The Outcast

Chapter 10

Minho entered the glade, panting. Everything looked normal. The gladers were doing their work as usual. No one noticed Minho and the worrisome look that bared his face. He steadily picked up his pace and looked for Newt, who was easily found by the homestead. Seeing Minho back earlier without Ayla, Newt sensed trouble.

"Why are you back alone?" Asked Newt. Minho had never felt this guilty before. He was sure that leaving Ayla behind and running back to get help was the best option. Yet, he could not help feeling the sense of guilt for leaving her behind, especially after seeing Newt.

"Missing your girlfriend already?"

"She's not my girlfriend. I -"

"Right, 'cause she's a monkey. Seriously, she was lashing out at the air. For a second back there, I thought I was on the Planet of Apes with just one ape because she scared the others off." Said Minho (A/N I'm sorry my humour is BS). This only made Newt more confused than he already was. Why would Ayla slash out at nothing? She seemed fine in the morning. He started to count the possibilities for this occurrence. However, in his mind, there were none. And so Newt and Minho waited for Ayla's return in silence.

Darkness approached but Ayla was nowhere in sight. The flickering lights caused spiders to crawl the runners' skins as they prayed for Ayla's safe return. Minho suggested going back into the maze to look for her but most rejected the idea. "It's too risky," said Alby. Newt was the only person who approved of the proposal. He too was concerned about Ayla's safety - a little too much. Not thinking straight, Newt stormed towards the doors, Minho following close behind. Just as the runners were about to hold Newt back, as if on cue, Ayla came through the walls right before they started closing.

"Where were you? What were you doing? Are you okay? You had me worried sick!" Newt rambled out of concern. Without a word, Ayla embraced Newt tightly. A symbol of unity that shows the importance of having companionship. No one understood what Ayla was going through, one of the apparent reasons was that she was a girl. Another being the fact that not many were worth her trust. The self-defence mode was always on and it was on far beyond her years of living. Yet, all she wanted at that moment was someone to lean on. Having shared a great amount of time with Newt, she knew he was the one she was comfortable letting her guard down to. The feeling of safety in his arms gave her much-needed comfort. She wished she could be honest with him when she felt better, but she was still obligated to disguise in her mask - pretending everything was fine.

That night, Ayla spoke to no one but herself. Convincing herself to act strong instead of showing more of her weaknesses. The word vulnerability has never been on her dictionary until then. Newt and Minho saw that right through her eyes. Even with an attempted disguise, one's eyes would always speak the truth. But the two did not push her to confess the hardships she felt knowing that it was space that she needed. They gave her companionship and unlimited support. Despite their support, the earlier incident still earned Ayla a few stares. She, of course, was not oblivious to it. A feeling of unease surfaced as some gladers whispered and stared their way through the night. "Never seen someone sitting before?" Said Minho in an attempt to save Ayla from getting more unwanted attention. In normal cases, this would have scared people off. But with Gally being one of them, the plan backfired. "Nah. Just wondering what the fuss is about. I heard she is going insane." The assumption angered Ayla. In a swift motion, she took her dagger out and lashed out at Gally, catching him off guard. She restrained her behaviour slightly, only gripping the neck of Gally's shirt and holding her dagger extremely and dangerously close to his face. The death glare on her face frightened people nearby as they slowly scooted away, clearing an area for the two.

"You don't know the first thing about me so you are not in any rightful place to judge me." She spat in his face.

Newt and Minho stood up from their seats, calmly plotting their words about to be said to calm Ayla down.

"Ayla. He's not worth your time." Said Newt. Minho supported this comment by throwing a not-so-friendly insult at Gally for making fun of her. Ayla dropped Gally on the floor, not bothering to give him any chance at preserving his dignity. Her heels turned sharply towards her two best friends. Shortly after she took off, Gally intentionally retorted at her, saying, "Oh, so you're just their puppet." That's it. Ayla thought. In two steps, she launched her fist at Gally's face, bruising his nose as blood started to spill out from his nostrils. The gladers, more specifically Gally's sidekicks, pulled her away from their so-called true leader. "What's going on here?" shouted Alby among the whispers of the gladers. "This little shuck here punched me!"

"He started it first."

"No, you started it first. I didn't even touch you."

"So verbal attacks don't count now?"

"Those were hardly an insult. I - "

"Both of you, in the slammer tonight. I will not tolerate such behaviour in the Glade."

The relationship between gladers had always come first in the leader's eyes. He admitted that Gally was a hand full at times due to his comparatively more egoistic nature. However, he expected Ayla to act more civilized even during hard times. Anyhow, it seemed that both were in the wrong so it was only fair if both Ayla and Gally got punishments.

Newt and Minho approached Alby in an attempt to have Ayla released from the slammer in case the two strangled each other to death. Frankly speaking, no one wanted to deal with dead bodies. Despite a long and detailed justification, Alby dismissed them, saying that the two needed to learn to live in peace.

In the slammer, Ayla sat at the far end to isolate herself from Gally. An awkward silence loomed the room. It seemed as if hours had passed by as the two had nothing to do in there.

"I'm sorry," whispered Ayla. "I'm sorry for lashing out at you." This caught Gally's attention fairly easily. Never had he once thought that she would apologise for that outburst of anger, especially not right after a fight. "I'm sorry as well... for being a jerk."

"It's just... I get very defensive when someone talks shit about me but they don't know anything: who I am or my personality in general. I don't like letting people in because there's always a possibility of getting hurt. And because no one will truly understand me. They don't see things I do." Ayla confessed.

"Were the rumours true?"

"To an extent, yes. I'd rather not tell you or anyone why though." Gally respected that. At that moment, the two had found peace within each other. They chatted through the night, discussing how they wished to see their pasts again, knowing that everyone was going through the same pain in the Glade. Respect for privacy was what they needed.