Sapphire Stones

Uh oh. I feel a storm brewing⛈

"Venus." Someone whispers, shaking me awake. I open my tired eyes, rubbing the sleep from them to see Minho crouched down in front of me. He tilts his head, a concerned look on his face. I groan, pushing my back off the wall before running a hand through my tangled hair. I look up at Minho, my eyes half closed.

"What?" I ask softly, adjusting myself so that I'm sitting against the stone behind me again. 

"You been here all night?" He asks, sitting down next to me. He looks tired too. Exhausted, in fact. 

I nod, looking up at the sky. The sun hasn't risen yet, but the sky is beginning to get lighter.

"You should probably get your hand fixed." Minho says, nodding towards my hand.

"I'm fine." I mutter. Minho sighs, looking over at me. I meet his eyes.

"Alby's going out to the Maze today. We're gonna try to retrace Ben's footsteps."

"To see if he's alive?" I ask, a small bit of hope filling my body. Minho nods, closing his eyes. I see a tear trickle down his cheek as he leans his head against the stone behind him. "You don't think he is..." I mutter.

Minho nods, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. It's strange to see him like this. We've lost boys before, but it's never affected Minho like this before. He looks broken this time. I doubt I look much better.

"It hurts, V." He says softly, his voice cracking.

"I know." I whisper, interlocking our hands together at our sides. "It hurts me too."

I hear a scratching noise beside me and look to my other side, seeing Bark scratching at the doors to the Maze. Pain fills my body as I look down at the small dog. I reach my free hand out, running a hand down the dog's back.

He looks over at me, his tail wagging as he looks from me to the door. I sadly shake my head, letting the dog climb into my lap. Bark whines, his tail wagging a little. 

"He's gone, Bark. He's not coming back." I whisper, tears trickling down my cheeks as I run my hand through his fur. The dog whines some more, but his tail stops wagging. Instead, he lays his head down on my lap.

I see the sun beginning to rise, a loud sound echoing through the Glade. I stand up, holding Bark close to my chest with one hand and the other holding tightly to Minho's hand.

The doors begin opening just as Alby walks over to us. He throws Minho a backpack, one already around his shoulders.

"Ready?" Alby asks shortly, glancing down at me before quickly returning his attention back to Minho.

"Yup." Minho replies. Alby nods. Minho puts the straps of the backpack around his shoulders before turning to me and pulling me into a hug, being careful to not crush Bark between us. 

He doesn't say anything to me and I don't say anything to him. Nothing needs to be said. Minho presses a kiss to the top of my head before turning to Alby.

"Let's go." He says. Without another word, Alby and Minho run into the Maze, followed by the rest of the Runners. 

I walk into the Deadheads, situating myself down by the base of my tree. I look up, seeing the wooden platform Gally built for me. The one he built when everything was okay.

I sigh, turning my attention back to Bark. He's still whining, so I run my hand softly through his fur once more. He doesn't stop whining. I know why, too.

He misses Ben. He wants Ben back.

"Me too, Bark." I whisper. "Me too."

🪐🪐🪐

"Figured I'd find you here." I hear someone say. I look up to see Gally standing a little ways away from me. I look away. I don't know how long I've been sitting here, hiding from the rest of the Glade. All I know is that a significant amount of time has passed since Minho and Alby left.

"Go away." I snap. I'm not ready to face him yet. All I can see when I look at him is the look in his eyes when he pushed Ben into the Maze for good. He had no remorse, and I can see that he still feels the same. He's not sorry for what he did.

"It had to be done, Venus." Gally says, taking a step towards me.

"I said go away."

"I couldn't risk him hurting anyone. Especially not you." I sigh angrily, looking up at him. He's walking over to me, crouching down in front of me. He reaches a hand out, taking my injured one in his still wrapped one. "You're too important to me."

I rip my hand out of his, looking up at him in disgust. He looks taken aback.

"Get the fuck away from me." I spit, my voice dangerously low. I'm not in the mood for sweet talk. "You expect me to just forget about the fact that you sent my best friend to his fucking death?" I snap.

"It was our only choice. He was stung. The rules state that-"

"Here we go again with the fucking rules!" I shout, jumping to my feet. The sudden movement startles Bark, who was sitting right beside me. Gally stands up slowly, looming over me. "The rules aren't the only things that matter!"

"Like hell they aren't! They're what keep this place in order! Without the rules, there would be no order! Without order, all we'd do is run around like a bunch of fucking lab rats just waiting to be killed!"

"We already are, Gally!" I shout, running my hands angrily through my hair. I don't understand how he doesn't see that all we are are a bunch of lab rats waiting to be killed. "We don't belong here! This isn't our home!"

"It's the only home we've got!" He shouts back, his fists curled at his sides. "It's the only home I've got! It's safe! It has everything we need! Why the hell would I leave the only true home I've ever known?!"

He's right. It's the only safe place he's ever been. It's his home. 

But it isn't mine.

"We could start over though, Gally! We could have a normal life! I can't live here forever! You know that! You've known that for a long time! I can't just stay here forever!"

Gally's about to say something when a flash of light streaks across the sky, followed by a low, rolling boom. We both look up at the sky to see dark, angry looking clouds moving towards us at a fast pace.

We share a look of confusion and worry before running towards the main area of the Glade, our previous argument forgotten.

There's something much worse than a disagreement of ours coming our way. Something bigger.

I can already feel a storm of anticipation and fear brewing inside of me.