Don't Let Go

Chapter 37

After a few minutes had passed, Alby interrupted. 

"Well Newt, I'm glad to see you two patched things up and I hate to kill the mood but we need to discuss a few things. The med-jacks say that you'll recover but not fully. You can't be a runner anymore, so you're now my full time second in command. We don't know how well you'll heal, we got the builders to make you some crutches to help ya get around."

"You hurt yourself real bad, you'll have a limp for a long time. But you'll be up and walking around in a month or two all nice like you used to." I chimed in.

"Is that good?" he asked. 

"Well... yeah. The only bad thing is you can't be a runner anymore. Which I know is upsetting to you but you'll hurt yourself worse. You can't do heavy labor for a little while either. That means you can't carry me or the twins."

"No, it's ok. I'll get to be with you and the twins more. I haven't been in their lives and I haven't been here for you like I should be."

I hugged him close and he kissed my forehead.

He adjusted fairly quickly. He hobbled around helping out wherever he could. We told the twins that he had gotten hurt. We decided on not telling them what happened to their precious daddy for a very long time. They wouldn't understand, all it would do is hurt them. He still played with them. He would sit down on the ground and help them stand up and walk over to me. They began talking and even helping out the gardeners. We estimated them to be about two years old. On top of that, he has begun a weekly 'date night' for the two of us to get away from everything around us and be together for a few hours. He would have Minho and Alby watch the twins and ask Frypan to make a special dinner for the two of us to take and eat in the deadheads where we would set up a picnic area. The first few however were more in the open so he could balance easier and get around more sufficiently. 

 Although not everything was fine. A few days after Gally was released, he ran into the maze in the middle of the day and was caught by a Griever.  The creators sent up a 'cure' for the Griever's sting. Although it sent the poor boy through hell. For almost a week he didn't even look human. Alby called what he was going through 'the changing'. He was never the same after that. He said he got some of his memories back. He became angry and violent, continually yelling that this was all my fault. But he never came near me again, he wouldn't even look at me anymore. It hurt me that he was acting so mean. He was once one of my best friends and now he hates me. I hope not I or anyone else have to go through the changing.

After 3 months, we braced Newt's leg, and he no longer needed the crutches. He was now able to walk on his own. The smile that spread across his face could've lit up a room. He was so happy to be able to walk on his own again. It was like he gained his independence back.

The last newbie we got was a small pudgy boy, probably about 12 years old. It hurt me to see this little boy sent into such an awful place. For a few days he was scared of everyone and stayed in the box but once he came out he immediately clung to me. He was so scared of everything that moved. But the twins went right up to him.

"Mamma... who's that?" Deliah said in her sweet sing-song voice. I held her in my arm with Daniel holding my hand as I walked them through the Glade.

"That's the new boy honey. He's scared. Do you think you could make him feel better?" I asked looking at Deliah first and then Daniel. They both shook their heads. I set Delaih down and let them run to him. 

At first, he was scared of the little toddlers running toward him. But after a few seconds, he opened up to them. After a few minutes of talking, they lead him to me saying that I would be his new mommy.

"This is Ruby! She's our mamma and she can be your mamma too!" Deliah said pulling the boy over to me.

"Hi buddy. What's your name?" I said leaning over so I was at his hight."

"C... Chuck..." He said, his head facing the ground trying to hide the tear falling from his eye.

"Ruby I need your help!" Newt called from behind me.

I sighed and looked back at Chuck.

"Hey, I gotta go but if you ever need me just yell okay buddy. I'll always be here for you. If you ever need a mommy or daddy to cry to for help just find me or Newt. Daniel, Deliah... stay with Chuckie, I gotta help your father. " I hugged all three of them before I ran off to where I was being beckoned.

From then on Chuck became a new member of the family. Newt taught him how to do almost everything he thought Chuck would be good at. The twins followed him around like little lost puppies, playing with him every day. Chuck helped out in the gardens most of the time but he floated between jobs. 

With every passing day, the twins grew smarter and stronger. I was able to trust hem to go off on their own for a little while. They knew where they could and couldn't go and I knew the other Gladers would watch over them. 

But behind all these good things lurked the darkness of my ever racing mind. The runners still haven't even found a hint to an exit. We started to lose hope, so Alby made the runners actual progress a secret. Only Alby, Newt, the runners and I knew what was really going on. They had scouered the entire maze from top to bottom, not a single way out. We're stuck here all our lives.

He didn't want to cause mass chaos in the Glade. Hope was what motivated everyone to keep working hard. We couldn't afford to lose that. We had built a system, a system that didn't function if no one did their part. We didn't want to hide things from the gladers but it was the only thing we could do to keep everything running smoothly and everybody doing their best and working hard.