Secrets | TMR | One

3:6

A/N lil bit of blood in this chapter because our Adeline is a clumsy bitch
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After finding her shoe tucked away in one of the cupboards in the kitchen, Adeline was able to finally escape the Glade.

Although her day should have been spent searching for a way out of this prison, the girl found that she had wasted the majority of it dawdling around, loosely swinging her arms on either side of her as her mind goes over the previous conversation with Alby.

He cares about you more than you think.

These words play on repeat in her brain. Adeline wonders what the boy could have meant by that. Is there a deeper meaning behind them? Does Nick harbor some feelings towards her that she is unaware of? Or is she just over thinking it?

A small smile begins to creep its way onto her face as she remembers the flowers she received.

After being tripped over by none other than Dan, and smacking her head against a stray rock that was laying on the ground, Adeline was advised to sleep in the medhut for the night, so he could keep an eye on her.

She recalls waking up to a small cup, with water filling the bottom half of it, and a few pink flowers from the pond dunked into it.

At the time, the girl had instantly presumed it was Gally, and when she had commented on them, the builder had done nothing to suggest that it was not him.

But to find out that it was, in fact, Nick who placed the flowers by her bedside? Well, she is not entirely sure just how she feels about that.

Nick is - was her best friend.

Is? Was? Adeline does not know which term to use.

All she knows is that she misses him dearly.

Too caught up in her own small world, Adeline does not notice a branch of ivy trailing along the path in front of her.

Her left foot scuffs forward, looping underneath the stray vine, causing her to fall.

She lets out a small scream as she tumbles, her hands flying out in front of her to try and stop her body from landing.

Unfortunately, her left hand collides with a pebble on her way down.

The stone rolls to the side, ultimately resulting in Adeline smacking her chin on the ground. Her teeth clamp together, crunching and grinding as her jaw crashes against the concrete.

It turns out to be nothing but sheer luck that her teeth do not crack under the pressure.

Adeline pulls her head from the ground, bringing her right hand to her face and gently wiping away the tiny grains of sand and stones from her chin, which she can only presumed is covered in small scuffs.

She bends her elbows, gently resting both her hands on the concrete on either side of her stomach before pressing down and pushing herself up.

As the girl forces herself onto her knees, a shooting pain rushes from her left hand all the way up to her shoulder. Like a bolt of lightening striking a tree, her palm burns each time she presses it further into the ground.

Pulling her hand away, Adeline twists it around as she raises it to her face, her eyes widening when she notices that the stone she landed on has cracked, and a sharp corner of it is still stuck. Embedded in her skin, turning crimson from the blood that is tricking from the wound.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit" she mumbles, squeezing her eyes closed and clutching her injured hand to her chest.

Adeline casts a quick glance all around her, ensuring that there are no grievers around.