teenage wasteland ;; the maze runner

1.3

no matter what emotions raged throughout arrival day, the bonfire always made up for it. whether it be because spirits were high, life felt good for once, or maybe ( probably ) because there was alcohol, florence had always found herself looking forward to it.

the dramatics of the ceremony always sent her through a doozy, which wasn't fantastic considering she was one of the ones who had to throw a flaming stick into the wood.  but, three years and she hadn't lit anyone in fire, so who really cares?

cheers echoed through the glade, yells consisting of joy, drunkenness, and most importantly, the teenage spirit.

a laugh bubbled from her mouth at the sight of alby's triumphant pose once they successfully lit the fire; shouts of glory followed in pursuit, chanting in a rhythmic pattern.

after helping to light the fire -- as it was her duty as a keeper -- florence always resigned herself to hide in the crowd. as much as she just adored the natural attention she got ( she didn't ), she also adored just simply observing her boys.

it didn't take long for gally to start passing out his drinks, which then triggered a lot of coughing, sputtering, and yells of disgust. nobody seemed to ever get used to it, and yet they continued to down it month by month.

toasts were made, as were bets on many different things including fights as well as who could drink the most. flo was banned from that competition after she tried to win, got five drinks down, and then hurled her guts up all night long. fun times.

now, however, she sat back with sammy on her lap. sammy and chuck weren't supposed to be allowed to attend such extravagant activities, but after sammy spilt tears ( to be completely fair, he'd had a very difficult day and was quite emotional ) they decided it was fine as long as someone kept an eye on them. since flo was banned from more than three glasses, she took the chore upon herself.

nevertheless, she would never view those boys as a burden. she loved them far too much. and she would never abandon her duties as babysitter!

except, even the devil gets tempted sometimes.

"is that sammy?" a voice called out into the busy air. the tone was soft and sweet, higher pitched due to age difference. it was a habitual and psychological response, and in most cases, flo would be giggly over such a matter.

but, in this case, nothing antony did could make her smiling or giggly. at all. never ever.

sammy gasped, quickly pushing himself up and off of her lap to run into open hands of antony. the older boy grabbed him with a laugh, swinging him up and setting him on his shoulders.

"woah-ho-ho!" antony cried teasingly. "you're like a giant, man!"

sammy screamed in laughter, arms raising to the sky as if he were reigning supreme. he was, but that was besides the point.

besides her, chuck was hiding his cheekie grin. "feeling alright?" he asked the girl, and she didn't even bother looking at him.

"that child is a traitor."

chuck cracked up at that, which florence thought was quite rude considering her feelings were deeply inflicted by sammy's actions. but, she would persist.

persist in the only way she knew, that is.

"i'm getting another drink," she groaned, standing up from where she previously sat.

she stretched out her limbs, and chuck asked, "wasn't that your third?"

flo gaped at him. "now, who are you to be monitoring my drink count? god damn." she shook her head, exasperated.