Pasty stood in front of The Box, wide eyed as she stared at the girl before her eyes.
“Teresa,” she whispered.
“A girl?”
“I got dibs!”
“What’s she look like?”
“How old is she?”
“Everybody, shut it!” Pasty snapped. She grabbed Alby with one hand, Thomas with the other “It’s Teresa! Teresa! Do you see, Thomas? Do you know her?”
Thomas shook his head frantically, as Newt continued to peer at the girl grimly.
“That’s not bloody half of it. I think she’s dead.”
Pasty slowly let go of Thomas’ arm, but hung on to Alby, staring with fear at Teresa as she was pulled out the Box. She had to let go so that Alby could get in the Box with Newt and help out.
“What do you think is going to happen?” Thomas whispered to her.
“I think…know what? I don’t have a clue. This is a test of some sort,” Pasty replied vaguely.
A minute later, Teresa was hoisted out the Box. Everybody surged forward to get a look at her, but Pasty and Alby pushed them all back.
“Have some respect!” Newt growled, as he clambered out the Box himself. The girl lay on the floor lifelessly. Everybody was looking from Teresa to Pasty, noting the uncanny resemblances between the two of them. Pasty shifted in discomfort, feeling the way she’d done many times since arriving. Alone. She wished that Minho was with her, but he was still in the Maze. She was surprised when Thomas picked up on her sadness and put a comforting arm around her shoulder. A moment later, Newt pointed at Thomas.
“Greenie. Get over here,” he said. Pasty gave Thomas a nudge, before following him herself.
“You know this girl, shank?” Alby asked, directing the question to Thomas, before looking at Pasty.
Thomas looked shocked “Know her? Of course I don’t know her. I don’t know anyone. Except for you guys.”
“That’s not…I meant does she look familiar at all?”
“I know her. I told you before. It’s Teresa. Her name is Teresa,” Pasty interrupted.
“You know her?”
“The Changing.”
“Oh.”
All went silent for a moment, before Alby threw his hands up in frustration.
“Shuck it! Can’t be a coincidence. Two days, two Greenies, one alive, one dead. And Pasty recognized both of you.”
Thomas bit his lip “You don’t think I…”
“Slim it Greenie. We’re not saying you bloody killed the girl,” Newt said with a roll of his eyes.
“I swear, she doesn’t look familiar at all,” Thomas said.
“There is something…I don’t know what but there is something I’m missing,” Pasty said with a groan. She looked down at the girl who looked so much like her. Red lips and pale skin, with black hair down to her waist.
Suddenly, Teresa sat up abruptly, gasping for air desperately. Pasty took a step towards her, intrigued as everybody else backed away in fear. Pasty crouched beside the girl, their identical azure eyes meeting for a moment, before she muttered something unintelligible. Then, breaking the connection from Pasty’s eyes, she addressed the crowd in a hoarse voice.
“Everything is going to change.”
Teresa’s body stiffened and she fell backwards again, her fist in the air as though in triumph. Clutched in her hand was a piece of paper. Pasty grabbed the note and passed it to Newt to read out to everyone else. The words on the paper would haunt Pasty for the rest of her days.
She’s the last one. Ever.
Pasty snatched the note from Newt’s grasp and read it over and over, trying to decipher who or what had sent it. The silence that hung in the air was so terrifying that Pasty felt faint. She caught Thomas’ eye, who stared at her in fear.
“Med-jacks!” Alby shouted eventually. Two boys came to help, but they clearly didn’t have a clue.
“So what do we do with her?” one said dumbly.
“How should I know? You two shanks are the Med-Jacks. Figure it out!”
“Move out the way, shuck face. I’ll take her,” Pasty said.
“Thanks, Pasty. If anyone else touches this girl…” Alby left a dramatic pause before continuing to speak “You’re gonna spend the night sleepin’ with the Grievers in the Maze. Banished, no questions.”
Pasty slipped her hands underneath Teresa’s frail body and carried her to the Homestead, using the room she’d used in the Changing as a place to nurse Teresa. The two boys followed her like eager puppies in desperation to help out.
“What can you tell by looking at her?” Pasty asked the taller of the two boys.
“She seems okay. Breathing okay, normal heartbeat it seems. Your guess is as good as mine, but I’d say she’s in a coma.”
“Good that. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”
“Sure thing, Pasty.”
Pasty took one last glance at Teresa. She really was hauntingly similar to her. She felt the urge to shiver as she closed the door behind her. She was met by Jack outside the room.
“Alby called a Gathering.”
“Again? Well let’s hope this one goes better than the last.”
“Agreed. Say, that girl. She looks a bit like you.”
Pasty froze “You think so too?”
Jack chewed his thumb awkwardly “Everyone seems to think so.”
“We’re not the same,” Pasty said with determination “She’s…”
“Dark, I know. You said. But how do you know?”
Pasty sighed as she turned the handle to the Gathering room “Never mind. Don’t listen to me. I’m just the mad girl that no one trusts.”