19 Michelle

​They didn't give me bandages when I got in the prison, so now I have another set of bloody finger prints along the walls. My skin is raw, ripe and red from the ripping of the woods. Besides, it doesn't help that when they threw me down into this massive concrete room, my chin scraped off the cement and my mouth filled with blood.

There is nothing metal here, but I crave the taste. The sour and sterile flavour of industry and building. The only problem is the rules that follow progress. I wish to be somewhere where there is nothing but the night and the blood, and the thirst for hunger.

​"Get up."

​I didn't notice I was lying on the ground. My face is on the side, the floor stained with the blood that has soaked in and pooled out my face. My arms are heavy, and they weigh like bricks against the ground. One arm over top of the other, one leg over top the other, I am trying to hold myself still.

​"Get up."

​A foot collides with my stomach and I hold in the groan that screams on the tip of my tongue. Someone's arm grabs hold of me by the shoulder. They try to lift me, so I hold myself at dead-weight. It takes a few seconds before they drop me at about a foot off of the ground.

​I haven't eaten much all day. The force the cement sends through me makes me see dark black spots blocking my vision.

​"Kick a girl while she is down." The sound swims in the blood that I haven't bothered to spit on to the ground yet. When I prop myself up it drools down my chin; a disgusting combination of spit, blood, and mucus. "I know I'm one of the first girls, but I thought you Gladers were better."

​"Get up." When I look over, I realise it is the same guy who dragged me here.

​My elbows push off the ground, trying to stand up on to my hands. As soon as one touches the concrete, a foot slams on to my back, knocking me down. I bite down on my tongue, but I can't tell if I am bleeding.

​"Shank." I spit.

​I am bleeding. Huh.

​"We've got a banishing to get to," the guy smirks echoes through the concrete walls,

​He and his friend grab me by the shoulders, before moving me out towards the Doors. I try to shrug out of their grips, but my head is a weight that hangs off my neck, swinging back and forth, and my feet drag along the ground as the boys bring me out of the prison.

​When we get out of the solid room, they continue to drag me along the ground, and further towards the Doors. When we get there, it is nearly dark, and the boys stand around. Some hold torches that ignite the night, and others stand solemnly.

​"Michelle of the Builders," their leader begins, kneeling down over top of me, "you are being sentence to banishment for the destruction of property, violent acts, and theft. The Keepers have decided, and their decision is final."

​I scoff, but I can barely speak. "Trees are hardly property."

​"You ain't coming back."

​I don't exactly know what I am denying if I were to deny it. So I stand staring at Alby, glaring up past my eyebrows at his face. He stands in the center of everything, above me as I kneel on the ground before him. His legs are spread apart, his arms are crossed, and he waits for an answer. One that I don't have.

​"This is ridiculous." The Runner boy jumps in, staring down Alby. "I'm voting against this. Why wasn't I at the meeting?"

​"We didn't have time to wait for you." Another boy jumps in. "We kept her in a cell all day, and the longer we drag this out the more of a threat she is "

​"Why wasn't she at the meeting?" The Runner boy demands. "Why are we banishing her for stealing? Alby, this is madness."

​Maybe, but this is the way I understand the world to function. It's buffoonery. Anyone who oppose the way the system is run, is framed and murdered. The system is judge, jury and executioner, and there is no chance.

​"She is violent, and a risk to others." Gally jumps in. "Did you see what she did? She stole my supplies and she turned a knife on the Baggers."

​I did no such thing, but there is nothing in it to argue. At this point if they are dead set on killing me, they are going to kill me. There is nothing I can do.

"Where exactly could she have gotten a knife?"

"Well shuck slinthead, if she can steal a screwdriver have can steal a knife."

​"Gladers, order." Alby calls, and that is all that he wants. That is all that matters to him. Order in a society so inclined to the evaporation of rules and systems. He lives a life of ignorance. If he thinks we can last like this, he is wrong.

​He looks to the Baggers behind me, nodding. They bend over, and I can feel something tight being forced around my neck. They are going to hang me. This is it.

​I am not being hanged, there is no way in Hell that I am letting that happen. I struggle roughly against their hands, thrashing about. My fingers dig into someone's skin, and I hear a boy cry out as he knocks me into the ground. My lip stings.

​There is a boy on top of me, pinning my arms down as another reaches above my head, placing the rope around my neck.

​He tightens it as the other boy lets go. It's not rope, it is made out of what feels almost like leather, and it chokes me as it rips me up off the ground.

​It's a collar. Someone is holding on to a pole, and it is a leash.

​"I vote against this." Leo jumps in.

​"Doesn't matter," the second-in-command jumps in. "You only represent the girls. You ain't a Keeper."

​She's the shank who represented me? No wonder I am being sentenced to death. That girl couldn't speak if her life depended on it. My life means nothing to her.

​"Keepers, grab hold of the pole." Alby instructs.

​A heard of boys circle around me. Faces grim, or faces with pity, or any mixture of the two things.

​One of the Baggers nudges the Runner boy, but he refuses to grab on. He won't touch it. Eventually Alby glares at him, and a Bagger takes his hand, placing it down on the pole forcefully. When the Bagger lets go, the Runner boy doesn't let go either. He holds on, but doesn't look happy about it.

​They begin to push me forward, as my feet slip and slide along the ground. I can't protest it since they are dragging me by the neck, but I am trying anyway. It hurts, and my neck burns, but so does the skin that lies on the floor of the Slammer, scraped off my body from being thrown on the concrete, and so do my lungs from trying to breathe. All there is, is pain, but I will be damned if I let myself die because of it.

​My hands are ripping open as I try to hold myself along the Walls. As much as I wanted to go out into the Maze when I first got here, I literally would die before going in there now. I would die before dying at the hands of the Grievers. I saw them through the window, and I never want to go near them again.

​"I stole the screwdriver." A voice jumps in. Someone is still pushing me, the leader Alby stops, spinning around on his heels.

​"What?"

​I recognise the voice, and when I look around I see the boy who pulled me away from the falling building. He's the one who told me to be quiet, and he did not steal the screwdriver.

​Technically I did, though I hadn't realised I couldn't just take it.

​"I gave it to her," he answers. "Didn't tell her it was stolen."

​It's not the truth, but Alby tightens. "Doesn't matter, she threatened one of our own with a knife."

​"I change my vote."

​My head swings around to stare at Gally. He is looking at me, with his tomato-face and his raised eyebrows. He glances away, looking at Alby instead. "Now she can't be banished."

​Alby lets go of the pole, and so do the boys slowly. It drops to the ground, and my head swings to the side with it. None of the Baggers move to pull me out, so I raise my hands up to the collar. I find the buttons that fasten it, and rip it open.

​I push out of the circle, glaring at all the boys. In the end, I might have not been killed, but I didn't win. This system exists to my detriment, so it is impossible for me to win this. I shove past Gally too, who looks at me almost shocked as I walk away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tada. Well this was good, like, bad but a pleasant turn of events. Overall I can't say it's bad.
I wonder who that boy is who helped to Michelle (ok I know and I love him, but does anyone remember his name)?
What shocked you the most? Let me know in the comments.
Try not to bleed until Sunday.