Everywhere, Everything//Maze Runner

Day 936

Rosie was snoring.

Not cute snoring. This snoring rivalled some of the Gladers Clara had heard over the years. Considering the girl had only arrived in the Glade a few days before they left, she sounded like she hadn't slept in years. Still, Clara couldn't spite her, not when she was envious of her for being able to sleep.

Wherever they were, they had arrived late into the evening. They had showered, and been given new clean clothes, and pyjamas. Clara, Tris, and Rosie were separated from the boys. They were shoved into this room to sleep, and although Clara had tried her best, she had spent what felt like hours tossing on the thick cotton sheets.

Every time she turned she could see Michael, dragged away by a Griever, and Charlie, dying from a gunshot. Screams flashed in her mind. She was supposed to save them. What was the point of having all these skills if she couldn't even save her own people? The mattress beneath her squeaked as she rolled onto her back to stare through the darkness at the tiled roof.

"I can hear you thinking."

Clara flinched at Tris' whisper in the dark. Her friend was on the bunk below her, and until now, Clara had thought she was asleep. Though, with how much noise her mattress made, she shouldn't be surprised.

"Go to sleep," Clara whispered back-- though she could probably shout and Rosie would continue to snore loud enough to wake a dead man.

"I was trying to, but someone keeps rolling over and making the bed squeak," Clara could feel Tris' foot press into her back through the mattress. "You need rest."

Clara huffed, and shoved her palm down at Tris through the mattress, forcing her to withdraw her foot. "I'll stop moving, you need sleep."

"And you don't?" Tris hissed back. "You get crabby when you don't sleep."

They were quiet for a moment. Clara blinked at the roof, trying to ignore her heartbeat. Back in the Glade, Clara and Tris had slept in adjacent hammocks, amidst a crowd of Gladers. There was constant noise. Tris murmuring in her sleep. The maze changing at night. Crickets chirping and animals bleeding. Why was there no noise? It was so quiet in this building that Clara could hear her heartbeat slow in her chest. She missed the Glade. Clara could feel the painful relief of escaping finally, but she still missed her normal position. At least there, the deaths and injuries were mostly predictable.

She clenched her jaw as she heard a phantom bang. Charlie's blood hit the back of her neck again. He slumped. Blood soaking her palms as she tried to stop it. She was supposed to be a healer. The Glade's doctor.

"You are thinking about Michael and Charlie, aren't you?"

Clara's throat seized. She dug her fingers into the sheets to stop an audible sob. She should've been able to help them. She knew how to save someone from a gunshot wound. Charlie didn't need to die. He did some bad things, but he still deserved a place in the safe haven.

Her silence was enough of an answer for Tris.

Clara could hear Tris shift on her bed. "I know you won't get this, but it's not your fault. None of us could've done anything."

"I know how to save someone from a gunshot wound. I just needed more time." Her voice was barely a whisper. She couldn't go louder without her voice threatening to crack.

"Even if you did, do you think that you had the supplies to save him?" Tris asked.

Clara paused, hating to admit that Tris had a point. Charlie would've needed blood transfusions, and Clara would've never been able to get those fast enough to help him.

Tris hummed. "I know you feel horrible and guilty, and nothing I say is going to make you feel better, but we made it out alive and are going to be safe. Nothing is more important."