The Girl

Chapter Nine

  What is that bright light? I groan as I wake.

"Well good morning to you too," Gally says. I think. I haven't opened my eyes yet.

"Turn down the sun. Why's it so bright today?" I mumble.

"Probably because you've been sleeping in a tent since you got here," He offers. I finally open my eyes and prop myself up. I look around. I'm the only one still asleep. I look out across the glade. It's a pretty beautiful area, actually. The grass and trees are different shades of green that extend out to the huge rock walls. The wooden structures that we use for meetings, our kitchen, and the hole, were scattered randomly throughout the glade. To the left of the hammocks was the deadheads, to the right was the garden. The glade was full of life this morning, all the gladers smiling and interacting with each other in their jobs. I smile to myself. As sucky as it is to be stuck here, I'm glad it's with them.

"Why did I wake up so late?" I ask, rolling out of my hammock and sitting on the floor.

"We didn't need you and were worried about your head. From the fall the other day. And you didn't come to the hammocks until late last night," Gally explains, staring down at me.

"Oh... I, uh... I appreciate it," I smile. I'm in a good mood. He awkwardly smiles back. I untie the ribbon from my hair to gather all of it up into a ponytail.

"Can I ask you something?" Gally eagerly says.

"I suppose... what's wrong?"

"Do you remember anything other than your name?" He squats down in front of me to make eye contact.

"Um..." I close my eyes and think. "No, I'm sorry. Is there something you think I would know?"

"Well, I had a sister. I don't remember her name or what she looked like, but I remember she existed. When I look at you, I see something familiar. I feel like you had a connection to her. But you couldn't be her. I'd know. I was just wondering if you knew anything about her..." He trails off.

"I'm sorry, I don't. I can't imagine knowing I had siblings but not knowing anything about them," I try to empathize, getting a strange feeling I relate to his statement.

"I just wanted to ask," Gally says. We sit there for a while in silence before he gets up. "Well, I should go," He gets up and dusts off his shorts. He lends me a hand to help me up and I take it. He runs off and leaves me on my own. There's only a few minutes that I'm by myself, looking around the glade and straightening the hammocks, before Newt spots me and rushes over to greet me.

"Good morning," He smiles as he looks down at me. I'm much shorter than the rest of the gladers.

"Morning," I flash a smile back and lean against one of the poles of the cover over the hammocks.

"How are you feeling?" He asks, brushing a stray strand of hair away from my face.

"I'm fine- wait! Ben! I completely forgot!" I exclaim, jumping around to go check on him. Newt follows behind.

"You're something special, you know that?" He laughs.

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.

"You put everyone else before yourself. If we didn't stop you, you'd never sleep. That's something special. You don't see that a lot."

"I can't help it. I know what it's like to be sick or unhappy. I don't want other people to have to go through it. Especially not alone," I argue.

"That's why I'm glad they brought you here. We didn't realize how much we could've used your help, and, well, you. Brilliant, compassionate, beautiful. Tiny," He laughs and pokes my side.