Sapphire Stones

Gally's a big boy. He can handle it

I can feel Gally's gaze on me as I soak a rag in a small bucket of water. I feel my face burning as he continues staring at me.

"Stop that." I say, pulling my long hair over on shoulder and tucking it behind my ear before making my way over to Gally. 

"Stop what?" He asks me, tilting his head to the side with a small grin on his face.

"You know what." I kneel down in front of the cot he's sitting on, taking his hands in mine and pressing the rag on his knuckles. 

Gally winces slightly at the sudden contact, taking me by suprise. There's nothing on the rag besides water.

"What's wrong?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows and taking the rag away from his hand.

"Nothing, it's just cold." He replies, a sheepish smile on his face. Letting out a small chuckle, I dab at his knuckles with the rag again, making sure to apply gentle pressure in order to ensure that I'm cleaning the dried blood and dirt off.

I can feel him staring at me again, but I do my best to ignore him, focusing instead on cleaning his wounds.

"You're doing it again." I mutter in a sing-song voice. 

"I'm not doing anything." He says, laughing softly.

"Yes you are." I reply, tearing my gaze from his hand and, instead, directing it up at him. "I can't focus when you're fucking staring at me. Quit it."

"What else am I supposed to look at?" He asks, tilting his head. I shrug.

"I'll put some paint on the wall and you can watch it dry, how about that?" I suggest. Gally smiles, shaking his head. "Well, find something else besides me."

"But I like looking at you." He says, leaning forward and pressing a light kiss to my lips. "You're beautiful." He adds, his lips still ghosting mine.

I feel my face heat up, but try to conceal it by directing my gaze back to his hands. Once I finish cleaning off his knuckles, I grab the jar of antiseptic cream, some wrap, medical tape, and a roll of gauze.

"This might sting a little." I warn, drying off his hands with a dry rag.

"I'm a big boy. I think I can handle it." Gally says with a lopsided grin. I smile, shaking my head slightly. 

I dip my finger in the jar of the antiseptic cream, gently applying it onto Gally's skin. He inhales a sharp breath at the antiseptic stinging sensation. I look up to see his jaw clenched and his eyes shut tightly. His eyebrows are furrowed and his mouth is pressed in a thin line. The sight makes me laugh a little.

"Alright, tough guy. I'm done with the antiseptic now. You can open your eyes." I say, patting his arm when I finish. Gally lets out a sigh of relief as the stinging sensation subsides. I laugh, shaking my head as I wrap his knuckles before adding gauze and medical tape to ensure that the bandages will stay. "All done." I say, standing up and placing the supplies I used back in their original places.

When I turn around, I see Gally staring at his freshly wrapped hands, his eyebrows furrowed. I walk over to Gally and sit beside him, placing my head on his shoulder.

"What's wrong, Gal?" I ask, pressing a kiss to his arm before nuzzling my nose against his shirt sleeve.

"Nothin'." He replies shortly, clenching and unclenching his hands. 

"Gally, what's wrong." I say again, taking my head off his shoulder and looking up at him. I brush a piece of hair away from his eyes before he speaks.

"I didn't want to fight the Greenie the way I did." He mutters, his gaze still fixed on his hands. I furrow my eyebrows. 

"What does that... what does that mean?" I ask. Gally still doesn't look at me.

"It just..." He trails off, running his hands through his hair in frustration. Gally stands up and begins pacing in front of the cot, his hands clenching and unclenching again. "I didn't want it to go that far. Something inside me just snapped. It was like-"

Gally lets out a growl of frustration, running a wrapped hand over his eyes. I sit still on the cot, intently listening to him as he tries desperately to get whatever he wants to say out.

"It was like it wasn't even me. It was like a flip switched somewhere inside me and, suddenly, I wasn't even there any more. I was watching myself fight him. I was in the crowd watching the fight. I was just one of the bystanders. It was like I wasn't even me anymore."

I'm staring at Gally as he talks, frequently running his hands through his hair or clenching his fists at his sides. I can tell that it's making him anxious to talk about this.

"I didn't want to do it, Ven. I didn't want to. They... they were m-making me do it. They were forcing me. Controlling me." His voice shakes as he speaks, his entire body trembling with fear. 

I stand up and walk over to him, placing my hands on his cheeks and forcing him to look at me. His breathing is too fast. His voice is too shaky and panicked. His eyes are clouded over, not really seeing anything. 

"Hey, hey, hey." I say in a soothing voice, trying desperately to bring Gally back to reality. "It's alright. I'm here, okay? It's alright now."

His gaze returns and he looks down at me, breath still fast and entire body still shaking. He nods, staring into my eyes. He doesn't break eye contact. After a few deep breaths, his body returns to normal again.

"You don't have to tell me this stuff, Gally." He shakes his head, swallowing thickly before saying in a slightly shaky voice,

"It's not that." He takes a deep breath. "It's almost like they won't let me."

"Let you?" I ask slowly, trying to process everything that Gally's told me. He nods.

"It's happened ever since the Changing. Every now and then, it's almost like a switch is flipped inside my mind. They take control of me, leaving me to be a bystander again." I knit my eyebrows together. This is all so confusing. "I know it sounds crazy, Venus, but you have to believe me." Gally says as he grabs hold of my hands, pleading with me to believe him.

"Gally..." I trail off, trying to decide what to say. I want to believe him, but this all just seems so insane. "I just don't..."

"There's another thing." Gally says, his voice low. "I couldn't stop it this time. The other times it used to happen, I was able to stop it pretty quickly." I nod for him to continue. "I couldn't stop it this time, Ven. They took over and I couldn't find an anchor. They could've made me do anything and I would've done it. I can't control it anymore."

Gally trails off, looking down at me. I wring my fingers together, trying to process all of this. "I don't know what to say." I finally say.

"Say you believe me." Gally pleads, his eyes desperate for me to believe what he's telling me. Silence passes between us as I think over all the information he just shared with me. Sure, it sounds insane, but it's no more crazy than the situation we're all in. If I told someone in the outside world that I'd been trapped in a Maze for three years with creatures called Grievers in it that can sting and kill you, I highly doubt they'd believe me.

I look up at Gally, that same, desperate look on his face and in his eyes. He's scared. Scared of what I'll say. Scared of what I'll think. Scared of what they might make him do.

"I believe you." I finally say. Gally's face relaxes as he stares down at me.

"You do?" He asks, his voice hopeful. I haven't heard him sound like this in a long time. I nod, taking his hands in mine.

"I'm gonna try to help you, okay? I promise. I'm gonna do everything I can to help you."

Gally leans down, pressing a long, lingering kiss to my lips. 

"Thank you." He whispers when he pulls away. "For everything." He adds. I take his hand, pressing a kiss to the bandage before leading him to my hut to sleep. 

After a day like this, sleep is all the both of us need.