‧₊˚✧ ⁝ 𝑪9  ❪ 忘却 ❫ ‧₊˚✧

unexpected 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 ...

IT WAS ANOTHER bright and early morning. The rising sun slipped through the thin material of her curtain, setting the room in a subdued irradiance. It may have been either the cool breeze or the beams of light that awakened the Ria, but either-way, her eyelids fluttered open and she blinked a few times.

Surprisingly, Ria hadn't dreamt that night. She'd spent the best part of it running over Jem's words from a couple of nights before, that cold "you don't remember". The sorrowful yet spiteful look in his stormy eyes was immovable from her memory, a burning image of the hatred he harboured for her. As much as she tried to decipher his ominous sentence, it was impossible and a cold layer of unknown guilt churned in her stomach the more her mind spiralled into panicked frenzy. The best thing it seemed was to avoid him, to never meet his accusing glare ever again.

Whilst yawning, Ria ran a hand through her tousled hair and wondered what the time was. She couldn't hear the voices of any Gladers outside, only the distant hum of insects and the faint bleats of the animals stirring from their comfortable slumber. She decided that she liked waking early, having the strange feeling like she was only person alive in the whole world. After contently deciding on dozing again until the wake—up, a knock came to the door just as she pulled the warm blanket around her body.

"Come in," Ria muttered, reluctantly heaving herself up into a sitting position. She hugged her knees to her chest and the door opened, revealing a perky—looking Newt. His dirty blonde hair lay perfectly ruffled on his head and a smile tugged at his lips.

"Mornin' Greenbean,"

"Morning, Newt. Lovely to see you so early," Ria responded, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. It was a strangely pleasant surprise to see him, shirt hanging loosely off his shoulders with that heartening grin.

Newt chuckled, rolling his eyes at her lightly flippant tone. "Feelin's mutual. Thought I'd show you something before the other's wake up ... wait, hold on, how was building yesterday?" he asked, making his way over to her. He sat down on the edge of the bed whilst Ria propped herself up, facing him. She had spent yesterday with Gally, labouring with his team of Builders. Much to her surprise, it hadn't come particularly easily to Ria. Gally, who had tried to stay as patient as possible, had eventually told her to take a breather. For the rest of the day.

Ria let out a long sigh. "Let's just say, I can't build. Not even a stupid bench."

Newt nodded, the corners of his mouth twitching as if he was suppressing a laugh. From the angle Ria was sitting at, his deep brown eyes seemed to shine. "Well, building's not for everyone, love." he assured.

"I don't know, guess I'll have to find something I'm not completely useless at," she huffed, lifting her gaze back to meet Newt's. He frowned ever so slightly at her words, absently looping his fingers around a few fraying stings on her blanket.

"Don't say that, you're not useless. At all. If there's one thing I know, it's that you're already doin' just fine here just like I said you would." he insisted, voice firm and rich in honesty. Ria scoffed, shaking her head in contradiction. Her mind drifted to back Jem's words and a quiet sorrow tightened her jaw.

"Has anyone said anything?" Newt asked, as if he could read her thoughts. Concern washed over his features as he studied Ria's face carefully.

Again, she hesitated. Ria felt her lips lips part, almost allowing her concerns and unease to thread into a desperate sentence. She stopped herself presently, keeping Jem to herself. He was her issue to deal with, not Newt's.

"No, nobody's said anything."

"Are you su—"

"Newt. Just leave it, okay?" Ria cut him off, shattering the sympathy in his tone. She regretted her outburst as soon as it had commenced. For a brief moment, a look of despondency flashed in Newt's eyes as if he'd regretted persisting. It disappeared almost as soon as it came, replaced by a now softer and more lenient front.

Ria bit her lip, hugging her knees tighter. "I'm sorry, I jus—"

"S'okay," Newt reassured, cutting her off this time. "I understand."

"You do?"

"'Course I do, Greenbean. I can read emotions better than ya think, 'specially you."

Ria relaxed as his smile returned and she found herself reaching to take Newt's hand quickly. She squeezed it lightly, like an unspoken reconciliation between the two of them. Newt squeezed it back, a picture of calm surprise. A surge of warmth spread through Ria's body at the action and she had to remind herself to withdraw her hand.

"So, um, what was it you needed to show me?"

After standing back up, Newt pointed to the door. "You'll see, come on then, Greenbean."

Apprehensiveness at his words livened Ria as she climbed from her blankets, brushing herself down. She hurriedly laced up her boots and fell into step beside Newt as they made their way out of Homestead and into the awakening Glade.

The sun was slowly rising, dusting the sky a watercolour of deep tangerine, soft pink and pale yellow. Not a single cluster of clouds obscured the light which seemed to enhance the natural vibrance of the Glade. Ria's eyes swept over the trees, flowering plants and wooden structures and felt an odd contentment for her home. She noticed the doors to the Maze were open and watched as Minho and the rest of the Runners broke into a jog through the entrance, enveloped into the uncharted stone corridors.

"The Glade looks kind of magical, don't you think?" Ria mused, arms swinging in a rhythmic pattern in time with her footsteps.

"Was just about to say that. I love mornings like this, 'specially the way the sun hits the Glade before the walls." Newt replied and Ria could sense his grin. His voice was soft, almost like he was taking every single detail into his memory. He continued to lead her towards a section of the exterior Maze walls.

"What are we doing ... we're not going in there, are we?" Ria asked cautiously as Newt came to a halt. She noticed there were words engraved onto the surface of the wall — names of the boys that lived in the Glade. They were scratchy and untidy and some names were crossed out completely. The sharp, angular lines reminded her of the grave she'd stumbled across in the Deadheads and she turned to Newt for answers.

"'Course we're not. Don't you get any ideas, mind." Newt pulled a knife from the waistband of his cargo pants and passed it to Ria. She gripped it firmly, letting the steel and wood of the handle indent her palm. "Go on, carve your name. You're one of us, Greenbean."

With a nod, Ria angled the point of the knife onto a vacant space on the grey stone and began to chisel her name. The sound of the knife and stone connecting created a cacophonous scrape as she guided the blade through curves and lines. Her hand slipped a few times and the 'R' was slightly lopsided, but Ria still felt satisfied as she stepped back to admire it once she'd finished. Her own name amongst the many others created a warming sense of belonging that she never though she'd be able to feel again.

However, her eye caught sight of the crossed out names once again and her mind collapsed into a terrifying vision of herself scrambling for air underneath a layer of suffocating dirt and flowers. She knew those harsh lines resembled death, an inevitable finality that wasn't biased or conscious. An eternal darkness, stretching to unfathomable lengths towards a star bejewelled sky. The end would be like passing through the arcing downpour of a waterfall, the initial shock chilling bones cold before dissipating into a peaceful haze on the other side. Ria wanted so desperately to believe that it was calm, painless and still but the deepest part of her whispered the opposite: cruel hands reaching forwards and snatching innocent souls into nothingness.

"What happened to those boys?" she asked softly, handing him the knife. He slipped it back into his waistband and a sigh slipped from his lips.

"We've has some tough times 'ere. We've lost many boys over the years. I think about them almost everyday, wondering who they could've been."

A chill of disquietude snaked down Ria's spine and she bowed her head, allowing the wall to cascade from her line of vision.

"We can't forget what we're up against." he continued adamantly.

"Do you think we're all gonna die here? If we can't escape, then what are we gonna do?" she whispered, voice fragile and laced with demand for answer.

Newt shook his head after a moments hesitation, turning away from the wall and tugging gently at Ria's sleeve to follow him. "Don't you worry that head of yours, okay? We'll be fine and we'll find a way."

Ria stopped to face him, a sudden yearning for certainty tugging at her heart. "Is that a promise?"

But, before Newt could reply, the sound of a blaring alarm cut through atmosphere. Newt's expression dropped to panicked confusion as he looked around wildly, brows knitted together in concern. Ria froze, sensing the incertitude that thickened the air.

"What the hell is that?" Ria breathed, wincing as the sound ricocheted around the Glade like a persistent wail.

"The bloody Greenie alarm," Newt murmured in disbelief, then turned to walk in the opposite direction. He was heading for the Box and she understood the frenzy. There shouldn't be anybody else for weeks.

Responsibility festered in stomach and she followed after Newt quickly.

━━━━━

The Gladers gathered in a crowded circle around the Box. Their faces were canvases of curiosity and fear with the underlying mood of dreariness from their startling awakenings.

Ria was stood beside Gally at the front of the thick crowd of boys. A hardened expression shadowed his features and he was glaring the Box tensely, as if he was afraid of what was about to arrive inside of the lift. Ria felt an odd sense of surrealism looking down, like she'd stepped onto the wrong side of a looking glass. She saw herself inside the caged walls, thrashing and screaming to escape the strangling darkness.

There was no time for any further thoughts as the top of the Box let out a low groan followed by a hiss as the two doors began to part laboriously. The blinding light of the sun poured through the expanding opening and Ria recalled how she'd felt when this had experienced it. The way that fear had twisted inside her.

Gally was fast to jump down into the Box as soon as the opening rolled to a cease, the metal floor rattling at the sudden mass of his weight. Ria could only just make out the face of the boy who was huddled at the bottom of the cage. It was completely panic stricken as he shielded his eyes from the sunlight.

"Day one, Greenie. Rise and shine," she heard the sardonic tone of Gally's voice as he roughly pulled the boy out of the Box with no warning. He landed on his stomach with a hard thump and Ria stepped back to avoid his trembling body colliding with her feet.

Any signs of concern that had troubled the Gladers before seemed to transform into wild excitement in an instant. The boys pushed and shoved past Ria to form an intimidating circle around the new Greenie, their mocking shouts and laughs drowning out the shallow gasps of him. She felt a pang of sympathy that was replaced by disbelief as the boy staggered to his feet with such a speed that Ria never saw it coming. One minute he was face down on the dirt and the next was breaking into a desperate sprint away from the Box.

"We've got a runner!" hollered Zart, shattering the surprised silence and causing a round of ridiculing cheers to erupt. Ria forced down her shock and decided to go after the boy if nobody else would.

"Hey! Stop, please ... I'm not gonna hurt you!" She called out to him. The Greenie, however, didn't his break stride as his feet pounded against the grass in frenzied distress. Ria could hear his sharp, panicky intakes of breath as he drove his body forwards. She was just about to call out to him again when the boy tripped and fell to the ground with a loud thud, knocking the wind from his lungs. He choked and coughed painfully, gaining back the breath he'd lost. Back at the Box, the Gladers seemed tauntingly entertained as they clamoured in approval. Shaking her head, Ria turned her attention back to the terrified boy crumpled on the soft grass. Taking a few steps towards him, she crouched down.

"Hey, it's alright. I promise I won't hurt you."

He barely spared her a glance as he dragged himself back to his feet, each muscle in his body tense with apprehension. Taking in every detail of the Glade in a calculated scrutiny, he circled his surroundings in awe. The boy's olive skin and clothes glistened with a sheen of sweat, bright hazel eyes a conflict of uncertainty and alarm as he squinted in the blaring daylight.

Eventually, his petrified gaze swung around to met Ria's. His eyes narrowed in reticent confusion as he took in her appearance, like some sort of fragmented recognition was straining within his mind. Something about that look was so distantly familiar. It evanesced as fast as it came and the Greenie snapped his attention back to the environment.

"What is this place?" he stammered. His voice was low and husky, laced with a tenuous hint.

Ria struggled to think of the right answer. How could she tell him that he was trapped between the ominous walls for eternity? How could she tell him that the chances of escaping here were as slight as the shivers of the night stars? How could she even begin to tell him?

She couldn't.

‧₊˚✧ ⁝ 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒂'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆  ❪ 忘却 ❫

          oo. thank you so much for 4k reads!! it honestly means so much to me that you guys enjoy this story as much as i do. i really don't deserve this and i'll continue to update as much as i cant for you. that being said, i am super sorry for the late update; but it's here &. SO IS THOMAS!! (our fav chaotic babie) i had to put the second part of the gif below ok but dylan—🤰🏽