The Glader Girl | ✓

CH21: A Bold Move Like Tony Stark's

Suddenly it feels like I can't breathe. "No. No, no, no, no, no!", I say to no one in particular. "It wasn't his fault, he was stung!", I try to reason.

"The council of keepers will have a meeting to talk about this", Minho tells me. "No Glader has ever gotten away with such a thing. Stung or not."

"I was the one he attacked, and I don't want him to get banished, doesn't that account for something?", I ask desperately. "I don't want them to banish him Minho", I say weakly.

"And you don't think I want the same?", his voice wasn't harsh or snappy but soft and kind. Like he actually wanted to try.

Then something clicked in my head. "Minho, you're a keeper aren't you? You're on the council?", I ask.

"Yeah"

"Then you can stop Alex from getting banished!", I exclaim. "Or at least you could try."

"I will try, Em, but they usually take a vote on such a thing."

"Is there anything I can do?", I ask hopefully.

"No, Em. Just leave this one to us", he looked wary, so I didn't push it.

"I'm sorry, Min", I say quietly.

"Why are you sorry?", he asks, his eyebrows pulling down in confusion.

"If I wasn't in the deadheads Alex wouldn't have attacked me, and your friend wouldn't have been about to get banished."

He shook his head furiously. He looked a little angry. I braced myself for an outburst, but he just hugged me again. Gentler this time. A kind of hug that made my skin tingle. "Don't you dare think of this as your fault. It's no one's fault", he said fiercely.

"Okay", I nod against him.

"He's probably better off getting banished than living in the Glade anyway. Who knows what we'll find when we get out of here. For all we know, it could worse than this place", he sounded impossibly bitter.

Minho p.o.v

"He's probably better off getting banished than living in the Glade anyway. Who knows what we'll find when we get out of here. For all we know, it could worse than this place", even after all the torture and struggle we've been through, how would it feel to have our hopes crushed after we finally get out of here? It would crush us. To us, loss of hope would seem worse than death.

After all, it's all we have to cling on to.

To everyone, this question must seem to have an obvious answer, but Millie was asking the right questions.

"I don't know", I chuckles bitterly. "What does that say about me?", I inquire, looking at her.

She wasn't pretty or cute. She never was. She was plain beautiful.

"It means you're scared", I says plainly, but softly. "You're scared of what you'll find outside this place. You're scared that you may never find the familiarity of this place outside it. But above all, I think that you're scared of being disappointed. Disappointed that after so much struggle to get out of this place, the outside world may- for all we know -be worse than this one.

"You're scared of change, Min. Everyone is. It's what makes you human. And it's a reminder, that even after all the torture, pain and hopeless situations you've been through.... You haven't lost your humanity."

She was smart too. She always told me what was buried deep inside me, but unknown to even my own self.

Now, I realize that I'm so lucky. Everyone has only one thing to cling on to- hope. Whereas I have two.

I have Millie.

I could never explain how she changed everything for me, since the moment she stepped out of that box. It's something that scares me. The fact that a person could change so much just over a span of days.

I could never tell how I felt, So, I decided to show her instead.

At this moment I don't care about who's watching or what's about to happen. I don't care about anything except one thing.

So, I bring my lips down onto hers and kiss her with all I have.

_________________________________

Finally.

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Lots of Love,

-Everleigh