Everywhere, Everything ◆ Thomas ◆ TMR

003 - Playing Mommy

She eyed the boy in front of her thoughtfully. The wooden wall she was leaning against was rough on her back.

Right after she and Newt had finished the tour, he had left her with Chuck, the other Greenie who had arrived only a week ago, in favor of something called a gathering that their first in command had wanted.

Newt had told her that Chuck was only around twelve, but somehow, she hadn't expected him to actually look so young. He had pudgy, rosy cheeks and beautiful curls that he kept brushing away from his eyes in a way that made her want to take a pair of scissors and cut them.

He was very quiet, picking at the splinters in the floor. He would occasionally look up quickly, and then return to his nervous tick. She found his shyness quite endearing and a nice breath of breath air from the stares she'd gotten ever since she first showed herself outside.

"What do I look like?" She wondered.

He studied her for a moment, and his eyes didn't go back down, but rather flickered around her face like he was taking a mental picture. It was the longest he'd dared look at her yet.

He hummed uncertainty. "You've got red hair."

She chuckled but didn't mention that she already knew that. It was impossible not to, with the way the long strands kept getting in her face. "What else?"

His mouth pursed, and something flashed through her mind. She tried to grasp the memory in her hand. Again and again, it slipped.

It was so frustrating, to feel everything right there, right within her grasp and not be able to take it. And there was not much help in anyone here. It was apparently so normal for them, that she had to dig for any answer she wanted. She didn't even know what she looked like. How old she was. Where she was from, who she was from.

"Brown eyes. I don't know. You look like you're about seventeen, maybe," he shrugged. Chuck, who was just a child. Chuck, who seemed so gentle, even though she'd just met him. What could he possibly have done to deserve being here? "I've never met a girl before, but you seem really pretty."

She laughed gently at the attempted compliment, giving his shoulder a gentle nudge. "Thanks."

Just then, they were interrupted by the opening of the door at the end of the hall. She was on her feet almost immediately, standing up taller when a group of boys filed out.

Their meeting must be over. First, her hands were behind her back, but she decided that seemed too submissive for her taste, and she stubbornly moved them across her front to look more steadfast. Like she couldn't be messed with. A detail that hopefully would register in their subconscious, because she might not be able to remember much, but boys were stupid and oblivious. That was one thought that had stuck.

Newt and Alby were the last ones out, and they made a line straight for Ari. Newt's mouth quirked slightly at the look of her.

"So, what's my fate then?" She asked. "I get to go home?"

Alby did not find that funny.

He walked straight past her, face looking a little gray. He barely even spared her a glance. She blinked a couple of times, sharing a look with Chuck, who simply shrugged.

"All right, then."

New chuckled, nimble fingers running over the skin of his lips.

"So, the verdict?" She asked him, knowing he wouldn't just run away like the leader did. She felt it should be the other way around. "I know your meeting -"

"- Gathering."

"- whatever. Was about me."

His eyes flickered to Chuck, then back at her. "Let's walk together? Chuck still has some buildin' to do, don't ya?"