dandelions || 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘰 (COMPLETED)

iv - chuck

CHUCK
-
"i've never felt so alive and free."

• • •

          THE GIRL RAN INTO A PLUMP BOY no older than thirteen on her way to find newt, shortly after the meeting's end and her encounter with minho.

"hi! i'm chuck!" she felt slightly surprised at how cheerful he seemed, considering how young he appeared and the dreary situation he'd been forced into, but she immediately took a liking to him.

"hi there chuck. i wish i could introduce myself too, but..."

"you don't remember your name. i know. it happened to me as well, but so far you're doing a lot better than i did when i was the greenie. klunked my pants three times before they'd even pulled me out the box."

the box must be what they pulled me out of too, she pieced together. makes sense.

"klunk?"

chuck only laughed at her in response, and she smiled awkwardly. "woah greenie, you have a lot to learn." he teased.

in return he received a light punch accompanied by an outburst of laughter from the girl, and he jumped back playfully in response.

"ow! that hurt."

"oh yeah? what about this then?" she swiftly wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him into a head lock, then ruffled his hair with her fist.

"okay, okay! you win."

the girl finally released, him, satisfied with his surrender.

that is, until he yanked her into a hug and slipped his foot around her leg, causing her to fall gracelessly to the floor with a loud thump.

she giggled, partly to conceal her annoyance at being outsmarted by the boy, and as she was lifting herself up and brushing her turquoise shirt off, chuck began to bolt away towards the animal pens. "i'll kill you, chuck, i swear it!"

she caught up to him with ease, but just as she was about to grab his collar and pull him back, minho stepped in front of her, causing her to nearly (for the second time in a day) run straight into him.

"hey there, shebean, chill out."

chuck was already well out of sight behind minho's torso, and she craned her neck to see where he'd disappeared to. it was to no avail.

"i'm trying to do something here, so i'd appreciate it if you'd move out of my way, shank." the greenie had no idea in the slightest what on earth the sentence she'd just formed sounded like to minho, but the taken-aback look on his face told her that she had indeed used his precious word right.

and she was proud of it, puffing out her chest slightly as he nodded and said, "touché, shebean." she rolled her eyes. despite her successful attempt at proving her point, he still hadn't moved from his inconvenient position in front of her.

finally he sighed. "alright. go on then. but go easy on him — he's just a kid. i saw what you did back there — oh, and my personal favourite bit was when you fell flat on the floor. a bit like thomas when he face planted actually."

with minho smiling and the girl scowling, he finally gave way and let her continue her pursuit of chuck.

~

"chuck! i know you're here somewhere," she called out. had she lost him? no — it wasn't as if there was anywhere for him to go.

but what if he'd left through one of the openings in the wall? he'll be fine, she thought. what's even so bad about the "maze", anyway? there are four huge gaps in the wall — he can always get back in.

thoughts overwhelmed her again, at how she'd lost chuck, at how she could've killed him, at how she probably had killed him, about—

"boo!"

"damn you, chuckie, you half scared me to death!"

"that was kind of the point..."

her thoughts trailed off, and he seemed to notice her zoning out of the conversation.

"hello?"

a memory was fighting its way back into her mind. just one, but she supposed it was better than nothing. hopefully it could help her piece together the meaning of the phrase from earlier.

it was pushing through. she could feel it making her head throb, making her want to lie down and fall asleep right then and there, and she closed her eyes to help her concentrate. she couldn't lose it now. feeling it getting closer, her brain just about managed to grasp onto it and drag it into her memories.

and then it happened.

"lyn! my name is lyn, chuck!"

chuck grinned excitedly at her, reminding her of a child at christmas. "well, it's nice to meet you, lyn. that's a very pretty name."

"thank you," she replied. even though she'd only known chuck less than an hour, he already felt like the brother she never had — the brother she didn't remember having, anyway. there was no way of telling what having her whole memory wiped had stripped her of.

~

lyn and chuck headed back to one of the stone walls, ecstatic to share the news of her name with the rest of the glade's residents. gladers — that was what chuck had called them.

she saw newt in the corner of her eye and was about to head over to him when she heard a low rumbling sound coming from the stone behind her. she turned around slowly, and the volume increased until it steadied out and the walls started moving.

"chuck... is this meant to happen?"

chuck's lips expanded into a grin. "this is why we don't leave — no one survives a night in the maze."

and then it suddenly made sense to her — these doors must close every night, and reopen every morning.

but what still confused her was what was so dangerous in there. maybe the air got cut off? or there was some sort of fire that burnt through it at night? the two boys earlier mentioned something about "grievers", whatever they were. every possible explanation she could think of as to why everyone seemed so utterly terrified of the maze only made her head hurt more.

"and now, greenie, it's time for your bonfire." the british accent which she heard just behind her made her feel safe, and she followed its source over to where a few gladers already seemed to be setting up for a party. her very own bonfire.