~~~Quick Author's Note~~~

*To prevent confusion, I just want to mention that this chapter takes place on the same day as Chapter 21 and the beginning of Chapter 22* ENJOY THIS LONG UPDATE!! *This chapter is in Brianne's Pov btw*

~~~~~

My hand ran along the rough surface of the glade's walls. I tried to push away the feeling of isolation and confinement I felt towards this place. We weren't trapped; we're just stuck. Being stuck is only temporary.

Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

"Thomas."

"Who the heck was that?" I yelled out, unintentionally.

What was that? Who was that?

"Thomas."

Thomas who?

"Thomas knows the way out."

Yah, so do I- Who the heck is Thomas? Why is someone in my thoughts?

I'm crazy. It's official, guys. Nick might as well banish me right this second, because I am literally insane.

These messed up gladers are starting to influence my level of sanity. It's plummeting fast.

"Hey!"

"Alright, Thomas, I get it you know the way out." I mumbled, sarcastically.

"Who the heck is Thomas?" The voice said.

"I wish I knew too, trust me-" I turned around. Oh, someone was actually talking to me this time.

It was Amelia.

Mentally throws self off cliff.

"What?" I asked, annoyed. I might have just been getting answers to the great unanswered questions in my life and this shuckface, yah I just used a glader word, decides to talk to me.

"I just wanted to talk," she said, smiling.

"Remember the last time we just talked? I don't want to punch you, Amelia. So save yourself the trouble and leave me alone." I rolled my eyes. My stomach growled. I was gonna miss breakfast because of this chick.

"I have things to say to you and I intend to say them."

"Look, Amelia, I don't want to start a fight with you." I replied, taking a step backwards. It literally took every ounce of my self-control not to punch her.

"Sure, ya' know that's exactly what the guilty people always say."

"The guilty?" What the heck is she talking about now?

"Yah." I couldn't get past the anger and humor in Amelia's eyes. It was the weirdest combination ever.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You killed Stephan."

"What?" I couldn't help the surge of terror that came with the name Stephan.

"It's your fault he died."

"I almost died too." I said, defending myself.

"That means nothing. Just wait until I go and tell Nick about my discoveries."

"What discoveries?"

"This discovery." She pulled out a piece of paper.

"What's that?"

Then it hit me. Thats the medjacks note I took from the storage room.

"How the heck did you get that?" I asked, completely befuddled.

"Found it." Amelia shrugged her shoulders, before folding up the paper and putting it away, "It's what you stole."

"I didn't steal it."

"Sure, you didn't."

"What do you want from me, Amelia?"

"Nothing."

"Oh really?"

"I want justice."

"Justice?" Please.

"You're ruining our glade. You deserve punishment."

"Punishment for what?" I can't believe I'm wasting my time talking to this girl.

"There are so many things, honey. The list goes on and on, really."

"Nick, won't listen to crappy drama. He doesn't care. Nobody does."

"It doesn't take much to get Nick annoyed."

"Yah, he has a short temper, but he isn't stupid." Ew, was I just defending Nick?

"Just wait, Brianne. You'll be gone by the end of the week, and you can count on that." Amelia huffed, stomping her foot. What is she; ten?

"I still don't know what you're talking about?"

"I have full confidence that I can convince them to banish you."

"Good luck with that."

"It's your life on the line."

"I've done nothing wrong and everyone will see that!" I yelled, running to the kitchen, and as far away from Amelia as I could. Holy crap, why is everyone so annoying?

I've barely even lived in the glade, yet. How can Amelia sit here and plot to kill me? Goodness. I can't deal with the peasants sometimes.

~~~

Eventually, I grabbed a plate of eggs and bacon from Frypan and ate alone at a picnic table. Realizing that I'd forgotten to get a drink, I'd gone back into the kitchen.

"Frypan?" I asked, taking a few quiet steps into the room.

Nobody was here.

So I took the initiative to get myself a drink.

I went over to the sink and turned the faucet on.

The water was hot. Way too hot to drink.

I let the water run for a few more minutes.

The water didn't cool down.

I sighed, "Whatever, I'll just die of dehydration." I left the kitchen and found my way over to a tree, "Looks like Amelia can foretell the future, because I'm gonna die." I laugh at her stupidity.

"Hey, mind if I sit with ya'?" I looked up to see a young girl standing in front of me. I'm just so popular today.

"Yah, sure." I patted the ground next to me, "What's your name?"

"Sam," The young girl answered. She ran her hands over her messy blonde curls.

Sam; Samantha?

This is the girl Victoria thought would like me? She's like twelve.

I mean, I'll be happy with anyone who wants to be friends with me.

"I'm Brianne." I said, giving her a quick smile.

"I know." Oh, okay then.

We sat in silence for a while, before Sam finally asked the randomest question ever, "You feel accepted here?" She asked, as she tried to tie a piece of grass into a knot.

"Yah, I guess, why?" If I was being honest, I'd have said no, because let's be real.

"Just curious. Most people don't seem to care for you that much."

"I've heard," I exhaled deeply, "Do you know why?"

"Me? I know nothing!" She said, laughing awkwardly.

"I think you do. I think everyone does. Nobody wants to tell me though."

"Fine, Amelia's spreading rumors around the glade about you." Well, that was easy.

"I knew it."

"She wants everyone to rally against you."

"Why though? I never did anything to her."

"She seems to think differently."

"It's only because of Newt," I mumbled, quietly.

She's jealous. Thats the bottom line. She likes Newt and Newt doesn't like her.

Simple.

Newt told me about their relationship and from what he'd said, it wasn't that great. She'd only wanted a 'runner' boyfriend; she hadn't really liked him.

"He's cute." Sam mumbled.

"Yah, I've heard that a few times before, too," I laughed.

I leaned back against the tree.

Newt is cute.

I almost forgot that I have to meet him after he comes back from running.

The fact that people were leaving the glade to track down a griever scared me. I mean, from what I've heard, they're not something you should mess with. The gladers banished some guy named Joe after he was stung by one.

"You smell fire?" Sam asked, sniffing the air.

"No, why?" I asked, trying to pick up the scent.

"Because I smell fire," She answered, giving me an agitated look.

Great, I've ruined another friendship.

"Wait, I do smell it!' I shouted, standing. I looked around trying to find the smell's source.

"Maybe, the slicers are just getting rid of stuff. They've done that before. Burnt the garbage." Sam reasoned.

Finally, my eyes fell on a cloud of smoke and flames. What the heck?

"It's the kitchen." I mumbled, beginning to run over to the crowd of gladers. Everyone was running around, throwing buckets and buckets of water onto the fire. Clint and Jeff were walking about, looking for anyone who might have been injured by the flames.

I went to talk to Victoria when someone grabbed my shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going?" I could hear by the voice that it was Amelia.

"Don't you dare touch me." I muttered, moving my shoulder back.

"You did this."

"What's your problem? Can't you just leave me alone?"

"I didn't have a problem until you created one." She tapped her chin, "Come to think of it, maybe you're a creator."

That term; creator. I've heard it before. The creators are the ones who sent us here.

"What are you talking about?"

"Yah, you come here half dead wanting to change everything. Disobeying all of the glades rules. Killing Stephan. And now setting the kitchen on fire." To my embarrassment, the people helping stop the fire, began listening to Amelia, "She was the last one to leave the kitchen. She started the fire! Is anyone with me?" A few people shouted in agreement.

"I have no clue what you're talking about." I backed up, "Where's Nick?"

"Doesn't matter. He'll go with the crowd. I say we throw her in the slammer!"

"I say, we all calm down!" Sam shouted, standing in front of me.

"A little child? To protect you? That's funny. Move out of my way." Amelia pushed Sam aside.

"Don't touch her!" I yelled in protest.

"You should be banished." Amelia spat.

"You should leave me alone."

"Did you go into the kitchen this morning?"

"I refuse to answer your questions."

"Did you go into the kitchen after breakfast?"

"Yes. I did. For a stupid drink of water; which I didn't get."

"See that, everyone! Brianne is guilty and should be put on trial! Somebody tie her hands." She mumbled. Before I could think twice, a random kid was at my side, tying my hands together with a piece of rope. Amelia turned to the gladers, "She deserves punishment!"

Within minutes, a council meeting was planned and I, Brianne was thrown into, what the idiots here call, the slammer.

So basically, I was in jail until the runners came back. That way Newt can be in on the meeting.

I paced back and forth for a good hour, before giving up and sitting on the cold, dusty ground.

I hate this place.

I absolutely hate this place.

I literally hate this place.

I wholeheartedly hate this place.

I legitimately hate this place.

I honestly hate this place.

I seriously hate this place.

That right there was how I spent my second hour in the slammer; figuring out how many adjectives I could place into the sentence 'I hate this place.' Turns out, there are a lot more than I expected.

Sleeping.

The third and maybe even the fourth hour consisted of me catching up on some much needed sleep.

By the fifth hour, or three-thousandth hour, who really knows, I wanted to talk to someone. I wanted to know what was going on. I wanted to hear all of the awful things Amelia was telling Nick. I wanted to speak for myself and testify that I am indeed innocent. And lastly, I wanted Newt.

I wanted to meet with him in the storage cellar. I wanted to rant to him about how annoying Amelia was. I wanted to hear about his day, even though most of the time his daily life stories never changed.

I didn't care.

I wanted to hear anything, other than a distant shout every ten minutes.

As the sky grew darker, I began to wonder if maybe this was it. I was being left in this jail to rot and die. Maybe this was the punishment Amelia thought deemed me best. Being alone.

I'm sure she'd like that, now wouldn't she.

By nightfall, I reasoned that I'd eventually have to break out of this small shed. And I thought about all of my possible escape routes.

There weren't many, I'll tell you that much.

Then finally, finally, I heard the jingle of keys and a click. The door to the slammer opening to reveal Alby.

"Oh, thank God." I rushed over to the door.

"Hold everything. I know this might seem odd, but we take crimes pretty seriously here, so as of now, we're not friends. Nobody is a friend nor an enemy, yet. Choose your words carefully in the meeting, alright?"

I only nodded, as we solemnly walked over to the meeting room.

~~~

"Thank you Keepers for meeting today. We have an important issue to address regarding the kitchen incident this morning." Nick announced, standing in the center of the circle of Keepers. Amongst the group sat the unimportant Amelia and Andrea. They're the witnesses.

On our way to the council hall, Alby had informed me on why I was being put on trial. There were too many reasons. But they were false reasons. I did nothing wrong. Yet here I was, tied to a chair, being confirmed as guilty.

"This is crap. I haven't done anything wrong." I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"Witnesses believe to have seen Brianne leave the kitchen just before the fire started. Poor Frypan has lost valuable supplies and much needed food. Hopefully, the creators will send us back what we lost," Nick sat down, "Present your case."

Amelia stepped into the middle of the circle.

I almost slit my throat.

"That girl, she set the kitchen on fire. I saw her! She was the last one to leave the kitchen."

"It's true! She was in there after the breakfast hour, all of the chefs had left already." Andrea added from her seat.

I internally groaned, 'There's no way anyone will believe this.'

"She is destructive and dangerous!" Amelia glanced over at me, "For all we know, she could be a creator!"

That comment sent an outburst of energy through the room, everyone giving their opinions, "Silence!" Nick shouted.

"Think about it, she comes here wanting to be a runner. She then disobeys direct commands from both of our leaders. Kills one of our friends. And now burns down the Kitchen," Amelia exhaled loudly, "And somehow throughout all of that, Brianne walks away unharmed." God, how many times does she want to list all of the things I've done wrong?

"She's a shucking creator!" Gally shouted, standing, "I say we throw Brianne out into the maze and see if her buddies save her from the grievers."

"I second that." Amelia agreed.

"Well, it's a good thing you're not on the buggin' council," Newt laughed at Amelia's attempts to banish me, "Your sucky vote doesn't count for jack."

"You should be killed for spending so much time with her!" Gally yelled, "He could be in on this fiasco too."

"I'm in the maze all day. I barely know Brianne. We don't even talk, nevertheless plot to kill people together." Newt replied, seeming calm. His eyes lingered in my direction just long enough for me to catch his gaze. His face was void of emotion. He wasn't going to help me out of this.

Not gonna lie, my little balloon of hope kind of deflated a bit.

"Alright, I think that's enough testifying for tonight." Nick said, taking control over the situation.

"This is insane. I have no memories of life before the glade. How can anyone say these things about me?" I asked, beginning to plead with Nick.

"Witnesses claim to have seen you leave the kitchen-"

"Yah, yah, I get it; people saw me! I was only getting water!"

"But how can we trust you? We have to question everything this girl says!" Gally shouted, standing from his seat, "She's a liar."

"How the heck can you of all people call me a liar?"

"Because you burnt the kitchen down and now you're lying about it!" Gally said.

"There's no proof!" Newt yelled, "How can you accuse her of anything without having solid facts?" Wow, there buddy.

I guess, I was wrong. Newt did want to help me.

"Silence, Newt. I will ask for your opinion later." Nick silenced him.

"Newt is right. The accusations are from invalid resources. The whole glade knows about the argument that the three girls had last week." Alby reasoned.

"This isn't about that. I'm trying to be an adult about the situation before us." Amelia said in mock maturity.

"Nothing is before you," Newt said, giving Amelia a cold glare, "You stated your case and now you should technically be gone. This is a council meeting; am I right?"

"Newt, I don't want another word from you. You're on probation." Nick said.

"What the heck is probation?" He asked, rolling his eyes.

"It means, shut up or the council will be meeting about banishing you."

Newt remained silent.

"I think we have our verdict." Alby said, trying to wrap this meeting up.

"But, we still have to take all of this into consideration. Stephan was killed due to an idea that Brianne helped form." Nick said, "What do you all say about that?"

"I think, she meant well." Frypan answered, "The girl barely escaped death herself."

"Fry' has a point. If she wanted to kill someone wouldn't she have just bloody killed him." Newt said slowly.

"But explain how she left the boxhole unharmed." Winston said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"A whole inch was chopped off my hair!" I shouted, wishing I could rip the rope off my wrists.

"Brianne!" Nick yelled, "Shut your mouth."

"Make me." I said, smiling.

"Oh, for goodness-" Newt started.

"Did she just-?" Frypan asked nobody in particular.

"We still have to talk about this!" Alby announced, pulling out a paper from his back pocket.

It was the medjacks note about banishing Joe.

"What's that?" Nick asked, grabbing the paper, "It's the final health assessment of Joe."

"How did she find that?" Zart, one of the Keepers, asked.

"She's been sneaking around the storage cellar, that's how." Gally said.

"Who cares about that piece of paper?" Newt muttered, his hands running through his hair.

"It's not the paper that's a big deal, it's the reason behind her having the paper that we're concerned about." Alby said, softly.

"Easy! She's obviously been sent here to kill us all." Gally shouted.

"Or ya' know, she's just doing her job. I mean, she is a buggin' medjack." Newt rolled his eyes.

"That's enough!" Nick said, silencing everyone, "Brianne, why did you have this?"

I took a deep breath, "I was just curious."

A few people gasped in a chorus, "Curious?"

"I wanted answers."

"Answers!?" Frypan shouted, laughing, "Oh, we weren't doing that anymore... okay."

"It's no big deal." I shrugged my shoulders.

"I wouldn't say that if I were yo-" Alby started, sighing.

"No. Big. Deal?!" Nick yelled, mocking my answer, "No big deal, guys, Stephan's only dead. No big deal, the kitchen is barely burnt down. No big deal, shanks, I'm just plotting to kill everyone!"

"This is ridiculous." Newt mumbled, leaning back in his chair.

"Newt is right, I would never ever say 'shanks'," I laughed.

"She just admitted to killing Stephan!" Amelia yelled.

"I knew it!" Andrea shouted.

"This whole council is full of babies." Newt mumbled, barely audible.

"Newt, if you have something to say. Say it louder! Because I can't buggin' hear anything that's coming out of your mouth." Nick argued.

"I said, that this is outrageous! We're supposed to be the adults of the glade and we're acting like children. Brianne isn't guilty of anything and the sooner you all realize that, the sooner we can go back to our daily lives."

"Multiple people have come up against Brianne. Maybe they're right?" Zart said as he pondered the possibility that I could be guilty.

"Just look at who's against Brianne? " Newt scoffed.

"Amelia, Andrea, Gally. All of them are testifying the sights they saw this morning."

"Don't you see a pattern in those personalities? They all hate Brianne."

"Newt's got another point." Frypan agreed.

"You can't seriously condemn someone of a crime when the only witnesses of the scene are lying, two-faced-"

"Enough." Nick said, silencing Newt.

"Getting a little defensive there, Newtie. Are you scared that your girlfriend might be in trouble." Gally smirked.

"How awkward, your ex against your new girl." Nick smiled.

"This isn't about me, now is it?" Newt said, an unexplainable emotion settling over his features.

"You're right, it isn't," Nick stood up, "I think that's enough talking. Keepers cast your votes. Is Brianne innocent or guilty? The punishment will be decided by me. Write your answers on the paper we gave you."

"What? That's unfair!" I said, trying to stand.

"I don't remember asking for your opinion on anything we've spoken about today." Nick said.

"Well, I gave it anyway! None of this is fair."

"It doesn't have to be."

I didn't say anything else. Alby collected all of the Keepers papers.

My fate lied in the hands of these people.

Nick looked over their answers.

After a few terrifying minutes, he raised his head, "Thank you, Keepers, for your honesty." Nick ripped up the papers and threw them onto the ground, "The time has come."

"Hurry up." Frypan grumbled.

"Brianne is found guilty of three crimes. Murder, Defacement of Land, and Theft." I held my breath, my heart pounded heavily against my ribcage.

I heard a sharp gasp from Newt, "What the heck is defacement of-"

Nick turned to me, his voice slow with a sense of finality, "And to make amends, for the gladers that are offended by your behavior, I hereby decree that Brianne of the Medjacks be banished tomorrow at the closing."

~~~~~~

~~~Author's Notes~~~

HEYYY guysss!! This has to be the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope it doesn't seem too random or stupid. I wanted to compile a lot of stuff into just one chapter, lol.

*I don't have anything else to say, I'M BORING TODAY*

But, just in case people skipped the last update I posted; I've decided to write a second book, after I'm done with "To Love," which will be called "To Live."

Don't worry, I'm no where near done with "To Love," like Thomas hasn't even come to the glade yet. Chuck hasn't even entered the glade yet, haha.

I just like to plan ahead.

ANYWAY ILY GUYS, NEXT UPDATE WILL BE UP SOMETIME NEXT WEEK!! HOPE Y'ALL ARE ENJOYING WINTER BREAK!!! BYEEEE!!