𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘠𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘕𝘎  𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘒𝘚 𝘖𝘜𝘛 𝘐𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘌𝘕𝘋

- 𝘬𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

AFTER all the changes that had taken place in Melanie, they were not far away in the rest of the Glade. Thomas, who was now one of the best runners and had been locked in the labyrinth overnight a few days ago, had survived. As well as there was a change with the arrival of another girl who was lying unconscious in the medical hut: Theresa.

Something that had never happened before and since then everything has been filled with unrest and so much hope at the same time that there was tension during the day. Many were led by their naivety and even more so by their unbelief. They were driven by their doubts and fear, because none of the young people had the slightest idea of what awaited them behind the walls if they crossed them. And whether things could possibly get worse than in the Glade.

Melanie slept in Newt's hammock more and more often, because strangely enough, every time she was there, her nightmares seemed to be erased and she woke up like everyone else: peacefully, with fatigue still slightly clinging to her bones and the banal thoughts of the empty ones to come twenty-four hours of the day whose job it is to fill them.

And sometimes it happens so much faster than you realize that for all the barely noticeable decisions you make along the way, there are also some less good ones.

Some that you later regret because they had a negative impact on you and in rare cases you have to withstand this negativity for far too long. Then you are forced to fight, counting the hours on your tickling fingers and ignoring it to protect your already wounded heart from the final blow.

But it doesn't affect you.

It doesn't affect you when others talk badly,
turn the truth around in their favor,
so that you are manipulated
into looking away
from their corrupt being
and instead start nagging yourself
in order to unconsciously
self-inflicted destruction on yourself,
because this means
they are in conflict to feel better
about their own misdeeds.

Because they have to make their lies believable, because everyone around them would see
what a dark ball of curls surrounds them,
which is filled with so much hate,
so much anger
and so much annoyance that
everyone voluntarily gets out of the way
to avoid this energy field
so that it doesn't influence your own.

But all of this is not visually visible
until you have had similar experiences
and the realization comes over you
that there is nothing wrong with you,
but with the person
who makes you feel this way at any moment
and when you already want to put an end to it, they still carry on.

One who won't let go off you
until you're out of the way.

Because a person who inflicts pain
will not one day stop
and realize what enormous injustice he has
so deliberately distributed in the world.

He will fly around like a moth
until he finds the next light that attracts him
and he finally burns
then it's over,

over,

o-v-e-r-.

Melanie also had to learn a huge amount of things in her short time in the Glade.  Including that your own always affects that of others, how the body works together inside and out. This creates a symbiosis that far too few people understand.

And all these traumas or fears that hang in your genetic material, like a readable profile about yourself, cannot be erased like all the memories that the organization WICKED has taken away from you. They are also present in the Glade, chasing you while you don't know why it hits you or where it comes from when it could have hit all the forty-nine others in exactly the same way.

But our human agency is limited and we don't have access to everything. Therefore, it is not in our hands to foresee and predetermine whether tomorrow will be a flawlessly beautiful day or one whose date will be imprinted in our memory because no one will be able to read from the resulting rubble.

With a laughing corner of her mouth, Thomas, Minho and Frypan around her, Melanie sat in a small circle of seats at the sleeping places. Thomas and her sat on his hammock with a direct view of the other two, each of whom had a split tree stump under their butts that was standing in the meadow.

Fry had to put up with one of many sarcastic comments from Minho, who justified himself by saying that Thomas always thought his food was excellent. It was such a simple conversation that you could roll your eyes at it, but it was still crucially positive.

"This shank didn't even know his name," the Asian grumbled, symbolizing that he had even less to know how great or less great Frypan's cooking skills were if there was no comparison. After all, he couldn't remember when or what he last ate.

There was Fry's, his first meal without memories.

"Mel?" the brown-haired man next to her said to her, because he hadn't found it relevant to listen to them and thought it was even less important to comment on it. Instead, he started a conversation with the petite girl, unable to keep his thoughts in his head any longer. "When you jumped," he began unprepared, after Melanie had paid attention to him and looked at him, "I could see in Newt's face that if you didn't wake up, something inside him would neither."

Big eyes for their part, they had become so small because it hit them like a blow in unprepared moments to talk about their past, which also belonged to others. She looked at her mid-height boots, lifted her legs and said nothing.

"He loves you, Mel," Thomas said, blinking, leaning forward more to see her face. A horrified breath escaped her lips and with it various snippets of the kiss with Newt, how he had held her and the feelings that had still not left her.

“I wasted so much time because I didn't want to admit that you all were my family. That you are everything I need."

A warm smile on her lips, which she gives to the runner and at the same time put her arm on his back, which she gently stroked in thanks.

"It's over," he said, nodding, then jerked his head at Newt, who was heading towards them both, "and you're needed."

Newt stood in front of his friends, pleased himself with how happy everyone was and that he was Melanie recognized underneath. It doesn't matter that he was looking for her anyway.

"Well," he greeted the others amused, his hands on his hips as he often did, before he turned to Melanie and asked what everyone had said before, "will you come with me for a moment?"

Without thinking, she took her hands away Thomas exchanged a look with the Asian and pan before standing up in agreement.

“Yes, we should go to the map room anyway, rookie,” Minho then said to the brunette, whereupon he almost fell over with curiosity.

"See you later," she said in a friendly manner, receiving a few teasing expressions that embarrassed her, so she gritted her teeth and walked faster so she could quickly gain ground with Newt. Who knew what kind of sarcasm she couldn't run away from, and precisely because she had days when she just wasn't as quick-witted as others, she preferred to avoid the embarrassment.

"Where are we going?" she asked the blonde and brushed against his arm as she hastily caught up, so he reached for her hand with a smile and waited a moment for his answer. But Melanie was very patient, so in the meantime she was lost in her own thoughts and how pleasant it was to walk on the lush grass and watch how everyone knew what their job was.

"To Winston, love," he said after a while, just before they reached the hut and she wouldn't have had time to answer or question anything else. But she didn't do that because, unlike Thomas, her curiosity was kept in check.

Winston couldn't be found immediately; it was only when Melanie entered the stable with Newt that he took a quick look at them. Then, out of respect for the blonde, he stood up and revealed what he had previously so carelessly hidden: a small lamb.

"It was born a few hours ago and I just watched it get up," the boy said, but Melanie was already absent. She beamed with all her heart, looked briefly at the deputy and then, full of admiration, at the lamb and its mother.

The care from both of them was indescribable, so she crouched down to watch it better. Smiling, she simply looked at it adoringly while Winston was talking to Newt and it must have been her aura, so pleasantly bright that the little sheep staggered towards her and she was able to touch the still young, ruffled fur for a second.

Then it quickly trotted back to its mother and nestled against her warm belly for protection.

Life had arisen here, where she first wanted to end one.

And seeing that had such an impact on her that tears stung her eyes even though she felt so much joy inside.

"Thank you," she said, as if she had dropped a burden and turned around. "Thank you for showing me that, Newt."

Newt looked at her reassuringly, had no words for it in his heart, which is why he pulled Melanie into an enveloping embrace that seemed to heal the present, but above all the past. And most people didn't know the power of hugs. To be held and to hold on when you realize that you are not alone.

It enriches you with so much that Melanie buried her nose in his end-smelling top and he pressed a kiss to her hairline. Whenever he was able to be close to her, he felt an incredible sense of relief that she had found her way out of everything. That she could escape her personal shadow that wanted to take possession of her so urgently and that Newt would inevitably have lost her.

She almost disappeared, leaving nothing left for him to cling to, like a drowning man.

But he broke away when he noticed the Asian man at the fence, who seemed to have run because his chest was rising and falling with great effort.

"I hate to interrupt your cuddles," he grumbled sarcastically and then waved them over to him, "but the girl has woken up and Thomas and I have found something like an exit." He looked between the two seriously for a moment. “You should take a look at this.”

With slight persistence, Melanie nodded to the blonde, had felt his gaze on her, and therefore hurried side by side with him to check on the girl on time before they listened to Thomas' discovery would, which probably brought great things with it. "Let's go together."

There were suddenly lasting changes everywhere she looked, revealing possibilities and paths that would previously have eluded Melanie. But now, with quick steps and a stuttering heartbeat, hope increased within her and the blonde boy next to her.

She slowly began to believe that everything would fall into place. She is so close to Newt, and all the Glader's make their way out of the maze and their official first home.

No wonder, then, that not everyone was able to accept this truth and fear - such a constant companion - also plays a role here, because the unknown entering no man's land requires a whole range of qualities, which only starts with courage.

Courage.

Courage is now replaced wherever there is still the slightest bit of fear in me.

Because I look in the rearview mirror to see my unnecessary fear standing there, and it only makes me go around in circles backwards, while I move forward with courage to help me going ahead.

I leave my fear behind, the Melanie who has made fear the focus of her life, I also leave behind, so that the Melanie can expand in full size, whose courage can already be seen for miles in her fiery gaze.

And she will know how to protect her soft soul, since no one should ever try to change it again.

It ends here.
With me and you,
fear and the old me that I have successfully buried, to admire the newly grown flowers on it
and what path lies ahead for them at any time.