Only Herself to Blame...

Chapter 5 - The Shock

"What?" Minho said, staring at Alby like her just shot his grandmother.

"Are you crazy?" Gally asked, his eyes narrower into slits.

Alby just sneered. "She's gonna be a slopper. She has no right to run off like that and hide."

Newt's eyes passed over me with a look of sympathy and he looked back to Alby. "She was scared. We all were. She panicked and ran."

"Huh. The other Greenie didn't run off." Alby huffed, crossing his arms as though his decision was final.

"Yeah, cos you had hold of his shoulders and were shaking him. He probably would have ran if he had the chance." Gally muttered, glaring at the floor.

"Jai..." I muttered.

Newt looked at me again, confusion mixed with the sympathy. "What about him?"

I looked at all their faces, meeting all of their eyes individually. They all had brown eyes apart from Gally, who had a mixture- green and brown and sometimes blue. 

"I need to see him. Now." I demamded. I didn't know why, but I did.

"Not a chance, Greenbean. We got a gathering to have." Alby said, and he grabbed hold of my arm, squeezing it hard. I winced.

Gally noticed. "Get off her, Alby." He said, no more than a whisper.

"What's that? Sticking up for your girlfriend now, are you?" Alby laughed. He squeezed my arm tighter, until it turned bright red. I was holding my breath and counting to ten; my patience and pain tolerance wearing thin.

"Get. Off. Her. Right. Now." Gally said, his voice deathly calm. "You aren't supposed to hurt another Glader."

I guessed the Gladers were everyone in the Glade, yet I didn't feel privileged to be called one.

Alby just laughed. "Relax. I'm teaching her a lesson."

That did it. Without thinking, I bit down as hard as I could on Alby's arm. I never knew such a scream could come out of a boy as tough as Alby!

He punched me in the side of the face, and my head jolted sideways. Before I could get punched again, I did the only logical (and cowardly) thing I could think of in that moment. I ran for it.

Again.

I took off and this time, nobody attempted to chase me.

I ran and ran, finally stopping at the other side of the Glade. I saw a group of boys sat on the grass and went up to them.

"Sorry, but do you know where the Slammer is?" I asked them, ignoring the stares.

One of then stood up to look me in the eyes. "Why?" He asked, taking a step closer.

"Where is it?" I repeated, taking a step back. I wasn't in the mood for playing games, and I didn't want Minho or Newt or Alby find me yet.

"Over there." The boy said laughing.

I sighed and walked away. He didn't even point or anything. I would ask someone else.

I saw a boy walking on his own and decided to try him. Maybe he would be less likely to act up if he didn't have friends around.

"Excuse me, but please could you tell me where the slammer is?" I asked him.

He looked at me with frantic blue eyes. "Yeah. Sure. I'll show you. It'll be easier." He seemed agitated, as though he had never talked to a girl before.

I smiled. "Thanks."

He smiled back tentivly. I didn't understand why he was so nervous.

"What's your name?" I asked him as we were walking.

"Ben." He replied. He ran his hand through his blonde hair.

I nodded, though I didn't know if he saw because he was looking at the ground.

We walked on, across the huge green space in silence.

"Hey. Dya remember what you look like?" He asked.

Huh. I hadn't seen my reflection all day. I guess I hadn't thought about that what with all the running I'd been doing.

"Nope." I told him. "Why, do I really look that bad?" I laughed.

"W-what? N-n-no! I didn't mean- you look-I'm sorry- I just meant-"

I cut him off, laughing. "Im joking!" I said.

He looked thoroughly relieved.

"Well, here's the slammer." He said after a while.

"Thanks so much, Ben." I said, smiling.

"No problem." He smiled back at me and turned back the way he came, a spring in his step.

At least I had another name on my 'nice people' list. So far, I just had Gally. I still wasn't sure about Newt or Minho.

I turned and smiled. In the slammer, Jai was looking at me with a big smile on his face.

"Hey!" He said.

"Hi." I sat down on the ground so I was at the same level as him. The slammer was basically a hole in the ground with some bamboo as a door.

"Remembered anything yet?" Jai asked, sitting crossed legged on the muddy ground.

I shook my head. "Not a thing. Although, when we were in the elevator, I did remember one thing."

"Huh. Wierd. Me to. Go on. Tell me what you remembered."

"Well, it was your name. Right before you said it, I remembered your name."

Jai looked shocked. "I remembered yours! Again, just before you said it. It was like someone was telling me your name. A woman."

"Okay, that's creepy. A woman told me my name. It was like she spoke directly into my head."

We looked at eachother for a while. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, that were speckled with gold, with a splash of freckles on each cheek, and when he smiled, his dimples made them do the Mexican wave. He was very good looking, even with the smear of mood across his cheek.

Without thinking, I reached my hand through the bars. It was as though someone was in control of me. The me I tried to resist, the harder it became, and soon, the feeling overpowered me. I reached up and ran my fingers through Jai's hair. As soon as I touched him, and electric shock went through me entire body, and I blacked out.