Lovers Lies || Thomas

10 - Flower Kisses

"ARE you sure about this?" Newt asked Sandra the next morning for the tenth time in the last five minutes. Only five of them had gotten up early, three of them ready to go into the maze.

"It's her tradition," Alby answered for her, unsheathing his dagger. "She does this in honor of the boys we lost." He gently grabbed her hair while standing behind her.

"But why?" Newt pushed, crossing his arms over his chest, standing in front of Sandra with Carlos and Minho. "I don't understand it."

"Neither do I," Sandra honestly told him, straightening her back as Alby pulled her hair back to tilt her head up to the sky where the sun was starting to rise. "But it's only a few inches and for some reason, it makes me feel better."

Her hair tugged again, harder that time. Newt cringed at the sound of the end of her hair being cut off while Carlos gently grabbed her hand and Minho kept his eyes locked on her. She stepped away, her once waist-long hair now reaching the middle of her back and out freely.

"And what do you do with the hair?" Newt questioned, watching Alby hold out the hair to her when she turned around to face him.

She took it from him, avoiding his worried eyes. "Now I bury it because we couldn't give Ben the burial he deserved."

"Well, that explains why your hair hadn't reached your feet yet," Minho mumbled.

Newt turned to Minho and Carlos with a raised brow. "You two sure you want to go back in there today?"

"We gotta check, you know that," Carlos said and Minho nodded his head while they watched Alby start braiding her Sandra's hair.

She knew how to braid, and taught Alby herself actually, but after she got injured in the maze, it was Alby who sat her down near his feet and did her braids for her while she was recovering. Since then, it just became normal for him to do her hair.

"We'll be back before the doors close, like every other day," Minho assured him.

"If you three don't come back, then I'll go straight in there and drag you out myself," Sandra warned them, pointing a finger. Even with Alby behind her, she knew he was smiling.

"I promised you your first day here that we would make it to the end together," Alby reminded her, his voice full of promise and kindness. He finished her braids, stepping around her just as the doors groaned, opening to the maze. "Nick may not be with us anymore," he started, and she took in a deep breath at the memory of their past friend, "but I won't leave you. We'll find a way out of here, and we'll all be free."

She gave him a small smile, pulling him into a hug. "You're right," she said, his arms wrapping around her shoulders as she reached behind him and yanked each of the other boys into the hug, "us oldies need to get out of here."

"You know we're older than you, right?" Minho questioned; sarcasm clear in his tone.

She laughed, pulling away as did the others before she lightly punched Minho in the arm, making him chuckle. "You just admitted you're old, dumbass."

The four boys chuckled, soon falling into a serious silence as they looked at each other. Today wasn't like every morning when Sandra would wave off her brother, Minho, and Ben while they ran into the maze. Today Ben wasn't there. Today it was Alby, Carlos, and Minho running into that maze, just after Ben got stung during daylight yesterday.

Something was off right from the moment Carlos woke Sandra up. Something was painful, brushing against her skin as she glanced at the boys and then into the maze.

"Sansa is in charge while I'm in the maze," Alby said, cutting through the silence. "If something were to happen—"

"But nothing will," Sandra interjected, furrowing her brows at him.