I love you, shank

Moonlight and Grievers

The icy wind is now attacking my left side. Unwillingly I glance up at the shank who interrupted my first good nights sleep in a long time. Unsurprisingly it's Alby staring down at me. Why on earth would he wake me before dawn?

As if he read my mind he says just four words "newbie, griever, your turn". It takes me a few moments to work out what he means but then it clicks; show Thomas the grievers.

I groggily pull myself out of bed and pull on the only jumper I have. Slowly I make my way to the stairs, trying not to wake the rest of the gladers in the process. With every step I take I wake up a little bit more and by the time I'm by the door I feel semi-human.

I'm hardly ever up this early and on the highly rare occasions when I am it's because I didn't get any sleep the night before.

When I open the door I am met by darkness wrapped up in a blanket of freezing cold air. The only light is the lonely moon in the night sky. But even that only has enough light to illuminate a few of the branches of the high standing trees. Quietly and slowly I amble over to the entrance of the deadheads which is where Thomas and Chuck settled down last night.

The way Chuck has curled himself up reminds me of kitten laying in its owners T-shirt. I admit I do mess around with Chuck and us gladers have been known to give him a rough time, but it really does break my heart knowing a young, innocent and good hearted kid is in a place like this.

To prevent myself from crying I turn my gaze to Thomas. In his sleep he looks so serene, so innocent yet at the same time so powerful like a young lion. I'm confused as to how he looks so god like when he's been sleeping on the ground in arctic conditions. The only thing proving he's a mortal is the slightly blue tinged nose.

I place a hand on his shoulder. He starts to writhe and shake with panic. His eyes shoot open with alarm, fear consuming his beautiful eyes. He's about to scream, I can tell. So to prevent this my free hand lays firmly over his mouth. His eyes finally land on me and his movements start to calm down. When he is completely still I remove my hand from his lips.