[ six ].
CHAPTER SIX
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    ONCE ROSALIND TOOK HER FIRST STEP into the circular room, she knew the next minutes would determinate her entire future. She could feel her heart beating wildly against her chest as all eyes, one by one turned to her. The boy's conversations ceased completely and the silence that now filled the air made her even more nervous.

     Rosalind liked silence. She had always enjoyed the quietness that characterized the maze by day. The tranquility of it made her feel as if the world had stopped and she had every second of her life to just breath and relieve the pressure that was put upon her every single day.

    Yes, Rosalind enjoyed the quietness, but right now she wished anything but it.

    A soft brush against her shoulder startled the girl making her jump and take a few steps back stepping away from the blonde guy. Her eyes closely followed as he made his way across the room, picked up a chair, and place it in the middle of the area. Rosalind didn't have to be a genius to know that it was meant for her.

The sound of the door closing made Rosalind quickly glance behind her shoulder only to see Minho.

    With what she hoped was a subtle look, Rosalind accessed the door observing that it actually didn't have any type of lock. It would be easier that way if things were to turn into her potential death.

    Rosalind noticed as the boys analyzed her from head to toe as if that would give anything away of who she really was. She took small, reluctant steps towards the chair, she wished to be anywhere else but here, something about this interrogatory scenario made her feel uneasy, like she had been in this position before.

Once she took her seat, Rosalind wasn't able to stop the sigh of relief that escaped her dry lips. Her sore muscles ached from all the excessive running and harsh impacts that her body had suffered throughout the day. She knew that this pain had always been there. The adrenaline was slowly vanishing, no more counseling the bruises and cuts that adorned her body.

    Rosalind tried to stand with her back straight, she didn't want these strangers to know how truly weak she was at this moment. The urge to just slump against the chair was almost impossible to resist.

Her eyes darted to her left then to her right, the blonde and the leader stood on each side. To Rosalind, they resemble two guardian angels - if she ignored their serious faces and their clothes that we're in shades of brown instead of pure white.

    "It's Rosalind, right?" the leader moved to stand a few feets in front of her but without blocking her view from the rest of the boys.

    The girl simply nodded.

    "I'm Alby. I'm the one who's in charge here."

    "I had got that." Rosalind noticed how his eyes darken slightly.

    "How did you get into the maze?" The million-dollar question, she thought. How many times did they had asked her that already?

Rosalind's eyes shifted to the boys, the attentiveness and slightly bend forward postures gave away how curious they were. She even feared a dark skin boy with an apron would fall forward of his set.

    "What do you mean?" To the "leader " it may have seemed that Rosalind was messing with him but the girl was having trouble understanding what exactly did they wanted to know. The sense of what is real and what's not was always something that she had trouble with. And who could blame her? Shades weren't something that just walked in the streets, at least not in the common knowledge of the world that the Founders allowed Rosalind to have.

    So how did she get in the maze? Well, what maze? Could it really exist two different mazes? Rosalind's throbbing head felt as if it would explode at any second. The right side of it seemed like it had been smashed repetitively into a wall.

    "Some of us had run that maze every day and we never saw anyone out there. And then you suddenly appear. How?"

    "Well...I-I woke up there?" Rosalind responded, looking uncertain of her answer. She notices the look that Alby shared with Newt. They didn't believe her.

     "You woke up in the maze?" Newt questions with his arms crossed. The way he questioned her was like a parent asking his child if she broke the antique vase that belonged to their great-great-grandmother, both parents knew that she was lying but still the child refused to tell the truth. And just like that Rosalind nodded her head. "And you don't remember how?"

"No" Rosalind didn't have to think before answering because it was true. The girl couldn't remember how she had gotten into this maze. 

    "Come on, she's clearly lying." Gally lift his arm in her direction, "Look at her! Does she seems like someone who doesn't remember anything?! This shank...she knows something."

    Rosalind could see that everyone in the room agree with what had been said. The girl had thought that if these boys believed that she was as clueless as them, then they would simply let her leave. But she had been wrong.

    They felt, in a certain way, threaten by Rosalind and she completely understood why. If she was in the Spring and a girl that she had never seen before, wait...no, a boy would be more similar to her current situation. If a boy came running out of the maze, Rosalind knew that the icers would have him immobilized in little to no time. So, could she blame these boys for being apprehensive of a girl that seems to had appeared out of nothing but air? Rosalind dared to question, could she blame Gally for being what she thought at first as rude but that now Rosalind saw it merely as concern for their safety?

    "Look, it's better if you just tell us what you know. We can help each other out." those words, along with the serenity that the blonde boy was capable of transmitting, gave Rosalind the green light to trust these people, at least for now.

    "I came from a place similar to this one, I guess." Rosalind spoke after a few seconds of silence, voice filled with uncertain and eyebrows furrowed, "I mean...that maze that I just came from is almost a copy of the one I ran every day, and believe it or not it isn't the first that I'm surrounded by four giant stone walls. Man, even the Shades -"

     "Wait! Hold on-" the "leader" interrupted her, but Rosalind's attention wasn't on him for long because suddenly almost all of the boys started to speak at once.

     "... is this girl babbling about?"

     "... messing with us!"

     "This shank is crazy..."

    Rosalind's eyes kept moving from one face to another trying, yet failing, to understand what they were saying as their words mixed together making her just able to catch a few pieces. As her eyes continue to wander from boy to boy, they came to a halt once they meet with dark brown ones that to Rosalind surprise were already fixated on her. The guy from the maze stood silent, not a word leaving his closed lips. The serious expression the boy harbored only made Rosalind more interested in his current thoughts. At that moment Rosalind felt that he knew everything about her, her secrets, fears...thoughts.

     "I didn't remember!" Rosalind didn't understand what was happening until her ears were filled with defining silence, only then she understood that she was the one that had shouted those words. By the looks on the boys' faces, Rosalind wasn't sure if she regretted or not speaking them.

    "I didn't remenber...anything.", her voice faded at the end, "I-I woke in this box. A-and I couldn't even remember my name. It lead me to this place, I told you is almost like a replica of this one. I was scared...I didn't have a fucking clue what was happening or where I was." Rosalind's eyes that had been focused on the ground were now searching the boy's faces, trying to find any sign that they believe her, but the shocked expressions made her halt. "I-I'm telling the truth, I swear!", her last two words were directed to the "leader". Rosalind was taken by surprise upon seeing an actual display of expression on his face.

"How is that possible?", the man whispered mostly to himself, but Rosalind still heard him as his voice seem to echo through the tense silence. "It doesn't make sense."

      "I know it doesn't, but just listen-"

     "Alby how does she know all of this?", one of the boys rudely interrupt her. His skin was darker than a few of the boys like he spends his days in the sun, his hair was dark, almost black, same with his eyes.

Rosalind felt her temper slowly rising with each time they ignore her or simply just spoke over her. She had agreed to answer their questions but how could she if they couldn't keep their mouths shut.

"Alby she as to be one of them. There is no way that she could know all that-" Gally was voicing his opinion, again.

"What are you talking about? Who's them?", Rosalind was sick of them acting like she wasn't even there.

"Now she pretends to don't know-"

     "I don't, you idiot!" Rosalind's control snapped completely. She stood up and was barely managing to fight the urge to punch him.

      "What did you call me, shank?!" Gally's face turned red just in those few seconds.

"Did your brain problem also affected your hearing or-"

     "Enough!", Alby shouted. Gally was about to protest, "Both of you!" Rosalind wanted to shout that he wasn't her leader but he had shut Gally up.

"Back to what you said-"

"To what I said!?" Rosalind chuckled humorously. "Did I even manage to say something with your guys always interrupting me? I agree to tell you whatever you wanted to know but they don't even let me speak. So know I ask and you answer." This was it, Rosalind was finally going to get the information she had wanted since she stepped foot in this place and then she would get the hell out of there.

     Someone scoffed from behind her but her outburst was over. All her concentration was focused on discovering who exactly were these people.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

After months I finally updated!!!! Please leave a comment, I really want to know if you are enjoying this book. And what are you're thoughts about Rosalind?