𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙈𝘼𝙕𝙀 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙉𝙀𝙍 ━ 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘰

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓

━ CHAPTER FOUR

KATHERINE opened her eyes slowly. A dull ache pounded behind her eyes, making her groan. The girl glanced around the room. She could tell she was in the medical room in homestead even though she felt exhausted and drowsy. 

"You're up." A voice said from the corner of the room. Her head snapped in the direction and she saw Minho. Her eyebrows strung together in confusion. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, wincing as she did so. 

The girl glanced at her aching wrist. It was bandaged, a tiny spot of red showing through, her other wrist had a faint bruise around it. "What, um. What happened?" She stuttered looking over to the Asian, confusion washed over her features. 

Minho walked around her bed and sat in the chair beside the bed. "Ryan got out of homestead and attacked you. You hit your head pretty hard and passed out. You've been asleep all night, it's almost dinner." He explained, keeping it short. She nodded slowly, surprised at how long she slept for. 

"Minho! It's time!" A voice, Ably as Katherine recognized it as, called from downstairs. Minho looked at the door before glancing back to the girl. 

"Ok! Be right there!" He called back. Katherine winced at the volume of his voice making her aching head worse. "Sorry, princess. Gotta go." The teen stood up and opened the door. Katherine, immediately got out of bed, giving her a head rush and she stumbled towards the door holding her head. 

She followed Minho down the hallway. "Wait! Minho, what's going on?" She called. Minho turned and sighed. 

"Katherine, go back to bed." He groaned. She shook her head, which was a mistake. The girl hissed as her head began to pound harder. As if a hammer was banging against her skull. 

"I'm going with you." The brunette insisted. Minho rolled his eyes and continued walking to the stairs. "Tell me what's going on." She was very curious and Minho was getting annoyed. He began walking down the stairs, Katherine following. She stumbled almost falling down the stairs. Minho wrapped his arms around her waist to prevent her from falling. 

"See, this is why you should go back to bed." He groaned. Minho unwrapped one arm and helped her down the stairs. He let go as soon as they were on ground level. Katherine was able to keep up with the runner, pushing the pain to the back of her mind. 

Minho took off in the direction of the slammer as the girl slowed seeing everyone crowded around the north doors. The keepers held large posts with straight ends as the other gladers had sharp-pointed, thinner sticks. They were waiting for something. 

The girl walked over to the crowd, they all had grim expressions on their faces. Ryan's screams and pleads could be heard from behind her. She saw Minho pulling Ryan by the rope that tied his hands behind his head. 

Minho shoved Ryan into the center of the crowd. The Asian looked at Ably waiting for his command. "Do it, Minho." He nodded with a painful expression. The runner cut the ropes and grabbed a small bag filled with something that the girl didn't know. 

The teen threw a bag into the maze, making the doors rumble and they began closing. Katherine realized what they were doing. A pained expression washed over her face as Ryan called for Minho. He locked eyes with the girl and cried for her. "Katherine, please! Help me! Don't let them banish me!" He tried to walk to her but the gladers with the pointed sticks prevented him from reaching the girl. 

Alby shouted something and the keepers lowered their sticks and began closing in on the sick boy.  he began to back up by force and continued to yell. Katherine watched, her eyes glossing over. They pushed him between the closing walls and he had no choice but to back up into the maze. 

     his vocal cords. Everyone had grim faces. Alby looked around at the teens with a sad expression. "He belongs to the maze now." He said before walking away, leaning the stick up against the stone doors, everyone else following his actions. 

The others followed Alby walking past the girl, who stood looking at the doors, where Ryan was on the other side most likely crying and only getting worse. She felt the guilt creep into her chest. 

Katherine was the only one left at the doors, she walked up to it and placed her hand on it, silently saying goodbye to the teen boy on the other side. The brunette backed up before spinning on her heel and walked towards where all the boys slept. 

The girl quickly found Chuck who sat on his hammock, he couldn't watch Ryan being banished so he stayed over at the sleeping quarters. She sat beside him, both staying silent. Katherine rubbed her bruised wrist gently, her headache coming back. 

"Katherine, can I talk to you?" Alby asked quietly. The said girl looked up and nodded. Alby nodded in the direction he was going to walk in, silently telling the brunette to follow him. She stood up and followed Alby. 

They walked to the lookout and Alby began climbing, Katherine following suit. Once they made it to the top, Alby walked to the railing and leaned against it looking out to the Glade. "What did Ryan say to you? When he attacked you." Alby asked not making eye contact with the girl. 

She glanced at the dark-skinned boy before looking over the Glade as well, "He said it was my fault. I don't know what for. But he just... he just yelled in my face, screaming that it was my fault." She responded quickly, her voice quivering. The teen nodded. 

"It had to be done. He was dangerous." Alby sighed, his head drooping down to look at his hands. Katherine looked at him. She placed her hand in his back, trying to comfort the boy. 

"I know. It was hard, but you had to do what you had to do." She felt horrible, and she couldn't imagine how all the others felt since they had known him a lot longer than Katherine did. "I'm so  sorry, Alby." She walked closer to him, rubbing circles on his back. 

Alby sucked in a breath before standing up straight. He looked at Katherine with a blank face and gave a slight nod before climbing back down. Katherine kept her eyes on where Alby disappeared to for a few seconds before blinking a few times and sighed. 

The girl turned to walls, thinking about how she was never going to see Ryan again. The boy was trapped out there with those monsters Chuck had told her about. She didn't like thinking about that sweet boy who was young, stuck out there with literal monsters. She also couldn't stop thinking about what he said to her. 

Katherine kept repeating his words in her head. Saying it was her fault. What did Ryan mean by it was her fault? What did she do? Katherine was dying to find out, and she didn't know how to figure it out.