Gally Imagines

=THIRTY-FOUR= Uncertainty

"Hey, Y/N! I've got a great idea!"

You looked up at Thomas' voice from over the rim of the metal ladle as you finished drinking from out of the rain barrel.

"What is it?" you asked, wiping your mouth with your sleeve.

"So, you know how you were wanting a table of some kind?" he asked.

You nodded, holding the ladle out to him and he accepted it before continuing, "Well, there is this circular thing that kind of looks like that, actually," he gestured towards the rain barrel's circular, wooden cover, "only much bigger. I don't know what it was used for, maybe an old well covering or an old barrel lid that has long since rotted away or something, I don't know. The point is that it's big enough to make a really neat table top! We'd just have to set it on top of another barrel or something to make it work. What do you think?"

"It sounds perfect," you admitted, somewhat impressed at Thomas' unexpected enthusiasm.

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"Up, higher! No, no—raise it higher! No—watch the—! Ugh..."

Gally rubbed his face with his hand in disgust as a bucket fell off of the Bloodhouse roof and to the ground with a loud bang, scattering nails everywhere. The Builder who had knocked it off while trying to lift up a board mumbled an apology under his breath. A couple Gladers jumped off of the roof and began picking nails up out of the grass as Gally looked down at them with despair.

"Really, guys!" Gally said, annoyed. "What's wrong with all of you?! This roof should have been finished days ago! You've all turned into a bunch of lazy Slintheads! Don't make me climb up on that roof and show you how it's supposed to be done!"

"Well why don't you, Gally?"

Gally stopped, then slowly turned around, locking eyes with the boy who had dared make that offhanded remark. The boy was a half a foot shorter than Gally, and realized the mistake he had made immediately after seeing the look in Gally's eyes. He dropped his gaze, like a dog losing a dominance stare-down, and knelt to the grass, picking up nails with slightly too much eagerness. The other Builders, seeing who was still in charge even with a crutch, slowly began lifting boards climbing up ladders and handling hammers once more.

Gally finally tore his gaze from the insolent boy and unclenched the fingers that he hadn't even realized were tightened into a fist. It wasn't what the boy had said exactly, but how he had said it. Never in a million years would anyone—especially not one of his own Builders—have dared to speak to him with that disrespectful, slightly sarcastic tone before he had fallen ill. Not only had the fever weakened Gally, but it had weakened the respect that the other boys had held for him as well. Gally gripped the crutch under his arm in anger. He would get better if it was the last thing he did! He would show them!

"Gally, how do you want this board nailed in?" he heard a Glader up on the roof ask.

A sorry excuse for an apology. Gally thought, turning his back towards the Bloodhouse and taking a step forward. Let's see how well they do without my help for a while.

He felt a little better with each step he took away from the loud hammering and semi-confused raised voices behind him. Then he looked up, catching Thomas talking to you by the rain barrel. His eyebrows dropped and that unpleasant feeling in his stomach became even stronger than before.

"This is ridiculous," he said to himself. "I'm overreacting. I need to talk to her. That will clear everything up, I just need to talk to her."

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