𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐑, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿

57. mother, i'm coming home

No mother should have to bury their child.

It was something that felt unnatural, so heartbreaking to Vivian.

That night, after they got rescued in the berg and sent back to the Safe Haven safely. They had to leave Newt and Vicky's body behind. Not sure if they're still dead, what if their heart starts beating? Vivian thought about it all the time. She didn't want to leave her children behind.

In Vivian's dreams, she always saw their bodies lifeless in their beds, covered with blankets. Their lifeless faces, with those lifeless eyes, would always haunt her in her dreams.

These were children, children that she has known for years and she was the one that had to make the decision to leave them behind. There was nothing that she could have do at that time and it broke her heart entirely.

The morning was cold, it was foggy. The soft glows of the torches lit up the area as the Safe Haven members all lined up, harmonizing a funeral song. Of course: Vivian, Jorge, Vincent and Mary lead the way. The teenagers (Gladers) not far behind.

This should've never happened. It raged Vivian, also breaking her the fact that her daughter is dead because she was shot by WCKD, a beat before she turned into a crank.

The sorrow was visible in each of the Gladers faces as they mourned the loss of their fellow friends. It was surreal to see a funeral for so many young children, they had hardly gone through life before it was stripped away from them.

There was a heavy atmosphere in the crowd as everyone gathered in a state of sadness. No one was able to hold back their tears as they remembered their friends, family. The teenagers were all hugging each other fiercely, clinging onto each other as they fought through the pain and heartbreak that they were feeling.

Bea, Thèrèse and Nancy holds eachother closely, not a word to be spoken. Nancy swore it was all her fault, if she had got a better idea of strategies, they all could still be alive.

But none of it could've been their fault.

Nancy wishes that she would've thought about a better way to rescue everyone. She wishes it would've all gone better and that nobody was forced to pay the price of their lives.

"It's not your fault, Nancy. You tried your best. There's no way we could've known that they would die, you did everything you could." Bea said softly, trying to comfort the girl and make her understand it wasn't her fault in any way.

Deep down, Thèrèse knew that this wasn't her fault either. It was the result of years of manipulation by WCKD that made her feel this way. But nonetheless, she still felt guilty for being alive while her friends were left behind.

Nancy turned to Bea, still holding a sad gaze before frowning in sadness. "But what if we could've known?" she pleads.

"If we could've known, then maybe things would've turned out differently. But the thing is, we didn't know. It's useless to think about all the could've and would've, because they didn't happen. What's important is that we focus on what did happen and making sure it doesn't happen again." Bea replied softly, trying as much as she could to take away the burden that poor Nancy was carrying.

Thèrèse stands besides Bea as well, nodding. "She's right, we could've known. But we didn't. We couldn't have. We couldn't tell what was going to happen. These circumstances were beyond our control. We did everything we could to help them, but in the end, we just couldn't save them all." Thèrèse said softly.

"Yes, we did all we could. But now, it's time to try and put this behind us." Bea added, not wanting them to keep thinking about the past. She thought that the best thing would be to let go of their sorrow and find some closure for the pain.