Running From Your Problems (a Newt/ Maze Runner fanfic)

Chapter 19

"What do you think you are doing?" Gally screams in my face.

"What?" I spit back in his face. "is it against the rules for me to hug a friend."

I internally grimace at the word 'friend'. I want for Newt and I to be more than friends.

"No, but when you are supposed to be at homestead, it is," Gally growls. "your little excursion this afternoon got the attention of the keepers. We get to decide if we should banish you."

My stomach drops. Just a second ago, I was on cloud 9. Now, I feel like I have just been punched in the stomach.

"You've got 3 minutes to get to homestead before we start judging your fate without you there," he says and walks off with a sickening smirk on his face.

"Y/n, you need to go," Newt whispers. "you need to be there for it. If you don't go, then it is almost a guarantee that they will banish you."

I nod and give one last quick hug before starting toward homestead.

The walk to homestead felt like it took two minutes, but I savored every second of it, taking in all of my surroundings. I look at everything, trying to memorize it just in case these are my last hours in the Glade.

As I step up to the door to homestead, I realize just how much my hand really hurts. The adrenaline from everything that had been happening must've masked the pain that was coming from my hand.

I walk into homestead, aware of the pain radiating from my hand more than I am aware of the sickening feeling that I have. But, I do know one thing: Gally is going to try very hard to make everything seem worse than it really was.

Everyone that is inside is sitting in a semicircle around an empty chair. I'm guessing that is my chair.

"We've been waiting for you," Alby informs me with a tone completely different than the one he used earlier. "how was your little talk with Newt?"

The boys in the room snicker and I glare at Gally. He must've told everyone about seeing me and Newt hugging earlier.

"Can we just get this done and over with," I say with urgency laced through my words.

"Actually, we can't," Alby walks back his seat. "we have to wait for Newt to get here with Minho. Without them, we can't start."

I nod and slowly walk to the chair in the middle of the semicircle.

"I am supposed to sit here, right?" I cautiously ask before sitting down.

Alby nods and looks at the door.

After what feels like an eternity, Minho and Newt emerge into the great room of homestead. Minho has his arm wrapped around Newt's shoulders, hobbling along on one leg.

"Get this shank off of me," Newt yells as soon as he reaches the nearest chair.

Newt walks over to the last empty chair, sits down, and nods at Alby to start.

"Okay then," Alby sighs. "we're here because of y/n. She went into the maze, breaking rules, but to save a fallen Glader. She succeeded. We are here to decide if she should be punished."

Gally raises his hand immediately, "I would like to say that she broke the rules. Cut and dry. She broke the rules, we should punish her the same way that we punish everyone else who brakes the same exact rules. I say we should banish her."

The whole room broke out into yelling and arguing over what Gally said. From what I could hear, only a few of the keepers were in favor of banishing me.

Minho raises his hand to talk, but no one cares to look his way.

"Hey!" He yells and the face of everyone in the room turns toward him. "I would like to say something."

He looks to Alby who nods.

"When I was in the maze, lying on the ground. I could hear the sound of the North Doors closing. I remember thinking that I was dead. Then this shank did the stupidest thing," he gestured toward me. "and she ran into the maze to drag me out of there."

"Big deal," Gally spits. "she ran in and saved your life. What's the point, I think that we all would've done that."

"I'm not done," Minho retorted with acid in his voice. "she literally dragged me up to a standing position and forced me to walk, with her help, to the doors of the maze. I still thought that I was dead at that point, that there was no hope for me, and I tried to stop. At one point I even pulled her to the ground. She was struggling to get up, much less pull me up. Most of you shanks would've gotten up and left by then. That was when Newt came in, he ran into the maze with only seconds left before the doors closed and they dragged me out of the maze. I think that I deserve more punishment than she does. I acted in a way that a runner never should. I should be punished. I think that we should make her a runner."

The room erupted into arguing and yelling once again.

"Hey, hey!" Alby yelled, trying to calm the room down. "We aren't here to decide Minho's fate or decide if the Green bean should be a runner! We are here to decide the fate of the Greenie! Now! Who voted for the Greenie to be punished."

The sick feeling in my stomach returned and the pounding in my hand returns, full force. The room slowly starts to spin again.

I grip the edges of my seat and close my eyes, forcing myself to stay conscious.

I slowly open my eyes to see who wants me to be banished. I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of only three keepers with their hands up, Gally obviously being one.

"Who thinks that the Greenie shouldn't be punished?"

Almost every hand in the room is raised. Even Alby raises his hand.

"Okay Greenie, you are free to go. Tomorrow, Monho and I will talk about whether or not you are fit to be a runner. You should go get some sleep."

I nod and practically run up the stairs to my bedroom. I lock the door behind me and collapse on the bed.

I can finally sleep with peace of mind.

*this chapter may not be that good because I was trying to write it as fast as possible, but I hope you like it!
Thank you guys for all of the comments and support you have given me! It really makes you feel better when you know that something you write pleases other people, so thank you guys sooooooo much!!!!!
I don't own TMR, James Dashner does. I used a quote from the book this chapter and I haven't done that before, so I feel like I need to say that.
I'll try to update as soon as possible, but I want to update on my other story first. if you want to read it is A Second Chance, it's a Peter Pan story. I wrote it because I fell in love with Neverland in OUAT. So, please go check it out!

~Caelyn