CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
• my deepest apologies •

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

PART ONE OF A DOUBLE UPDATE

THREE WEEKS WENT by relevantly fast. Thomas-as expected-was everything anyone could talk about. Which was ironic considering the brunet wasn't able to say a word back. She sensed the loominess that hung around the Glade whenever the boy was mentioned. All of them were aware of what had happened to him-how he had been on the brink of death but miraculously survived.

Evony hadn't told anyone about the dreams she'd been having prior to his suicide attempt. The ones that she was convinced she shared with Thomas. A couple days after the chaos had erupted, she had taken some time to write down the parts of the dreams she could remember. The more she thought about it the more she was able to put the pieces together.

Every dream was showing a different way that Thomas could've killed himself. Slicing his neck, shooting himself; locking himself in the maze, and getting eaten by a Griever. Except in the dreams it wasn't him dying-it was her. Frankly that should've terrified her more than anything, but then she remembered how Alec was. He seemed much more collected when around Newt rather than if he was talking with her or anyone else. It was like the blonde was his anchor. Someone to ground him and give him the confidence he needed.

Evony didn't want to sound conceited, but if she was that person to Thomas then her theory would be proved correct. Newt told her that Alec dreamt of killing him several times-exactly as Thomas had. And she bet that every other Glader who have died had a person staring in their dreams aswell.

They were being tortured by seeing their person die by their own hands. That could possibly be enough to drive one insane.

She noticed other little details regarding her fellow Gladers. Gally was becoming more rough around the edges; he had started making his tone sharper when giving orders to the builders. She wasn't quite sure what the cause of this was, but she had a feeling she'd figure it out soon enough. It possibly could've been due to the changes that were happening in the Glade.

Aaron had been uncharacteristically quiet. He'd stop involving himself in conversation, laying back on the speaking and relying on others to do the talking. She found the behavior odd, especially when he was usually so adamant on taking control of every situation he was in. Every once in a while she would notice him sending her a low glare. His face would scrunch in disgust before he stalked his way past her. Though, Evony chose not to acknowledge it. If he had a problem with her then he could sort that out on his own.

Then there was also the tragic event that had occurred. One day when the runners went out into the maze, she had been informed of an injury. Ben had been stung.

Ben was stung in broad daylight.

From that moment on the Keepers had tried their best to keep the news on the low, but it was hard when the boy was screaming everyone's ears out because of the pain he was in. Ben claimed that it wasn't as bad as it was, but Max denied that fact. He told her that Ben was clearly experiencing seizure-like symptoms.

Evony had also asked Minho if he noticed anything, but her friend responded by saying he only ever saw the boy during the day. He said he wasn't willing to stay with the boy at night anymore; he had left that job up to Max.

With all of that considered, Evony still did her normal activity. She unhooked her harness, slipping off the pack on her back and holding it in her hand. Using her free hand she ran her fingers through the top of her ponytail, and pulled out the hair-tie to let the hair fall to her shoulders. She then ran a hand through the strangled mess, trying to tame the sweaty monstrosity.

Her gaze stayed locked on the ground; there was no need for her to look up if she knew exactly where she was going. She continued to glide across the Glade-not a solid thought in mind-when someone unexpectedly bumped into her chest.

She looked up to see Thomas beaming at her, grabbing ahold of her hands and smiling with pure joy. He pointed to his throat. "Look, I can talk!"

She began to grin too, his happiness radiating off into her. "That's great!" she exclaimed, her fingers threading into his, "Was it this morning you realized?"

"Yeah, Newt came in to tell me to get up and he was able to understand me clearly for the first time!"

Evony loved seeing him so positive like this. Over the past few weeks she had grown accustomed to the frown that- at the time-had a permanent place on his face. Every time Thomas would try to speak he would either, one, mumble or speak incoherently, or two, not be able to make much noise at all. It got slightly better overtime, but most Gladers would still have trouble understanding some of the phrases he said.

It was obvious Evony could depict what he was saying the easiet, and she guessed that was from hearing him slur his words before bed. When Thomas got sleepy he tended to leave out half the syllables when he spoke, and she was usually with him during that short period of time before he fell asleep.

His eyes then widened. He took a step back, unlocking their hands and composing himself. She was about to ask what he was doing when he spoke instead.

"I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" she repeated slowly, "For what?"

"For yelling at you."

She sighed, stepping forward towards him, "Thomas, I told you it's fine."

He shook his head, "No, no. I have to say it."

"You've already said sorry like twenty-eight times," Evony stated, crossing her arms in front of her chest. She wasn't kidding when she told him the number; she had counted, and over the three weeks-in one way or another-he had apologized for what he did.

Thomas nodded, "But now I can fully speak, so I have to do it again." He took a deep breath, and Evony concealed a laugh as he shut his eyes to prepare himself for his speech. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for telling you I don't need you. Which is so unbelievably stupid for me to say anyway, because I need you more than I need-well, more than I need a lot of things. You're kind and caring and sweet and nice and" -he stopped himself- "all of those. I should've listened to you. I should've stayed with you, but I didn't. I think it was partly because I couldn't take feeling like I was being watched over. I know you never meant it like that-you were trying to keep me safe. I'm surprised you cared enough to come back for me, even after I told you I didn't want you. But I'm so glad you did, because without you I'd be dead right now." He laughed lightly, almost sadly, "Literally."

A lovesick grin spread across her face, and she took initiative to step forward and wrap her arms around his neck.

He gently placed his arms at her lower back, still rambling on with his apology. "And I know that you've probably only been nice to me these past weeks because I was hurt, so if you don't want to talk to me anymore or like to make contact at all, that's fine. I understand."

She chuckled, wrapping her arms around him tighter to bring him closer. "You're cute."

His eyes shot down to hers, panic visible.

Evony backed away, awkwardly playing with her fingers. "I forgive you, and of course I still want to see you," she confirmed, making a smile appear on the boy's face, "You're an idiot sometimes, but at least you can own up to your mistakes. Not a lot of the boys here know how to do that."

"So we can still be friends?" He asked hopefully. Evony debated on pressing her lips to his right then and there. That was an issue that needed to be cleared up; when she said she wanted to see him, she really meant she wanted to be with him. In all ways that term could be implied. Evony had been telling herself that once Thomas was better she would finally make a move. They already did all the other normal couple stuff. Everything except kissing-on the lips to be exact.

Alby came up to them before she was able to do anything about it.

Their heads turned sharply towards him, both glancing at each other before actually saying anything.

"My section was shorter today," Evony quickly explained, not wanting to be misinterpreted for slacking on the job. She was back from the maze early. "And- and Zart said Thomas could be done in the Gardens'' -she looked urgently towards him- "Right?"

"Right!" he agreed, "No more, uh, work for me today."

Alby rolled his eyes, grabbing them both by the shoulders and spinning them around. He pushed them along as he talked. "No need for excuses. I heard Thomas talking and I think it's time we establish what really happened that night."

"Oh," Evony peered over at the brunet; his jaw went slack, the grin leaving his face.

"Lots of Gladers have been yacking to me wondering about the mystery of how you survived. Or how some like to call it: the mystery of lover-boy and his savior," he blabbered. "I, myself am quite intrigued, and as your leader I think it would be in all of our best interest if we know the facts."

Neither of them answered as he led them into the meeting hut. The three of them situated themselves around in a circle, sitting on carved wood logs that had been made into seats from a fallen tree.

"So?" Alby asked, looking between the both of them. "Start talking."

Neither perked up at his request, but Evony decided it would be best if she started from her point of view. However, as she was telling her story she got to a point where she wasn't sure that all the information was necessary. The connected dreams-even though she didn't want to admit it-scared her. That wasn't a normal quality to possess, so why did that happen to her and Thomas.

"Well, umm, Minho and I were in my hut, talking. Not really doing anything, and then we decided to go to bed." Her story didn't fulfill Albys expectations, and she could see it clearly in the way his eyebrows raised suspiciously at her. "We- I mean, I- I then felt like I should go make sure Thomas was okay, because we-"

"Broke up," Alby jutted in, but at the confused looks upon the younger teens' faces he quickly took back what he said. "Did you guys not break up?"

"We were never together.." she replied hesitantly, and Thomas nodded along with her statement. Alby seemed almost disappointed to hear that, but moved on with the interrogation without another word on the subject.

"So you just had a feeling that he was in danger?"

"Kinda," Evony shrugged, "I was also worried about his safety."

With the look Alby was giving her she knew that he wasn't buying most of what he said. "Okay, and what about you Thomas. What happened that night?"

She could sense the brunet's eyes on her, so she turned slightly to meet his eyes. They dropped to the floor instantly, and she concluded he was either embarrassed or guilty about what he was going to say.

"I was at the bonfire with Max and Ben. They kept daring eachother to do stupid things, and if they didn't want to do the stupid thing then they had to chug a jar of Gallys drink." He itched the back of his neck nervously, "Uh- well it got to the point they were so drunk that I decided to leave them alone to do..stuff."

"Stuff?" Evony cut in, earning a glare from Alby at her interrupting. "You don't mean that as-"

"I do."

"Gladers screw each other all the time," Alby spoke, "what's the buggin deal about them two?"

"Nothing," they both said at once. If their leader didn't know about Ben and Minho then it would be best for it to stay that way. Relationship drama wasn't the main focus of the conversion; they also didn't need to be discussing who did what with who to the person who's in charge of them.

Alby eyed them again, "You two sure your notches are all in place?

They nodded.

"Alright then..keep talking."

Thomas shifted in his seat, somehow itching himself a bit closer to her. She could feel the material of his pants brushing against the bare skin on her knee. "Well, after that I decided I wanted to go get some water, so I went to the kitchen. Nobody was there since everyone was at the bonfire. I grabbed a glass and filled it up, but I never drank it."

Alby leaned in, intrigued, "How come?"

"I don't remember."

It was almost funny. How he drug the story out to give it suspense just to come back with that sort of answer. Alby, however, didn't seem amused by the response and instead let out an irritated sigh. "You're kidd- Fine, Thomas. Why don't you remember?"

"I don't know," Thomas stated, his hands now playing with the edge of his shirt, "One second I was in the kitchen and the next I saw"-he gazed over to her admiringly-"you."

He smiled at her, which she returned gratefully.

Alby let out another sigh, "Cut the sappiness, I don't need to see anymore of that. You really don't remember anything-not a single thing?"

"If he did he would probably tell you," Evony cut in.

The leader scoffed, "Fine. If that's how this is going to go. What's the letters on his wrist?"

The three sets of eyes moved to Thomas' left wrist, where they waited expectantly for him to flip his arm around and show the scars. He did so-reluctantly-revealing the pink lines that spelled the letters G O.

"What did the others spell out?" he asked her.

"There's been four other sets of letters," Evony proceeded to explain. Her patience was wearing out; she could tell Thomas was getting tense from having to talk about the subject. "WICKED and IS."

Alby stared at her, rubbing at the small amount of hair he had on his head. "So WICKED IS GO?"

Suddenly there was a shift in the group, and she felt the brunet's knee hit against her own. She saw him standing up, pushing away his chair and making an exit to the door. Evony excused herself and ran to catch up with him. She stopped him once they were outside the hut, where they would be able to talk without Alby hearing.

"I don't want to talk about it, Evs," Thomas uttered, curling his hands into fists and turning his body away from her. She placed a hand on his shoulder, moving around until she was standing in front of him.

"You don't have to," she reassured, though deep down she knew that at some point he would need to go into full detail on what had happened. Especially if there was a chance it was going to happen to more people. The Gladers would want the story from the survivor. But for right now they could wait.

Thomas seemed relieved at her answer, holding out his hand for her to grab-which she held onto tightly-and dragged them towards the direction of their hut.

"What do you want to do?" she asked him,

"Talk? I don't really know. I just want to be with you."

a smile formed on her face at the thought of being alone with the boy. "Sounds perfect," she agreed, and the two headed off to their hut, not leaving for the rest of the night.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

MAE's FUN NOTES
this is what I call some drama 🤭
max x ben vs minho x ben ??

anyway there's another chapter
bc this is a double update and
depending when you read this
it'll be out in a few minuets