Nother chapter!
It had been a month since the wedding and life in district four was… ordinary. Gale was constantly on the phone though and hardly had time to hang around with Madge. She was beginning to feel pretty lonely. Gale came into the living room where she was lying out, reading a book
"Hey I might have to take a business trip"
"To the Capitol?"
"Yeah tomorrow or tonight. I'll get a call around lunchtime"
"Ok"
"Sorry" this was their relationship now. Every day it was the same temperature, the same routine, the same calls, the same tram. Madge was tired of walking down to the beach every day. Gale left for the Capitol that night, his foot was taping and he was having serious doubts about leaving Madge alone.
He looked out the train window at the surroundings around him and then focused on his book. But as soon as he turned a few pages, he was back taping his foot and thinking about Madge.
The morning light was beautiful, Madge thought, as she looked over at the exotic red light coming through the windows of their master. She left pretty early to get the shopping done and the Lydia stopped Madge on the street.
"Hey storm tonight- not sure how bad it'll be. It's your first one though so I just wanted to warn you"
"Thanks Lyds" Madge grinned but Lydia didn't smile back just nodded and kept walking. Madge noticed people cleaning windows and shutting their storm shutters.
Madge walked up to Rim who had a grim face on- "couldn't go out this morning Madgie to choppy" he looked up to the skies calmly, "storms coming" but Madge couldn't see what they were seeing. It looked like any other day.
A pit in her stomach grew and she stopped shopping and got on the tram to station 8. Her heart pounded and she took off her big sun hat.
Hazelle greeted her at the door as she ran up the boardwalk. She smiled pleasantly and this put Madge to ease.
"Storm tonight" Hazelle said and Madge got anxious again, "I heard it on the radio" now Madge was shaking
"What does that mean?" she whispered when she was close enough.
"It means we hunker down" Hazelle shrugged, "heard that on the radio too" she smiled, "you wouldn't want to come stay in the guest room, would you?" she asked too sweetly for Madge to handle.
That's why they were all telling her they knew Gale was away for the first time and that she was alone in the house.
"No Hazelle I'll be fine" she said straightening up.
"I'm sure you will be" she said with the same tone Madge used, "now would you like to join us for breakfast?" Madge followed Hazelle in and took a seat at the kitchen table with the kids.
"Do you want me to come stay with you tonight?" Rory asked Madge and she took serious note of his question
"No that's quite alright Ro" she smiled and cut into her omelet. He nodded and did the same. When Madge got home she phoned Gale's office.
"Hello?" he answered right away
"Hey there" she tried to sound happy and exciting
"What's wrong Madge?" she smiled freely hearing the worry of his voice
"Nothing, just was calling to tell you that there's going to be a storm tonight. It's the talk of the town and of the local weather radio station"
"Are you staying with my mother then?" he asked impatiently
"No" she said furrowing her eyebrows with anger
"And why not?" he asked
"Cause I'm fine on my own" she said like it answered everything.
"Alright" he sounded defeated, "be careful then" he said
"I will" she said smiling now
"I love you"
"I love you too" she giggled and hung up. A few minutes later after she had started folding clothes the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"It's Rory"
"What's up?" she asked and looked out the window
"Well Gale just called and wanted me to come over tonight and I didn't want to fight with him so I said I would"
"So...?" Madge said tapping her foot
"So I'm coming over" she opened her mouth to argue but Rory had already hung up. Madge slumped against the wall in defeat.
There was a knock at the door thirty minutes later. She rolled her eyes and stood in front of the door counting to herself, "one one thousand... two one thousand" she whispered when she reached 9 she flung the door open to see an amused Rory.
"How long did you count before you let me in?"
"Like 10 seconds" she winked and locked the door behind him. He laughed and slouched down onto the couch. Madge stood awkwardly in the doorway still her eyes focused on wind outside the house.
"It's getting bad out there" Rory said to her and shrugged, "glad I came over" Madge nodded and came to sit with him on the couch. "Is something wrong?" he asked and set his hand on hers
"No" she said, shaking her head, "just worried about everything" Rory let that go and then looked over again
"Nix and I went to D12 the other day" Madge stiffened
"Yeah?" Madge asked raising an eyebrow, "why?"
"I had said I wanted to see it- she bought me a ticket- I told my mother I was going to the Capitol for the day and went to look around 12"
"How was it?" Madge asked quickly
"Amazing" Rory said and they both looked out the window then. It was growing darker and you could see the rain traveling over the ocean in the distance.
"Tell me about it" Madge demanded and leaned against the couch, resting her hands on her stomach
"No- you should go see it yourself" Madge bit her lip, "Gale would be mad"
"When has Gale ever been mad at you?" she stuck out her tongue in frustration
"Recently he's just been really distant"
"Oh" Rory and Madge walked off in different parts of the house. Madge shut herself up in her library and Rory had disappeared into the office. Sirens rang outside and Madge looked up and out the window. She froze and Rory walked in with wide eyes. "You have to see this" they crowed around in front of the window in the kitchen and swayed together.
"Whoa" Madge whispered and watched the rain and the dark sky. The waves were high and the wind hit the house over and over. She turned on the TV and as soon as it was on and the weather channel was buzzing the electricity went out.
"Do you think we're going to die?" Rory asked behind her
"No Rory" she laughed and together they went to huddle in Madge's small library. Her mind wandered to Gale. He was sitting in his nice office in the Capitol with his good-looking assistant. She was sitting here in the dark, lost, lonely, and scared with Rory at her feet.
The lights flickered in the hall and she lifted her head. Someone was banging on the door. She got up and ran swinging the front door open. The wind hit her face and she looked around in the storm to see if anyone was there.
The wind made the same sound with the door and the screen door snapped off and went flying out into the blustery weather. She clung to the doorknob and pushed it closed, laying out on the ground in front of it. The shutters hit the house and made a loud banging noise, she climbed the stairs onto the second floor.
In the Master she sat down and looked out the window at the ocean. Palm trees were almost bent over and the air was filled with dirt and sand. She gripped her knees and huddled in the middle of the bed. She opened her eyes and the clatter outside had stopped.
Madge didn't know what to do first. She lifted her head and noticed the nightstand light was on. She reached over to the phone.
"Madge! I saw on the TV" he said all at once
"Gale stop yelling. I have a headache- wait going to throw up" she dropped the phone and ran to the bathroom. Rory appeared out of nowhere and held her hair back. She rinsed out her mouth and she could hear Rory talking to her husband in the other room. Coming home he mouthed when she immerged from the bath. She felt so much better. She couldn't even think of a reason for the sickness.
The destruction was all over. It wasn't just plants. Trees had fallen and destroyed shops and homes, shutters had been blown away and windows were broken. Madge, Lydia, Mari, and Kelby met in the market square and starred at each other.
"I warned you" Lydia said to all of them and they passed around awkward smiles.
Review peeps :)
Erin
