FOREVER. newt

five. the banishment

"He was unconscious." I assure him, placing the blood in a container and hiding it in one of the shelves in the hut. "Plus, it doesn't really matter. I couldn't find anything important. The platelets are fragments of blood are very small, I need a microscope or something like that to work with this."

"You know..." Newt starts, smile on his face. "You really are brilliant, Nini."

—

"He kept on telling me it's my fault. Then he added that it's your fault, too." I explain to Thomas what happened to me while Ben tried to kill me. It took me a few hours to realize it, but then I remembered; I was hearing Thomas' name in my dream. Now Ben blaming everything on me and him— this has got to be related to everything going on.

"How could this be our fault?" Thomas asks, clearly as confused as me. I only shrug in response; after all, I was just like him when I got sent up in here. Nothing came to my mind when I tried to think of my past.

"I don't know, Thomas."

The two of us walked silently, still processing the events of yesterday. It seemed like Thomas, as usual, had a thousand questions on his mind, but he kept his mouth shut.

We found Newt on the edge of the deadheads chopping away at some wood. Chuck was there, too, carving his own toy. There was a large fallen tree next to them, so I sat on it beside Chuck, with Thomas following after me slightly.

"But why would Alby go into the maze? I mean, he's not a runner." Thomas wondered, his eyes on Newt who was busy  hacking the wood. My eyes widened slightly at the large knife— one wrong miss and he was dead.

Newt stopped a second to look at Thomas. "Things are different now. Alby went to retrace Ben's footsteps before sundown. Are you gonna help?"

Ignoring that, Thomas scoffed, "Okay, so he's gunna go back to where Ben was just stung—"

"Alby knows what he's doing, alright?" Newt interrupted, clearly on edge as he gestured with his machete. "He knows better than any of us."

"What does that mean?" Thomas questions, and I couldn't help but be impressed at how much questions he can throw.

Newt stopped his work again, scratching at the back of his head like he was debating with himself. Finally, he said, "Alright. It's like you've heard, yeah? Every month the box sends up a new arrival. Alby was first, right? He had to spend a whole month in the Glade alone." Newt continued hacked away at wood. "I mean, it can't have been easy. But when those other boys started coming up, one after the other, he saw the truth. And he learned that the most important thing is that we all have each other. Because we're all in this together."

"Careful with that machete, Newt." I said calmly, my eyes trailing to the giant knife of his hand. My eyes trailed off to the kid beside me, who was carving wood silently. "You too, Chuck. Careful."

—

"Eyes off the shirt, dumbass."

The sky turned a dark grey, bringing along with it heavy rainfall. Since I was in the middle of the Glade, walking around the grass in an attempt to calm myself down, which caused me to not run for cover on time.

Now here I was, my white shirt sticking to my body, completely soaked. Even now that the rain had already stopped and that the sun shined, I still could feel a few people look at me despite the problem we were having right now.

Everyone was staring at the maze, all equally nervous. Alby, Minho, and Jisung were supposed to be back before lunch; and now the maze doors were almost closing and they were nowhere to be seen just yet. Maybe they were just late. I stood with Newt at the forefront and I let my eyes wander around what little I could see. It still didn't look that bad.

The gears started to turn and an air of sadness loomed over everyone. Thomas sighed, "Come on, guys. Can't we send someone after them?"

"That's against the rules," Gally said, crouched down with his eyes stuck on the entrance. "Either they make it back or they don't."

"We can't risk losing anyone else," Newt said.

Then I realized something. Jisung was the only person who's survived the maze for a night; and he seemed like he really didn't like to talk about it. Guilt started to flood me although I knew that none of this was my fault— if Jisung didn't make it out, he'd have to relieve everything again.

The wind started up and I shielded my face from the debris. As the walls started to close, panic set in everyone.

In the distance, I could see three bodies forming. "There!" I yelled, hope starting to form. Minho grunted loudly, him and Jisung dragging Alby down the ground. Alby was hurt or unconscious because he wasn't even moving, but Minho was stumbling about, while Jisung tried his best to drag the bigger boy.

As the walls continued to close, everyone yelled encouraging words to entice Minho and Jisung to make it through.

Alby fell to the ground and Jisung and Minho tried to drag him that way, but it seemed like this had just made things harder for them. Then he gave up, looking at us through the ever-slimming opening.

"They're not gunna make it." Newt realized.

I shook my head violently, looking at the two boys. "Come on! You guys can do it! Hurry up!"

"You gotta leave him!" Gally screamed.

The two of them were so close. So close— only a few meters away. The fickle of hope was starting to disappear as I realized that Newt was right; they wouldn't make it.

Everything happened so fast. When the walls were only a few inches from closing Thomas suddenly darted forward to go in the maze. Although both me and Newt tried to stop him from going in, he was strong— way stronger, and soon the Glade was left in silence when the maze doors fully closed; Alby, Minho, Jisung, and Thomas all in the maze.

Fuck.