TROUBLE || Gally x Reader

1 || Girl in the Box

Wherever I was, it was a dark and cold place that I wished to leave immediately. about every ten seconds there would be a flash of neon red light as whatever sort of cage I was in passed a set of lightbulbs. I wasn't completely sure, but it felt like I was travelling upwards.

What could this place be? I asked myself as I tried to figure out something—anything, really. Where am I going?

My instincts made me check myself for injuries, and thankfully I came up empty handed. The loud clanking seeming to come from everywhere made screaming for help pointless. The speed of the motion was starting to make me feel a bit nauseous. I pressed my palms into my knees to try to calm the panic. Breathe, just breathe.

My next step was to feel out my surroundings. My heart was beating out of my chest as I did it, but slowly I felt around to find four cage-wire walls surrounding me and a few wooden boxes in the cage with me. I was either too short to feel the roof to the cage or there wasn't one. Probably the former.

After inspecting the cage's contents, I found myself with surprisingly little to do. I tried to just sit still and calm my uneasy stomach, but I was beginning to panic even more and just sitting wasn't helping.

Fortunately, just after my leg started bouncing uncontrollably, the cage came to a halt. I waited for a minute, getting to my feet and listening closely to the shuffling sounds above me. Should I yell for help now? The square top above me suddenly became nothing but blinding light.

"Hey, Greenbean." An amused voice greeted me in almost annoyance. I shielded my eyes with my hand, trying to look up into the light to make out who'd spoken.

"Where am I?" I asked the most prominent question in my mind. There was some whispering, and I realized as my eyes adjusted that there were at least twenty people crowding around the opening. They were peering in at me like I was a zoo exhibit.

"It's a bloody girl... Someone run and get Alby!" A heavily accented voice called out. I was starting to panic again and my question still wasn't answered. It didn't help to know that the only way out was up.

"Hold on, Shebean, we'll get ya a rope or somethin'!" Another voice tried to assure me. I couldn't quite place which person had spoken. I looked at each face above me and quickly caught on that there were only boys, no girls.

"Put your foot in the loop and we'll haul you to the top." The accented voice from before explained. They tossed down a thick length of rope with a tied loop at the end. I did as the boys said and the group of them pulled me up with ease.

Once I reached solid ground, I had to blink my eyes rapidly against the sun to get a good look at the area. There were four solid stone walls enclosing a square area. There were makeshift buildings everywhere as well as one actual house, a tower and a hollowed cement block.

"What is this place?" I asked shakily, brushing the newly gained dirt off of my pants. The boy who answered me had dark skin and a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead.

"We in 'ere call it the Glade. Better get used to it, Shebean, 'cause it's gonna be your new home." He explained to me, gesturing to the vast grassy area behind him.

"What does that—" The same boy as before cut me off with a simple 'stop' gesture, a smirk finding it's way to his face at my impatience. He folded his arms and looked to the scrawny blond boy beside him, who was not smiling.

"Look, Shebean, I know you have a lot of questions, and they will all be answered in a bit. Right now, Alby, Minho, Tommy and I are going to take you into the Homestead--which is that building over there--so we can talk in private. Good that?" The blond boy explained grumpily.

"Uh, yeah, okay." I agreed hesitantly. After some informative nods from the dark-skinned boy the crowd scattered. I followed the blond boy and a few others to the house.

"Alby, what does this mean?" The blonde boy asked the second the door was shut. He was very nervous and started to bite at his thumb nail.

"Honestly, I don't know. All I do know is that everything is different now."