The Girl From The Right Arm

Chapter 24

The sun disappeared into the sea and the sky turned beautiful red tones when the girl returned to the others. Sighing, she ran to the front gate and opened it carefully. She ran in quickly to find out that there weren't any older people. Only the younger children sat anxiously in the middle of the hall. All snuggled close together. "Um hi," Aria said, embarrassed.

"Aren't you the mad one who yelled across the hall today?" Asked a girl. She had red curly hair that came down to her shoulders. Her bright green eyes reminded Aria of grass.

"Yes, that can be.", Aria smiled slightly, "I'm sorry if I woke you up." "Um, where are the others?" the girl asked with a smile.

"They're in the meeting room. They're discussing about WICKED!" Replied a boy who looked like he was 10.

"Do you think they'll find us and take us back?" Another boy sniffed.

"I don't want to go back!" Sobbed a little girl.

"You don't have to go back either." Aria smiled and walked towards the group of children. With an effort she plopped between two girls and sighed.

"Group cuddling?" She grinned and spread her arms. Several hands immediately wrapped around her body. Laughing, she fell over and the children fell on her.

"Can you tell us a story?" Aria heard a voice ask.

"Of course." she nodded. The kids went down from her, sat down again and looked at Aria expectantly. "Well then. Snuggle up in your blankets. I don't want to see anyone awake after the story." she laughed. The kids quickly lay down and snuggled together.

"This story is about a woman named Amanda who has her husband confessing his love for her. One day at work, Amanda received a beautiful flower bouquet. In it, she counted 11 flowers and found a short note in it. It was written in beautiful lettering and said:

"My love for you will last until the day the last flower in this bouquet dies."

The note was from her husband who had gone on a business trip. Unsure as to what to make of the message, she went home in the evening and soaked the flowers with water. One day after another, the flowers became a little less beautiful until they all died. All but one flower. This was the day when she realized that there was one artificial flower in the bouquet that would last forever." Aria finished the story quietly.

The girl smiled and looked at the children who were huddled together. One even took her hand. She got up carefully and padded out of the group of sleeping kids. Sighing, she ran out of the hall into the conference room.

"I didn't even know that you knew such cheesy stories." she heard Adam laugh as she entered the room.

"Neither do I.", Aria laughed, "But I can't tell the kids any scary stories. In the end, Vince kills me because the kids can't sleep."

"How do you know the story?" Harriet asked her, laughing.

"My mother always told me about it. At the end she always said: 'And one day, Aria darling, you will find your great love too.' "Aria grinned when she thought of her mom.

"I'm sure you will.", Adam grinned cheekily, "I'm already sorry for your oh so great love."

"I can only give it back. In order for you to have a girlfriend, you probably have to give her a low-vision potion first." she giggled.

"Idiot!" He stuck out his tongue at his friend.

"Asshole." she grinned innocently. Adam demonstratively turned his back on Aria and ignored her. Laughing, she walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't be sad, she probably won't need a potion because she'll get eye cancer just looking at you." she grinned. Aria heard the others laugh behind her.

"I'm terminating our friendship!" Adam stood up and took a step away from her.

The girl held a hand over her heart dramatically and breathed in noisily. "You can't cancel our friendship. You still have to fill out the terminating form and we don't have anything like that here." she laughed.

"You'll see.", He grinned challengingly at his friend.

***

"What are you doing here?" she heard someone ask behind her.

"Think," the girl answered quietly.

"About what?" He asked.

"How my life would be if it weren't for WICKED. How everything would be if the flare hadn't broken out. How Aris is doing now. How is Minho. And Sonya!" Aria shrugged.

"Well? Already made up your mind how it would be?" He laughed.

"No. But I would probably be in school, have friends, maybe have a boyfriend, my family would still be alive." She smiled at him. His brown eyes sparkled in the fire.

"That sounds boring," he laughed.

"Somehow." she joined in his laugh.

"What are you doing here?" Aria asked him curiosly.

"I'm thinking about what if we had just stayed in the maze. Maybe I should never have encouraged them to get out of the maze, but should have listened to Newt and become a gardener." He smiled pained.

"Maybe you should. But in the end it doesn't change anything. We can't turn back time and certainly not change it." Aria sighed and wrapped her arms around her body.

"Aria?" He asked softly.

"Huh?" she asked, looking at him.

"What if we can't free them?" He asked quietly.

"We'll make it, Thomas." the girl smiled slightly at him. He smiled back at her.

***