Hi guys!

I am sorry I have not updated more lately. I am currently working, writing an original story, reading and I will soon begin studying creative writing, since I finished highschool/ upper secondary school this spring. Next spring I plan to study law, which have been my dream for a long time. I hope you all had a good summer and that you enjoy this next chapter!

Chapter 33 - Madge

Gale's P.O.V.

We stand there, in the centre of my room for a long time. Her fingers are still playing with my hair and her head rests against my chest. It is just me and Madge, in my room in the hospital. None of the nurses comes in to look after us. They trust me with her. I don't even trust myself anymore, not after what I did to Peeta. But I know I won'that to Madge. They didn't change my memories of her. I have come to realize what they did to me in the capital, the reason behind my fear and violent behavior among the others. They must have used recorded material of Katniss and Peeta, from all their appearances on TV over the years they have been the star crossed lovers. They must have known of my feelings for Katniss, before I let her go and realized she was where she wanted to be. My feelings for Katniss did fade out, since I rather have her as my best friend than nothing at all and stopped dreaming about a future we would never have. They used my previous jealousy towards Peeta to make me hate him. Then they made him look like a monster. They did the same to Katniss, made her into a threatening creature who wanted to kill me. First they made me hate her because she chose him before me, who she have known for several years. Now, when none of them are here, it is clear. But if they would step in now, I wouldn't be able to contain myself. My brain would immediately think they were here to kill me, or worse hurt my family. Madge was the person they could not reach. Even if she was in footage from their wedding, I was almost always in those sequences.

We stand in my room, with our bodies entwined until nurse Gilbert comes in to give me painkillers for the next treatment section starting tonight. They try to hijack me back, but it was so painful the first time they had to stop the treatment. Some of it must have stuck, even if they couldn't finish. I know I don't hate them, which I didn't before. "Thanks for dancing with me, Madge. It was a real pleasure." I say and let go of her. I can't do anything but smile when she says goodbye and walks out the door. "You like that girl" Nurse Gilbert says while she prepares for the injections of painkillers and tranquilizers. "How can you tell?" I ask. She looks at me, as it was obvious. Maybe it was. "Do you think I am blind, Mr. hawthorne?" she says and laughs. "Madge is just a friend from home" I defend myself, but I can tell by her face I still smile like a fool. Before she leaves me she says "Sure she is just a friend. The sky is also blue, am I right?"

Madge's P.O.V.

I walk in the maze of corridors in the hospital to get home to my father. I spent almost an hour at Gale's place. We had such a good time, just me and him. I go left to the elevators and stops to wait for it to arrive. I step inside and wait for it to reach my floor. The elevator stops one floor above the hospital and some of the last wedding guests walks in. Katniss and Peeta walks hand in hand, smiling dreamily at each other. "Madge! Where have you been? We have been looking for you, but couldn't find you," Katniss says as we go up. I smile at her and tell her I went to watch on Gale, to make him some company. "How was he?" Peeta asks, looking slightly worried about Katniss. Katniss have been affected very badly by Gale's condition. She has been so vulnerable since she came here. I know she tries to hide it, but I know she deep inside fights the demons of two arenas she knew she wouldn't survive without killing everyone else. The first time with Peeta, who she fell in love with, the second time with Gale, who is her closest friend. I know he is. We have grown even tighter now than before, but I know their bond means something extra to her. They have the bond of two starving kids who found a way to survive together. I can't ever compete with that. I was one of the lucky. I always had food on the table. I have never starved in my whole life. They have, and therefore they know each other on another level. A level I maybe never will understand. "He seems to be better" I say. I never tell them about us dancing, because we reach our floor and we walk our separate ways to our apartments. My father is in the doorway when I round the corner. "So you have been up late dancing, Madge?" If I would have done something like this in 12 he probably would have given me a lecture. Now he just smiles and make me a warm cup of tea. He is happy to see me enjoying myself. Since mom died I have not had the energy or enough will to do anything but work and babysit for my mockingjay friends. "I guess I have, dad" I say and smile. Dad does not look miserable for once. He seems to be happy for me. "When your mother and I were young we used to go out and dance a lot," he says with dreamy eyes. I can see that he is picturing her in his mind. After she lost her sister she never was the same again. It was her pin I gave to Katniss that day at the reaping. "Was that before or after auntie May…?" I ask. I have never had this kind of conversation with him. I realize that I know very little about the generations before me, and that I know very little about my dad's past. Before they had me. "Oh, it was both before and after, my dear. She wasn't sick all her life, my love. Even if she struggled a lot after her loss, she did function in some way. She became worse after we had you, especially when you turned twelve." he says. I never knew this. I thought she had always been that way. Almost all my memories of my mother are of her trying to sleep in her bed, always on some kind of painkillers. I only have one real memory of her not being paralyzed of sorrow. It was the night they bombed 12. She forced us to leave her there, because she knew she wouldn't make it. "So, did you dance with someone? Some cute boys maybe?" dad asked. He never asked me things like this. Always busy with a matter of the district, always locked up in his office watching news reports from the capital. It feels so weird to talk about such things with my dad, since I have never sat down and just talked about life in general before. When we've talked it was always about school and what he considered to be important in my life. Boys have always been cut from that list. "Yes, I did actually do that." I say. "And what's his name?" He eagerly asks me, waiting for my response. "His name was Gale Hawthorne" I say and he looks confused. "What did you say? Gale Hawthorne? Isn't he locked up in hospital?"