The Reason

Crossed Lines

The keepers had come to the decision that Shawn should be banished and they were confident in that decision. However, they could not reasonably convince every glader to share their point of view. Lord knows Gally couldn't handle giving one of his demonstrations to each and every boy who didn't have enough common sense to reason it out on their own. Nikola was now the talk of the glade for a very different reason.

She'd only learned about the banishment after it had happened. Her first feeling was that of relief that she wouldn't have to see Shawn ever again in their small world, but that very feeling also sickened her and she promptly vomited. It was bad enough that she could convince herself that it was her fault someone was dead at the merciless jaws of the grievers, but the murmurs of blame around her only made it worse. Gally, Newt, and Frypan, her closest friends, seemed far too relaxed about the whole thing, not doubting the justice of their actions whatsoever and tried to ease her guilt by telling her there was no reason to have it in the first place. But she did.

Life was even more unbearable for her then on. Who knew she'd miss the lustful stares and crude remarks she used to receive? They seemed infinitely better than the dark looks and cruel words. Even as an innocent victim, she had proven that having a girl in the glade could get someone killed. She was dangerous. She was tipping them from order to anarchy. And what was worse is she had dragged Gally down with her. Boys who used to be his friends or were too scared to ever say anything about him before were now full of venom and gossip. That was the part she really struggled with, ruining Gally's well oiled machine of a life.

The shift in attitudes around the glade had Gally even more on edge than he naturally was and he kept a closer eye on Nikola, and if he wasn't around then he made sure Newt or Fry were. So, when another box day rolled around, Gally was extra intimidating to the Greenie. It was easy, the new one was even more annoying than all the others combined.

The first thing the Greenie did after Gally chucked him out of the box was make a break for it. The boys whooped and hollered, impressed by his speed, till he tripped and did a monumental face plant. They threw him in the slammer to calm down a bit before Alby personally came to give him the tour. Gally kept one eye on him, making sure he stayed away from Nikola. Newt came over to them saying Alby was looking for Chuck.

"Looks like the last Greenie is gonna take care of the new one," Gally commented, trying to give a semi proud look to the kid.

Nikola smiled at him encouragingly and he scampered after Newt to help, her face falling as soon as he was gone. Gally noticed of course. He also noticed after a while that the Greenie was getting closer and closer to the maze doors despite Chuck trying to stop him multiple times. There wasn't much the poor kid could do being smaller and younger, and Gally didn't want him getting in any trouble.

"Hey!" Gally yelled as he charged over, getting the new guys attention before shoving him so hard he went flying through the air, landing about a yard away from where he'd been standing a moment ago. Chuck had backed off as soon as he'd seen Gally coming.

"We gotta stop meeting like this Greenie," Gally said as he towered over the boy in the dirt.

"Get off me!" The boy snapped as he scrambled to get to his feet again.

Gally tried to stand between him and the maze doors to keep him from running through them. "Calm, calm, calm." He repeated as he nervously glanced in Nikola's direction as more boys gathered around them.

"Why won't you tell me what's out there?" The greenie was demanding of Newt and Alby right before a gust of wind whipped through the door, a heavy mechanical grinding echoing through the glade as the doors began to close.