REMEDY
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"wishing on dandelions all of the time"
• • •
"MINHO! minho, where are you?" she slowed her pace from a run to a jog, then from a jog to a walk, and then from a walk to a sitting position on the floor, her back rested on the wall and face buried in her still sticky palms. she lost everything and she didn't even know if minho was alive or not. and she might have just killed thomas with her stupidity; maybe the griever wouldn't have even noticed her if she had stayed put. and then there was the matter of alby: if he was still safe dangling from the ivy or if the beasts had got to him yet.
everything she could think of doing to help just seemed so hopeless, so futile, she felt like crying again. except she had run out of tears when she was hiding from the vicious monsters. it was all down to the creators, and it made her blood boil like a broth on a stove. she was angry. so angry, she began punching the wall beside her until her knuckle began to drip with deep, crimson blood — which didn't take very long due to how solid the stone was.
lyn wasn't sure how long she sat there for but she realised she must've somehow drifted off, since when she woke up it was already close to light again and both thomas and minho were stood looking down at her curled up figure on the floor.
"shebean?" it was the one voice she wanted to hear — needed to hear — and it made her smile with relief. she'd made it. they'd all made it through the horrifying, nerve-racking night, however unbelievable it seemed. she didn't expect to see the light of day again, yet there she was. at first the girl didn't believe her eyes, and had to pinch her shoulder just to check she wasn't deep in a dream.
thomas only smiled as she sat up, her scabbed-over hands pushing her weak upper body into a vertical position. "how did you do it?" she asked. she still didn't believe it was possible, because, like everyone always told her, no one ever survives a night in the maze.
"it was all thomas. it was incredible, really."
"no, it was minho who came up with it."
"you gave me the idea-"
"can you just get to the point?" lyn snapped, though not in a malicious manner. she was too exhausted to listen to any bickering.
"right, sorry. so when you came out of the ivy, which i'm still angry you did, by the way, thomas called for the griever to run towards him. well not really run, but... you know what i mean. then he was surrounded by them. four or five, was it? i can't remember. but anyway, one went straight for him and the smart shank dove out of its way just before it got to him. so then i realised the grievers were easy to deal with like that. they're vicious, sure — but they're dumb as dirt. i dragged thomas to the cliff, then we stood there and moved at the last second, so they went right over the edge. the last one was a bit harder, but luckily we've both got good kicks."
"but what did we do different, minho?" thomas asked, a perplexed look on his face.
"i don't know. it's kind of hard to ask a dead guy what he did wrong." in all the darkness of what was happening, that remark made lyn laugh a little — just a little. "c'mon, we need to get alby and go back to the others. doors will open soon."
the way back to alby was silent. not awkward, just silent. all three of them were only relieved they'd live to see another day.
the boy suspended from the ivy vines was fine. he looked a bit dull and expressionless, almost dead, but he was alright nevertheless. they just needed to get him the serum as soon as possible.
the doors had been open for a minute or so when they rounded the corner to the entrance corridor. most of the boys had turned and were walking away, heads hung low, until ben and chuck turned and shouted to all the others.
"it's them!"
"they're alive? how?"
"well done minho!"
"you dumb shank, thomas."
"you too, lyn!"
the walk into the glade was that of relief, shame and consolation. lyn supposed there should've been pride in the mix too, but the void where it would have been felt emptier than ever. the positive cheers made her feel somewhat better, but then again she'd still likely be punished for stepping out in the maze, breaking arguably the glade's most vital rule.
each of alby's arms was wrapped around the shoulder of either minho or thomas, and lyn, who was still shaken by the whole thing, squeezed minho's hand tightly. as soon as they reached grass again, the boys let the leader flop to the ground as clint and jeff ran towards him to take him to the medhut. newt rushed straight over to thomas while gally walked up to lyn, a variety of expressions readable on his face. resentment was certainly there, but he was obviously pleased to see her again at the same time.
chuck was predictably in awe at the older gladers' feat which they'd somehow managed to pull off.
minho recited what had happened for every glader to hear as the two boys sat receiving praise. lyn, on the other hand, only got a few hugs and several people asking if she was alright, along with numerous dirty looks and rude remarks. most boys didn't really like the fact that a girl had survived the maze and they hadn't, and the misogynistic ways of some of them was really showing in the way they dealt with the situation.
after being checked over for any injuries by clint and jeff in the med hut, lyn was free to go about her day until the following morning, when she would face the keepers and find out her fate for breaking the glade's rules. the girl wasn't feeling very confident about how many boys would oppose her and fight for her to be punished, but she felt okay knowing she was friends with a lot of the people she'd be facing in the gathering.
lyn lay down and slept for a few hours before minho knocked gently on her door. the knocking was pointless, however, as he crept through the threshold and sat on the foot of the bed before she even had the chance to give an answer.
she assumed he was unaware that she'd stirred and knew he was staring down admiringly at her like an idiot. she thought she'd drag it on a bit longer, maybe even jump up at him and scare him out of his wits.
after a minute or so, he slid off the bed slowly and knelt on the floor so his head was level with hers, then he tucked a bit of hair behind her ear and started talking to her. "hey, shebean. are you having nice dreams? i just came to tell you that i'm going to do everything, and i mean everything, i can to get those shanks in the gathering to let you off. i know the bastards who put us in here told you to go in the maze. i won't tell the boys that, but i will protect you from them. i think gally will defend you too — i can't see him doing the same for thomas since he technically still shouldn't have followed me, but i know he thinks of you like a little sister. i've spoken to frypan and winston and zart too, and they're all on your side. karl isn't, but he's close to being punished badly anyway. i nearly punched him earlier for some of the things he was saying about you, the gross shuck-face.
"i can't promise they won't decide to put you in the slammer, but they won't banish you. i won't let them. and i won't let them do anything to thomas either — but you're more important to me. i'm sorry, lyn, it's my fault about last night. i got you in all that klunk and you nearly died. i nearly lost you. but i... i care about you, and i never want to lose you like that again."
then he stood up and kissed her cheek quickly. whenever he touched her, it felt like an explosion inside her body. she was happy when she was with him. her cheek felt warm even after he'd exited the room, and she swung her legs around so she was seated on the edge of the bed frame. she was too ecstatic to stay laying in bed, so she grabbed a pair of beige trousers and inspected them for a moment before folding them to take to the showers. another one of minho's shirts caught her eye, a blue-ish turquoise bit of fabric, and she placed that atop the pile to change into as well.
upon further digging around the bag she'd been sent up with, she found a clear bottle with a cream-coloured substance inside, labelled 'conditioner'. she found another one, this time an eccentric shade of pink, labelled 'body soap'. she only hoped they'd be nicer than the shampoo.
• • •
showers were meant to be a place to relax; to let go of any anxieties or worries. that's what lyn had thought, until this shower. it was the worst of her life. she had countless scrapes and scratches all down her body, in addition to a large gash up her forearm. as the water seeped into the wounds it stung, making her want to scream. she held back though, since chuck was just outside keeping watch for her and she didn't want to alarm him. she squirted some of the plain-scented shampoo onto her palm and began lathering the suds into her hair.
the shampoo trickled down her arm, agonising her even more than before. she let out a squeal in agony, deciding chuck's worrying wasn't worth withholding the pain she was in.
"you okay in there, greenie?" chuck called.
"yeah, fine," she answered through gritted teeth. she was anything but fine.
images of alby and ben and the grievers and all the terrible things she could remember circled her mind. everything inside her brain was like a snake, slowly constricting her happy thoughts until they disappeared, leaving her with nothing but fear, panic and isolation. the only thing keeping her going was minho. he was the source of all her energy; all her motivation.
it was scary, really, how reliant she could be on one single person who was more than capable of letting her down at any time, without any warning whatsoever.
but she was happy whenever she thought about him. the sickening thoughts and images playing on repeat in her head like a broken record temporarily left her when she thought about him, even more when she was with him.
he was her remedy.