[т.м.я.] ωнєи ωє ℓινє∂ | тнσмαѕ

[ ¢hapter 3 ]

Grace.

The name roamed in the girls head all morning. Nothing else. Why couldn't she remember anything else? What did she do to deserve this?

She heard how heavy footsteps came closer and closer in her direction, until two faces appeared in front of the small pit. The dark-skinned boy and the blonde boy, who tried to talked to her after she got out of the box, looked down at the small girl, who was still  curled up in the corner.

„Hey there Greenbean, I think we had kind of a rough start yesterday, don't you think? So let me introduce myself properly. The name is Alby. I am the leader here." To her surprise, Alby's voice sounded calm, but stern. Not the voice you would expect from a kidnapper.

„Listen Lady-shank, I will let you out if you promise me that you are not going to run again. Got that? Come out and I will give you the tour." Grace was confused by the way Alby talked to her.

She didn't know what Shank or Greenbean was supposed to mean.

The boys opened the door but Grace was still too afraid of them. The blonde one noticed her hesitation. He crouched down and began to talk.

„We all felt like what you are feeling right now. We will explain everything to you, but in return we need to trust you and we need you to trust us."

Grace's gaze wandered from his stretched out hand to his eyes. Somehow his deep brown eyes seemed familiar to her. She didn't know why but in this moment she decided to take the risk and go with them. Indeed, she had no other option if she didn't want to spend the rest of her life in here.

Carefully, she moved over to the boy and put her hand in his. He had no problems to pull her out of the hole.

Until now, she hadn't had chance to actually look where she was. She stood in the middle of a big grassy area which was several times bigger than a football field. Around the field formed 4 extremely large walls a square. The walls were covered in ivy and in the middle of each one was a giant opening.

For a short moment she thought about running through the wall in hope to escape this place but she was to weak. The hard floor she had to sleep on made her body feel numb and stiff. She couldn't even remember the last time she had eaten something.

As the three of them walked along the courtyard, Grace felt several eyes on her. The boys stopped their work and eyed the girl up and down as she passed by. This made her feel really uncomfortable. She saw some boys whispering to each other or pointing at her so she kept her head down to avoid every eye contact.

She didn't want to see how these boys eyes were practically stripping her. Her hands where slightly shaking and she was sure that her face was red as a tomato.

Alby and Newt stopped in front of her and she ran right into them because she still had her eyes fixed on the floor. She pressed a quiet „Sorry." out.

Alby turned around and faced the girl. His face was completely emotionless as he began to talk.

„If you ain't scared, you ain't human, Greenie. Dance out of the line and I will throw you over the Cliff myself."

„The Cliff?" Grace whispered confused but Alby had already cut her short.

„Shuck it," He said. „I don't want to hear a single question until the tour has ended. This is the Glade. We live here, we sleep here, we work here. Old life is over, new life has begun. We have only three simple rules. Get them into your little girl's head and you will survive the Glade. First: Do your part. There is no time for lazy Slintheads here. You will get no special treatment because you are a girl. Second: Never hurt another Glader, otherwise we will banish you, and last: No matter what's going on in your jacked up brain, go never ever beyond those walls. Do you got that,
Shank?"

Grace only stared at him with wide eyes. She didn't get a single word he just said. Those strange words bounced around her head, but they made no sense so she just continued staring at him, still trying to process his words.

„What?" Was all she could bring out.

Her answer didn't seem to be satisfying. Alby's face suddenly changed from neutral to angry.

„Are you jacked in your head?" He growled while he stepped closer to her, pointing a finger on her chest. „I won't repeat myself. Better you got what I just said, or you die on the spot, right after you klunked you pants. Baggers would drag you off and we would be rid of you. So get your girly act together and try to understand what I am telling you!"

„Take it easy, Alby. You are more hurting than helping." Said Newt and stepped forward.

He had his hands laid on Alby's shoulders which seemed to calm him down a little. The dark-skinned boy closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he tried really hard to not burst out.

The girl couldn't understand why he was so angry with her. She was confused, scared and helpless, but no one was willing to help her. Tears made their way up inside her eyes and her body boiled with anger. She tried to bring the words as confident as possible over her trembling lips.

„I-I don't know what you are talking about. All I know i-is  that I woke up in a dark box, with n-no memories and a bunch of foreign boys threw me into a-a dirty hole. I am so confused and you throw me those – those strange words on my head, expecting me to understand them immediately. I just – I just – I don't know. I just want to be home."

Quickly, she brushed the streaming tears off of her cheeks. She didn't want to look weaker than she already was. Her words didn't seem to touch Alby a bit. He just rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Newt.

„Get her some food and bring her to the Homestead. She is going to share a room with Minho. This Shank is out all day, anyway." He said to the blond boy before he turned his head to the girl. "As for you, Lady-shank. Eat something and calm down. A few weeks and you will be a happy Shank."

He turned around and just walked away as if he didn't care at all about everything she just said to him. Grace stood awkwardly beside Newt and as she stared at Alby's back.

„Don't mind him, Greenie." His words ripped her out of her thoughts and even if he tried to sound calm, Grace heard the bitterness in his voice. „This Shank has a few bad weeks behind him. Anyway, let's go, we get you something to eat."

_______________________________

First meeting with Alby didn't go quite well, but how will the other boys react?

By the way, I am sorry that I made Alby so mean, but trust me, it will be better.

Stay healthy and safe!

Mꨄ