The Seed of Hope

In the eyes of the Father

The next day

I woke up to arguing outside my tent "We don't have or know anyone called 'Hope'" I stepped out and stood beside Minho "How many girls are in the group?" I saw a ginger man scanning the crowd for his sister, but he hadn't seen me since I was a toddler, how was he supposed to recognise me? Newt stepped forward "Just two, Theresa and Owl. Let us send the runners then we can discuss anything, and if you want to talk to them, we can call them back or you can talk to them over the coms" his hand gestured towards me and Minho "Who are you sending out?" We stepped forward "Minho is one of our best flat runners and Owl handles the rough terrain. They split up and map out the area" I started walking for the camp gates when he turned to me "you know anyone called 'Hope'?" I shook my head "I know no one who's not a glader and Theresa is the only other girl here so no, I don't know 'Hope'" Minho dragged me out and we started walking.

He kept looking at me strangely "you know Hope don't you?" I sighed "Minho...I am Hope. I'm the one they're searching for...apparently" I could see in his eyes that he was so confused "why didn't you just turn yourself in?" I rolled my eyes "they're a religious murderous cult, if I do that, you all die" sudden realisation hit his face "we have to kill them! All of them" I was surprised when he didn't spring the gun on me "I can't. They're my only connecting to what happened before the glade and my biological family, I think" I threw a grappling hook up a cliff "I only know what was in the box" he watched me as I started my ascend "what's in box?" I smirked and ignored him "Owl?" I dug my foot into the dirt and pushed myself up as he started his search for a good source of food.

My com suddenly turned on "see anything?" I turned my head away from the cliff careful not to look down "uh, trees,cages...oh my god" I looked below me and saw blood everywhere with the occasional splattered body "Owl? Owl what is it?" I was honestly lost for words, did people push them or did they jump? I forced my eyes to look up "uh, there's bodies and blood everywhere at the bottom of the cliff, looks like they jumped. There's so much blood" I pulled myself up on the top and froze, I was crouched face to face with a cougar "Owl? Owl? C'mon!" I didn't dare move, I may have never seen an animal except deer but I knew a predator when I saw one, I saw a rose coloured collar around its neck " 'Peaches'?" It immediately rubbed against me almost pushing me back off the cliff "that's your name huh?" I saw an old woman walk out of the woods "she's taken a liking to ya" I stood slowly unsure of what to do "I take it that doesn't happen often?" She shook her head "Peaches never likes anybody, I'd recommend leaving town before the cult finds ya"

I shook my head "can't, they already know me and have seen my face, there's no way me and my folks are making it outta here alive without join edens gate, but like hell were gonna I that" she stroked the cat's back "why don't you keep the damn cat?! She'll protect ya and your people. I've enjoyed not tending to her incessant of food and water for the last few days?" I looked at her longingly "you serious?" It would Ben useful to have a 'wild' animal on our side, I'd seen those 'judges' around with their marked heads like targets just waiting for a bullseye. "You need her more than I do. What's your name kid?" I smiled and glanced the cougar "my friends call me 'owl'" she managed to hold a straight face "Miss Wilhelmina Mable from Peaches Taxidermy, and that's peaches who now belongs to you. Good Luck" I glanced down the cliff "no way I'm toning down there with a cougar strapped to me" and at that moment, Peaches seemed to make her way down the cliff using the rocks like any usual cougar would "Uh...Newt? What would you say if a lady gave me a trained cougar?" There was silence as my feet touched halfway down the rock "I'd say you were a twat for accepting it and we're all bloody dead if you bring that thing back to camp" I rolled my eyes and made my way to the bottom of the cliff and met Peaches.

We walked back to camp together and as I stepped in with the cat, people looked scared "Relax, I've already ran it by Newt" I watched as he leaned against a tent post "are you ok? You were meant to return with Minho" i fed Peaches some spare meat "I'm fine, just trying to work out my missing memories and how they work into all of this" I heard his limping footsteps and a hand on my shoulder "we talked about this" I gave him the 'your kidding?' eyes and something told me I was in for a long lecture "Owl, you know none of us can remember what happened before we came up, there's no point trying, ok? I've tried everything and nothing comes back"

"It could save us?" He walked next to me "We're going to have to find another way of saving ourselves then aren't we?" I watched as my new-found pet ate the last of the meat in her bowl, while newt was lecturing on about my memories, I was trying to think of what they could've been, were we actually happy together? Or was it one of those conflicted abusing families? I wish I knew, I kissed newt's cheek and went into the tent to sleep.