Her Anchor || Newt - Maze Runner

Part 17 - Denial to Acceptance

A/n: Thank you so much everyone for 1k reads. 

We were all gathered at the East Door awaiting Ben's arrival. The Keepers, who were holding sticks in a semicircle, made a small opening for Ben and Minho, as they made their way to the centre of the crowd. Ben, with his hand tied behind his head, quietly pleaded with Minho. As they situated in the centre, Minho brought Ben to his knees and cut the rope allowing Ben's hands free. Ben, on his hands and knees, let out some shaking breathes and cries, as I watched the horrific scene unfold in front of my eyes. 

I was on the outside of the crowd, next to Ace who looked as horrified as me. Minho, who somehow still held his composure, tossed a bag of Ben's things into the open doors. The Maze doors started closing as Alby yelled out "Poles!"

The keepers lowered their sticks pointing them at Ben, trapping him. He scrambled to his two feet, trying to fight his way through the defences, while letting out a string of cries and pleas. He pushed against the poles trying to escape between small gaps formed between the wall of keepers. They kept moving in, until Ben had no choice, except to go past the doors, into the terrifying Maze. Bens screams were cut off the closing of the East Doors, securing him inside. 

I looked around at the broken mess of Gladers. My heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. It is not like I was close with Ben, but the feeling of someone you know, dying a horrible death. That sticks with you. The guilt of indirectly killing someone. That sticks with you. The screams of a dying person. That sticks with you. I look around at the crowd of Gladers again. We had all crossed a path from denial into acceptance.

Slowly, the Gladers departed, leaving the grieving scene, until the last ones left were Minho, Alby and Newt. Ace, Frypan and I all left together to go to the kitchen, to prepare dinner. None of us dared to say a word all throughout dinner, grief thick in the air. Ace and I were sitting at the table, eating our food which seemed to lose all its flavour, while Frypan was serving plates. The silence was deafening. After a while, Fry came to sit with us, joining the silence. 

I couldn't help but think of Ben. Is he already dead or is he seconds away from dying? Has he seen a griever yet or did he kill himself due to his injuries. An inhumane blood curdling scream pierced the dark. My eyes instinctively looked towards the Maze knowing it came from Ben. I made eye contact with Aces dilated eyes, across the table. Frypan took note of this interaction, questioning us with his eyes.

"Heard ben scream." I replied coldly, unable to confront the emotions. Once we finished dinner, we all departed to our hut, knowing fully well no one was going to do much sleeping that night. I arrived at my isolated hut and flopped onto my bed, unable to deal with the grief on my pushing down on the shoulders. I kept replaying Ben's last hours in my head. Him attacking Thomas. Him going to the pit. His pleas and cries. Him trying to escape. His scream. That scream that I know would haunt me for the rest of my life. The true pain and terror it held, knowing that I just heard his last seconds. Ben was gone.

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