Losing Hope

Epilogue

The Gladers stared at the wall in front of them. Everything had fell silent the moment the door shut, and none of them had moved. They were all standing there, huddled up together in the small tunnel, shocked by what they had just seen. 

Thomas was still trying to figure out what had happened. He didn't understood why Lily had thrown herself in front of him, or why he hadn't done something when he could have. He could have pushed her away, he could have held onto her, he could have reached to her with his spear to help her down. But he did none of it. He looked down at his feet, a lump rising in his throat.

He had sworn. The day she was sent in the Maze, he had sworn he would protect her. He didn't know if she remembered, but he did. They had told her the Grievers wouldn't attack her, they had told her she would be safe, yet a Griever had taken her and now she was gone. Thomas couldn't believe what had just happened, and guilt took over him.

Minho was also looking blankly at the wall. His friend, his best friend had been taken by a Griever. How stupid was she to throw herself in front of Thomas? Thomas still had his spear, he would have been able to push the Griever away. She didn't even have her machete anymore. There was nothing she could've done against the Griever.

Was it what she wanted? Was she so scared of what they would find on the other side that she sacrificed herself? No, she wasn't that stupid. Maybe she wanted to provoke her family. Thomas had said they worked for Wicked, maybe it was her way of seeing if they would let her die for the sake of their experiment. But what about them? How could she do that to them? To Newt? Minho turned to look at Newt, standing right next to him.

Newt felt like he couldn't breathe. His stomach had dropped, and he was convinced his heart had stopped beating. Lily. His Lily. She had thrown herself in front of Thomas in a dumb, foolish move, and he hated her for it. But he hated himself more.

He hated himself because if he had held her a little tighter against his chest, she wouldn't have done it. He hated himself because he didn't jump on the Griever to save her. He hated himself because he hadn't told her how much he needed her, how much loved her before they threw themselves in the Griever's face, minutes ago. And now he would never get to tell her.

The tunnel suddenly closed in front of them, and the Gladers shouted, startled by the sudden darkness. As if he was coming out of a trance, Newt threw himself against the metallic door, punching and kicking and shouting Lily's name. A single tear fell down Minho's cheek as he wrapped his arms around his friend, pulling him away from the metallic door. Newt resisted for a second, but finally gave up, collapsing into Minho's arms. Minho stood there, holding his friend against his chest, his hands holding his wrists to keep him from punching the door again. Newt screamed her name again, and kept repeating it, his voice getting quieter each time he said it, until he was whispering it.

Thomas shared a look with Minho, and turned at the others. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness, and he could see that the others were almost all looking down at their feet. He heard a muffled cry, and turned to see Teresa hugging Chuck from behind, and the kid looked at Newt.

Chuck pushed himself from Teresa and walked over to Minho and Newt, pushing the other boys in order to get to them. He put a hand on Newt's arm, and Newt slowly looked down at him, pulling himself away from Minho. He realized that the kid had been crying, and he held back his own tears, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Maybe the Griever hasn't killed her," Chuck whispered, and Newt felt his heart ache. He forced himself to smile at the kid.

"Maybe not. Maybe she'll find her way back to the Glade," Newt said, not believing one word of it. Chuck wiped his tears away and smiled. A door behind them creaked opened as Teresa pushed it, and they all looked at each other, before slowly walking towards it. Thomas put a hand on Newt's shoulder, and the blonde boy turned around.

"I'm sorry," Thomas whispered, his voice breaking. Newt shook his head, mumbling something along the line of 'not your fault', and they all carefully walked out of the tunnel.

..........................

There you have it! I am very proud of this story and I am very happy to see that so many people were interested in it and read it! A big shoutout to my friend lilmissmoony for reading me and correcting me as I was writting it. Also, thanks to Ravennight184 for voting on my chapters week after week, it means a lot to me. And a last thank you to everyone who put my story in their reading list, you guys are awesome. 

I'm probably going to edit this story soon, before starting anything else, since I am bit low on inspiration right now. Keep sharing this story, love you all!

~Laue