/////

"So you're going to give up?! That's it?! You will leave us in this shucking world?!" Newt yelled at Minho, who was now lying in the hospital bed.

Thomas tries to calm him down, but he doesn't listen. Two days have passed since Newt saw Minho in the bathroom, unconscious while surrounded by his own blood. Minho tries to cut off the right hand he used to stab Zelia. While he was in the middle of cutting—which is not completely losing his hand—he suddenly passed out due to the loss of a lot of blood. Newt immediately woke up Clint and Jeff to immediately treat Minho's hand. Since he lost a lot of blood, they immediately called the doctor in this area and did not hesitate to help their friend.

"Newt, please. Nothing will happen if you just yell at Minho."

"No, Tommy! It's unfair to us if he won't let us help him! He's not the only one who lost a friend and sister!"

All their friends were here, just quietly listening to them. They only went to see Minho today because he just woke up. Janson allowed them to come here, but after dinner, they had to go back to their room.

"He knows what he did, okay? So please stop telling him what he did wrong," Thomas said with a calm voice.

Newt just scoffed. "Talk to your Keeper," he said and left to go to their room. The Gladers immediately followed him until Thomas was the only one left with Minho.

Thomas just took a deep breath and looked at Minho, who was still looking away; he had been quiet for a while.

"Sorry about that. I hope you will recover soon, Minho. We are here for you. I know it's hard, but you need to move forward. Do you think that Zelia will like that you blame yourself for losing her? It's not your fault in the first place. Stop hurting yourself," Thomas said, and he gave the young man a pat on the shoulder before he left to go to their room.

-----

The next day, the Gladers are all here in the dining hall to eat their lunch. Someone from another group from the Maze has arrived again. They tried to make friends in this place because they had nothing to lose.

"How is Minho? Have you talked to him?" Frypan asked Thomas, who was just sitting in the chair where they were.

Thomas visited his friend, who was still in the hospital bed. The nurse told him that they bring food to Minho every day, and somehow, they see that the food they give is almost finished, which means he still eats something.

"Fine, but he still can't talk. He still looks away, and the nurse said, they still hear Minho crying every night," Thomas said, and he heard Newt scoffed.

Ever since he saw Minho in the bathroom, he was very mad at his friend. Just last night, they saw how Newt could get angry at someone. Because they know the man who is calm, thinks about what to say first, and doesn't just shout randomly at them for no reasons.

"Such a bastard, acting like he's the only friend who died."

"Newt."

"What? I'm just telling the truth. I still get it if you are the one to do that because you are her older brother but him? Oh please, he's just a friend."

"Newt!" Because of the shout that Thomas made, the people in the dining area almost looked at them. The young man took a deep breath before looking at his friend. "We can't blame him, okay? Like I said, he knows what he did. His feelings are still valid."

Newt grinned bitterly. "Yeah, right, bloody valid," he said and got up from his seat to go back to their room.

Since there was nothing else to do inside the sanctuary, they stayed in the room until it was time to eat. This is not the safest place yet, so they have to endure for a while.

The other Gladers followed Newt, so only Maggie, Winston, Thomas, and Teresa were left at their table. Thomas just held his forehead because of what was happening to them right now.

"I also can't blame Newt why he acted like that." Winston's friends looked at him.

"What do you mean by that?" Thomas asked with a frown. Winston gave him a sad smile on his lips.

"I'm not in the place to say why. Try to ask him; maybe he'll tell you what his reason is." The man said and finished his food.

Thomas thought because of what his friend said. He wanted to ask more questions, but he knew he wouldn't get an answer from the young man either, so he chose to keep quiet and just eat.

-----

They have been here in the sanctuary for a week. There are also many new groups coming from Maze. Minho still can't get out of the hospital bed and he still can't talk properly. Newt is the only one who hasn't shown up to him yet; he's still really mad at him. The Gladers visit almost every day, so Minho knows he is not alone.

Only fourteen were left in the Gladers because Janson called the names of their friends to get to the safe place. Thomas didn't know why, but he found something odd in this. He can feel as if something is wrong since they arrived here in this place. But he doesn't tell his friends what his hunch is, maybe because his thoughts are wrong.

"Another night, who will be called today?" Jeff said as they were in the middle of eating their dinner.

"Are you getting too bored because you're still here in this place?" Frypan asked, clearly teasing him.

Jeff rolled his eyes at him. "Slim it, Fry. We all know that in our one week here, we did nothing but stare at our rooms. It's good that at least when we eat, we see other people who are the same age as us, so we talk to different people every day."

"It's true what Jeff said, and I also don't get why they call so few. They have a bus where there are many seats to get in the so-called safe place," Zart said and shook his head after speaking.

"I thought I was the only one noticing that what they were doing was weird. It was like—" Clint didn't finish what he had to say when he saw something like a ghost walking towards them.

They were all surprised by the man's sudden silence, so they followed his gaze to find out what was wrong. They almost choked from what they ate when they saw who it was.

"What? First time seeing me walking around?" Minho said while smirking and placing the tray full of foods and drink on the friends' table.

Minho who came from the kitchen to get his food. Minho, who was almost lifeless since they arrived at this place. Minho who tried to remove one of his hands.

"Minho!" Kendrix was the first to recover from what he saw before he stood up to approach his friend and hug him.

He was about to touch the young man's hair, but he immediately moved away. "Don't you dare touch my hair," Minho said, but before Kendrix could get close to him, Jeff, Hank, and Mike suddenly came up to him to mess up his hair themselves.

"Minho! You're here!"

"I'm always here, you dumb shank!"

"Welcome back, Minho!"

"Stop! You're messing with my hair!"

"We thought you would be in a hospital bed for the rest of your life."

"Get off of me, you ugly shuck face!"

They immediately moved away from Minho, and they all saw how messy his hair was. The Gladers laughed because of the young man, including Newt, who just laughed silently. He groaned in pain, and he tried to fix his hair just by not looking at the mirror.

"We just missed you," Kendrix said, still standing where he was.

"Should I say thank you for that?" Minho asked in sarcasm. He successfully fixed his hair and sat next to Thomas to start eating.

Their friends sat in their seats, and they noticed that the other groups were looking at them because of the scene they made, but they ignored it. They are very happy to have Minho with them right now.

"Wait, how? I mean, it's good that the nurse allowed you," Fry said, obviously confused and, at the same time, happy for his friend because the young man was with them again.

"They said I have no reason to stay there anymore. They also gave me some sleeping pills so I can sleep well. I just tried it yesterday and I can say it works. They gave me a 1-month supply of pills," Minho said casually.

Suddenly they were surrounded by silence, not knowing what to say for their friend. They are afraid that it might just be triggered, especially since he seems to be fine.

Minho noticed that, so he laughed softly. "Stop staring at each other. The truth is, I really have no intention of disappearing from this world, but the pocket knife is still too small; I'm not halfway there; I ended up like a shucking shuck face."

The young man showed his right hand that was surrounded by a bandage. "There's a stick on my palm made of steel to support it aside from the thread and bandage. Maybe it's because when I was sleeping, there's a time I bent my hand. Anyway, the wound is still deep so it can still be removed if I won't be careful. It takes time to heal the wounds."

Minho looked at his friends one by one before continuing to eat. He knew they were worried about him, and he realized these past few days that Newt was right—that he wasn't the only one who lost a friend.

Thomas was about to speak when Janson suddenly entered to call the names again. It was over in a few minutes, and none of the Gladers were called right now. They finished their food to go to their rooms.

They were all about to stand up when suddenly a female doctor approached them. "Maggie? Teresa? Can you come with me, please?" The two names mentioned stared at each other.

"Pardon me. We just need to ask you something. It won't be long either, so you can go back to your friends right away," she added. The Gladers stared before the two girls nodded.

"We'll be back, guys," Teresa said, and she and Maggie both stood up and followed the female doctor.

"That's kind of weird; what's that for?"