THE MAZE RUNNER • labyrinth

37 : death sentence

hayley stayed right next to ben's bed the following days. he was asleep most of the time due to the medication emmett gives him, and the times he's awake he's so drowsy and disoriented that he's not even aware of what's happening around him.

she didn't just stay there to watch over him, she was also avoiding thomas. she needed time to think about what ben told her. she sat in the chair beside the bed with her chin in her hand, her mind whirling.

emmett walked in and she stood up, moving closer to ben. "how's he doing?" she asked him. emmett taught her a few things, but she still didn't know the signs that ben was doing better or worse. he was still as pale as he was a few days ago and the bleeding on his cheek stopped, but his breathing was still shallow.

emmett took ben's temperature and peeked under the bandage on his cheek before gently setting it back down. "there's no change," emmett said, his face blank.

hayley dropped back down in the chair and put her face in her hands. she was tired of the constant worry and tired of waiting for him to be okay. she felt slightly responsible for what happened to ben, maybe if she had tried to calm him down the moment she saw him on top of thomas instead of tackling him, he wouldn't have been in that situation with alby.

maybe he wouldn't be banished. she pushed the thought out of her head. she wasn't going to let him be banished. she was already thinking of ways to convince alby to change his mind and convince him that ben wasn't a threat to anyone. emmett said it was pointless to try but she had to. she saw apologetic in ben's eyes when he looked at her. he really didn't mean to hurt her.

"hayley."

she looked up. worry and pain was etched on emmett's face. her eyes immediately shot to ben, looking at his chest to make sure he was still breathing. "what?" she asked. "is—is he okay?"

"he's okay," emmett said. he rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "but . . . we're wasting a lot of resources to keep him—"

"it's not wasting if it's keeping him alive," she cut him off.

"i know, i'm the one who went against alby's orders even when he said it was a waste but . . . i didn't realize then that it would take this much of our medicine. we were already low when he was brought here, all we have left now is a small shelf left of medicine—"

"the box will send up more," she cut him off again. she was in denial.

"hayley . . ." emmett said quietly. "the box stopped sending up medicine the week you showed up. they're not giving us any more."

hayley's gaze dropped to the floor. was it her fault they weren't getting everything they needed? "am—am i a punishment?" she breathed. "am i the reason ben is going to. . ." she couldn't finish her sentence. the guilt of it all gnawing away at her insides.

"that's not what i'm saying," emmett interjected. "i'm the reason ben is . . . i can't be reckless anymore. . . i have to stop before we run completely out. it's my decision and i. . . i have to stop helping him."

hayley saw a small movement from the corner of her eye and looked just in time to see ben wake up. his mouth moved as he tried to clear his dry mouth enough to say, "it's okay, mett. alby never would've changed his mind anyway."

emmett's watery eyes enlarged, he had no idea his best friend had just heard him give him a death sentence. ben forced a smile and held out his hand for emmett to take; his hand skinny and pale in emmetts.

hayley walked away, letting them say their goodbyes. she closed the door softly behind her and leaned against the wall, slowly falling to the ground. she wrapped her arms around her legs and cried, not just for ben, but for emmett too because he was losing his best friend.

even from the other side of the door, she could hear the cries from the room.

short chapter but it's just a filler.

before you say, "why couldn't he just keep helping ben and hayley convince alby to not banish him?" alby never would've changed his mind, not because he's not a friend of ben', but because he can't have someone who's a danger to others living in the glade. ben isn't exactly dangerous, but he did attack thomas and one of their rules is to never harm another glader.

they're also running out of medicine and bandages and stuff, and trust me . . . they're going to be needing a lot of that stuff later on in the story (i'm so sorry)