Disclaimer: Why wasn't I born as amazing as Suzanne Collins?
I walk through the meadow outside of the District's fence with the woods to my right, but I continue on straight ahead. To where? I'll never know. I just like to walk. To feel free.
The warm breeze lightens the heavy summer air and tousles my hair behind my shoulders. I'm just about to pass the part of the woods with the lake when I hear a blood curdling scream. I recognize the voice, sure, but who is it? I run straight into the woods and nearly trip over him. And by him, I mean a very beaten and bloody Gale Hawthorne.
"Gale," I shake his shoulders and squeeze his face in my hands "Gale, What happened?"
I press my ear to his chest waiting to hear the steady beat of his heart but instead I find nothing. Silence.
"GALE!" I cry, "GALE PLEASE!"
I drape myself over his motionless body and start to cry, "Gale, please wake up."
His eyes flicker open and he mutters, "Wake up, Madge."
But that isn't his voice. It sounds a lot like-
"It was just a dream, Madge." Ferna says as she cradles me in her arms "It was just a dream."
I sit up and find that I slept on the couch again. My shirt is stuck to my body with sweat and my face is soaked with my own tears. It was just a nightmare, I think, None of that was real.
"Who's Gale?" she smirks as she rises off the couch.
"Nobody," I say as I shoot her a stare, "Was I screaming?"
"Louder than ever," her voice fades as she disappears into the kitchen, "I'll be surprised if your Mother's still asleep after that one."
I roll my eyes and throw my hair back into a ponytail.
"Oh, and your Father said to send you upstairs when you woke. Said it was important to speak with you."
I tread up the stairs and knock on the door to my Father's office. I wipe the tiredness from eyes before he meets me at the door.
"Oh, Dad," I look him up and down and find that he's still dressed in the suit he wore to the Reaping with his grey hair messier than I've ever seen. This certainly is not his usual look. "What happened?"
"Not here, Madge." he whispers "Let's go."
He pulls his door shut and leads me down the stairs. I obediently follow behind as he leads me to a spot he often meets friends from the Capitol. It's close enough to the fence that there's no one around to see or hear us. I've only been here one other time myself. This must be important.
"So, nice weather we're ha-"
"Madge, I don't need you to talk I just need you to listen. We won't have long." I stare back at him with wide eyes and quickly nod. Who are you and what have you done with my Father?
"You need to believe that I'm telling you this for the right reasons, Do you trust me?" I nod again and he continues.
"Primrose being reaped, I don't think it was an accident," the words tumble out as he ruffles through his jacket for a piece of paper he'd been writing on, "The Capitol, they know about Katniss and her friend. How they hunt, how they bring us berries. From what I understand, they were just going to reap the both of them, but they knew Katniss would volunteer for her sister and that it would make a better show. They reaped other twelves too so it would seem like an accident, but-"
"And Gale?" I interrupt, "Why didn't they reap him?"
"That, I'm not entirely sure." he stops and grasps his hands together nervously, "I'm left to assume that they reaped Peeta to essentially. . . punish our family." he stops again and points at indistinguishable notes on his paper.
"You see, Peeta is your friend, and because Katniss brings us berries. . ." he points to a circle labeled ARENA. He couldn't of put it any simpler.
"So Peeta being reaped, Peeta's name purposely getting picked, was just to punish me?"
"I'm afraid so, Sweetheart." he stuffs the paper back into his pocket and reaches for my hand before continuing,
"Haymitch is going to get them both out. I don't exactly know how, but he's made a lot of friends in the Capitol and he feels as though he owes us. He promised me he would do all that he could to bring both of your friends home."
We sit in silence for a few moments as I process what he'd just said. Twelves being reaped on purpose? Sweet, innocent Primrose who couldn't harm a fly, reaped for her sister keeping the family alive. And Peeta, my closest friend, sentenced to death for things I've done wrong. This is sick, all of this is wrong.
"Well why didn't they just kill me then?" I throw my hands up in the air and let them fall to my hips, "Put eight thousand slips into that damn bowl that say Margaret Undersee. They may as well have, anyway. I'll die along with them if the Capitol keeps taking things away from me. They already took Mom, and now look at you! They're taking you, too!" I dive into my Father's chest and do my best to stifle my sobs. He hugs me so tight I'm barely able to catch my breath as he pulls himself away.
He puts a finger to his lips and points to an approaching Peacekeeper before guiding me back home. Once we reach the front door, he gives me a nod and mouths the words "House is bugged." before walking up the stairs. I understand completely. The Capitol must have our house covered in cameras and tape recorders. All of this time and I hadn't noticed once.
Another perk of being privileged, I think as I stumble back into the living room and fall into a dreamless sleep.
I wake up around midday. My head is pounding and my throat is dry. When thoughts of Peeta and Katniss find their way into my head, I bury my face into the couch and scream until my voice is completely gone. I sit up as I hear three knocks on my back door. Gale.
I spring up from the couch and grab a handful coins off of the counter to throw into my jacket pocket. I open the back door and just as he is opening his mouth to speak, I grab the berries from his hand and conceal them in the flowerbed by my front door. I grab his arm in both of my hands and pull him as far away as I can before he shakes himself from my hold.
"What is your pro-"
"We can't do that anymore," I breathe, getting used to my worn out voice, "Not at my house at least. The Capitol has my house bugged. It's not safe there."
He understands immediately, his face falls into a stern expression as he nods his head, "Well, they must know by now then, right?"
"I guess," I cross my arms across my chest. It's all my fault, really. If they never brought me berries they would've had a better chance of hiding what they do from the Capitol. Katniss and Peeta never would've gotten reaped. Everything would be fine. But he can't know that.
After a silent moment, Gale starts to walk away.
"Where are you going?" I gasp through my surprisingly shaky voice,
"If you're so interested, why don't you come and find out for yourself then?"
I bite the inside of my lip and look back at my house before choosing to catch up.
"Where are we going?"
He stares straight forward, his eyes don't move from the ground as he continues. I stare down at my feet for a while until I notice his footsteps have stopped. I look up from the ground and notice he's holding up the bottom of the District's fence.
"Well, come on then!" he motions with his hand for me to go under the fence.
"Gale, I'm not sure if-"
"Not sure if what Madge? If you should do it because of what the Captiol might do? It seems like they've already taken everything away from the both of us."
I don't need anything more than that to dive under the rusted metal. Gale slips under as well and we start into a jog until we reach the meadow. Gale begins to walk in a direction I've never gone before, which makes me nervous, until I find that we're on the top of a hill.
"It's beautiful," I gasp as I turn in a full circle to scan exactly where we are. In front of us are the same rolling hills he'd pointed to when we were outside of the Justice Building, but out here it's much easier to notice that they're speckled with sharp bursts of periwinkle blue and pink, the same color as my hair ribbons. I turn back to Gale and start to laugh for the first time in days, the sides of his mouth tugs up into a half smile before he treads in front of me and sits down in the tall grass. I sit next to him and take a deep breath. This must be what freedom feels like.
"I love coming here," Gale starts, "The way the hills look, I could never get tired of this place."
He nods as if he's agreeing with himself and falls on his back with his hands tucked firmly behind his head.
"It's nice to be in a place where the Capitol can't hurt you. . It's nice to feel safe." I add.
Gale props himself up on his elbows and he furrows his brow at me.
"What?"
"I just didn't know you thought like that, I guess"
"Why because I'm from town?" I sneer before tossing a handful of grass at him.
"No," he's actually smiling now, "I just never thought we'd have anything in common besides Katniss and Prim. Now we do."
I smile back at him and roll my eyes as I fall back into the same position that he's in.
"And you know what else? I don't think I've ever seen you smile as much as you are right now," Gale smirks before he tosses grass back at me "Townie" he laughs as he runs away in the direction of the meadow.
I get up and run full speed to catch up, until suddenly his laughter stops and is replaced by a strangely familiar raspy scream.
"Gale?" I yell "Gale!" But there is no answer.
Frantically, I sprint in his direction as faint memories of my dream resurface. Gale is hurt. Gale is dying. This isn't a dream. This is reality.
"Gale!" I choke out. But there is no answer.
I'm still running when I see him motionlessly slumped against a tree. I run to him and grab his face in my hands. "Gale, wake up." I sit in his lap and shake his shoulders as I begin to cry. "Gale, please!"
Suddenly his hands jet to my waist and he starts to tickle me. I wiggle myself from his grasp and stand up firmly with my hands on my hips.
Gale rolls around on the tree trunk, laughing hysterically.
"That's not funny, Gale!" I cry as I wipe away the last of my tears, "You scared me!"
"You should have seen your face! Oh my g-"
I turn away from him and march in the direction of the fence. If he's going to act like that, then we are not going to be friends.
"Madge, where are you going? Come on, I was just trying to make you laugh!"
"But why would I laugh when someone is hurt? Especially the only person left in this town who I actually like!" I exclaim as I throw my hands in the air.
His expression falls as he seemingly remembers our situation.
"It's not funny when I have nobody left,"
He closes the space between us and lets his broad frame swallow mine. His sculpted arms wrap around my back as I bury my face into his chest and take a deep breath. The smell of apples lingers on his clothing, but most of all the smell of smoke. But not the kind of smoke that you would choke on when you breathe it in, but instead the smell that would remind you of a bonfire, and summertime. I feel safe in Gale's arms. Protected, almost. I feel loved.
"I'm sorry, Madge. I'll never do that again." he mumbles into my shoulder before he pulls away.
"I care about you too much to hurt you, you're all I have right now." He grabs my hand and tugs it until I'm at his side. Butterflies fill my stomach and I try to swat them away with my hand. I'm still not used to this whole hormone thing but I sure as hell am not about to let them start raging around Gale Hawthorne.
After a few minutes of walking, we're back at the fence. Gale holds up the links for me and I do the same for him. We walk at a slow pace until we find ourselves in town.
"So, opening ceremonies are tonight," I say, while I braid and un-braid a small portion of hair that fell out of my ponytail.
"This is true," Gale nods and stuffs his hands in his back pockets.
"I would invite you over but my hou-"
"Not a problem, I'll pick you up at seven," His lips tug up into a smile again and I smile back, "Friend."
He extends his right hand out to me and props his left hand behind his back. I giggle and shake his hand firmly.
"Sounds good, Pal."
He gives me a wink and turns on his heel toward the other side of town.
"Hey Gale," I shout before he's too far away.
He jogs back to meet me with his eyebrow lifted.
"So you care about me, huh?" I snicker,
"Never said that," he says back, pressing a finger to his lips.
"Alright," I smile, "See you soon, then."
"At seven!" he shouts over his shoulder, clumsily making his way back to the Seam.
As his hands find his back pockets again, I grab the strawberries out of the flowerbed and open the back door. I fall to the couch and throw my head back on the cushion.
This may be the most privileged I've ever felt.
Author's Note: Sorry I took so long to upload this! I've been babysitting a lot and I haven't had time to read it over.
First, let me explain Madge and Ferna's relationship. Technically, she works for the Capitol but she's been around for Madge's whole life and kind of functions as her babysitter/aunt in a way. Madge needs a strong woman figure in her life because of her Mother's illness. She needs Ferna to teach her the right way to be and even though she's from the Capitol, she's as level minded as her brother, Cinna. YAY FOR FANFICTION