SOJOURNER (III): tmr gally

03: I should be sturdier

Michelle 3

I wake up, in the same bed, with an empty stomach. Now is the time where we can collectively decide to panic. Three days without WICKED is I think the longest I've had alone. This distance is both welcome (the less of them the better), and incredibly frustrating. I'd rather not starve to death, so I hope they at least poke their heads in and give me something to eat.

When I sit, I manage not to crack my head off the bed above me. My head still hurts from sitting up so abruptly yesterday. I need to learn to keep myself lying down, even when I'm dreaming of an intruder.

Once I'm down, I walk into the center of the room. Everyone has gotten up and left the room except for Ella. She lies on her side, grunting. It's the quietest she's been for quite sometime, which is probably how I managed to sleep in so late.

Ella stops moaning. Her eyes flutter open, and close, and she rolls off the bed onto the ground. Spilling at my feet, like a rag doll. Then she starts shaking, and I move back against the wall. Her mouth foams and froths, and her head hits the ground over and over again. I've got no idea what is happening.

"Leo!" I feel myself trying to yell, but the sound is struggling in my throat. My arms are frozeb, gripping the wall. I didn't even touch her. "Leo!"

The door bursts open behind me, and Leo is immediately on the ground, rolling Ella onto her side. She turns back, to stare at me, before gesturing for me to leave the room.

"What happened?" Dawn leans in the door, grabbing my frozen arms and pulling me outside.

I don't know. One minute, she was just groaning, and the next, that. The twitching. Uncontrollable. Is that the Changing?

"Michelle," she snaps, staring into my eyes.

I move out of her grip, finally finding my knees have seized wobbling. In the space that we and Group B share, there is one door that has yet to open. No one tries to stop me as I walk over to it. I grab the handle, before kicking the door. It won't budge.

"Michelle, what are you doing?" Dawn asks.

I'm getting the shuck out of here. I'm going to find Gally and go somewhere where I don't have to worry about Ella, or about nightmares, or the rumbling in my stomach. For shuck's sake, the Glade would be better than being trapped in this room.

I reach into my belt, grabbing the hammer out of my pocket. I smash it into the handle, and the handle smashes back with equal force. The hammer shoots away, almost flying out of my strong grip. My knees teeter as I remain my balance. The doorknob isn't even dented.

Great, just great. What the shuck is the door even reinforced with?

"It doesn't unlock," I can hear that stupid girl behind me, Rose, over my shoulder. "I can't pick it. I don't even know that it opens. Could just be to shuck with us."

So, that's it. We're stuck now?

"Even if it could unlock, we ought to stay here," Harriet adds in. I recognize her distinct voice apart from the others. Man, I'm already starting to think Alby 2.0 is going to get on my nerves. "There ain't nothing outside but those stucking crazies."

"Cranks," Rose corrects, her voice sour. "But it's better we face them then starve to death."

I guess first impression aren't everything.

"She's got a point," this voice has the funny accent just like Newt's. I turn around and realise I don't remember the blonde girl's name. She looks over Harriet sighing. "There is no food in here."