𝐒𝐩𝐲 𝐈𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐥 ✭ TMR Love Triangle

59 - Stung

"So where were you yesterday?" Newt sat down for breakfast. "The Greenie fought Gally!"

I ignored Newt's question and changed the subject. I didn't want to hurt him by telling him I kissed Minho. "And? Did he win?"

"No one did. They both gave each other some good pushes, but Gally got him so hard he hit his head on the ground, and remembered his name." Newt announced.

"Which is?"

"Thomas." A voice behind me said.

"Well, hello, Thomas." I chuckled when I recognized it was the Greenie. "I'm glad you remember your name."

He nodded. "Can I sit?"

"Sure." I moved to the side a bit, which caused Minho to cough and Newt to mutter something under his breath. I gave both of them a glance as Thomas sat down, they couldn't get mad just because Thomas sat next to me!

"First half of the day you'll try out for Slicers and then Track-Hoes," Newt explained.

Thomas' face darkened. "What if I wanna be a Runner?"

Newt scoffed and Minho spoke up.
"Why? Because you want to be close to Jane?"

"No. I don't have to be close to Jane." Thomas paused and looked at me. "No offense." He added. "I just want to see what's out there and find a way out."

"What is out there, are things that'll kill you," Minho replied.

"Y'all have been for three years and haven't found anything!" Thomas argued. "I want to help."

Minho's face darkened, expression hurt. I knew how he felt about not being able to solve the maze. He found it horrible, and himself too.

"Let's just have you do the other jobs first, alright?" I suggested before Thomas could continue.

Minho gave me a nod in appreciation and kept on eating.

~

"What the-." I breathed when I came out of the maze, stopping my pace to look at the things happening further away from me. All the Gladers circled around something, some screaming.

"What's happening?" Minho appeared next to me, running out of the maze too.

"I don't know," I muttered and watched some boys leave already. Then I noticed Clint and Jeff someone who looked exactly like Ben.

"Come on." Minho took my arm and together we walked over to Newt, who was a little out of breath.

"Newt, what happened?" I asked. In the meanwhile, Chuck asked Thomas if he was okay and checked out his arm.

"He went to get fertilizer, but ran back screaming with Ben behind him," Newt explained.

I frowned and looked at the shovel in Newt's hands.
"Why is there blood on your shovel?"

His eyes widened. "Ben attacked Thomas so I had to get him off."

"You hit Ben?" Minho raised his voice for one of his best friends.

"I had no choice!" Newt defended. "He would bloody kill Thomas!" Newt lowered his voice soon and moved closer to the Runner.
"Ben's stung, Minho."

"What?" He gasped quietly, blinking in confusion. "In the middle of the day?"

"It's weird." Newt sighed. "He's already way past the Gone. You know what it means."

Minho put his head down, sniffing lightly. "I'm gonna map." He walked off, not toward the Map Room, obviously. He was going to his hut and I wanted to check up and comfort him so badly, but guessed he wouldn't let me. He was upset and I would make it worse.

I also knew what would happen to Ben, since Minho explained it once. He would be banished. Tonight. Minho's best friend.

~

Chuck, Thomas, and I stood close to the Doors. All the Keepers stood there too, holding a long pole in their hands, their face expressions blank.

I felt awful. How cruel could we be to just banish someone? Dave was something else. He had wrong intentions before he even got stung, but Ben.. Ben was a kind guy, funny.. a nice kid. He never meant to do any harm and now he would just be gone.

The Doors would close in a minute, so Minho appeared. Ben's wrists were tied together with a rope, Minho holding him tightly as he dragged him toward the Doors.

Minho didn't show any emotion. His eyebrows were deeply furrowed, but that was it. And it broke my heart. Ben was one of Minho's best friends, maybe the best one, and now he had to be the one to banish him.

The three of us watched Minho cut the ropes and Ben fall on the ground, crying. He muttered things like 'please' and 'I'll get better', but no one listened.

I would've listened, though I knew I couldn't save Ben. I wished I could. No one like Ben deserved that.

Walk away.

And there we went again. The cruel voice that was slowly ruining everything for me. I was not going to listen. I had to be there for Minho after it happened, not act like the victim. I didn't even care about the consequences anymore.

"Poles!" Alby's yell shook me out of my thoughts. The boys obeyed and got their poles ready, making Ben crawl on his feet.

Chuck mumbled something and walked away while Thomas' face got paler by the second. He went through all this on just his second day!

The ground started to shake, the Doors started to move and make noises. It was happening. Ben cried out, yelling for help, but they kept on going pushing their poles closer to Ben, slowly forcing him to go into the maze.

The Doors got closer together and one last push from Alby made Ben get in between them. He had no other choice but to go further, otherwise, he would get squeezed by the walls.

Then they closed with the familiar boom.

The boy all looked down, Newt fidgeting with his pole and Minho's expression still blank.
Alby turned around and sighed. "He belongs to the maze now."

Eventually, some boys started to walk away, Thomas' eyes following every awful thing. He looked so confused and sad, though he didn't even know Ben very well.

After a while, I grabbed myself back together and walked over to Minho, who stared at the ground, still frowning.

"Hey," I whispered, slowly wrapping my arms around Minho, who immediately hugged back, tighter than ever.

He leaned his head on my shoulder and sniffed lightly, making me wonder if he might've been crying, but knowing Minho would let me know he wasn't. He would never cry in front of someone.
Never.. I thought, at least.

"Thank you," Minho whispered through the long, hurtful hug. I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on comforting Minho and not crying, though the tears were burning in my eyes.