The Memory Trials

Chapter 23

I wake up laying in Gally's arms as the early sunlight pours in through the open window, a slight breeze sways the thin curtain and makes my hair tickle my face. I look up to see Gally still asleep, his face looking younger than ever with his closed eyes and slightly parted mouth. I chuckle at his unconscious state and lay back down in attempt to go back to sleep. Last night, when we had our first kiss together, he said 'I love you' to me and stared at me hopefully through the darkness. It's not like I have commitment issues or anything, but I didn't feel like it would be truthful to say it, and for me and Gally, truth is our best quality, no secrets are held between us. So I just kissed him instead of answering and he seemed to be happy at the answer. I hope he doesn't bring it up.

I couldn't have fallen asleep for more than a minute before Gally is grumbling and slowly waking up.

"Morning" he says in a husky voice after realising I'm awake.

"Morning" I say back as nicely and sweetly as I can and smile up at him. 

"You know what's great?" I say to him in a somehow happy morning mood.

"What?" He smiles a gorgeous smile down at me.

"Us." I say through a smile

"What's so good about us?" He says, seemingly taking up interest in what I have to say all of a sudden. I think for a moment.

"Our honesty with each other" I decide, he looks at me sceptically so I continue.

"We can tell each other anything, there's no secrets between us. I tell you everything and you tell me everything" I say and he looks thoughtfully out the window, he looks troubled by what I said, which I'm guessing isn't a good thing.

"Gally, are you okay?" I question cautiously as I attempt to wake him out his 'reverie' or whatever Georgia calls it.

"Marie I haven't told you everything yet" he says in one breath  which causes me to jump back a bit.

"You might want to get comfortable, and before I say anything, I would like to say in advance that I just love you so much and I would never have done anything like this before I met you and I am so so sorry, I would do anything I could to take back what I did"

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I stare at him for a moment in shock, I cannot believe the words that jus came out of his mouth. This has to be some kind of a really mean prank, I'm just waiting for him to yell 'got you!' Or something, but he keeps that guilty look on his face as he waits for my response.

"I need some air, I'll be back soon" I say in a shaky voice and he nods at the ground as I slowly make my way out of the room. As soon as I get out of the homestead I run as fast as my feet can carry me across the glade and into the deadheads, stopping and sitting against a tree trunk when I'm satisfied that I'm far away enough from everyone that I won't be bothered by them.

I take a few shaky breaths as I let his words sink in. I know that he truly regrets what he'd done, I would like to believe that he would do anything he could to take back what he did like he said, but I don't know what to believe anymore.

Everything he has said to me ever since the day we met could have been a lie and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. He said it was him that tried to hurt Georgia that first night, but he made his voice sound like Winston's and wore his clothing just in case if anyone was around to witness it so that he could frame Winston. He's so deceptive, he plans these things and he has his safety nets and backup plans, he thought of every thing that could go wrong and prepared for every single one of them. Who know what else he's done? He could've done other things to other people but didn't tell me. I need some sort of proof.

An idea pops into my head as I remember one of the other things he admitted to me in that cold and empty room. I walk over to the gardens where Anne and Georgia walk together, probably talking about yesterday's gathering. They see me and Anne starts complaining about me missing my breakfast shift but I interrupt her.

"Can I talk to you Anne? It's important" I say and look from her to Georgia, silently asking if she wants her to leave or not.

"She can stay" she asks with a sudden curiosity as to what I have to say.

"So you know how me and Gally have been together" I begin, she gives me a nasty look. Before I found everything out I would've said, 'don't give me that look, what had Gally ever done to you?' And I would've defended him, but now I know better than most of the horrible things he has done. He said to me that he used to force Anne to do, things, with him every once in a while and he would abuse her with fists and with words and he threatened getting her pregnant if she didn't do what he asked, because if she got pregnant she would have been pretty much shunned from the glade and the baby would have died anyways, we don't have anything in the glade to raise babies yet. But he accidentally got her pregnant but she had a miscarriage, thankfully Georgia was there to help her out but she's never truly been the same since.

"Yeah, I heard you've been whoring around" Anne says in the casual tone one might say 'greenies coming in tomorrow' or 'I think the meat is off'. Suddenly an uncontrollable rage fills my entire body, I don't feel sympathy towards her anymore, she doesn't deserve my or anybody else's sympathy.

"At least I'm not the one getting myself pregnant, huh?" I laugh at her. She lunges at me so fast I barely saw her move, all of a sudden I'm pinned to the ground and she's bashing my face in. I try and lift my hands up to protect my face but she's pinned my arms down with her knees. Punch after ouch I lose visibility, all I see is red. My whole face is exploding in pain like as if it were on fire, I feel blood trickling out of my nose, I do everything I can to stay awake as she doesn't stop hitting me. I am distantly aware of Georgia calling for help but it sounds so far away. It would be so so easy to just lay hear and let her hit me, just drift off into nothingness like a boat along a calm river, but I can't. I have to stay awake, I have to keep fighting. I wiggle as much as I can but still can't move, I wiggle while she punches so that her weight is shifted and pull an arm out, then another. I she lid my face and curl into a ball on my side and she falls off of me. I take the opportunity to scramble away as far as I can, I crawl until her arm latches onto my leg and yanks me back.

All of a sudden I can vaguely see Alby is holding Anne from behind as the medjacks rush to my aid and a pair of strong arms lift me up into a stretcher and the medjacks run me over to the Medhut.

"Took you long enough" I mumble as my mind is pulled down into the darkness by a heavy anchor that consumes my whole being.