𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 / the maze runner

𝟎𝟓

with a start, chelsea awoke. she was still in her hammock this time, but her face was wet with tears. her chest heaved with laboured breathing and her whole body shook. roughly, she wiped the tears from her face and fought to calm herself down. but with the memory of the dream fresh on her mind, she could not. the walls of the gathering hall reminded her too much of her dream. though chelsea couldn't remember anything from her past life, she could guess that if she had any fears, one was the fear of being trapped. she leapt from her hammock and ran to the door, flinging it open and welcoming the cool night air. she took a deep, shaky breath and stepped outside.

the stars glittered above her, cold and hard. she wrapped her arms around herself and stared at them, reminding herself that she had plenty of room, even if she was trapped. the memory of the dream still made her antsy, so she began walking, first grabbing a blanket from her hammock and wrapping it around herself. she went to the wall and started walking along the perimeter, hoping to calm herself by showing herself how much room she had.

as she walked, she alternated looking from the grassy floor beneath her feet, to the ivy-covered stone walls to her right, to the huge glade stretching to her left, and the dark blue sky above, speckled with stars. she'd gotten close to the closed doors when a marking on the wall caught her eye. she turned and squinted to make it out. the wall here was covered in scratches, she could feel them as she ran her fingers over it. as her eyes adjusted, she realised they were names etched into the stone.

scott

george

zart

winston

gally

alby

newt

those were just a few that she noticed. some of the names were crossed off. dead? she wondered, trailing her fingertips over those. another name caught her attention. she did a bit of a double-take and took a closer look, squinting to make sure she was seeing it correctly.

chelsea

they put her name on here? no one told her about this. considering how hostile she'd been, and how hostile she intended on remaining, she was surprised that they even took the time to carve it in with the others.

just then, the cracking of a twig caught her attention, snapping out of her deep thoughts. she dropped her hand and whirled around, suddenly painfully aware that she had no weapon.

it was a boy she recognised as justin. she tensed, ready to spring into action if necessary. she did not like justin at all. he'd been rude and made many perverted remarks towards her. all of them she returned with either a swing of her bucket or a stick.

part of her knew that the only reason newt, alby, and gally let her keep either of those things was because she'd hit them if they tried to take it from her. once newt had tried to tell her she couldn't have any garden tools unless she promised she wouldn't hit anyone with it.

"i will hit anyone who tries to touch me or makes any comment about my body," chelsea said hotly.

newt sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "but you can't possibly expect all the boys will stop doing that because you hit them with a bucket! besides it's against the rules."

"then all the boys will have bumps and bruises," chelsea told him stubbornly. "and it's against the rules to hurt me, so it's self-defence. remember, i can sneak into anyplace i want at night, and steal anything."

newt stared at her. she gestured to the machete in it's sheath, the strap stretched across his chest and the handle of the long knife easily accessible to him.