A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 53

Cally's pov

A dead Griever... I heard Minho say it, but it took some time before I realized what he had said. There was a short discussion after it to make sure Minho wasn't messing with us, but he really wasn't. Afterward, I tried to remember if this had happened in the movie, but I just couldn't remember. Ever since I had come back up from the box, it was like my memories were getting blurrier. Remembering things was getting harder, and it was driving me crazy! I told Ezra and Newt, but they didn't seem concerned, as if it was normal, but I knew it wasn't.
     Even though it troubled me a lot, right now, it was barely on my mind. The Keepers have had a Gathering today about what to do with Ben. After he had gone crazy because of the Changing and had tried to kill Thomas, it hadn't looked good for him. And unfortunately, the Keepers had come to a unanimous decision to Banish him.
     The idea alone already scared me. When I first arrived in the Glade and the Keepers had started talking about Banishing me, I had panicked. I started lying, which eventually saved me from being Banished, but it had brought a lot of other problems with it.
     At the moment, I was sitting in my room, together with Bark. Bark had noticed my troubled state of mind and was trying to comfort me by licking my face and constantly walking around me, pressing her head against my body.
     I knew all the Gladers were supposed to be by Ben's Banishing, but I didn't want to be there. The sun was going down, and I could hear the noises of Gladers making their way to the outside of the Homestead.
     There was a knock on my door, making me look up to the wooden thing. "Who is it?" I shouted slightly to make myself clear to the other side of the wall.
     "Newt, can I come it?" I heard his voice come from the other side.
     "Yeah, come in!" A moment later, the door opened to reveal my blonde friend. He wasn't smiling, he looked troubled, it was clear to me that he didn't like what was about to happen either.
     "Com'n, Cals, let's go." He just said, knowing I knew what he meant.
     But I shook my head, "I told you, I'm not coming."
     Newt sighed, "Everyone's got to be there, that includes you."
     I turned my gaze back to Bark, who was now lying on my lap with her head. "I am not going to watch while Ben is getting sent to his death."
     It was quiet for some time, before I noticed Newt sitting down beside me. "I get ya don't like this. I-"
     "Understatement," I interrupted him.
     He took a breath to stay calm and continued, "I don't like it either. But ya don't have to do anythin'. Just be there, ya don't have to look, you don't have to put him in the Maze, that's the job of the Keepers. You only have to be there."
     I stared at Bark, thinking about his words, "Maybe I don't have to put him in the Maze... but watching him being put in there... at night.... with the Grievers and doing nothing about it... isn't that just the same thing as killing him myself?"
     Newt didn't react for some time, then he stood up and stretched out his hand for me to take. "You don't have to look. Just stand with the crowd. Could you do that for me? Just be there?"
     Now I looked up at him, he looked sad, really sad. Then I realized that he is one of them. Maybe he's not a Keeper, but as Second-in-Command, he had to vote, so he also had to banish Ben together with the others. I sighed, took his hand, and stood up, "Fine. But only for you 'cause you're my best friend and you can't use that anymore for at least two weeks."
     Newt smiled weakly at me, "Let's go." He said as he started walking towards the exit of the Homestead, dragging me along and with Bark following us.
     We were all gathering by the East Door. I was one of the last once to join the rest of the Gladers. Everyone who was there was either whispering to each other or didn't say a word. The tension was hanging in the air, and it made me even more nervous.
     It took some time before the Runners came back out of the Maze, one by one making their way into the Map-room. Minho was the first to walk back out again. Newt had been standing beside me, still holding my hand when he noticed Minho walking out of the Map-room.
     "I gotta go," he said softly as he wanted to walk away. When I felt him let go of my hand, I tightened my grip, making him look at me, "Cals I nee-" he stopped talking when I hugged him.
     "It'll be okay," I said softly before letting go of the hug and trying to smile reassuringly at him. He returned a smile, a sad one, but still a smile, before walking away from me. I watched him walk away before turning my attention to Bark, who was standing beside me. I knelt down beside the brown lab and started petting her, not really knowing what else to do. Bark looked at me with her big brown eyes, waking her tail slightly from left to right. I noticed Bark got distracted by something behind me, so I turned around to see Ezra walking towards us.
     "Howdy, Sister," he said cheery when I had turned around.
     "Why are you so happy?" I asked, not bothering to greet him first.
     "I'm not, actually, but I have no fucking clue what's going on. I keep hearing people say some guy is getting banished. What the hell does that even mean?"
     I sighed, great, now I have to explain it to him. I thought before opening my mouth, "they're putting Ben inside the Maze, right before the doors close."
     The moment my words sunk in I could see Ezra's face change. "You mean, they're gonna put that Ben guy inside the death trap together with the killing machines?" I nodded to confirm my brother's statement. "That's fucked up..."
     I scoffed at his statement and mumbled, "tell me about it."
     "Bring him out!" I heard Alby shout, it startled me and almost jumped back, bumping against Ezra's chest. He didn't tease me for it, he just lay his hand on my shoulder. I was standing a few feet away from Alby, and so was Thomas. We locked eyes for a second, but we didn't say anything. Then my eyes fell on Ben.
     Three big Gladers were dragging him on the ground. His clothes were torn and barely still hanging on his body, his head was for most part covered in a bandage with blood slightly seeping through. He was struggling against the hold of the three Gladers with all of his power and I could see the terror in his eyes.
     "Newt, bring the pole," Alby ordered but I didn't look away from Ben. The Gladers that were serving as guards dragged Ben to the crowd of Gladers while Ben still was trying to get away. Once they reached the crowd, the guards pulled him on his feet, right in front of Alby. Ben was looking at the ground, avoiding everyone's eyes.
     "You brought this on yourself Ben," Alby said while he shook his head. Alby turned his head to look behind Ben, I followed his gaze to see Newt coming out of the tool shack holding multiple aluminium poles that he connected to each other at the ends. Forming one,  long aluminium pole from around twenty feet. I didn't know what they were going to do with it, but it gave me a bad feeling. The feeling got worse when Newt took something else from the shack. It took me some time to realize what it was, but as he got closer while the pole made a metallic, scraping sound on the stone ground, I recognized it. It was some sort of collar.
     I wanted to look away as Alby put the collar around Ben's neck, but I couldn't move. I saw tears in Ben's eyes as he looked at Alby, snot coming out of his nose. "Please, Alby," he pleaded with a shaking voice. It hurt to see Ben this way, a few months ago he had stood in front of me, all confident and shamelessly flirting with me. I hated it, but he didn't deserve this. No one did.
     "I swear I was just sick in the head from the Changing." Ben continued, "I never would've killed him- just lost my mind for a second. Please, Alby, please." My heart broke when I heard his words, I knew what had happened to him. I knew how it felt. It had happened to me too after I got stung, I had freaked out. Not in control over my body or actions. This wasn't right. I knew this wasn't right, it wasn't his fault, but I couldn't do anything as I watched Alby connect the pole to the collar around Ben's neck and let the aluminium thing slid through his fingers until he had reached the end of it, twenty feet away from Ben.
     Then, Alby spoke up, his loud voice sending shivers down my spine. "Ben of the Runners, you've been sentenced to Banishment for the attempted murder of Thomas the Newbie. The Keepers have spoken, and their word ain't changing. And you ain't coming back. Ever." He took a long pause before continuing, "Keepers, take your place on the Banishing Pole."
     I watched as one by one all the Keepers came walking out of the crowd and took their place holding the Pole between Alby and Ben. Everyone fell completely silent, no one said a word, the only sound there was, was from Ben's muffled sobs. The silence was broken when Ben started to plead for help.
     "Please," he started, "pllleeeeeease! Sombody, help me! You can't do this to me!"
     "Shut up!" Alby roared from behind, making me wince. Only Ben ignored Alby and continued while he pulled on the leather collar around his neck that prevented him from looking behind him at the Keepers. "Someone help me! Help me! Please!" Ben looked around him, begging with his eyes, everyone looked away and I saw Thomas stepping behind a taller Glader to avoid confrontation.
     The moment Ben's eyes met mine, I couldn't move. I couldn't take the panic, sadness and desperation in his eyes, but I couldn't look away. It was like I was frozen on the spot.
     "Cally," Ben started, the way Ben said my name with his broken voice scared me. "Don't let them do this. Please! Please help me! You know this is wrong, you can stop it! Please Cally!" Tears started to run down my face, I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn't know what. "Cally, please!"
     "Shut up!" Alby shouted again. "If we let Shanks like you get away with this stuff, we never would've survived this long. Keepers, get ready."
     "No, no, no, no, no," Ben continued, half under his breath, breaking eye contact with me. "I swear I'll do anything! I swear I'll never do it again! Pllllleeeee-"
     Ben't screaming got cut off by the rumbling crack of the West door starting to close. The sparks came out from the places the giant wall moved over the ground. The only thing that could be heard over the scraping sound was Alby's voice, "Keepers, now!" He commended and almost immediately Ben's head snapped back while the Keepers pushed the collar forwards. Ben had started screaming and yelling. Begging for mercy. Saying he would do anything if he wouldn't get Banished.
     But it didn't matter. Ben let himself drop to the ground in an attempt to stop getting pushed into the Maze, but the Keeper in front of the line pulled him back on his feet and they continued pushing. The doors were seconds from closing when they got Ben inside the Maze, the first Keeper somehow loosened the pole from the collar and they pulled the pole back, less then a second before the doors closed. The last thing I could hear was a deafening, almost inhuman scream from Ben.
     It was silent. No one said anything. No one moved an inch for a solid 2 minutes.
     People started to move again, the Keepers took the pole apart while most of the Gladers started to walk away. But I didn't. I couldn't bring myself to move, I could feel the tears stinging inside my eyes and rolling down my face. I knew I was shaking, but I couldn't get control over myself.
 

   You should've done something a voice in my head spoke to me.

     You should've helped him.

                                       He didn't deserve this

               It wasn't his fault
You could've stopped it
 

   "Cally?" I heard my brother from beside me, but I didn't react or move, still staring at the now closed door. "Cally, are you okay?" Ezra asked. When I didn't react again, he came standing in front of me, blocking me from seeing the door and making me look up at him, snapping out of my trail of thoughts.

     "No," I whispered, my voice shaking as much as my body. Ezra nodded and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in a hug. I buried my face in his chest as I accepted the contact.
     "It's okay," Ezra told me in a hushed voice, "it's all gonna be okay."
     Took a deep breath before answering with my voice still shaking, "No.... i- it's not... he's g- gonna die.... the- they're gonna k- kill him. It's.... it's n- not okay."
     I felt Ezra sigh, "I know it's not, but it is what it is. We can't change it."

~.~.~

Edited: 16/12/2020