THE MAZE TRIALS ┃tmr love triangle

21

"Chuck, you made it out! You did it!"

Penelope

I DON'T MOVE when the group of boys retreat into the maze, staring at their figures as they make their way into the stone walls which captivate us within the glade. Despite my mind's constant begging to leave with Thomas, Newt and the others, my feet remain planted on the ground, solid as ever.

My mind runs through every single possible opportunity I have to follow the boys, but never pursue the reckless ideas as I feel Gally tug on my hand, bringing me back to the building site to get things cleaned up.

Moving different planks of wood which are either rotten or half burnt to a pile on the other side of the area we are working on with a couple other gladers, maybe ten of us at most, I feel my arms ache with the heavy manual labour I'm forced to do.

Something about it makes me miss being a medjack far too much. 

"He loved you, y'know?" My voice rings out in my own ears in an unfamiliar tune as I talk to Gally, leaning on a wooden pole I have dug into the tainted, muddy ground with my bare hands which are now stained with brown and red, a faint earthy aroma emitting from them.

"What?" Gally stares over at me, stopping what he is doing with a slightly confused expression.

"Frypan, he was head over heels for you.." I pause, waiting for some kind of reaction, but I continue talking when I get none, "I thought he'd stay behind with you, at least..did you guys ever work it out between you two?"

He nods his head now, slowly, as though he's scared to admit what he's feeling. "I told him that I love him..I-I asked him to stay with me." As soon as his vulnerability has shown, he clears his throat and the faraway, distant look in his eyes is gone. "He clearly had other plans."

"I think they'll be fine." My words cause Gally to look over at me, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. "I mean, if we were put here, I suppose we were always destined to leave."

I adjust the pole I'm leaning on so that it's fixed up properly before stepping away from it. "Most of us, at least." Gally finishes my sentence, making his way over to me.

A barely-there, sad smile painted across my lips when Gally embraces me, tightening his arms around me in a hug so tight that it puts every other interaction we've had to shame as his hands laced in my hair to calm me down. 

"You think you'll be okay to work here...? I feel kinda weird, might go talk to some of the guys." 

Gally's arm shoots up, somewhat against his will, before he quickly lowers it and gives me a weary smile before making his way away from me to a group of boys, rushing.

Though I don't miss the stares he gives to the maze opening, I make my way over to my station where I'm finishing making a hut with the help of four other guys.