𝗜𝗡 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗛 ➪ Olivia had been having dreams of a mystery boy ever since she arrived in the glade a year ago. She never thought much of it, she figured it was her brains way of convincing itself there was something, or someone out there for her;...
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OLIVIA AND CHUCK both sat in their hammocks while they ate their dinner, away from everyone. "What do Grievers look like?" He asked. "They're like massive spiders. They're gross." She scrunched her face up in disgust.
Chuck nodded his head as he pushed half his food to the side of his makeshift plate. "What are you doing that for?" Olivia furrowed her eyebrows together. The two had been eating together for the past month, and Olivia knew his way of eating. He would take parts of each food separately and eat it until it was gone, like a pattern. "I'm saving some for Thomas." He said innocently, making her smile.
"Don't save that much, eat half of that and I'll give him the rest of mine as well." She didn't want the boy to be hungry. Chuck sighed and began to eat again. Olivia smiled. She loved him like a little brother.
After he finished eating, they slowly made their way over to the pit. "Who's there?" Thomas noticed the clinking of plates and the lantern they were using for light. "It's just us." Chuck walked in front of the door calmly. Thomas immediately relaxed his shoulders and leant his head against the rocks he was surrounded by. "Sorry, Chuck."
"Hey, stranger." Olivia smiled down at him from next to Chuck as he set down the lantern in a safe spot. Thomas softly smiled up at her before Chuck started to hand him stuff through the gaps in the bamboo door. "Here. You'll run better on a full stomach." Thomas took everything and sat down on the floor. He immediately started eating. "Thank you." He looked up at the two.
Chuck took something out of his pocket and started playing with it, making the other two look at it. "Hey, what do you got there?" Thomas asked. Chuck leant down and showed a wooden sculpture of an animal to Thomas before doing the same for Olivia. "That's amazing, Chuck." Olivia was impressed by his art skills. "What's it for?"
"It's for my parents." Chuck said, making Thomas and Olivia look at each other with a hint of sadness in their eyes. "You remember your parents?" Thomas looked back to Chuck. "No." He whispered. "I mean, I know I must have them." He sighed. "And wherever they are, I'm sure they miss me, but. I can't miss them because I don't remember them."
Thomas nodded his head as Olivia tried to blink away a few tears that had pooled. She knew that Chuck really wanted to get out of the maze just so he could meet his parents. They all stayed in silence for a few seconds. Thomas stuck his hand through the gap and grabbed Olivia's hand. He rubbed his thumb back and forth on her palm and softly smiled at her, her doing the same.
"What do you think you'll find out there tomorrow?" Chuck broke the silence to ask them. "I, um, I don't know." Thomas whispered. "Hey, but, if there's a way out, Chuck, we're gonna find it." Olivia tried to comfort the boy. Chuck looked down at the wooden figure in his hands before giving it to Thomas, who let go of Olivia's hand to take it. "Chuck, why would you give this to me?" Thomas asked the zoned out boy. "I can't remember them anyway. But maybe if you can find a way out, you can give it to them for me." Chuck said, making Olivia furrow her eyebrows. "I'm gonna get some sleep." Chuck got up and began to walk back to his hammock without a light. Olivia let out a shaky breath as she watched him walk away. "Hey, Chuck!" Thomas yelled to him. "Come here."
He walked back and kneeled down next to Olivia, who was looking at Thomas. "Put out your hand." Chuck did as he said. Thomas put the figure back into his palm and curled his fingers around it, making sure he wouldn't let go. "I want you to give that to them yourself. We're gonna get out of here." Thomas promised. "All of us." He turned his head to Olivia. "Okay? I promise." Chuck nodded his head and smiled softly at the slightly older boy. "Okay." Chuck stood back up. "Goodnight." He walked away again. "Goodnight, Chuck." Thomas and Olivia said in unison as they watched him.
"I should probably go too." She began to get up. "Olivia." Thomas said, making her sit back down. "Yeah?" She whispered. "Why did you wanna be a runner? Didn't you already have a job?" He looked in her eyes. "No. I just helped around, I was never categorised. I cooked, helped the med-jacks, ran." She trailed off. "I did whatever people needed help with."
"So why did you wanna be an actual runner all of the sudden?" Olivia looked between his eyes and sighed. "Something to do." She lied, making Thomas tilt his head. "Why do you really?"
"I feel like I owe it to everyone to at least try. Even though I know it's not on me that we're in here." She sighed. "Nobody's relying on you to get us out. Why do you feel like you have to try?" His face softened. Olivia grew frustrated with herself at how easily she let herself open up to him. "I don't know."
She looked away from him and looked up at the stars. Thomas didn't push for answers, he just dropped the topic. His eyes dropped to the bandage that was still on her stomach. "Does it still hurt?" He said, making her look back to him as she furrowed her eyebrows, confused. He nodded is head towards the bandage. "Oh, no. It's just dry blood now. It'll be good in the morning." She assured him as he nodded his head.
"We should probably go to sleep." She smiled down at him. "Yeah." He nodded his head and glanced at his shoes before looking back at Olivia, who was now standing. "Goodnight, Olivia." He smiled. "Goodnight, Thomas. See you in the morning." She smiled back. "See you in the morning."
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sorry this is a lot shorter than normal
this is gonna be the last chapter i post for a hot minute bc i wanna have the chapters written out instead of writing them then publishing them on the same day
