She had been in her hammock for the entirety of the day, not talking to anyone and having to check every five minutes wether his hands had somehow found their way to her neck again.
The sun had gone from the middle of the sky, to the edge of the walls, peeping over them ever so slightly which reminded her on how the doors would close soon.
Iris had shut her eyes to try and fall asleep, but there was some rummaging going on around the area which had woken her up, most of the gladers began gathering around the doors, she had to strain her eyes to make sure she wasn't imagining anything, sure enough they all crowded around in a semi circle.
Curious, she jumped down from her hammock and began walking across the grass towards the group.
A little outside of the general semi circle was Thomas and Chuck, they both stood there not moving just watching like the rest of them.
"Thomas?" her voice was a little croaky and it caught her off guard, she placed her fingertips on her throat and pressed it a little, she winced once the pain shot through her neck like someone had slit her throat.
"What's going on?" she asked standing between Chuck and Thomas, they didn't say anything just gently pointed to the middle of the circle.
She peered through a gap between two people and saw Ben in the centre, Minho cut the ropes that had held his hands above his head and he slumped onto the dirty floor. He pushed himself up and gasped for air, black liquid dripped from his mouth onto the dirt below him.
"Please, Alby." His voice was shaky and fragile, he turned around and pushed himself of the ground, stumbling slightly.
"Poles!" Alby shouted out as the wind hit all of their faces, a low howl came from the maze alongside the stray leaves being blown in the gust of wind.
Everyone who was standing on the inner circle, closest to Ben, lowered these huge poles that had a horizontal chunk of wood on the end. Ben began screaming "No!" and "Please!" as they started walking towards him with these poles.
The first pole hit his hand and he tried to push back, but it only made him take steps backwards. The maze doors began clicking and soon enough they began closing in, like every night.
She placed her hand on her mouth, she was more than shocked at by what was going on and wanted to intervene to help him, but that would mean she would just be shoved in there alongside him, and he wanted her dead anyways
"This doesn't feel right.." Thomas whispered, she didn't say anything but continued to watch the situation unravel, hoping someone would stop it all.
They continued to push against a begging Ben, until he was in between the enclosing walls and he had no choice to go into the maze. He turned around, still screaming, and the maze doors were almost closed.
She couldn't watch anymore, but she couldn't take her eyes away. Right before the doors collided with one another, he looked directly at Iris, something she would never ever forget. His eyes were just saddened and a dark red from crying and then it closed.
There was a few minutes of silence bouncing around the group before Alby turned to face Thomas and Iris.
"He belongs to the maze now." Alby was visibly upset by it but that didn't change Iris' thoughts about the whole ordeal.
"That's fucked up." Iris replied while turning around and storm away back to her hammock for comfort.
"Iris!" Someone called out, but she was leaving and didn't plan on turning around. Her throat hurt, he entire body ached as if she had been stabbed multiple times over in the legs and arms, of course her neck too.
She climbed up into her hammock and laid down, vacantly staring up at the roof above her. The boys had been served dinner by Frypan an hour after the banishing and were all talking as if it hadn't happened.
Laughs and conversation could be heard in the distance for 30 minutes or so, Iris decided not to pay attention or even go and have something to eat; no way she could stomach anything after that.
"Iris?" She lifted her head, feeling the pain from her neck made her groan slightly. She looked over the side of the hammock in the direction of the rest of the glade, not the direction of the other hammocks.
There stood Chuck and Thomas both together peering up, she let her head fall back down, relieving her neck from the pain.
"We bought you some food." Chuck spoke up, she could hear little whispers coming from them both, bickering who should speak next. If any could have lighten her mood, it would be them.
"I'm not hungry." She answered turning over in her hammock to face the other directions, she heard some shuffling before Thomas popped up infront of her.
"Can you just come and eat, please." He half smiled making her finally feel slightly better which made her frown once she realised what was going on, she sighed and rolled her eyes before sitting up and slipped over the side.
"Here." He patted his own hammock right beside himself and she didn't hesitate on sitting. Chuck plonked himself opposite them on his own hammock and smiled at Iris.
She took spoonful from the stew and began eating it, she looked up realising she hadn't thanked them and smiled.
"Thank you both." Both Chuck and Thomas looked at each other with proud expressions before quietly arguing about who's idea it was.
They both talked and laughed, completely bringing up Iris' mood to the point of her forgetting about Ben. The other boys slowly came back to the hammock area, getting comfortable in their own hammocks.
10 minutes had gone by, the three were the only noise heard in the hammock area; but the sound of a few other gladers sat by the campfire was muffled in the distance.
"Would you three shut up?" A boy shouted across at the laughing trio who couldn't even breathe, they all covered their mouths trying to hold back their laughs but it was a fail.
They quieted down before Chuck made another joke making all three of them crack up again, they all had to bury their faces into the blankets to silence the laughs but not even that worked.
"Okay, i'm sick of this shit." One of the boys got out of their hammocks and walked off towards the Kitchen area, they all slowly quieted down refusing to say another joke to annoy anyone else.
"Okay, okay, before Alby comes storming over, let's go to bed." Chuck suggested as they all climbed into their own hammocks and got as comfortable as they could.
Now being left alone with her thoughts, Iris couldn't help but return to the events that had taken place, replaying it over and over wondering if she could have done something to stop it.
Maybe if i didn't go into the woods?
Or if i stepped in to stop the banishing..
Or even let him kill me??
She let her hand flop over the side of the hammock, wondering if Thomas was still awake, she waved her hand as if to say hello. A moment went by and she went to pull her arm back into the hammock, but Thomas grabbed it gently and pulled it back down. He started tapping and playing around with her fingers, not a word was passed between the two but he still tapped against her hand and palm.
"Do you think he will survive?" Iris finally broke the comfortable silence, the tapping came to a stop and his two fingers rested against her palm. she heard a small sigh come from below her and waited for a reply.
"I don't know.. I hope, but like Newt said, nobody survives in there." He spoke in a raspy tired voice and it was clear he was just as shocked by the whole thing.
She let her thoughts slowly be sucked into the abyss of her mind, making it easier for her to fall asleep.
YOU ARE READING
Property of WICKED
أدب الهواةShe came up in the box like the rest of them, except she had company, a brown haired boy with dark eyes, Thomas. they stuck together as they felt they had to look out for one another, i mean they arrived together which gave them a weird kind of bon...
