I Corrupt. ~ Minho (The Sequel to "For My Help")

The Unexpected Man

No one made a sound. The sight in front of them was too horrifying for them to even comprehend, let alone to voice their feelings on the matter. It felt like someone had hit River in the gut with a bag of bricks. She felt like throwing up and falling to the floor, the image in front of her was so gruesome. Each second felt like a whole minute as everyone continued to stare at the bodies suspended from the ceiling, hanging from ropes wrapped around their necks. 

"Those - those people." Frypan didn't even take his eyes off of the ceiling as the words slipped from his mouth. "They're..."

"The people who brought us here." Thomas finished quietly from beside River, dropping his head to the ground, but his eyes looked straight ahead as he looked up from underneath his eyelashes.

"Did they do it themselves?" River's voice came out in a squeak, afraid to hear the answer.

"I doubt it." Someone who's name sadly slipped River's mind spoke. River ran a hand through her hair, messing it up slightly while doing so, before bringing up her hand to bite at the nail on her index finger.

"What do we do now?" Minho asked. Walking up to join Thomas, Newt, and River. It seemed he just didn't understand what 'go away' meant. 

"Try and find our way out of here." River suggested, refusing to even look in Minho's direction once again. 

"We've tried that." Newt brought his hand up to his mouth and began slightly playing with his lip, thinking hard about what they should do.

"Yeah but you've been locked in that room for what, two days? That's a lot of time for things to change." River raised her eyebrows.

"She's right. Let's split up, I guess?" Thomas looked over towards River, as if he was asking for her input. She just nodded in response as they grouped up, but River preferred to work alone. She had a lot to think about and didn't want anyone distracting her.

Choosing a hallway to her left, River made her way down it. Examining it even further, she realized that there were four doors on each side of the it, and one main door at the end. She locked her eyes on the one farthest from her and sped up her pace to get to it. It was painted teal, although the colour was chipping off in places. It seemed old.

When she reached it, her hands wrapped firmly around the two handles on the double door. Exhaling slightly and hoping for the best, she tried to fling the doors open, but to no avail. They didn't budge. She tried a few more times, shaking the door in its frame before giving up. So complete escape wouldn't work, but she could still try the other doors. Before she could turn and get to work though, she heard someone else trying to open the doors for her. Turning on her heel, she faced the boy working on the door to her right, again, without luck.

"Minho, I told you -" She was cut off.

"I know what you said. But what you're thinking is wrong." He argued, but he didn't seem angry. River looked up at the ceiling, not wanting to make eye contact. She hated being put in awkward situations.

"How can it be wrong, Minho? I know what happened." She tried to push past the boy, but he was bigger and stronger than she was, and it was clear he wasn't going to let her go without a resolution. 

"Yeah, but I heard your brain was tampered with. River, your memories must have been tampered with." He was standing close to her now, and River finally connected her eyes with his. She felt comfort when she looked in them for some reason, as if she had held a connection with him before.

"That's ridiculous." She breathed, but she didn't try to leave. She didn't even take her eyes off his. "How can you change someone's memories?"

"They've done it before." He responded, stepping even closer so that they were only inches apart. River could feel his hot breath on her face, and she found herself not minding. He could be right. They have done it in the past, so it's possible they did it again. Besides, no one else seemed to understand why she was so hostile towards Minho after she came back. 

She shook her head slightly, trying to scatter the thoughts, not wanting to believe him. He hurt her. He broke her heart. This was just some dumb way to make her forgive him, and she wouldn't fall for it. She was stronger than that.

"I'm sorry, Minho. It's just illogical." River successfully pushed passed him this time, not wanting to turn back and look at him, until he spoke.

"This doesn't change the way I feel about you." It was so quiet, River was surprised she heard it.

"What do you mean?"

"You can keep pushing me away, and not believing what myself and the others are telling you. You can do that. But what you can't control are my feelings. And my feelings love you so damn much." He wouldn't look at her. Feeling something on her cheek, River reached up and was surprised when she felt wetness. Why was she crying? She felt no emotion over what he said whatsoever. So River didn't respond, she just turned on her heel and walked away. She didn't know what kind of game he was playing, but she wouldn't forgive him that easily. If she forgave him at all.

"River, you're back. You need to see this." Thomas grabbed her hand and began pulling her with him as soon as she had exited the hallway. She ran behind him, trying not to step on the back of his heels as he pulled her down another hallway, finally entering a room.

The room wasn't big, but it wasn't exactly tiny either. It had four plain light blue walls, and nothing else. Or at least that's what River thought. The Gladers were surrounding something, and the closer River got to what it was, the more confusion set in.

A glass wall separated the room into two parts. On the other side of it was a desk. It contained nothing that River could see, but as her eyes scanned up, she was surprised by what she found. 

A man was sitting in a chair just behind it, reading a book. He didn't acknowledge the Glader's presence, nor did it seem that he cared to. He just sat there, his nose in his book. 

River pursed her lips, before turning back to Thomas. "Have you tried talking to him?" 

"Yup."

"Banging on the glass?"

"Yup."

"Waving frantically?"

"Yup." Thomas laughed. "He only responds with, 'it's not time yet'." 

"It's not time yet?" River repeated. Thomas nodded, looking back over at the man. River noticed his rat-like features and smirked to herself. "Well, Rat Man is going to have to talk at some point now isn't he?"

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Author's Note

Hello again! I hope this chapter is okay with you! I had major writer's block and it was horrible haha. Hopefully I'll be feeling more creative next time! Also it seems like River is feeling emotions towards Minho that she doesn't know she has. How interesting ;)

Thanks for reading!

Marin