Mockingjay: The New Story

Chapter Eleven

Madge’s POV

"Come on, it's not that bad."

"Oh, yes it is, Madge,” says Katniss. "Thank you." She smiles to Sae, she serves me my portion of a somewhat called meal. The plain food has a plain taste, I wonder how Katniss could eat this stuff without bringing back up just by looking at it.

"Why is it that bad?" I push. I know I should not bother, but I want to know why.

"I'm trapped in here, just like I was in the Capitol. They've locked me up in a hospital every other day and force me to stay in a small room to either die or try. If-"

"What makes you think this stuff is actually true? They could be helping us? They’ve taken us in asking with such little in return." We have sat down across each other on the table assigned for the Everdeen's, Hawthorne's, and the last Underseen. “We follow our schedules and go by the rules give to us. It is strict at moments, but this is all we have right now.”

"What if Gale had been kidnapped just like the rest of us were?" Katniss snaps. I stop talking. "Believe me, this is just as bad for you as it is for me. This is very bad. They might be helping us now, but they haven't actually helped us yet. If they did want to help us, they would have gotten on those crafts they have and brought back the ones we love! But no, it's not the right time. It's too early." She mimics Coin's snotty voice from when Katniss had asked why they hadn’t set off to rescue Peeta and the others. I hold in a laugh, finding it rude at the time to laugh, but leave on a smirk on my lips. "They even call me crazy now. Psychotic. The Mentally Unstable, as is says on my bracelet." She loops her hospital band around her wrist. "Once they get Peeta and Finnick and Johanna back, they'll do the same thing to them. Lock ‘em up and put them on a stand to watch and see how it reacts. All I want to do is go home."

"I've heard enough of your bullshit!" I scream in a low whisper to her. She looks surprised, yet sad I snapped at her. "This is your home now, Katniss. We don't have homes anymore. This is the only place that will take us in right now, so get used to it. Cause this is all we have, sweetie. Just this place, and ourselves."

Her eye are shiny, and I regret saying those things to her, but Gale and his mother with the kids approach the table. She crumples up the tears and pushes them far far away, letting them sit and build for later, when she's alone. I have guard tonight for her, so I'll watch her cry for what I've done.

Nice going, Madge

-

Katniss is trying desperately to continue breathing. This is too deep for her, we have traveled her too far into the ground for her comfort. Really, being on a higher level compartment has not helped the matter whatsoever. She holds tightly to the sketch book from Cinna. That was all she would look at last night, besides Peeta’s own sketchbook. Her fingers tracing the lines and smudging the lead across the picture. She had asked me to come along on this unexpected journey to who knows where. Gale walks beside me, while Katniss roams a few feet in front of us. Plutarch continues to talk while Gale constantly reaches for my empty hand, hoping to hold it with his. I smile, and breathe out a laugh, brushing my hand away and stuffing it in my pocket. It is no time for romance, I want to say, we have to be serious. But by the time I think of being serious, my laughter would become uncontrollable and crude.

“It is compartment Three-Nine-Oh-Eight,” says Plutarch. In the elevator, he had to use a key to gain access to floor 39. Every floor we went down, the air became heavier and Katniss held on to Gale and I tighter. She knew not of what we were going to see, but it was important enough to pull Katniss from the hospital after another bad panic attack.