"i'm sorry," he said. "it's my fault this is happening to you."
"We'll find a way," she repeated.
When Thomas falls in love with an immune, will he be able to let her go and send her up to Group A?
All rights go to the brilliant author James Dashn...
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ashton carried all the boards he could carry, but no matter what he would have to make multiple trips because not only was he carrying hayley's, he was also carrying his own. she insisted on carrying her own but he wouldn't let her. "you just took a beating," he said.
she caught him stealing glances at her every so often, as if he was afraid she was going to shatter any second. her body ached, but other than that she felt fine. she pretended not to notice, because she's never known what to say to calm someone's worries. she failed with thomas and newt, undoubtedly she would fail with ashton so she didn't try.
ashton helped her over fallen trees and piles of sticks. it took them twice as long to reach the clearing because he would have to walk ahead and set down the boards, then retreat and help her. again, she insisted she can do it herself but he still wouldn't allow her to.
"newt's going to find out you know," said ashton as they reached the end of the forest. "if not from you, from gally. he's going to brag about beating you down first thing tomorrow morning. word travels fast in the glade."
she looked up at the sky, as if she would find all the answers to her questions up there. the moon was fully out and shining it's beautiful light down onto the glade. "you're saying i should tell him?"
ashton fidgeted. his brown hair seemed almost blonde in the light of the moon. "i'm saying you should be honest. one of the most important rules we have here in the glade is to never harm another glader. gally hurt you and he needs to pay for it."
"i initiated it," she said. "it's a game and i stepped into the circle. i played. gally didn't force me to."
ashton was just about to say something when he was interrupted by a high pitched scream coming from the maze. from a griever. her heart began to race with fear. she knew they couldn't get into the glade but hearing them sound so close was petrifying. she remembered thomas's words from the memory she got back.
promise me that you'll stay strong tomorrow and every day following that.
she closed her eyes and held onto the red ribbon wrapped around her wrist tightly, holding onto the promise. the chain newt gave her dangled beside it. she loved both the items, but only one of them made her feel comforted in times she needed it the most.
ashton dropped the boards and tugged on her arm gently, pulling her toward the homestead. "it'll be harder to hear them in the homestead."
she opened her eyes and tried to get her breathing under control. she followed ashton to the homestead. all the beds were filled with sleeping gladers.
"wait here," he whispered and walked to an empty corner in the homestead. she watched him as he rummaged through a closet, retrieving a pile of blankets.
he walked back and piled the blankets over each other on the floor, leaving one to cover up with. she sat down next to him and he wrapped the blanket around them, giving her most of it. he was right, she could barely hear the grievers from inside the homestead.
"are you okay?" ashton asked.
"yeah," she replied. "i just realized that we missed supper. i didn't get to pay you back by giving you my piece of dessert."
"tomorrow," he smiled.
they sat in silence for a few minutes, just listening to the sounds of the snoring gladers around them when she asked, "can i ask you something?'
"sure," ashton said.
"before, you said something about if you ignore them, they realize they can't hurt you anymore," she paused. "who hurt you for you to figure that out? and why?"
ashton was silent for a moment before taking a deep breath. "everyone," he said. "when i arrived in the box, there were only 20 people. we didn't have the same rules as we do now. you could harm another glader back then and that time, everyone was scared. no one knew what to do."
he didn't speak for a few minutes after that. she figured that was all he was going to tell her but then he continued.
"everyone was angry, and ... scared. they didn't want to be here and they had to take their anger out on something. well.. that something was me, the easier target. i was the quiet one. the one who stood by and watched silently while they deteriorated. the only one who didn't physically hurt me was newt. he didn't hurt me but he didn't help me either."
"he was like me and he sort of just kept to himself," he said. "but when they tried to pick on him, he stood up for himself. i ... i couldn't do that."
that was the last thing he said.
and for the first time she noticed the scars on his arms and chest. brutal reminders of the dark days in the glade.
"i'm so sorry.." she whispered to him, noticing her own eyes were brimmed with tears. she knew no words could comfort him after the story he just told her, so she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as he wept on her shoulder.
his quiet sobs filling the room.
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how many of you love ashton 1000x more now? his background breaks my heart.
