Tears of Gold

R.I.P Winston🪦💀

As we trudge along the sandy terrain, I fall into step with Aris. He doesn't look over at me, his eyes trained on what's ahead of him. I bump my shoulder into his lightly, earning a small glance down at me. 

"What are you doing?" He asks, his southern accent as thick as honey.

"I dunno. Figured you could use some company." I reply with a shrug, offering him a smile. He doesn't return it, however, turning his head to look at the terrain ahead of him. 

I bump his shoulder again, trying to get him to smile. Instead, he looks over at me with a blank expression.

"Why do you keep doing that?" He asks finally after a few more times of me bumping into him. I shrug with a smile.

"Just playing games. Trying to get you to smile. That's all."

"Oh." He mutters, looking away. I furrow my eyebrows. "Rachel used to play games like that." He mutters. I furrow my eyebrows at the name. Wasn't her name in my dream last night? I can't seem to remember.

"Rachel?" I ask. 

"Yeah. She was always doing stuff like that in my Maze. She was one of the sweetest people I ever met. She always did little things like that to make people smile if they were having a bad day or something. She was nice like that." He smiles, looking off in the distance for a minute, seemingly lost in his own memories of this Rachel girl. He shakes his head slightly, snapping himself out of it. "Whatever. It doesn't matter."

"What happened to her?" I ask. Aris looks down at me, a sadness filling his eyes.

"We found her in the lab room before we left. She was one of the many bodies strung up. Not dead, but not alive." He looks away, running a hand through his hair. 

"Did you love her?" I ask. Aris nods, still not meeting my gaze. "I had a Rachel." I say after a beat of silence. Aris looks over at me, eyebrows slightly raised.

"Yeah?" He asks. I nod. 

"He was the best." I reply, looking off into the distance. As I stare ahead of me, I swear I can see him standing in the distance, sand swirling around him, but one shake of the head and he's gone. 

"What was he like?" Aris asks. 

"He was protective. Always very serious. He didn't take shit from anybody. I remember one time, a kid said some really messed up shit to me and Gally threatened to burn him to the ground." I can't help but laugh slightly when Aris turns to look at me, his eyes wide. 

"Sounds intense." He says.

"He could be sometimes, but he was one of the nicest people I ever met. He used to keep a packet of pretzels and a thing of peanut butter cups in his pocket for me just in case I got hungry. He always played along with my jokes and bits. When we watched the sun go down, he would always point out where Venus was. When it got too late and my planet went away, he would make up his own constellations because he couldn't remember any. He always claimed that he hated this dog named Bark who lived in the Glade with us, but I know he used to take care of the dog and sneak him bits of food after Ben died." I look down at my feet, smiling to myself as I reminisce.

"You loved him?" Aris asks. I can feel his gaze focused on me, listening intently. I turn around and look at the boy, a sad smile on my face.

"More than words could describe." I reply softly. We continue walking in silence through more abandoned and broken down cities. We pass under the now falling apart structure of what once was a bridge, Thomas, Aris, Newt, and I each taking one of Winston's arms and legs in order to carry him, giving Fryapn and Minho a break.