𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙑𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚

Memories or Dreams: Ch 7

"Alice, could you try to actually spend the whole night in the dorm tonight? I'm worried you'll get caught sneaking out." said a blonde and fair-skinned girl, who looked about 2 years younger than me. Maybe 9 years old. 

"I'll be fine, Sonya! You know that I'm getting good at finding my way around this facility. And if you'd like, I could probably even find your brother. You would need to come with me though, since I have no clue what he looks like. Oh wait- I should be able to find my brother too!"  I replied with a surprising amount of confidence.

Her frown only deepened.

"As much as I love him...I don't think I could do that. It just seems too risky. I'm still shocked none of the staff has found out about you breaking the rules. They were already so strict about us using our new names. Like, why can't I go back to being Lizzy and you go back to being Mariana?" Sonya exclaimed with her frustration clearly building up. 

I sighed. "I don't know. It's weird, but if you just pretend to go along with WCKD's rules then they won't get suspicious. Obviously that's been working out for me- last night I even found this whole room filled with medical textbooks! That alone taught me way more than the stupid classes we're forced to take."

"Since I can't seem to convince you to stop...just be careful. And maybe try to get a little rest at least every once in a while. I'm going to sleep though, so goodnight." she yawned from the bunk bed above me, pulling the blanket over her. 

I waited for a few minutes and made sure that all the girls in my room were asleep. Then, I tiptoed out of the dorm into the eerily white hallways. 

After a few turns, I arrived exactly where I wanted to be that night. I cracked open the door to a room with tons of screens and blueprints everywhere- although I wasn't sure what they were for. But that didn't matter, I would be able to have some fun for once!

"Alice. I need to speak with you, now." the voice of the woman standing barely two feet beside me made me jump a little. I recognized what was written on her name tag. Doctor Paige. 

She guided me right back out the room I had just entered, leading me to the other side of the building. I had never been to this part before. My chest only tightened as I became more and more unfamiliar with my surroundings.  

"Where are you taking me you shuck-face!" exclaimed a young boy with perfectly styled black hair, thrashing around in the grasp of two masked guards. 

We were both being taken to the same area. There were two chairs, tons of wires and tubes, and an examination room. 

Dr. Paige placed the boy and I in the chairs next to each other, him and I sharing a concerned glance. 

"Minho and Alice, I hope this will teach you a lesson. I didn't want it to come to this, but we must keep order with the subjects." she said with her face cold as stone walking out the room.

"Stop calling us that!" shouted Minho as another man entered and began to tie us down.

That was the moment I realized what was about to happen. I had luckily seen it in one of the textbooks I stole. Minho and I were going experience either one of two things: a Griever entering the room to scare us, or a pain simulation. 

"Don't fight it, that'll only make this worse." I whispered to Minho as he was still desperately trying to get out of the chair. 

"Oh, yeah? And why would you-" 

His voice was cut off by a loud screech. The ground shook as a large creature entered. A Griever. Its metal legs quickly ran over to us. I now could feel the moist blubber of its face touching mine. It took everything in me to not scream, cry, or simply pass out right then and there. Two of its claws placed themselves centimeters away from my face. 

When I thought it couldn't possibly get worse, a second Griever entered. This one seemed more aggressive as it went right up to Minho. I couldn't even imagine how terrified he was, especially since he had no idea what to expect- unlike me.

Then, a shock of pain more intense than I'd ever felt before pulsed through my veins. By now I'd given up on trying to keep my composure. My throat was dry and scratchy from my screams. My wrists and ankles were burning from the squirming I did tied against the chair. My eardrums were beginning to ring from the mix of Minho and I's wails- not to mention the Griever that was still all up in my face. 

Just as I was about to pass out, everything seemed to quiet. I began to hear someone calling my name. A hand on my shoulder.

I woke up. 

It was just a dream.

But it felt so...real? 

(A/N: Hopefully this chapter wasn't too confusing, but otherwise I'd say I'm actually pretty proud of it! Another good thing, I should be publishing more chapters now since I'm on Spring Break)