Falling from the sky? Not the best first impression.
Falling from the sky and crashing into someone? Even worse.
And to top it all off? I was literally trapped in a maze with him.
Waking up surrounded by boys and only boys may seem like a dream co...
I could feel the awkwardness stain the air. It's not like I could help it anyway, I'm just an anti-social, weird person. We were assembled in a room, everything was white. I was standing up, along with another girl. Our backs were towards a set of white doors but we were facing the room. There were benches lined across the sides with the Gladers sitting on top of them. They looked younger. Innocenter. Wait, hold up- that's not a word. So much for trying to be cool.
All the Gladers were dressed in all white, but I guess that at that time, they weren't Gladers yet. The girl standing next to me was wearing a lab coat and had a clipboard in her hands. Her posture was perfect and she seemed very confident. I, on the other hand, was dressed in a crop top and probably the most revealing shorts that were in my closet. I had my back slumped against the wall and my legs sticking out to prop me up. I was smoking a cigarette. What?
"Cassandra can you please stop?" the girl next to me glared at the cigarette lodged in my hand. We obviously weren't friends.
"Sure," I replied while dropping the burning cigarette on the ground and stomping on it to put it out.
The girl next to me cringed. I most likely did what I did on purpose. I was really starting to love this "me". She was confident and cool, everything I was not.
As my eyes flickered across the room, trying to assess the Gladers, I realized that I was the only one talking and the rest of them were staring at us.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" I snarled after I saw them all gaping at me.
"Nope, we're just enjoying the show" Spoke a muscular, broad guy towards the back of the room. Minho.
All the guys chuckled.
"Okay then, let's get started. The order in which you will enter the experiment demonstrates your various skill levels in the variety of fields we previously measured your performances in. The preliminary subjects who enter the experiment will have the highest chance of survival," The girl next to me spoke with her eyes trained on a spot in front of her. She was scared of the Gladers.
"Blah, blah, blah...science we get it. Just tell them who's going first so that I can get out of here" I sighed, obviously bored of the girl.
"Ahem. The first subject to aid us in creating a brighter future is... subject A1, Alby" This time she spoke loud and clear, with her head held high.
Mummers spread across the sea of faces surrounding me. At that time, I didn't know who that was, but I was able to tell because everyone turned to face him. He just sat there in shock.
"Yes, why don't you just sit there for a few hours and invite some people over for tea?" I chastised him. Nobody laughed.
I sighed in exasperation, "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way," I spoke while rolling up my sleeves and approaching the surprised boy. He cowered in fear and held his hands up to protect his face. But, instead of me attacking him, I held out my hand for him to take. Wow, I can't get any weirder can I? That's still not a word Cassandra.
And then, of course, I woke up.
---
Honestly, being a med jack is great because you can get easy access to the latest gossip in the Glade. I know exactly who screwed up at their job and chopped off a finger, who got mad and got in a fight, and who got stung. Helping everyone recover and staying with them was one of the things I had done multiple times when someone got stung. However, when they woke up, they always had a new set of memories and scars to share. I only had one. And I never shared it.
The only evidence I had to prove that I went through the Changing was the tattoos and scars that were now running up and down my arms. They were the same ones I saw the night I had the visions. And inked in the center of my arm, in the biggest font size was the same words, B89YT.
What the hell? This thing again?
When I woke up, I was lying in the homestead again. The picture surrounding me was almost the same as what I woke up to the night I had that horrifying dream. All my friends had taken a seat around me, worried expressions plastered across their faces.
After a few non-stop days of yelling, they finally let me off the hook and everyone forgot about this incident. Just like the previous incident faded out of existence.
Eventually, I was dismissed out of the homestead and I was allowed to continue my normal routine. About a week later, however, I was wandering around the Glade alone. No one was injured that day and the runners were still in the Maze. I sat down in the deadheads and began to inspect my arms. I trailed my fingers over all of the wounds that were carved into my skin. But as I traced the letters on my B89YT tattoo, whispers filled my thoughts.
You don't belong here.
Run Cassandra, run.
All of the thoughts that flew through my mind made me shudder, but the last one, a harmless little poem, changed me.
The devil asked me how I knew my way around the halls of hell. I told him I did not need a map for the darkness I know so well.
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Disclaimer: I do not own the last two lines of this chapter. They belong to T.M.T.
I just realized that I don't have an updating schedule and I haven't really been saying anything at the end of my chapters so, I decided it's now or never.
I think that I'm gonna aim for uploading a new chapter twice a week- once on Tuesday and once on Friday. Summer is starting soon, so I might even be able to update, even more, I'll be able to give a final answer by Friday next week.
Weekly Meme(This is supposed to make you smile because your smile is the best thing about you!):
-Me while doing my homework:
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I also want to thank you for reading my book and a huge shout out to everyone who helped me write this story. There's a few of you- you know who you are. Anyways, thank you so much for reading, I love you all!
