CHAPTER FOUR—THE FIRST BANISHMENT
[EMMY'S PERSPECTIVE]
BANISHMENT WAS THE worst possible form of punishment in the glade. george had been stung and attacked a glader. he had no chance of staying with them.
nobody had been out in the maze overnight, not until now.
guilt almost swallowed emmy alive, she had stayed outside with george all day. she couldn't leave him, even if he was completely loony.
as he went insane in the slammer, the greenie picked at the grass and throwing it back down.
"hey, george?" she mumbled but the boy didn't answer. "i'm sorry, it's all my fault."
tears began to form in her eyes and a frown pulled at her lips. she covered her face with her hands as she sobbed into them.
"i can't save you, i'm just a greenie." she paused, rethinking her choice of words. "i'm just a girl."
george still sat silently in the corner, glaring at her. this made her feel worse, he knew exactly what was coming tomorrow. then, nick stormed over and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"dinner time, greenie." he tried to pull her up off but she shrugged his hand away.
"no, i don't want to eat." her voice cracked and trembled. nick just forced her to her feet whilst she struggled to slip out of her grip.
she elbowed him, punched his arm, and kicked. this only resulted in her being thrown into frypan's room four hours early.
when she settled in the corner, she fiddled with her hands as she now had no grass.
a knock came at the door.
"it's me." his britsh accent gave away who he was. so, emmy didn't say a word but the door flew open anyway. "got you some bread."
he chucked the bread roll at her and she caught it and brought it to her mouth, biting into it.
"thanks." she muttered and he sat down beside her. "it's my fault, isn't it?"
"what?" newt scoffed, making emmy close her eyes so tears couldn't form in them.
"george. he's being banished because of me." her lip trembled and newt put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"it's not your fault, emmy. you just happened to be there, he would've been banished either way." his kind words didn't have the greenie convinced. "just trust me, alright?"
tears now formed in her eyes and quickly fell down her cheeks. she wiped them away and chose to ignore them, biting into the bread roll for a second time. newt watched as the tears quickly slipped down to her chin, just hanging there.
"i'm sorry, i really am." he half-smiled before tears welled up in his own eyes. "george was... a nice kid." his voice began to break and he sniffled.
emmy's cries quickly turned to sobs before newt pulled her into an embrace. he held her close as she cried into his chest.
"it's okay, don't worry about it." he tried his best to comfort the crying girl. a loud knock came at the door.
"can i come in?" it was frypan. newt answered for her, calling out a loud "yes!"
he carefully opened the door whilst emmy wiped her tears. by the time frypan could see the two, they had stopped the hug.
"hey, she-bean." he smiled, gently walking closer to her. "how're you doing?"
"not my best" she laughed, not even remembering what her worst felt like.
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it was the day of george's death. everyone had been dreading doing this to their fellow glader. emmy had tried and tried to convince nick to let the young boy live. but, as much as he didn't want to, nick was set on banishing him.
once again, emmy played with the grass as she waited. it was so boring in the glade and nobody really talked to her. only newt and frypan had small chats with the greenie. she assumed it was because she was different, she was right.
most people thought of emmy as the enemy. she just hoped they would grow to love her. because she really was lonely.
her attention shifted when she saw alby dragging george towards the glade walls that were going to close any minute now. george was surrounded by the keepers (and nick and alby), who were holding poles that the builders made in preparation for this.
"please," the boy began to beg, shattering emmy's heart in two "i'll get better, i'll be good, i promise!" he cried and got on his knees, pleading towards frypan.
emmy began to stand up and walk over to the situation, to see if there was any way she could possibly save him. the boy's attention snapped towards her once he saw the girl make her way to him.
"emmy, please!" he sobbed and put his hands together. "please, emmy..." he covered his face with his hands as he sobbed into them. "i don't want to die."
she ran closer, so he could hear her. "i'm so sorry, george." tears streamed down emmy's face too, she quickly wiped them and her frown grew.
"please don't do this." she pleaded towards the gladers. "you're killing him!" she yelled and more tears slipped down her cheeks. as she began to run towards the boy, a pair of hands wrapped around her waist. out of instinct, she tried to fight so she could be freed.
"calm down." she immediately recognised the voice to be newt, she did in fact calm down.
"you're killing him." she repeated, much more quiet this time. it was almost a whisper. newt watched as she broke down, falling to the floor.
his troubles with the greenie were cut off by a sound of mechanics, meaning the doors were going to close. alby pulled george to his feet again before nick took charge.
"poles!" he ordered and everyone followed, pointing the poles at the trembling boy.
"p-please, i-i'll get b-better." he stumbled as the keepers walked closer to him, forcing him into the maze. "emmy!" he screamed, catching her attention.
"i'm sorry. i'm so sorry, george." she mouthed just before the maze doors shut, locking george out there for the night.