The Memoriam Files: Hearts ✔

| Chapter 16, An old friend returns

|A lesson never learned, only violence

|Song: Let it burn, Red

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Lisa's P.O.V.

With a wild beating heart I pulled the paper out of Thomas his hand. I stared at the signature and took a deep breath. Flashes of memories I'd rather forget echoed through my head. The gunshots, Dawn half unconscious in my arms and Gally screaming for us to run. He was dead, I honestly believed him to be dead. The thought of him being alive all this time was too hard to even consider. Who knew what Wicked had done to him?

I gasped and noticed my whole body was trembling. Minho lifted my chin so I was forced to look into his eyes. 'Are you okay?' He whispered.
Taking a deep breath I crumbled the paper in my fist. 'I'm fine,' I told him while trying to control the hurricane inside of me.

'It can't possibly be him,' Brenda said. She stared at me, worried.
'Why not?' Thomas asked. 'What happened to him after we were taken away? Did he...'
'Die? No. He spent a week or so in the infirmary, recovering from a broken cheekbone. But that was nothing compared to the psychological damage. They used him to kill Chuck because the Psyhs thought the patterns would be valuable. It was all planned. They forced Chuck to move in front of you.'

My gaze turned to the ground. The weight of his actions had been so alive in his eyes that it still gave me shivers now by merely thinking about it.
Brenda continued. 'I heard that one of the Psychs designed the interaction to be a Variable not just for you and the Gladers who witnessed it but...also for Chuck during his final moments.' Thomas stood there shaking. I looked at him and remembered all the times I had seen him walk through the Glade with the chubby kid by his side. He ran a shaking hand through his hair. 'Nothing surprises me anymore,' he whispered through gritted teeth. 'Gally's mind couldn't handle what he'd done,' Brenda said and I felt myself grow curious. 'He went completely nuts and they had to send him away. I'm sure they figured no one would ever believe his story.'

'So why do you think it can't be him?' I asked, some strange part inside of me hoping he was alive.
'Maybe he got better, found his way here,' Thomas added.
Brenda shook her head. 'Look, anything's possible. But I saw the guy, it was like he had the Flare. He was trying to eat chairs and spitting and yelling and ripping his hair out.'
'I saw him too,' Jorge added, 'he got past the guards one day. He ran through the halls naked, screaming at the top of his lungs about beetles in his veins.'
I raised my eyebrows, trying to erase that image out of my head.
'I wonder what he means by the Right Arm,' Thomas said, 'there are rumors of them all over the place. It's suppose to be an underground group bent on destroying Wicked.'

'One more reason to do what the note says,' I said, feeling more and more sure that this was what we had to do.

Brenda, however, seemed to doubt. 'I really think we should find Hans before anything else.'

We were all silent for a second, then turned our heads to Thomas. He sighed. 'I think we need to see Gally. We need someone who knows the city.'
'What if it is some kind of trap,' Brenda protested.
'Yeah,' Minho added, 'we should think about this.'
'No,' Thomas shook his head. 'We can't try to outguess them anymore. Sometimes they do things just to make me do the opposite of what they think I think they think I want to do.'

'Huh?' The four of us said at the same time.

'From now on I only do what feels right. And right now that is going to Gally. At least find out if it's really him. He's a connection to the Glade and has every reason in the world to be on our side.'

It was silent. I looked around and saw no one could come up with any more arguments.
'Good that,' Thomas said. 'I'll take those looks as yeses. I'm glad to see you all agree with me. Now, how're we gonna get there?'
Brenda let out an exaggerated sigh. 'Ever heard of a cab?'

A cab turned out to be a car that could take you anywhere in the city, if you paid them. After a quick meal in the mall we got into one.
Jorge paid the driver, told him the adress and we were off.
I had never been in a car before, at least not that I could remember. It was a whole new thing for me, it may sound silly but I loved it. I loved watching the people on the sidewalk fade away. I loved the high buildings moving passed us. The feeling like the rest of the world was standing still. Suddenly I noticed a window in the roof. 'Can you open that?' I asked the driver.
He threw me a glare through his mirror but nodded then and opened it.
'What are you doing?' Minho asked and grabbed my arm.
I gave him a small smirk but didn't answer. Slowly I stood and felt how Minho held my legs. A laugh escaped my lips as I made my way out of the window. With my feet steady on the bench beneath me and my waist and everything above out of the window I couldn't help it but laugh. I spread my arms and felt the wind rush past me, through my hair and between my fingers. I let out a scream of pure joy as I watched the city fly by, and heard Minho laugh in the car below. And in that moment I truly, for the first time since I woke up in that dark elevator, felt free.

It was a ten minutes ride.
As we we drove the streets got more dirty. Grafitti covered the walls, windows were broken and posters that spread awareness of the Flare were everywhere.
The cab drove into an abandoned street. Trash was everywhere and the houses seemed empty.
Once we were all out of car and it had driven away, Jorge pointed up at the closest staircase. 'Number 2792 is right there, on the second floor.' Minho whistled, then said. 'Looks real homey.'
I smiled but the longer I looked at the building the less reasons I had to smile. The drab gray bricks covered in grafitti seemed somehow almost threating. All the trash on the street made it seem like a ghost city, long abandoned.

'Your idea, you lead.' I heard Brenda whisper and I watched her push Thomas slightly forward.

I watched him stare at the building but he didn't reply and started to climb the stairs.
Bracing myself I followed him.
'This is crazy, completely crazy,' Jorge whispered behind me.
Minho snorted. 'Thomas kicked the klunk out of him once. He can do it again.'
'Unless he comes out with guns blazing.'
'Would you guys shut up?' Thomas said and I broke out into a nervous laugh.

We reached number 2792. The wooden door looked like it had been placed here thousand of years ago, only a few remnants of red paint remaining.
Thomas reached out and knocked.

I held my breath and slowly let it escape as the door almost immediately opened.

It was Gally, definitely, and yet he wasn't. His face was badly scarred, covered in white lines that made it look like a spider's web was covering his cheeks. His right eye looked permanently swollen and his nose was markedly crooked.
Before I had any chance to come up with a witty comment Gally already spoke. 'Glad you came,' he said with his raspy voice. 'Because the end of the world is upon us.'

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Gally is back!
I'm really excited about giving him a place in this story and I hope you guys will enjoy it. I'm sure you guys are gonna love the dynamic between him and Lisa.

Please vote or leave a comment. It means a lot to me.

See you all wednesday!

xXx
UYM