Secrets | TMR | One

6:3

A/N So the words to this song don't really fit in with the chapter... but it's honestly one of my favourite remixes and I listened to it while I was writing so I decided to add it on.

The wonderful a-random-dunedain showed me how amazing a chapter can be with a song on it so... expect more of this
------

Death can make people act in the most peculiar of ways.

Some get angry. Furious. They kick and they scream, making the entire world knowledgeable of their hardship by lashing out. Others curl into themselves, allowing the grief to supersede their entire existence. Barely uttering a word, and suffering in silence as their loved ones slowly mend themselves and move on with their lives. There are a few, however, that are not quite as capable of even recognising their emotions and, in turn, end up consumed in a false reality where absolutely nothing is wrong.

And, of course, there are those who - for lack of a better term - go bat shit crazy.

Adeline falls into that last category.

Her body is overwhelmed with so many mixed emotions that she cannot seem to figure out where to begin. Her home has been trashed, her brain ransacked, and every plan and scheme she harbours, and every thought and feeling that plagues her is bunched up, creating small mountains on the floor in her mind. Those tiny versions of herself bustle around, picking apart every shard of debris and inspecting it, attaching them to hooks and tying them on hanging string, trying to make sense of them all.

It has been a total of six days since Adeline first tried to leave, since Ben ran into the maze and, obviously, since Dan's face became acquainted with Nick's fist.

I say first because, well, since that day, the Gladers have had to scratch six more names from their wall. Have had to host six more bonfires in memory of the fallen. Have had to make a toast to whatever poor bastard that got snatched in the brutal slayings of the creators.

Death appears to have become a regular occurrence within the "safety" of the Glade.

As well as Adeline's failed attempts at surrender.

The girl has become more and more insane with each day that passes. So much to the point that she has spent most of her time in the slammer, locked away from the rest of the population of the Glade. Only to be allowed out during the evenings, when the doors have closed for the night and there is absolutely no risk of her running off.

On this particular afternoon, Adeline found herself hunched over in the tiny prison, sitting with her legs stretched out, the space between them getting wider from her thighs down to her feet. With her brows furrowed and tongue poking out slightly, she uses a twig she discovered tucked away in the corner of the pit to scratch markings into the dirt.

To anyone else, they would appear to be nothing more than drawings. Scribbles of a lunatic. But to her, it is an escape plan.

Her attention is drawn away momentarily as footsteps scuffle along the grass not to far away from the slammer, however, she does not allow her mind to drift too far before pulling it back to her current task at hand.

The footsteps falter just at the gate, and Adeline can hear the keys clicking together as the boy unlocks the latch and gently lifts it open. Her eyes continue to stay fixated on the squiggles and scrawls in front of her, completely ignoring the boy, who has now crouched down just at the entrance.

"Hey, quine" he says, his voice soft and gentle, and although she is not looking at him, Adeline can envision the look of pity on his face.

Pity over the fact they all think she is crazy.