florence stormed into the med hut, newt right at her heels.
"florence --" the blonde boy attempted, but she was far too consumed by her own anxious thoughts.
she made eye contact with sammy, who still sat on the table with his legs swinging innocently. with a quick gesture of her hand, she told him, "get off, sammy." her voice was firm and confident enough that the nine year old didn't even attempt to ask a question. "you should go find chuck."
"flo!" newt was growing helpless. she needed to take a moment to breath, to think, but she was wrapped up in panic mode.
"help me clear this table," she demanded, instantly beginning to pick things up off the wooden material, allowing for an empty surface to work on.
and then newt raised his voice, finally causing the girl to take a moment and pause. "florence!"
she blinked at him. "what?" flo's voice was cold, bitey even, but newt didn't blame her for her reaction. grief was handled differently all around the glade, and unfortunately, florence was still stuck in stage one: denial.
"we can't save him." newt's voice was soft, attempting at a comforting tone even though the words were harsh. florence was a strong girl, but over the years, she'd grown fragile, as had the rest of the glade.
florence instantly shook her head, strongly disagreeing. "we don't know that, newt. if you guys could just bring him here -- we could strap him down for safety! i promise --"
"florence!" newt was tired. tired of being the one that had to break such awful news to her, to the glade, and yet...
"what, newt? what else could there possibly be? because what it just sounds like to me is that you guys are scared of what will happen. well, guess what?" she paused, staring at newt with her own tear-stricken, bleary eyes. "he's dying anyway. why not just try?"
"he hurt a glader, flo."
at that, she froze, letting the true memory of the moment sink in. ben, her ben, had hurt someone else. unmotivated and completely freely. "he hurt a glader," she repeated softly, processing.
newt's look he gave her was full of sympathy and understanding, the grief all too familiar. they'd lost so many in the past few years, but a surprising amount had been lost just in the last four months. no matter how often a death occurred, nobody ever got used to the pain.
it always hurt like the very first time.
"but it wasn't him, newt," she attempted, voice strained as she fought back the oncoming sobs. "it wasn't ben."
"flo," newt whispered, his hand rested gently on her shoulder. "we can't just choose to ignore the rules, y'know? as much as it hurts us--"
"hurts us?" she gawked. "they're killing us. you want to kill ben as a consequence for behavior that he never chose to do." her voice was angry, eyes dark with nothing but rage towards the other boy.
newt knew it was just misplaced rage, but it stung nonetheless.
"the rules are the only things that have helped us grow, flo!" newt argued, taking a step back. "you're the one who taught us that. you're the one that showed up and showed us how to make an actual society -- how to make something functional!" he shook his head, dropping it in his hands. "we can't just let all of that go for one case."
"yes we can!" florence cried desperately. "life isn't just black and white, newt! there's shades of gray in there, too, and sometimes we have make decisions that are far past the simple 'yes' and 'no.'"
YOU ARE READING
teenage wasteland ;; the maze runner
Action" don't cry, don't raise your eye. it's only teenage wasteland." she arrived just the same as everyone else. scared, confused, and lacking fifteen years of memories. the only difference, however, was the fact that she was a 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭. nevertheless, f...
