Chapter 14

"You really planning on doing this? Getting married on Sunday?" Rory asks as he helps me carry boxes over to Katniss's old house. Or my new house, I guess.

"Yeah. Wouldn't be busting my ass to get everything done otherwise. Why?"

"I don't know. Just seems really sudden, you know? Just the other day at lunch me and Madge were talking about how she had a long time to plan out the wedding she wants and then all of a sudden you're moving it to next week."

"Well, plans changed, Sometimes that happen."

"But what happened? She isn't in any kind of trouble is she?"

"Not the kind you're referring too." I tell him in annoyance. Everyone is going to ask the same damn thing. They're all going to assume she's having a baby and that's why we're rushing to get married.

"But she is in some other kind of trouble?" He asks as his face fills with worry.

"It's a really long and sorted story."

"Gale, she's my friend too. If something's wrong, you should tell me."

"I don't think Ma or Madge would want you to know. There's nothing you can do about it even if you knew so it's best you just leave it be."

"Gale, I'm serious. What's going on?" He repeats as he sets down his box on the floor of my new house.

I sigh and debate whether or not to tell him the truth. The look in his eyes tells me that he isn't going to just drop this. If I don't tell him he may end up asking Madge about it himself and I don't want her to have to tell him herself. "Look, I'll tell you but you have to keep your big mouth shut about it and most of all, you can't start treating Madge all funny because of it."

He looks at me and nods, still looking serious about this as ever.

"Madge is getting reaped at the next reaping. She's going into the games." I tell him. No matter how many times I say it out loud, I can't say it without a lump growing in my throat and tears filling the corners of my eyes.

"Why? How does she know that?" He cries out.

"Shhh, keep your voice down would ya? Remember when she went to the Capitol the other day? Well, President Snow had her summoned and he told her that her name is going into the reaping bowl 500 times next go round."

"But she told me she went there to look at wedding dresses." He says, leaving his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"She did look at dresses but that wasn't the reason she was there."

"Why though? Did he give her a reason?"

"She's being punished sort of for something her mother did a long time ago."

"That's not fair!"

"Never really is when you're dealing with the Capitol." I say quietly. "We both know what going into the games will probably mean for her. Getting married so soon, it just seemed like the only thing to do. She deserves to be happy, to have her dreams come true, even if it only gets to be for a little while."

"Gale, you have to help her. You can't let her die!" He pleads, tears running down his cheeks.

"Trust me, I will do anything for her, anything I thought would make a difference. Katniss knows what's going on and she's going to help her train. We'll make sure she's as prepared as she can be."

"She's so nice. Probably the nicest person I know. I can't even imagine her in the games." He mutters as he stares blankly off in space.

"I know, I know. Look, right now, the best thing you can do for her is be her friend. She doesn't have a whole lot of friends in her life and with me stuck down in the mines all the time, she's likely to be alone a lot. Do me a favor and check in on her every now and then on your way home from school or something. It won't be good for her to be alone too much."

"I will. I already miss having her around at lunch and it's only been a couple days."

"That's just because she's been feeding you. And don't get any bright ideas about coming over here for free food either. She's not going to have the overabundance of it that she used to have." I tell him with a smirk. I know full well that Madge has been feeding him extra food at lunch.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He says looking guilty as ever. He's a terrible liar.

"Sure you don't. And hey, I meant what I said about not telling people about what's really going on. Especially not Vick or Posy, they're too little."

He nods. "So, what all do you need help with over here. Maybe I can come here after school the next couple days and get some of it finished before you get off work."

"I'm just wanting it to be as comfortable for Madge as possible. She's never lived in the Seam and it's going to be a big change for her. I thought maybe I'd get it all cleaned up, fix the loose floorboards, that kind of thing."

"I'll help you. Just leave me the tools here and I'll work on it. Between the two of us, we should have it ready in time." He says.

"Thanks, I appreciate the help and I know Madge will appreciate it too. Oh, and don't tell her what we're doing. She doesn't know where we're going to live yet, I figured it could be a surprise."

"Sure." He says as he gives me a sad smile. I can tell he's worried about Madge but it seems like he's worried about me too. The look in his eyes showed pity. I can tell he's trying to be strong about it though. I forget sometimes how grown up he's getting. It's good I guess that he is getting older now that I won't be living at home. I know I won't worry as much about my family if he's there to help out. I still don't want him out in the woods hunting though. And honestly, given what happened on his last trip out into the woods, I doubt he has any interest anyways. He helps me unpack the boxes we brought over and then we head back home.

I fall asleep quickly but instead of finding the restful sleep I so badly need, my mind tortures me with dreams about Madge fighting in the games. It's the first time I've had dreams about it but something tells me this won't be a one time occurrence. I woke up drenched in a pool of sweat with my heart racing. In my dream, Madge was laying face down in the dirt, knocked unconscious by some stone like object that came flying out of nowhere. I couldn't tell if it was thrown or if it fell from somewhere or even what it was. All I could see was that she was there, running, looking exhausted, and then this thing came out of nowhere and just cracked her right on the temple. Everything was in slow motion then and eyes rolled back in her head and blood trickled down the side of her face as she fell face first to the ground with a sickening thud. And that's when I woke up.

I'm almost zombie like at work all day. The only thing keeping me from falling asleep on the job is the constant heckling from my crewmates about getting married. Apparently invitations went out to literally the entire freaking district and it's all anybody can talk about. And down here in the mines it's no different. Almost worse even because down here, there's no escaping it. Mostly I get a whole lot of "Way to go man! You knock up the Mayor's daughter?" or "Why in the hell would you get married at 18? Are you crazy?" and of course I can't explain to anyone why we're really doing this so soon. And my past reputation for being a guy who quickly makes his way from one girl to the next certainly doesn't help with the dirty remarks about what it must be like to be with the hot daughter of the Mayor. I'm one skeezy comment away from punching someone's lights out when the horn blows signaling the end of the shift. I try to focus on the smiling face waiting for me instead of the obnoxious hoots and whistles I hear coming from the guys behind me. Madge is there, without fail, looking beautiful as ever as she sits on that boulder waiting for me.

"What's with all the commotion?" She asks, looking baffled by the sounds of my fellow coworkers.

"Just a bunch of overgrown children. Ignore them." I say as I clench my fists.

"Getting a little flack over the whole wedding in a week thing?" She asks as she gives me a sympathetic smile.

"Something like that. C'mon, lets get out of here." I tell her as I roll my eyes.

"Eh, let em watch." She says before reaching up and looping her arms around my neck, pressing her lips onto mine. When she pulls back from the kiss, I reach down and wipe the coal smudges from her smiling face.

We walk back to my house and she fills me in on all the wedding stuff she's been working on. She's been working like a mad woman trying to get everything put together. And as much as I hate seeing her run herself ragged, I'm glad she isn't making me help with any of the wedding planning. I wouldn't have even a fraction of the patience it would take to make all those little details come together so quickly. But Madge does. She has that ability about her. The one that can manage to be surrounded by annoying Capitol people for hours on end, planning out the most important event of her life and still have a smile on her face at the end of the day. She walks me all the way to my house, kisses me goodnight and then heads back home. Normally, this is when I'd be ready to eat and crash into my bed but not tonight, not this week. Instead I quickly eat the dinner my mother hands me and then I head over to my new house to get whatever work I can finished. It's really important to me that she like our new house. Obviously, it won't even compare to the house she has now but I don't think that matters to her as much as it matters to me. I do worry a bit about how she'll adapt to life in the Seam. I'm not sure she realizes just how many little luxuries she has in her life right now. At any rate, I plan to try and make the house as comfortable for her as I possibly can.

When I walk in, I stand in awe of how much Rory accomplished this afternoon. The house is spotlessly clean. Floor swept, windows washed, cobwebs no longer filling the corners of the house. Everything is totally clean, top to bottom.

"What'd you do, skip school and work in here all day?" I ask jokingly.

"Just wanted to get as much done for you as possible. I know you've gotta be tired after work." He shrugs as he gathers up the cleaning supplies.

"You have no idea." I say shaking my head. "Still, you didn't have to do so much."

"It was nothing. Tomorrow I'll work on fixing stuff now that everything's all cleaned up."

"I think this place just may get finished with time to spare now." I tell him with a relieved smile as he heads out the door.

Once I'm alone in the house, I sit down and look around it, trying to picture what it'll look like when Madge and I are actually living here. I can't believe it's only a few days away. A year ago if someone had told me I'd be about to marry Madge Undersee and have her willingly move to the Seam I'd have laughed my ass off. Wouldn't have believed it for a minute. But here I am, hopelessly in love with her, sitting in the floor of our soon to be house. Our house. How crazy is that? I shake my head to myself and smile. Love really is the most unusual thing. I do a few minor repairs on a shelf and on the hinges of the bedroom door and then decide to go home and get whatever sleep I can manage. Back home, everyone has gone to bed except my mother who sits, surrounded by laundry and neatly folded stacks of clothes.

"How's the house coming along?"

"Good. Great really. All thanks to Rory. He got so much done today that I may actually be able to be finished with everything early."

"Did he tell you he skipped school to work on it all day?"

"He left that part out. How'd you find out?" I can't believe that kid. What in the hell is thinking? Why would he do that for me?

"Vick told me. I'm curious Gale, why would your brother be so eager to help you clean a house?"

"I don't know, maybe he's just being nice."

"It wouldn't have anything to do with you telling him about what's going on with Madge, would it?"

"He asked. More than once. I had to tell him because I was afraid he'd just ask Madge about it if I didn't tell him myself. I didn't want her to have to be the one to explain it." I confess though I can tell she already knew the truth whether I copped to it or not.

"I see. And what about Vick and Posy?"

"I didn't tell them anything. And I told Rory not too either."

"Gale, have you thought about how this will all effect them? How do you think Posy will take it when she has to watch Madge, the girl she practically idolizes, be reaped?"

"Actually, I spend the majority of my time trying not to think about things like that. I don't want to focus on the worst right now. And besides, don't you think it would affect all of us the same way if we were just dating? Because even if we weren't getting married in a couple days, I'd still be with her and she'd still be getting reaped."

"It's different when you're married. I'm not trying to argue about this with you. I just want you to know that the people who love you, are also staring to love her the same way and they'll be crushed when this is all said and done."

"And what is it that you'd have me do about that?" I ask angrily.

"I'd ask you to be gentle with their feelings, with their hearts. You and Madge will need to find a way for her to say goodbye to them before she goes away. A task that won't be easy for any of you."

I nod and grit my teeth, inhaling deeply. She's right. My whole family loves Madge and they'll be devastated when she goes into the games. The only solution is to have her not go into the games. To have her run away with me. That still takes her away from my family but it does keep them from having to watch her death on screen. It keeps her alive. I have to find a way to convince her to run with me. I have to make that my biggest goal over the next few months.

"Gale, I'm sorry I've upset you. I just want you to really see the gravity of the situation you're getting into. Want you to see the bigger picture. Want you to see the risk you're taking."

"I get it Ma. Really, I do. But you're wrong about one thing. I'm not getting into anything, I'm already there and I have been for a long time. When I fell in love with her, it was unconditional. And as for taking risks, perhaps you've forgotten the risk Madge took for us when she turned the fence off so I could get Rory back home. She could have been severely punished by the Capitol for that but she never hesitated once. She just did what felt right to her. And had she not done that, had she decided it was too risky to get involved, Rory would've been taken away by the Capitol. Our whole family could have been punished. So, if loving Madge, if marrying her, means taking a risk, I'm fine with that." I say coolly before I turn and go into the bedroom without another word from my mother.

As I lay in bed trying to calm down so I can sleep, my mother comes in and over to my bed. She leans down and kisses my forehead and whispers, "I love you", before going to her own bed. I know I shouldn't have been so ugly to her. I realize that her problem isn't with Madge. She's just worried about the grief she knows will come our way in Madge's absence. I know all of this is true; it isn't a new revelation or anything. I will try to be more patient with her though when she voices concerns like she did tonight.

My sleep is once again filled with vivid dreams of Madge being hurt, being killed in the games. I awake to the same pool of sweat and racing heart from the morning before only this time they're accompanied by a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach because I'm sure now that this will be a regular, nightly thing. Every night when I go to sleep I'm going to be watching Madge die over and over again.