The maze

Maze

"Did anyone try climbing to the top?" Thomas asked. Newt and I were spending the day gardening with Thomas and he wouldn't stop asking questions.
"Tried it, the ivy don't go all the way up. And besides where are you gonna go from there?" Newt replied.
"What about the box, next time it comes up-"
"No we've tried that," Newt interrupted, "the box won't go down with someone in it."
"What if we-" this time it was me who stopped him.
"We've tried everything twice. Anything you can think of. So shut up!" I snapped at him really annoyed. Newt touched my arm instantly making me calm down.
"The only way out is through the maze," he explained. An idea came to my head to shut him up completely.
"Be helpful, pick us up some more fertiliser please," I threw a bucket at him and smirked at myself when he left. I heard Newt silently chuckle to himself.
"What?" I asked.
"You're cute when you're  annoyed," he stated. I felt a blush creep up onto my cheeks. After a while I realised Thomas was taking unusually long.
"Hey Newt, where's Tho-" I was cut off by a loud scream coming from the woods ahead of us. Thomas came running towards screaming. Not long after Ben appeared behind him and grabbed Thomas's leg making them both tumble to the ground. This didn't stop him. Ben lunged at Thomas and climbed onto him. We all ran towards them while Thomas screamed wildly. Newt approached Ben and hit him across the head with some kind of stick, I too focused on Thomas to see what it really was, hard enough to knock him off but not hard enough to knock him out. Newt and Alby held him down as he struggled to get up.
"What the hell happened?!" Frypan shouted turning to Thomas for a split second before focusing on Ben.
"He just attacked me!" Thomas shouted before panting. More and more boys crowded around us to see what was going on until the entire glade had there eyes on Ben.
"No. No," he whispered when he saw Alby make his way to the three boys on the ground.
"Alright lift his shirt," he demanded. Once his shirt was lifted I dug my head in Minho's chest fighting the urge to cry as I saw his purple veins spreading across his stomach. Even with my head pressed against Minho's chest I could still hear Ben's muffled begging.
"No, no please." I forced myself to look at the dying boy going crazy in front of me.
"He's been stung," Gally said. Alby slowly got up before pointing to the pit.
"Get him in the pit." Gally and Newt struggled to get Ben up until a group of boys helped carry him. I sobbed into my best friends chest as he held me close.

When it was time almost 30 boys stood in an open circle waiting for Ben. They had large sticks in their hands and watched as Ben was forced to move near them with his hands on his head. I walked to Newt with bloodshot eyes.
"N-Newt," I cried and he pulled me close to him.
"It's okay darling, soon he'll be out of his misery and pain," he hushed me and planted a kiss on my temple.
"Go to Chuck, you don't need to watch this," I nodded and glumly walked to Chuck. I saw him with watery eyes. I instantly pulled him in for a hug knowing how close he was getting with Ben. Thomas approached us and I gave him a slight smile trying to hide how much I was dying inside.
"Alby, please. No," I heard Ben growl as he begged. I watched as Minho pushed Ben into the circle. Boys started closing in on him as the Ben sat on his hands and knees. His begs and cries echoed through the glade. Minho through a bag of Ben's stuff into the maze. A breeze came from the maze and the boys instantly lowered there sticks.
"No, please. No," Ben begged. I could tell this was too much for Chuck because he walked off to God knows where. I grabbed Thomas's arm as Ben got up and begged for his life. The boys walked forward enclosing him. He screamed as he tried to push away the sticks surrounding him. The boys didn't stop moving though, pushing him into the maze. I hid my face in Thomas's chest and soaked his shirt as the doors started closing. With one last push Ben was trapped in the maze with the Grievers. I cried into Thomas's chest until he passed me to someone else. I didn't see who it was but when I felt his warm arms wrap around me and heard his soothing voice try to calm me I knew instantly it was Newt.
"Belongs to the maze now," Alby said before walking away. Soon everyone was gone but Newt and I stayed in our position, holding onto each other as if we thought that if we let go our lives would slip away, just like Ben's. That night Gally crosses Ben's name out on our wall of names. I cried all night until the sun rose again.

I woke up to the feeling of someone shaking me. I groaned and glared at him.
"I'm sorry love but the food in the kitchen was about to finish and I can't have you starving." That's when I noticed a plate of food beside my bed.
"Thanks but I'm not hungry," I turned over so I wouldn't be facing him. He turned me back round and kept his grip on my arms to stop me from moving.
"You're eating. Yesterday was tough but you can't just starve yourself," Newt spoke in a soft tone knowing that I was slowly breaking to pieces and being harsh on my would only quicken the process. He knew it was a matter of time until I shattered to a million bits. Sighing in defeat I got up and put the plate on my lap. The feeling of Frypan's food on my tongue made me nauseous but I knew Newt was right. So I forced the food down my throat.
"I convinced Alby to give you a day off today," Newt smiled at me.
"Thanks," I smiled sheepishly and looked down. I was grateful but I knew all this would only make me feel weaker. I didn't want to feel weak. Once I finished I got up to go to the glade, Newt told me I didn't have to and tried pushing me back down onto the bed but I refused to lay on that rough thing any longer. Newt finally let me leave my hut but he didn't leave my side. All day he kept his arm around my waist and went wherever I went. The glade was extremely quite, not even Chuck spoke. Or maybe it was because of me since everyone I heard a conversation and I went to the people having it they would instantly stop.
"Newt," I whispered.
"Yes love," he mocked my voice.
"Zart looks like he could use some help, go help him," I told him.
"But-"
"I'll go with you. Just because I have a day off doesn't mean you have to be useless," he chuckled.
"You're not useless," he tried reassuring me.
"I didn't say I was," I cockily looked up in his eyes and he laughed. When he was trying to dig a tree bark out off the floor I sat on a log and played with my fingers.
"Hey Newt what's Alby doing in the maze?" Thomas sat next to me and waited his answer.
"What!" I jumped up and looked around, that's when I realised I hadn't seen Alby at all that day.
"I saw him and Minho go in this morning," Thomas explained. Newt sighed,
"We needed a new runner," he simply said not looking up from the tree bark.
"Yeah but why would Alby go in the maze? He's not a runner," Thomas asked. Newt got up and explained,
"Things are different now, he went to trace Ben's footsteps before sundown-look are you gonna help?" Newt seemed to be getting a bit annoyed now.
"So he's gonna go back to where Ben was just stu-"
"Alby knows what he's doing," Newt cut him off, "he's know better than any of us." Thomas looked down at his hands and fidgeted for a while.
"Wha-what does that mean?" Thomas asked. I sat up knowing exactly what Newt was going to say. It was my favourite story.
"It's like what you've heard, every month the box brings up and new arrival, but someone had to be first," he approached us as he carried on, " someone had to spend a whole month in the glade alone. That was Alby." Newt got back to work before finishing the story, " when those other boys started coming up Alby saw the truth and he learned that the most important thing is that we all have each other, cause we're all in this together." That last part gave me chills. Thomas looked down for a minute before he got up to help. I moved over to Chuck.
"Whatcha making there Chuck?" I asked as I watched his talented hands carve something.
"It's for my parents, if I ever meet them," I smiled at him.
"That's so cool! And thoughtful, I wish I had a heart as big as yours," he smiled at me and without warning tackled me into a hug.

I went to my hut to have a nap later that day, when I came back all the boys were crowded around the doors.
"Are they not back yet?" I asked when I reached Newt.
"They'll be back," Newt tried to be reassuring but but fear and worry in his voice didn't help. Suddenly a cold breeze hit us all and the doors slowly started moving.
"Oh no," Chuck said as he watched the doors closing. I put my arm on his shoulders and held him close.
"There!" Thomas pointed to the boys in the distance.
"Wait no somethings wrong," Newt said. Minho was carrying Alby on his back. I was the first to shout.
"Minho! Come on Minho you can make it! Minho!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. All at once the boys joined in and shouted for Minho to hurry up.
"They're not gonna make it," Minho was now dragging Alby to us. I let go of Chuck and ran forward. But something held me back and just as I was pulled back Thomas ran in.
"Thomas No!" I cried. The young boy squeezed through the tiny gap that was left and pushed himself through. The moment Thomas fell into the maze the doors slammed shut. I stood there, shocked and scared. Minho, Thomas and Alby could all die. I wanted to cry but it was like I had no tears left in my body to cry. I tried to move but my muscles weren't working and I was frozen.
"Y/N? Y/N your scaring me," Chuck shook me but I didn't move. I didn't speak.
"Chuck leave her, you can talk to her tomorrow," I heard a strong British accent speak and I knew it was Newt. But I couldn't move. I felt two arms on me, one on my back and the other on the back of my knees. I was lifted off my feet and next thing I knew I was dropped onto my hard bed. The person who carried me (Newt) got into the bed and wrapped his arm around my waist.
"Go to sleep Y/N," he said as he spooned me. But I couldn't sleep, so I lay there replaying the moment over and over in my head. All I could think was,
"They're gone."