Author's Note: Hilo, I'm really excited about chapters that I plan on writing later on, so forgive me if the next few chapters are a little shorter.
Minho finally convinced me to listen to him. He just told me a bunch of cheesy apologies, about keeping an eye on me. He told me who this Alby guy was, and he also described all of the jobs in detail, which was more helpful than I thought.
By the time he was finally finished answering all my questions and explaining everything, it was midnight. We walked to the homely building and he left for his room, I left for mine. But when he was asleep, I snuck into the kitchen and made myself a midnight meal, because I don't go for the plain midnight snacks.
I went into my room when I was finished, and tried to sleep. After I finally hit the hay, I had a dream...
I was walking, down a long grey hall, talking to someone, when I turn my head I see that the person is Minho.
"I hate this place!" I whisper yell, as I glare at the hallway.
"I know, you tell everybody who will listen. Besides it's practically the only thing you and 'Thomas' won't agree on." Minho closes his eyes and rubs them with his palms.
"That's not true, his favorite color is blue, and mine's green. Oh, and he likes peanut butter, I don't." I say absentmindedly.
Minho stops in his tracks, "You don't like peanut butter? I don't even know you anymore."
I laugh at his disgusted expression.
"It's not that uncommon, and besides, you never knew me in the first place. Until two days ago, we shared a mutual hatred for each other." I snicker.
"Yeah well, new beginnings and all that shit. I wouldn't have to know you if there was another guy." Minho scoffs.
"Huh! Offense!" I hold a hand to my chest in mock hurt.
"Well it's true! You and Thomas are so alike that you have to have a group instead of just being partners. You're like the same person, and the whole point of partnering up, is to meet different people, to get a different perspective on things. Of course even with three people, you guys usually just go with the your suggestion, as whenever I don't agree with whatever you guys say, you just vote, majority rules!"
He sighs, exasperated.
"Aw, is Minho unhappy, because we don't care about his opinions? Well maybe Minho should have been nicer to Skylar and Maysen, am I right or am I right?" I put on a fake pouty face.
"You're supposed to go by your new names." He folds his arms and frowns.
"How can you people like this place? I don't want to change my name to Mare just to copy off of Marie Curie, so what she's an important history figure, that should not affect my name! And I'm sure Maysen isn't too fond of being named Thomas Edison!" I throw my hands up.
"So? It's the rules, there only there to protect us. We're lucky we even made it this far." He shrugs.
"I beg to differ," I mutter, folding my arms.
"Come on, we've all lost people, we can't just give up because they're not here to support us anymore. When you're more than halfway across the bridge, if it gets unsteady, you don't turn back, you just go forward faster."
•••
I wake up early in the morning again, surprisingly well rested. I remember my dream, was it really a dream or was it a memory? If it was a memory, than how come I'm the only one with these weird dream memory flashback things?
I think to myself that I should ask Louisa. Then, I remember that she was taken in for questioning, after Jack accused her. I scoff. It's ridiculous that anyone could think she would do such things. I've only known her for three days, and I know she couldn't be capable of forcing a ton of teenagers out of their lives and into this maze. I'm sure Newt's got her back though.
I roll out of bed again, and push open the door. As I walk down the hallway I think of visiting Jack to see if he made it through the night, but then I realize that I don't know what room he is in. But I might as well try to find it anyway. It's not like I have anything better to do.
I turn around and walk back to the room across from mine. I turn the knob and crack open the door. Another small room with one window and a bunk bed. I creak the door shut and move to the next one. I twist the handle to find that this room is the same as last. And devoid of life. I shut the door and move on. I hear movement and I think I found the right room. I crack the door and to my horror, I see Louisa and Newt sucking faces on the bed.
They look up at me, startled.
"I sure as hell hope this is your room." I get out breathlessly, staring at Newt.
"We can explain-" Newt starts.
"I'm sure you can, but that doesn't matter because I don't want to know." I turn and shut the door, and lean next to the wall. I let out a humorless laugh.
"Lock the door, amateurs!" I shout at the door. I hear something click near the handle, and move to the next door, choosing to forget that ever happened.
I open the next door to see Minho at the sink, splashing water into his face and washing his hands.
"Oops sorry. I really should have knocked this time, last time was a very vivid reminder of that." I mutter the last bit to myself.
"It's fine. But can I ask, what last time?" He turns to me, a puzzled look on his face.
"No you cannot, I don't need to be reminded." I give a dramatic shudder.
"You walked in on Louisa and Newt, didn't you?" He bursts into laughter.
"It's not funny! What if I walked in on someone going to the bathroom, or even getting dressed!?" I clench my fists.
"Jeez, I've haven't seen you get so flustered before. Besides, if you did walk in on someone getting dressed, they'd probably be okay with showing off their personal areas." He smirks.
"What's that suppose to mean?" I cross my arms, irritated.
"Your one of only two girls out of fifty or so guys, and you're the only available girl here, I'm pretty sure the guys are gonna want to show off." He laughs at my disgusted expression. "Just knock next time, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure, I'll do that." I say, still disgusted.
"Do you need to bleach your eyeballs because of the mental image I just gave you?" He smirks again.
"I'll need to bleach my brain now!" I throw up my hands in frustration.
"What were you looking for anyway?" He asks.
"What?" I say, puzzled.
"You know, with the whole walk in incident." He gestures out the door.
"Oh, oh yeah, I was looking for Jack." I say remembering.
"Why?" Minho asks, obviously confused.
"I wanted to see if he is still okay." I shrug.
"He's not. Died a couple of hours after dinner." Minho crosses his arms and looks down at a very interesting patch of floor.
"Oh." I duck my head down.
"It's not your fault." He looks up again.
"I know." I close my eyes.
"Then what are you doing?" He stares at me.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen. The only years that Jack of the gladers got to live in his short life.
"I'm counting." I open my eyes and look back up at him.
"What?" He asks, still puzzled.
"I close my eyes and count the years something got to live after something dies. I don't know why, it just feels normal." I shrug.
"So, you do that every time someone dies?" Minho leans against the wall, obviously perplexed at my strange habit.
"Every time I receive the knowledge that anyone or anything has died, I count the years that they lived, or a rough estimate of them." I sigh, "It's not like it makes a difference, it just honors their memory when nothing else can."
"Wow. That's... Considerate." Minho shrugs.
"Hardyharhar, laugh it up, ooh looky at the sad girly! Crying over spilt milk! But, heed my words, Minho if the Runners! I will return and when I do, it'll probably be around lunch time!" I widen my eyes and wave my finger dramatically, as I exit the room.
"Okay, I'll see you then!" I hear him shout through the doors.
I laugh. I turn from the door to run smack into someone.
I look up, to see Newt's face smiling sheepishly down at me.
"Why are all you people so tall? I mean jeezus; even Louisa is like three inches taller than me. I'm not even a short person! I'm 5'8, yet all you people seem to be six feet tall!"
"It's the food. You're not the only short one around here, there's always Chuck."
"And how old's this Chuck guy?" I fold my arms and narrow my eyes suspiciously.
"He looks about twelve to me."
"So I'm the only short person around here?" I cock my head the side.
"No, there's Chuck-"
"Like I said, only short person, as Chuck's not a person, he's a kid, and he doesn't deserve to be here anymore than the rest of us."
"Fair point. But like I said, it's the food!"
"So, I don't suppose you've come to talk to me about a certain something that took place, a certain few minutes ago." I say, changing the subject.
"Pfft. No. I was just going to talk to Minho." He smiles and acts oblivious to the obvious lie.
"How do you know that Minho's even in there?" I smile, as he goes pale.
"I don't."
"You were listening to are conversation! Go n-ithe an cat thu!"
"What?" He looks at me perplexed.
"It means: May the cat eat you! It's an insult."
"In what language?"
"How should I know?"
"True, very true." He tapped his chin, deep in mock thoughts.
"So, you were eavesdropping, on me, the person who accidentally walked in on a situation, I wish never again to speak of. I feel as though, we are somehow even, but next time one of us gets into the other's business, it's my turn to do the snooping." I point my thumb at myself and grin.
"Deal, as long as we never discuss what happens when we are snooping." Newt holds his hand out for me to agree.
"What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, or wherever we really are." I take his hand, and shake it vigorously.