[ ELECTRA ]
Content Warning: Attempted Suicide.

❧

Electra didn't notice the bleeding wound in her left arm as the Griever turned to meet her, roaring in her face.

She screamed back at the monster before bringing her knife above her head and stabbing downwards. The Griever tripped backwards but Electra still managed to swipe a deep gash right across the middle of the monster's face.

The Griever took a few more steps back before another Griever screeched nearby. The one in front of her paused, in such a way that it looked like it was acknowledging the sound, before running away from her. She watched all the Grievers run out of the Glade, as if called out by their superiors. Electra stood, her only movement was her chest moving up and down as she breathed heavily through her mouth.

Then, the pain came back. The build up was slow, but when Electra looked down at her hands and saw her left arm coated in her own blood, her upper shoulder began to burn with pain.

Electra turned around to face Minho and he did nothing but stare at her. She could feel the gaze of the Gladers nearby on her, burning into her just like the gaping wound on her shoulder.

Slowly, her head turned to look at them.

They looked odd. She was so used to seeing them from far away on top of the walls but here they were. Right in front of her. Electra recognized Thomas first and noticed how he indecisively took a step forward, then another step back. She wondered how crazy she must look, covered in Griever slime with blood running down her arm and disheveled demeanor.

None of them approached her, not even Minho. Her eyes locked with each of the Gladers one by one and they all seemed to look away the second she met their gaze. She stopped when one boy with blond hair didn't look away from her.

She physically felt something click in her mind and then the memories attacked her.

Six months ago. Electra was running the Maze as she usually did. She'd just said goodbye to Minho for the day since she wanted to get back to her Cove early to get a bit more rest before her nightly duties. Minho still had to finish his running for the day and would probably return to the Glade at the very last second before the Doors closed.

She ran at ground level, slowing and checking if the next hallway was clear before turning each corner. The Runners were usually near the Glade at this time of the day and she didn't want to accidentally run into them. She could easily climb the wall and run on top but she was feeling particularly lazy that day.

Her shoulders cramped with soreness and she adjusted the straps of her pack. Minho had given her plenty of supplies today to her chagrin. As much as she tried to be grateful for what he gave her, she always felt stupid by accepting his tiny gifts of kindness. And now, his gifts of kindness were weighing heavily on her shoulders. Literally.

Electra groaned and sat down, flinging her pack around her shoulder and onto the ground in front of her. She gently massaged her shoulders for a few minutes, hoping no Runners would turn the corner and find her. Looking around the hallway, she noticed a thick ivy wall where she could hide just in case.

Instead of a boy running around the corner and seeing her, a loud thump made her jump to her feet.

Her first thought was Minho, that maybe something happened to him. Grabbing her pack off the floor, she ran to where she'd seen him last, her mind running wild with what could've happened.

Maybe a Griever dropped dead and the loud thump she heard had been the monster falling to its death. If that were true, then what could've killed it?

Maybe Minho killed a Griever on his way back. Or maybe he'd been killed by one and the sound was her dear best friend falling to his death.

Maybe the sound had been a weapon firing. But by who and why?

Electra turned the corner and saw a figure laying still on the floor. Her heart fell into her stomach. She stopped in her tracks and hid back around the corner, before peering down towards the figure.

At first, she narrowed her eyes and examined the figure, trying to see if it was Minho. Then she noticed blond hair instead of Minho's black.

A boy lay crumpled on the stone floor, completely still. Electra studied his body from far away, not daring to come any closer incase he was awake. His leg was curled unnaturally underneath himself and his head rested on his arm. She couldn't see his face but his entire body was stiff.

The motionless boy reminded her of Alfred, if only momentarily. Just like when Alfred had been Banished, Electra turned around the corner and began walking away from the boy. She rubbed her eyes, trying to get the gory image of the blond boy out of her mind.

Once the boys ventured into the Maze they weren't her responsibility. As much as she felt bad for the boy she didn't want to risk revealing herself to him.

A sharp pain lingered in the back of her mind and the farther she drifted away from the boy, the more the pain increased. Soon enough, the sharpness became unbearable. Electra fell down onto her knees and clutched her head, squeezing her eyes shut as hard as she could.

The pain reminded her of her first day in the Maze, and how the voice had become so unbearably loud she thought her head might explode. Again, her head felt on the verge of spontaneously shattering. She bit her tongue to keep her screams inside of her. If she made noise, it would only alert the Runners to her location. She couldn't scream.

Then, the pain subsided, and Electra felt like a shell of her former self. Her hands moved away from her head and she pulled herself up even though she wanted to stay curled up on the floor.

Her body carried her back towards where the boy was laying and Electra tried to stop walking. Her body didn't stop; it carried her even quicker, speeding up into a run.

What's happening? Electra thought, trying to mouth her worries into words, but her lips wouldn't even move. Electra, take control!

The harder she fought, the quicker her body retraced its steps and inched closer to the motionless boy. The feeling of dread built up in Electra's chest as she realized what was going to happen. Whatever was controlling her was going to make her help the boy.

She forced herself into isolation for three years and now suddenly she was being forced to help someone? Electra scoffed at the hypocrisy of it all.

She watched herself move as if she was watching a stranger live their life through her own body. Turning the corner to where the boy lay, she collapsed next to him and brought her hands up to his neck, checking for a pulse.

Electra could feel the pulse with the tips of her fingers but her fingers did not feel like her own. She watched her body grab onto the boy by the armpits and begin dragging him along the floor. The boy remained unresponsive and Electra saw the boy's crooked leg hanging in the air as she dragged him along.

She wondered how this boy had ended up in such a predicament. Was he running from a Griever? He couldn't have been, she would've heard the commotion.

He must've done this to himself, the thought struck Electra's brain like lightning. Her eyes remained locked on the blond boy's face and how it fell completely calm as if he was asleep.

She carried him through the twists and turns of the Maze for what seemed like hours, although her body did not let up in the slightest. Mentally, she was exhausted and she felt her muscles giving out. But she didn't stop, she couldn't.

The sound of feet shuffling and heavy breathing sent off alarms in Electra's mind. A Runner was nearby. He was about to see her.

Electra fought harder against her own body, feeling the energy build up beneath the surface of her skin but she was still unable to break through the control. She wanted to scream in frustration but the scream only went off in her mind.

The shuffling set of footsteps got closer and Electra wanted to turn her head to see who was approaching from behind her. Again, she couldn't.

A hand was pressed into the square of her back and Electra couldn't even flinch at the touch. When the mystery person came into her view, she wasn't even able to look up and see his face.

But then, she heard Minho's voice. "Electra, what happened?"

Electra's lips parted and she began speaking but even her own voice didn't feel like her. "Newt. Get him back to the Glade."

Electra allowed Minho to hold where she had been holding the unconscious boy, and she could feel Minho's eyes shift back and forth between herself and the other boy.

"What happened to him? How do you know his name?" Minho asked, struggling to carry the boy on his own. Electra wanted to help her friend but again any attempt she tried at breaking free, only sent her deeper into the trance.

"Newt. Get him back to the Glade," she repeated monotonously and could sense Minho's confusion, although she couldn't see his face.

Then, she turned on her feet and ran away from the two. She heard Minho shouting after her but she kept running. Her entire body was on the brink of collapse but she was still forced to make the strenuous journey back to her Cove.

Once reaching the ivy curtains, Electra's hands were brought up to pull them back. Then, whatever was controlling her instantly vanished and she collapsed to the floor.

Sucking in a desperate breath, Electra tried to compose herself. Her eyes already blurred with tears and her breathing only became more forced as she fully realized what happened to her.

Something, or more specifically, someone had controlled her.

The thought made her entire body convulse and her knuckles went white as her fingertips pressed into the cool stone beneath her.

Just as she was about to fade into panic, a warm feeling burned in the back of her mind in the same spot where the sharp pain originated from.

All the pain she felt faded away and soon enough Electra couldn't even remember the pain in the first place.

The thought of the blond boy, crumpled on the floor, faded out of her mind. Electra fell into unconsciousness just as any memory of Newt fell out of her head.

Electra was brought out of her trance when Thomas approached her, gently holding onto her right arm and staring worriedly at her left one.

"Are you okay?" he asked, and before she could answer she got crowded by the other Gladers who'd seen the scene, all of them speaking over each other and asking her endless questions.

The questions. The very thing she despised. The first thing the Gladers did when they saw her was ask questions. Of course they had; she would've done the same had she been in their position. But still, the questions made her mind fuzzy, before she caught the glance of the blond boy again. Newt. He was the only one not talking and he just stared at her. When she caught him, he looked at the ground, his eyebrows furrowing.

Did he remember her? He couldn't have. He wasn't even conscious when she found him. She hadn't even remembered the incident until right now, and the memories clouded her mind.

The edges of her vision became black and the searing pain in her shoulder only intensified. She winced, bringing her right arm up to her left and feeling the blood coat her fingers. She hadn't noticed Thomas leaving her side but saw him off in the distance inspecting something in the grass.

Minho soon took Thomas' spot beside her, throwing an arm around her and trying to get all the Gladers to calm down. Electra couldn't hear what anyone was saying, as if she was stuck in a bubble. Her vision narrowed even more and she tried to focus through the blackness as she swayed on her feet.

She looked off into the distance where Thomas was holding a silver object. Thomas brought the object close to his face and Electra noticed the sharp spike at the end of it. The Griever spike.

Thomas stabbed the spike into his leg and collapsed. The Gladers diverted their attention to him and the crowd darted over towards him. Electra could barely hear their worried cries.

Closing her eyes, her entire body gave out beneath her. She expected to feel grass under her as she collapsed, but instead she fell into a pair of arms. The only thing she could focus on was the pain before everything faded away.