone and having nobody to keep her company.
She hardly slept, scenes of the cave collapsing replayed over and over in her mind.
It was the morning of Peeta and Clove's first appearance since winning that took her the longest to get out of bed.
Downstairs she heard the sound of people with things to do scurrying around. She herself was free for the day, school was canceled for the occasion.
But this house was suffocating, the sound of her mother's pained moans was maddening. She pulled on the cleanest top she can find, the most sensible pants she owns. Being able to slip away has always been her forte, it doesn't fail her today. She slips out the house without anybody noticing.
She sticks close to the buildings, hoping to avoid any contact with human beings.
District Twelve is as split as ever. In some instances fights have broken out.
The Town people want to celebrate their victory, be joyous in Peeta's return.
The Seam mourns for their huntress. The one who gave them hope after a series of deaths.
Madge is in turmoil. Is she happy to have Peeta back? Of course. But Katniss was gone forever. It was hard to tell just how she felt.
She sighs, digging her hands into her pockets and rummaging for any lose change. She finds none and resolves to continue walking, despite not having any breakfast.
Today the sky is clear, the coal dust lingering close to the ground. The mines aren't shut down, but there being worked by only those who desperately need the shift. It's not every year that Twelve has a Victor.
The square is crowded, the big screen being washed down, every shop is open and ready for business. With promises of food coming in from Peeta's victory, everybody is just a bit more lose with the purse strings today. The Mellark bakery has been slammed with business, the line all the way to the street curb. Everybody's probably congratulating the family.
Madge watches all of this, feeling happiness creep up on her. It's nice to see everybody in good spirits.
Summer was coming to an end and she knew she would have to soak up these last days of good weather before the chill set in.
It takes her fifteen minutes to get out of the square, it usually takes less than five minutes but today the celebrating has set her back.
She dodges people and goes around the circles of those who stop in the middle of the pathway.
After she leaves the square, and the surrounding homes, it's like a ghost town. All houses still and quite as she slowly wanders down the dirt roads.
She walks until the cheers from the square turn into faint hums in the back of her mind.
Until the fence is clearly visible.
She tries to imagine what it would be like, to go to it every morning and slip under the wire. It was always her intention to ask Katniss to take her out there one day. When she felt brave enough anyway.
She sighs, one deep breath in and one deep breath out. Life was moving on and maybe it was for the best.
The edge of the Seam was in her peripheral vision, though it seemed just as abandoned as the other houses.
Sighing, trying not to think of Primrose, she turned on her heels and was about to head straight home and barricade herself in her room until things cooled down.
But of course he was there, of course it would be the one person she talked to after the rocks fell.
Flashbacks of their last little talk hit her. Would her and Gale Hawthorne ever get along? No, they were like cats and dogs, complete opposites with so little in common.
At least he had strawberries.
She intends to walk around him, seeing as how he doesn't bother to move out of her way. Her eyes drop to the ground as she lifts her reluctant feet up.
She makes it just to the his right before he says anything.
"She… She said you two were friends. I never understood how you managed that."
"Managed friendship?" Madge asks, amusement in her voice for the first time in a long time.
"Yeah… How does the Mayor's daughter become friends with somebody from the Seam?"
"She sees the Seam girl for herself. Not because of a fake class system in some crummy old District."
He actually looks surprised by her words which is a shock to Madge. She always assumed Gale was the type to talk Capitol trash when nobody was around.
He blinks, his face falling back into a mask of indifference and frustration. She admires him for a moment. Many girls from the town watch him leave with so much longing.
'Oh if only he wasn't destined to be a coal miner.' They sigh over each other.
"How… How are you holding up?" She asks with reluctance.
His eyes snap to her from whatever he was staring at.
"I'm just fine."
It's a lie but what's she gonna do? Call him out on it?
It doesn't surprise her when he doesn't ask her how she is, or exchange meaningless small talk. He readjusts the canvas bag on his back and heads towards the coal covered homes.
She walks back to her house, feeling a little lighter that in the coming years of more Hunger Games and more meaningless deaths, Gale Hawthorne will mourn for the same friend she mourns for, that it won't be just her family who hold the burden of moving on.
Her home, especially clean as officials go in and out, stands like a meaningless pile of timber. Where the sick, her mother, rot into themselves.
Inside there is still the same chaos, the same complaining and trying to get themselves organized. She goes to her room feeling that strange lightness in her bones.
When the time comes she goes to her empty living room and braces herself to see Peeta Mellark and the Girl With the Knives.
In case you haven't noticed it goes: Cleeta, Catoniss, Gadge.
