𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥  .ᐟ

❛ the past ❜

   𝗧𝗛𝗘 gladers wait by the entrance of the maze, large sticks in hand. they watch in silence as minho holds ben's tied hands behind his head, urging him forwards.

"just listen to me..." ben begs, "just please listen to me! please, minho!"

minho ignores his sobs, continuing to push him towards the small opening in the center of the the boys. directly in front of the entrance to the maze. he pushes ben down to his knees, taking a small knife from the leather sheath on his thigh, cutting the rope around his wrists allowing ben to fall forward onto his hands, letting out gasp as he landed.

thomas ran over to chuck, who stood off to the side of the group, watching from a distance.

ben continued to sob, looking around at the boys surrounding him. he coughed and gagged, before spitting up black bile onto the dirt.

thomas turned to look at chuck, but instead, he saw emilia slowly walk up to the group. her eyes were wet with tears, but her expression was emotionless.

thomas looked back over to the crowd, where minho walked in front of ben, looking into the maze.

"no, no, please, please don't, please don't do it." ben cries.

minho looked up at alby, in which he nodded in approval.

a loud rumbling erupted from the maze walls, signaling the doors were about to close. minho took a small worn-leather backpack and tossed it onto the floor of the entrance.

as a gust of wind was pushed out over the crowd, thomas stepped closer to the group, trying to get a better look.

"poles!" alby shouts.

each boy took the large sticks in their hands and began tilting them forward, towards ben.

chuck frowned, swallowing hard as he pushed a couple tears back down, before turning around and leaving the group.

"move in." alby commands, in which each boy, did exactly that.

thomas watched in horror as the group of boys began to force ben into the maze.

"no! no! please, just listen to me!" ben yells, "i can get better, please! no! please!"

"push him in." alby says.

the boys continued to push ben into the maze, ignoring each one of his cries and begs. once ben realized the doors were moving in on him, he gave up fighting, placing his hands on each wall as they quickly began to shut. ben panicked, knowing the only way he was able to go was in. thomas watched silently as ben let out a final scream, before the maze doors shut in front of him, trapping him inside.

alby stood in front of the closed doors, glancing around at the boys standing around him, before finally looking to thomas.

"he belongs to the maze now." alby says.

thomas stands in silence as alby walks past him. he turns around watching as alby walked away, but spots another person in the distance.

emilia, walking back into the woods.

𖧷

𝗦𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗧.

the world felt silent to emilia.

she was reliving everything.

she didn't think she ever would.

but here she was, reliving the worst day of her life, with yet again one of her friends.

she sat down quietly on an old stump, resting her elbows on her knees, staring blankly out in front of her, singular tears streaming down her cheeks.

she heard the sound of a branch snapping, but didn't pay any attention to it.

"emilia?" she heard the sound of thomas' voice. she pulled her arm up to quickly wipe the tears.

"hm?" emilia hums, trying her hardest to cover up the fact that she was crying.

"y-you alright?"

"i'm perfect." she says, giving him a fake smile.

"can i sit?" he asks, in which she nods, and thomas slowly began walking toward her. he leans up against the tree beside her, before sitting down.

"you're upset." he says quietly.

"i'm fine."

"you're crying." he says.

"just because i'm crying, it doesn't mean i'm upset."

"you know, you can talk to me." thomas tells her.

"woah, woah, woah," emilia stops him, "just because i mentioned something earlier doesn't mean i trust you." she explains, "i still barely know you."

"i know," thomas says, "i just thought i'd let you know."

"oh." emilia goes quiet.

"do you want to talk about something?"

"no."

"okay." he nods.

the two of them go silent. emilia looks over to him watching him as he fidgets with his fingers.

"what are you trying to do?" she breaks the silence.

"what?"

"why did you come out here?"

"i wanted to see if you were okay." he says.

"i'm fine."

"i know, you told me that already."

emilia purses her lips.

"sorry." thomas giggles.

"uh huh."

the two fell silent again.

"i wasn't—" she cut her self short, taking a moment to figure out the best way to explain this situation.

"you don't have to talk if you don't want too."

"but now i want too."

"okay then i'll listen." thomas says.

she sits for a moment before speaking up again.

"this is the second time."

"what is?"

"that someone i really care about has been banished to the maze." she explains.

"oh, i didn't know you and ben were close."

"we aren't," she sighs, "at least not anymore."

"what happened?"

"i got my position as a runner taken away by it."

"it?"

emilia sighs, "minho."

"oh." thomas nods.

"god, i don't know why i'm telling you all of this," she takes a deep breath before beginning again, "i'm technically not the only girl."

"what?"

"her name was lyn," emilia begins, "we were both runners, with minho, archie, and ben. it was the five of us."

thomas remembers seeing the name lyn, etched out on the wall from earlier, "what happened to her?"

"the two of us went into the maze," emilia says, as a singular tear rolls down her cheek, "and we got stuck in there, we were trapped in there all night. and she was stung, but i managed to get her out."

"and they banished her." thomas adds.

"gally banished her," she corrects him, "i promised her that we were going to help her, but gally didn't think she could be saved."

"he's a dick." thomas says.

"tell me about it."

"i don't understand though," thomas continues, "why aren't you a runner anymore?"

"minho took the position away from me."

"why? why would he do that?" thomas asks.

"he's trying to protect me."

"what's there to protect you from?" thomas questions.

"the maze."

"that shouldn't be his choice." thomas says, shifting closer to her.

"it shouldn't," she sighs, "but it is, he's the keeper of the runners."

"that's not fair to you."

"i know it isn't," she tries to fake a smile, "but it doesn't matter."

thomas stares at her for a moment, trying to think of something to say, "we're you and lyn close?"

"she was my best friend."

"i'm sorry emilia."

"it's okay," emilia shrugs, "can't change what's already happened."

thomas nods at her, giving her a sympathetic smile.

"it's getting late," emilia says, wiping a tear from her cheek, "we should get some rest."

"yeah," thomas says, standing up from his seat, "i'm gonna head back."

emilia nods, not moving from her spot, she watches as thomas begins to walk away, "hey, thomas?"

thomas stops and turns back toward her, "yeah?"

"thank you for listening to me," emilia says, "it's nice to talk to someone different from the others about it."

"yeah, of course," thomas smiles, "i'll see you around?"

emilia nods and smiles, before thomas walks off out of her sight.

𖧷

"𝗬𝗢𝗨 want to go into the maze?" minho stares at alby in confusion.

"i want to figure out how ben got stung."

"alby, are you sure about this?" archie asks.

"no," alby shakes his head, "but i want to know, he was stung in broad daylight. that's never happened before."

"all right," minho says, "the three of us leave at dawn."

alby nods, before leaving the two runners alone.

minho sighs, taking a seat, placing his head in hissing hands.

archie stares at minho, an idea lighting up in his head, "why don't we see if emilia will come?" archie says.

"no," minho shuts him down, "absolutely not."

"we need strength minho, alby's never been in the maze, i know it well, but emilia has it memorized." archie says.

"i won't do it." minho says.

"fine," archie throws his hands up softly, "than i'm not coming at all."

"what? no." minho says.

"i said i'm not coming," archie says, "you can either take emilia with you and alby, or nobody. because i'm not coming either way."

"no, i need you to come with us." minho says.

"all the other runners are on the verge of quitting, minho," archie explains, "we need her."

"i'm not risking her getting hurt."

"minho, it's emilia," archie sighs, "she's stronger than you give her credit for."

minho stays silent, not knowing how to respond.

"either emilia comes, or you go by yourself."

"archie—"

"i'll say it once more," archie says, "you take her, or you go in by yourself."

"fine." minho gives in.

"really?"

"go let her know before i change my mind." minho says.

𖧷

𝗔 𝗦𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗟 fire glows against thomas' skin. chuck lays in his hammock beside him, the two of them sitting in silence, watching as gally etches a line through ben's name in the distance.

"do you think he might make it?" thomas asks chuck, breaking the silence between the two.

"ben?" chuck pauses for a moment, "no." he frowns, "no one survives a night in the maze."

thomas looks at him in confusion, "no one?"

"not that i know of." chuck says.

and in that moment, thomas realizes chuck has no clue about emilia.

"you just got to forget about him." chuck says softly, turning over in his hammock.

thomas looks up, finding alby sitting alone in another tent ahead of him, staring out into the maze silently.

𝗔𝗩𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘 !

shortest chapter i've written so far
its going down next chapter 😈😈

much love!
ava

[ 1.8k words ]