Only Herself to Blame...

Chapter 11 - The Gathering

Everyone went and sat on a rickety wooden chair each, which were all arranged in a semi cirlce, facing one other chair.

Alby pointed to it. "Sit down, Shank."

I stook my tongue out at him and took my place, feeling uncomfortable, as though there was a spotlight on my head.

I hated the fact that everyone was staring at me, but I didn't pay attention. I was staring at an empty chair, the the left of Alby's.

"Who sits there?" I asked into the silent room.

A few of the boys chuckled, and on wolf-whistled.

"Gally." Newt answered, and even he couldn't help it. He smiled.

I blushed and looked at me feet.

Guess what?

I gasped and jumped off of my chair. Was that in my head? Was I hearing things?

"What are you doing?" Alby asked.

I didn't answer. I bit down on my lip hard, trying not to cry out.

When I had jumped up, the stitches in my hip had ripped. I placed a hand on my side and sat back down. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself. I would not miss this gathering.

"Nothing. Sorry. I don't know what I just did." I told Alby. He just shook his head, mystified.

"Right. Today, we are gonna decide the fate of the Newbie, who tried to kill Zoe." He said to everyone in a clear, bold voice. 

"We were all witnesses. He lunged at her throat after declaring he was gonna kill her." He continued.

I raised my hand, forgetting about my hip. The blood must have soaked through my white blouse because there was a collective gasp as everyone around the room noticed.

"What the bloody hell-"

"What did you do?" Minho said over Newt.

He jumped up and lifted my shirt a couple of inches above the wound, which was slightly open, and bleeding badly.

"Why the shuck didn't you tell us?" He asked, shaking his head at my stupidity, no doubt.

"I didn't want to interupt. I'm fine. Carry on."

Minho shook his head again . "Come on. Off to the Med-Jacks again."

I shook my head. "Not again. I'm fed up of that place."

Minho smiled. "Maybe if you stopped injuring yourself..."

He put his hand around my waist (avoiding the wound) and pulled me up.

I wiggled away. "Stop fussing, Minho. I'm fine."

This time, Alby stood up and shook his head. "Go get it sorted. We will carry on without you."

Newt laughed. "Any excuse to get out of a Gathering."

"I'll need my own custom bed in that place soon." I muttered at I walked out. A few of the Gladers around me laughed, and then continued the gathering, deciding the fate of the boy who'd tried to kill me.

***

I didn't tell anyone what made me jump up. The only person I did tell was Corby.

"I am sooo sorry." He groaned again, for the fifth time this minute.

"It's fine. It doesn't even hurt that bad anymore." I said, trying to comfort him, but I was also trying to reassure myself.

That was true. It was just like a dull throbbing now, but at least I didn't have any stitches. The original wound had already healed, I had just reopened the top bit, but that had scabbed up now.

"I was just thinking about how cool it would be if we could talk to eachother without having to touch, and I kind of had a memory of being able to do that, so I tried, and well..."

"It worked." I said.

"I suppose...."

"Try it again." I said.

Corby closed his eyes.

Hallo!

He reopened them. "Did you hear me?"

I nodded. "Let me try."

I closed my eyes and concentrated. 'Hello.' 'Hello.' 'Hello.'

I opened my eyes. "Anything?"

Corby shook his head. "Nothing."

I sighed. "Why can't I do it?" I asked.

"Hey, you just need practice."

I nodded and got up. "You're getting out tomorrow, one way or another." I joke. "After that, we can practice again, okay?" I add as am afterthought, just incase he didn't appreciate little joke.

"Sure. See ya."

I turned and ran towards the deadheads. That was the one thing I was happy about. I could run again! It felt so good to be free, with the wind rushing in my face. I loved it.

I went back to the place where I first ran off to and sat with my back against the wall.

This had to be one of my favourite spots. It was quiet, peaceful, amd I was alone.

Then, without knowing how or why, I began to sing.

I let the words roll off my tongue. I was singing a song about a young girl, who was missing her family after being sent to a foreign place. I didn't even know how I knew the words.

I was singing for about three minutes when I heads a snap of a branch. I stopped singing. 'De Ja Vu." I muttered.

Minho came out from behind a tree. "What were you doing?" He asked, and sat down next to me.

"Singing. How did you know I was here?"

He laughed. "You have a pretty good voice, and I knew you were here because we could hear you. Your voice travels."

I felt myself go bright red. "Everyone?" I whispered.

"Yup. Everyone gathered around the trees, listening. Everyone stopped their jobs once you started singing. It gave us all hope."

I blushed so red, I didn't think it was humanly possible.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed." Minho smiled and put his arm around me.
"Think on the bright side, at the Gathering, Alby aloud you to try to be a runner! You start tomorrow!"