The Destroyed Girl

Chapter 6: Mask

MINHO'S POV
She hid it well. Really. When I first saw her face, she hid it. Then over time she let it show, and all that pain in her eyes... I wonder how she deals with it. It's more than anything I could've handled.

She hid it from Newt and Thomas as well. Put on that confident, guarded and secure expression. She showed no trace of her pain, anger, sadness, longing or loneliness. She opened up to me a bit but she still kept the most darkest parts of her life hidden. She doesn't talk about the scar on her face, her past, her Father or her reasons to want a cure. Or even the story behind the scars on her wrists.

But just for a moment, when we saw the girls, she let it show, for simply a second, before covering it up. And even in her eyes it doesn't show everything.

"You okay?" I ask Rhea, who stands at the edge of the short mountain. It overlooks the rest of our small camp and you can see the sunset clearly here.

"I want to be alone," Rhea says, her voice carefully covering her ongoing sadness. Her tone has no harshness to it, just longing.

"Yeah, Okay sure. Just... tell me if you need anything, okay?" I say.

"Yeah. Thanks," She replies, her back still towards me. I realise that she doesn't have her hood on.

"Okay."

"Minho, meet me later at the cave. We need to talk. I've got something in mind."

"Okay. Yeah. See you."

I go down the mountain.

SONYA'S POV
Newt and I walk around the camp, far enough that no one would hear us or bother us, though.

"So..." Newt starts.

"Newt, you're like a big Brother to me. So you're gonna be honest, okay?" I say, going straight to the point. "Do you like Rhea?"

Newt rubs the back of his neck, what he does when he's feeling uncomfortable. His eyes show sadness and yet longing.

"Is it honest if I say I don't know?" He asks, sounding unsure.

I bite my lower lip and look up at him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah. Cause I think you really don't. But you need to figure things out, Newt. Soon."

That's when we hear the voices.

"It's suicide."

"Either way it is. We've got no choice. They probably put damn trackers in us! They won't risk losing us again! Don't you remember what they said? We're their honoured guest. They must have had a reason for saying that."

I recognise the two voices immediately. Minho and Rhea, coming from a cave.

"Rhea, they tortured us in there. You can't seriously want to go back."

"I do," Rhea says stubbornly. "Ava wouldn't kill me, you know that. I can't just stand around here and let them come after us, because she won't hesitate to kill everyone else here. I need to go back."

Newt's eyes widen and I pull him to one side, a finger on my lips as we listen to their conversation.

"Rhea, they'll break your shucking mind," Minho says hoarsely. "They came damn well to doing just that to us when we were there. What I saw in those simulations..."

"I know," Rhea says. "Trust me Minho, I know. But if I can get a cure out of his, it'll be worth it. And I have more than one think to settle at WICKED."

Silence for a moment, and then Minho says, "You're talking about Ava."

"I'm going to kill her," Rhea's voice darkens. "When it's all over, I'll kill her."

"Is it because of what she did?"

"Yeah," Rhea's voice is cold. "And for everything else. Should have strangled her to death the other time. Or shot her."

"You'll get your chance. But don't you think this is a bit extreme?" Minho says.

"Wasn't the Maze?" Rhea counters.

"Jeez, Rhea, I can't believe how you must have felt," Minho says.

"I don't need you to sympathise with me, Minho. I just need you to help me," says Rhea. "I know why you're worried. When they put us through those simulations, at least we had each other. But I'm not gonna drag anyone else into this mess. WICKED is my family's work, and the maze was a creation of my family. I intend to bring it down."

"Rhea, they'll tear you apart."

"This world is dying Minho. I can't just run away from that fact," Rhea says, and there's an odd note to her voice. "My family started all of this to help people, and they got twisted along the way. Maybe I can still do that. I have to try."

I spare a glance at Newt, see the hard look in his eyes, mixed with the pain and desperate longing.

"Rhea-"

Newt turns around and leaves, as if he can't bear to hear Rhea talk about sacrificing herself any more. I follow him, swallowing to get rid of the lump in my throat.

"Newt-"

"I'm fine. I Just... I want to be alone."

"We don't know what they were really talking about," I try, knowing it's a hopeless cause.

"They made it bloody clear", he says harshly.

"Maybe they were just saying it for the fun of it."

"Rhea doesn't say things for the fun of it. And it sounded very real."

"Maybe it wasn't her."

"It was definitely her. Just go, Sonya."

And so I do, feeling terrible.