𝐃𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐍 | Gally | ✓

Chapter Eight

The rain had stopped later in the day and left a sheet of dew across the Glade. Everyone's boots splashed on the damp ground in unison as we ran to the opening of the Glade. The doors were about to close any minute and there was still no sign of Minho or Alby. I anxiously bounced my leg as I stood at the front of the group crowding the entrance. Gally knelt down beside me and placed a hand on my leg, either he was annoyed or didn't want me to panic.

I could feel the scattered thoughts bounce around the pack of Gladers, but my mind felt empty. No thoughts ran through it. It was like I was standing on the edge of the ocean, the water in front of me was calm but deeper out, thunderclouds rolled in and the waves grew more choppy.

"Can't we send someone after them?" Thomas asked what we were all thinking.

Gally kept his eyes straight towards the depths of the maze, "It's against the rules. Either they make it back or they don't." It felt like more needed to be said, more opinions needed to be shared before we made the final decision.

A windy roar came from inside the maze and blew into the glade. The walls were starting to close and there was still no sign of them. A grunt from inside followed the clicking of gears winding up.

"There!" Thomas shouted pointing towards a large figure in the distance. The closer we looked the more the figure started to come together, "Wait something's wrong..." As we watched, we realized it was Minho who had a limp himself, carrying Alby on his back. All of us started screaming at once, every second the walls grew closer and closer to each other. I screamed as loud as I could, but it wouldn't do anything to help them.

"He can't do it himself." I heard Newt state under his breath, "Gally go in! Hurry, you're stronger!" Gally was about to object when Newt shouted in his face, "NOW!"

Without much time for hesitation, Gally slipped through the walls, if they hurried there was still a chance they could make it back. Gally threw Alby on to his back with one swift movement and put Minho's arm across his shoulders. Gally was strong enough to carry one, but both was challenging even for him. Minho's face winced with every limp. The shouting behind me continued and the walls drew even closer. The chanting seemed to muffle out and my ears only focused on the voice in my own head, they're not going to make it.

Gally's face wrinkled and tensed as he gave all his energy into saving the two boys. I watched as he slowly dragged the two and just barely inched forward. The walls grew closer together, they only had seconds left. Only for a moment, his eyes immediately met with mine. I'd never seen such a helpless look pool in his eyes before. My glass-heart shattered, sending splintering shards from my chest down through my limbs. The pain is his face I could feel in my own. Boiling water swelled in my eyes and threatened to release.

A blur broke the last contact I would ever have with him. Thomas had brushed past me and squeezed through the final crack of the walls. I watched as his fingers skimmed the edge of the walls, then they finally came to a close. I couldn't even have the benefit of watching the boy, the one I knew I was in love with, disappear behind those doors.

I hadn't even realized the screaming had come to an end. My head rocked in choppy waves and my legs begged to give up. Everything I'd done with him, everything I hadn't done, everything I wished I'd said flashed through my thoughts in a matter of seconds. My ribs  scraped at the walls of my lungs when I finally released the breath I'd been holding in. I stared at the sinister doors that mocked me with the reminder that Gally was only on the other side. I could feel the eyes of all the boys behind me crawling on my back. I wanted to flail around, get their beady insect-eyes off of my skin but I didn't.

With each short breath I turned to face the murderer of the boy I loved. Newt killed him. In my eyes, it was cold blooded murder. I lunged for the guilty boy only to be pulled back by dozens of arms immediately. I ripped away from them, my skin felt like it peeled away with it. My face instantly grew red hot and with each pound to Newt's chest with my fist, my screams only became louder. Newt didn't fight back, he let me pounce on him. He staggered back a little the more my hands met his chest. I wanted to kill him. It only felt reasonable. One last excruciating punch sent electricity up through my arm and shocked my heart. I shoved him down and fell to the ground myself.

A mix of green and brown dirt blurred behind my tears. Sets of hands clasped around my arms but I yanked them away once again. The wet grass soaked through to my legs. I staggered to my feet and began to run. I could feel my blood pulsing through my head. My sandpaper throat make every so and breath intolerable.

I met the edge of the Deadheads and continued running inside. Branches tore at my skin and my feet stumbled on rocks and leaves. My hyperventilating was the only sound that travelled through the trees. The birds went silent as they watched me pace around and listened to the rhythm of my gasps. My world was slipping through the grasp of my icy, moist hands. The leaves seemed to crumble into the blackness and overwhelmed my vision. My legs felt like they were no longer there, but when I looked, I was reassured. My whole body rocked back and forth as I wobbled from side to side, trying to find something to hold on to. Blackness was engulfing me until I felt my palms meet the luscious vines of the glade walls. My knees couldn't hold me up any longer, and gave out. Before I felt my consciousness slip away, the last memory Gally's face creeped into my vision, then ebbed away.

The chilled breeze of night struck my skin and shook me awake. My eyes were still clogged by sleep and sorrow. It was pitch black in the shadows of the forest. Only light from the homestead's torches peeked through the trunks and leaves. My mouth tasted dry and chalky while my throat ached from earlier. I laid underneath the protection of the trees and listened. In the blackness, I heard leaves tickle each other as the breeze flowed through the branches. A lonely bird's wings flapped as it took flight. An echo sounded behind the tall wall behind me. The maze was changing now. I shouldn't have taken the silence of thoughts in my mind that had forgotten about Gally for granted. A part of me wanted to hear his yells travel over the walls so I'd know he was still alive, but if he did cry out, it would probably wouldn't be for good reason.

I was tired of listening to my own thoughts nag on. I missed him, I wanted so desperately to sit here with him under the trees and spill out all the feelings that I will never get the chance to share.

Just as my eyelids started to weigh over me, a bird sang a few notes in the distance. A lullaby, just for me. The bird's song pulled another memory off the shelf and surfaced it to the front of my mind.

Although I could remember who my family was, I don't have many memories of actually spending time with them. There is a song though, that I remembered a woman's voice serenading me. I always imagined it was my mother who'd lay me down to sleep and whisper the lullaby in my ear, but I guess I'll never know.

Stars shining bright above you

I quietly hummed the little melody to myself. I could never remember the whole song, which annoyed me at times.

Night breezes seem to whisper, I love you

I remember singing this song in front of Gally once. He's the only other person who's ever heard it. My voice isn't very angelic, I can barely carry a tune, but the gentle words still soothed me.

Birds singing in the sycamore tree

I'd forgotten his gentle touch when he first pulled me out of the box, unlike how he treated other greenies now. When he showed me around the glade the first time, he seemed more scared of me than I was of him. He would trip on his words a lot and pounce at any of the boys that came near me. I laugh looking back on all the times I annoyed him when he just wanted to work, but I could tell he liked it when I distracted him. A smile would always escape from the corner of his lips.

Dream a little dream of me.

A single bead rolled off the side of my cheek as a blanket of sleep tucked me away.