I OWN NOTHING. THIS IS MADGE'S STORY. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ CATCHING FIRE, IT SHOULDN'T MATTER BECAUSE THIS ONE IS A HUNGER GAMES FIC SINCE I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO A DECENT STORY FOR HER FROM CATCHING FIRE.
The sun is rising above me, approaching its highest peek. Can it really be almost noon already? I don't usually sleep in this late. The smell of wood assaults my nose, and when I open my eyes, I'm in a box of some kind. Confusion makes my head hurt as I try to figure out why I'm waking in a box today, when last night I went to sleep in my bed. Before I can fully grasps what is going on, someone is speaking, interrupting my thoughts.
"She was always such a good girl; bright, kind, charming. It's hard to believe that my little angel is gone. That she will never again call for her papa, or roll her eyes at me in irritation, and that she will never again kiss me goodnight as she did just last night. How quickly she has come and gone, only sixteen when she left this world. Just one month ago I was thanking my stars that she had escaped the reaping again this year, but in a way, she has still been reaped. Still been taken from me too soon… I'm sorry, I can't go on…" the voice is that of my fathers, and I could tell that he was holding back tears through the whole speech, but now he is wailing, the sound of it becoming quieter with each step he takes as he makes his way away from my box.
This makes no sense, who has died? Why wasn't I informed? I sit up in my box and notice that everyone seems to be staring at me. They are all dressed warmly, and I notice that we are outside, somewhere between two buildings. Snow falls quietly to the ground, but I am not cold. I don't feel anything, actually. I push this thought aside and concentrate on the small crowd of people before me. My entire family is here, which isn't saying much, and only one person in the crowd isn't related to me. Katniss sits near the back of the crowd, and she appears to be comforting my father. She pats his shoulder lightly and then turns to stare at me too. I notice my mother isn't here; probably opting to stay in bed with her headache rather than send someone we know into the after life. Someone is speaking again.
"My…condition has kept me from being the mother that I should have been. This is no excuse though. My lovely, perfect daughter deserved better than what I gave her as a mother, and when I think about how I couldn't force myself from my depression long enough to get to know her better, I am disgusted with myself." My mother is speaking now. I look out to the crowd to see if anyone is as confused as I am. They all just continue to stare at me, most of them are crying. I notice, however, that they aren't staring at me, exactly, but at my box. I lean over and try to see if there is anything on the side of the box that has their, interest, but here is nothing.
My mother has stopped speaking and is now crying uncontrollably; walking towards me. This is my chance to get some information.
"Mother, what is going on? Who died?" I ask, but she says nothing. She leans past me, staring at something inside my box, and takes the Mockingjay pin from her pocket. How did she get that? I gave it to Katniss as a token last month. Oh! Oh no! Katniss died in the games and this is her funeral! My mother is giving her the pin as a parting gift and no one told me because they didn't want me to be upset. But that doesn't make sense, because Katniss is here, sitting in the back with my father. What other explanation is there? I turn my head to see what my mother is doing, and what I see makes me shriek and leap from the box before I can even register what's happened.
Lying in the box is me, or my body, at least. I seem to be disconnected from it. Frustrated tears sting my eyes and as I finally figure out whose funeral this is, and it makes no sense at all. How did I die? My fathers Eulogy, my mothers speech, the pin, my family, Katniss… it all seems to fit, but it still makes no sense. Now, Katniss gets up and I watch as my only friend in the world stands next to my coffin and begins to speak for me.
"I knew Madge nearly my whole life. She was a good friend and a good person and it pains me more than I can describe to know that she is gone. Madge always smiled at me, always made me feel like I was someone. Aside from my friend Gale, she was the only person who honestly sympathized for my father's death, and now, knowing that I will never speak to her again...I feel broken inside, but I can only hope that wherever she is now, she is happy." Katniss finishes by placing a lovely bundle of wild flowers into my coffin, stroking my cold, dead hand as she walks away.
"I'm here!" I yell, but no one can hear me. I run towards Katniss, trying to get her attention. I grab for her wrist, but my hand goes right through her. Frustrated, I let out a scream; a scream that is cut short by a sudden yanking feeling in my guy. Something is pulling me away, and in the blink of an eye, I am far from my funeral. I seem to be deep I the forest that surrounds District 12. I have never been outside the fence before, but there are no buildings, so this must be the restricted zone. Whatever was pulling me before continues to pull me, gently now.
Looking down, I realize that I am gliding inches above the ground. Eeriness comes over me, and suddenly I realize that I might not want to go wherever this force is taking me. My feet can't seem to touch the ground, no matter how hard I try, and my hand goes right though anything I try to grab in my efforts to stop my forward motion. I try to will myself in the opposite direction, but it becomes apparent that I have no special powers in death, just the foreboding unknown that waits for me at the end of this ominous journey.
And then I see him, and somehow this journey seems like a blessing. Gale stands in the middle of the forest, apparently checking traps of some kind. He takes several squirrels and a rabbit out of various snares and tosses their lifeless forms into a pile at the foot of a tree. Also at the foot of the tree is a bouquet of wild flowers that matches Katniss's, and he picks them up.
"I didn't know you that well, Madge, but I know I didn't treat you right. I blamed you for your transparent wealth, but I know now, like I knew all along, that this was not something you should have been blamed for. You were a kind person, and a friend to Katniss, and that alone should have been enough for me. I'm sorry for all the things I said and thought about you behind you're back. You deserved better, and so this is my final tribute to you…" he says, and then he neatly writes my name in the snow and places the bouquet under it. Silent tears slip from my eyes as I watch the man that I have loved, the man who never knew I was alive, grieve for me. He may not grieve the way I imagined he would if we had been married and old. He does not grieve for me like I was the most cherished thing in his world, lost forever, but he still grieves and for a moment I feel close to him.
How can this be happening to me? I don't remember dying, and I don't like it one bit. My one friend, Katniss, was already stripped from me indefinitely, but now I'm sure to never see her again, and it's already so hard to make friends when I'm the only child in District 12 who isn't starving in the streets. And the boy I love finally notices me, but only because I've been permanently erased from the world. None of this even matters anymore because I'm gone. I sit on the cold ground, not caring to know why it's the only thing I don't phase through, and weep.
When I open my eyes, they are still wet with tears, but I am somewhere else. Perhaps the force that took me to Gale has taken me here, too. But looking around, I am in my bedroom. I sit up and place my hand on the nearest wall, and a spark of awareness rushes through my being. It was all a dream, I'm not really dead. A smile spreads across my face and I feel myself smile. The day light is breaking, and I know that if I leave now, I might be able to catch him before he has to leave for the mines. Grabbing my coat with one hand, I write my father a note with my other, detailing where I will be.
A twenty minute walk takes me to his house just as he is closing his front door.
"Madge." He says, surprise coloring his tone.
"Yes, sorry to just show up, but I wonder if I could walk you to work? I've been thinking a lot about Katniss, and I just really need to talk to someone who understands." I say, hoping that he doesn't think I'm being rude by mentioning her when her name is considered taboo in the district.
"I… I would like that." He says, and he smiles as the takes my arm and we head down to the mines, all the while sharing stories about our mutual fiend and telling each other about how she is sure to be the victor this year.