𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 / the maze runner

𝟎𝟒

chelsea nodded, satisfied and grateful. "ok."

once again newt stopped by where the other boys slept, and this time she helped him take down what was supposed to be the greenie's hammock. they carried it to the gathering hall and newt showed her how to put it up. they hung it in the back, out of the light and not immediately obvious. then they flung the pillows and blankets onto the newly hung hammock.

chelsea looked at it thoughtfully. "newt," she began.

"yeah?" he asked, turning his head. his hands were on his narrow hips as he surveyed their work.

"why do i have two pillows and blankets? when we went into the other shelter, all the hammocks had only one of each."

"oh," newt's face reddened slightly. "i, uh, i gave you mine. i figured you'd be more comfortable, especially sleeping on the dirt like you did."

"oh," now she felt awkward, and strangely touched. "thanks. um, you can have them back if you'd like. i'll be plenty comfortable. but... that was really sweet of you. thank you."

"no, it's fine, i really don't need them, and i guess it gets colder in here without other bodies keeping it warm. but you're welcome."

chelsea almost smiled for the first time. almost.

there was an uncomfortable silence as they stood together. then newt broke it.

"wanna go get dinner then turn in?"

chelsea nodded. "yeah, sure. im exhausted."

"get used to it," newt told her. "every day is like that. but don't worry, your muscles will get stronger, and soon it won't be so bad. and maybe you'll get a job that won't require muscles as much, like a med-jack."

"if you say so," chelsea said uncertainly. being a med-jack and patching up careless boys' cuts all day long did not appeal to her.

dinner was excellent, as it had been the past three meals. at least it was to chelsea. her stomach grumbled so much that anything that went into her mouth tasted like heaven. but she noticed many of the boys joked about how frypan's food would kill them all before the grievers did. none of them faltered to wolf down the meat and potatoes, though.

the boys still stared at chelsea, but aside from alby and zart who joined them for dinner, no one approached them until towards the end.

it was minho who finally did, a box clutched tightly in his hand. his face was bright red. confused and suspicious, chelsea darted her eyes behind him, focusing on gally and a few other builders and runners. she recognised the builders as some of the boys who'd unloaded the box of the supplies that had come up with her.

"minho? what's up?" newt asked, his brow furrowed.

minho didn't look anywhere but chelsea, though his face was still crimson. "er," he started, obviously extremely uncomfortable.

chelsea raised an eyebrow, confused. her mind started picking up speed, going through all the possible situations that could arise and how she could react. suddenly minho shoved the small box towards her. chelsea jerked back slightly at the sharp movement, but reached up and grabbed the box anyway.

"that came up in the box with you," minho muttered. "we think it's for you." he cast an embarrassed glare at newt at those sitting at the table with her before turning on his heel and marching away from all of them.

chelsea frowned, wondering what on earth could possibly be for her specifically. she cracked the small wooden box open, scowling and pushing newt back as he craned his neck to get a look inside. she caught a glimpse of white, and when she touched one of the contents, she realised exactly what it was. now it was her turn to blush furiously and she snapped the top closed.

newt looked at her curiously. "what is it?" he asked.

"if it was any of your business, i'd tell you," chelsea muttered, sending him a pointed glare. he raised his hands and scooted back on the bench, putting more space between them.

"sorry," he said, and returned to his food.

chelsea placed the box and it's contents on the ground beneath her bench. a month in the glade promised certain challenges for the girl that the boys did not have to deal with. and thankfully, the creators, as she'd heard them called, seemed to realise that and sent up supplies to help her.

that night chelsea slept fitfully. fear filled her mind in the dark as her thoughts were allowed to roam unrestrained, and it crept into her dreams.

𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳. 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯. 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰. 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥. 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦. 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺. 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥-𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘴. 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥.

chelsea woke up, on her hands and knees on the dirt ground. sweat poured from her body, and she trembled violently. she looked up at the door, making sure no one had heard her in case she was screaming out loud. no one was there, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

just as she thought she was safe, she heard urgent knocking on the door.

"chelsea? chelsea, are you alright? is someone hurting you?" it was newt, his voice filled with worry.

chelsea did her best to sound steady as she called back. "yes, i'm fine, just a bad dream. sorry if i woke you up."

"can i come in?"

newt hadn't been in her dream, but she still didn't want to see anyone.

"no," it came out more frightened and desperate than she'd meant. "no, i'm fine. just... go back to bed."

silence for a moment, then came an uncertain "alright..." and she heard his uneven footsteps as he walked away.

chelsea remained on the ground for several minutes, trying to force herself to calm down. eventually her body stopped its trembling and she managed to get to her feet without faltering.

she lay in her hammock for hours, terrified of falling asleep again. when she finally did, it eas a fitful, restless sleep. she dreamed again, but nothing so terrifying as the last one.

—
𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟏𝟕𝟐𝟒
𝐢 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢'𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐰, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐧. 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 <𝟑