It felt nice to not have to get up at the break of dawn, although Marie did wake up a little bit before the others. She just stretched and laid there, giggling softly as she heard Newt snoring. At least someone was sleeping soundly. Marie got up quietly so that she wouldn't wake him up, deciding that he could probably use the extra rest.
Marie wanted to shower while everyone else was still sleeping, so she quickly grabbed a change of clothes that had come up in the Box with her, making her way towards the showers. It seemed like everyone else except for Frypan and the Runners were all still asleep, so Marie would have the showers all to herself. At least that was what she thought.
The girl hummed to herself as she turned on the water, undressing, folding up her clothes in a neat pile before stepping under the hot water. She grabbed a bottle of shampoo, taking care to make sure that it wasn't the one that she had put the hair dye in the previous day. After washing her hair, she grabbed a bar of soap, washing down her body. Just then, she heard a creak, and she froze. "Hello?"
Silence greeted her, but Marie was left with an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knew that she hadn't imagined the sound, which could only mean that someone was in here with her. Marie's mind went back to the threat that Gally had made the previous day. Would he really act upon it so quickly?
There was a snarl, and a blonde boy that Marie didn't recognize jumped out at her. Marie screamed, dropping the bar of soap that was still in her hand.
Ben pushed Marie hard against the wall, and Marie groaned as her head made contact with the wall, causing her vision to blur. His hand wrapped around her throat, squeezing hard. "This is your fault!" He screamed in her ear before throwing her to the floor. Marie screamed in pain as she heard her arm break.
"You could have done something to save us, and you didn't!" Ben's eyes were black, his veins bulging. He took a gleaming silver knife out of his pocket, plunging it towards Marie's chest.
Marie grabbed his wrist with her good arm, trying to stop the knife from entering her chest and piercing her chest. Her hand shook as ben tried to surge forward, the tip of the knife's blade was just inches from her chest now.
Then, Newt and Thomas were there. Thomas pulled Ben off of Marie, while Newt knelt next to her. "Are you alright?" He asked her worriedly.
"My head hurts." Marie said quietly. "And I think that my arm might be broken..."
Newt gingerly touched Marie's arm, and she whimpered in pain.
Others had arrived by then. Minho helped Thomas to hold Ben down, the boy writhing and screaming underneath them. Jeff knelt beside Newt, inspecting Marie's arm. Newt grabbed a towel, draping it over her body so that no one would be staring at anything private.
"Her arm is definitely broken." He announced. "And she might have a concussion as well." He helped Marie to stand, trying to keep the white towel wrapped around her. Marie groaned as her vision swam, and she almost fell. Jeff scooped her into his arms, carrying her into the infirmary, Newt right behind him.
Jeff wrapped up Marie's arm, putting it in a sling. "What happened?"
"I woke up earlier than everyone else, so I decided to take a shower. While I was in the shower, I heard this creaking noise, then Ben was suddenly there, he attacked me, he was going to kill me."
"You're safe now." Newt told her as he took her hand, squeezing it gently. "Ben is going to be punished for what he did, this guaranteed him a Banishment."
"Banishment?" Marie felt sick. She knew that Ben wasn't himself, she knew what the sting of a Griever could do to a person, she had watched from the cameras back in the lab.
"It's not your fault." Newt told her quickly. "Stung or not, Ben attacked you, so we have to adhere to the rules of the Glade."
Jeff had pulled a blanket up over Marie, effectively covering her better than a towel. And a good thing too, because Minho and Thomas had entered at that moment.
"Ben's locked up in the Slammer." Minho announced, looking at Marie. "You okay?"
"I will be." Marie told him. "But Ben...does he really have to be banished?"
"That's what the rules are." Minho said as he shrugged his shoulders. "People who are stung...they remember things, things that change their personality completely. For all we know, this is the new and not quite so improved Ben, and we can't have him attacking you every time that he sees you."
That didn't exactly make Marie feel any better, but she knew that she couldn't keep the Banishing from happening, which meant that Ben was as good as dead. And as much as the others might try to convince her otherwise, Marie knew that it was her fault. He might not have attacked anyone, for some reason, she had triggered him. He had been right, she could have helped them, she tried to help them, but she had failed, and now she was just as stuck as they were.
"You can't blame yourself Marie." Thomas told her. "I know what you're thinking, but this isn't your fault."
Marie watched as Minho slipped his hand int Thomas' and she smiled softly. At least her matchmaking plans had worked, that made her feel a little bit better.
"Why don't you try and get some rest?" Jeff suggested. "You're going to be spending a couple of days in here, until I'm certain that you can walk around without getting woozy and collapsing. Your head needs to heal a little bit, and with your arm, it's going to be a while before you can do any kind of work."
"Great." Marie mumbled. Now she was going to be stuck in bed on top of everything else.
"I'll get you some clothes, bring them back here for you." Newt told her. He left then, as did Minho and Thomas, leaving Marie alone with Clint.
"How are you feeling right now?" Jeff asked her. "And I'm not talking physically. Mentally, emotionally, how are you?"
Marie bit her lip. "I don't know." She admitted. "Deep down, I know that I'm not to blame for what Ben did, but still, there's that little nagging feeling of guilt that I just can't seem to get rid of."
"That's completely normal." Jeff assured her. "Anyone in your place would be thinking the same thing, I know that I would be."
"Gally wouldn't be thinking that." Marie pointed out to him. "He's probably gloating over this, thinking that I got what I had coming to me. Honestly, when I heard Ben come in, I had thought that it was Gally."
Jeff shook his head. "Gally is all talk." He told her. "He won't actually do any of the things that he threatens to do."
"What's his deal anyways? Has he always been such a grump?"
"No, there was a time when he was actually pleasant to be around, believe it or not. But the idiot decided to prove that he had what it took to be a Runner, he went into the Maze by himself. Well, he got himself stung, and he turned into the asshole that you've had the displeasure of dealing with."
Even knowing what a Griever sting did to a person, Marie was shocked at how much it could change a person. What if she were to get stung? Would that happen to her too? Would she start acting like Gally or even Ben? Would she attack one of them? Attack Thomas or Newt or even Chuck? She couldn't even fathom the possibility of it, but she knew that it was definitely possible, and that thought honestly terrified her.
"Hey, breathe." Jeff told her, and Marie realized that she was on the verge of a panic attack. She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down.
"I'm going to go and get you some tea from the kitchen." Jeff told her, giving her a small smile. "I want you to just try and relax while I'm gone, okay?"
He left, and Marie was left by herself in the infirmary. "What a day." The olive skinned girl groaned as she closed her eyes. What a day indeed, but things were far from over.
Marie spent two days in the infirmary, which she was actually kind of glad about, because it had meant that she didn't have to witness Ben's Banishment. She had heard his screams though, and they haunted her. Two days later she still heard them every time that she looked at the Maze doors. She was currently in the lookout tower. It had probably been dangerous, considering that she had only been able to use one arm to help herself climb up the ladder, but she had managed. Once her arm was healed, she would start work as a Med-Jack, but until then, she couldn't do anything other than just walk around the Glade.
"There you are." Marie glanced up as Newt climbed up the ladder. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
"What for?" Marie asked, hoping that nothing was seriously wrong.
"I just wanted to make sure that you're okay. Ever since you got out of the infirmary, it's like you've been distancing yourself from us."
"I'm not-" Marie stopped, knowing that she couldn't deny it, because she had in fact been distancing herself from the others, even though she hadn't exactly meant to. "I'm sorry it's just...everything with Ben..." She stared at the Maze doors for a moment before turning her head and closing her eyes. "I may not have been there to watch him getting banished, but I could hear his screams from the infirmary, hear his cries for help. And even though I didn't physically do anything to land him in there, he's still in there because of me, and I have to live with that now."
"Marie..." Newt sat down next to her, taking her hand in his own. It felt rough and calloused from all the work that he did in the gardens. "Marie, I know that you feel guilty about what happened, and probably guilty because you know things, things that you can't tell us. But you aren't to blame, not for any of it, so you need to stop blaming yourself."
"But Newt-"
"No buts about it." Newt said firmly, lightly gripping her chin so that she was looking him in the eyes. "It is not your fault."
"Newt..." Marie felt her breath hitch as she looked into his eyes. They stared at each other for a few moments, their lips inches apart...they slowly moved towards each other...
"Newt!" Thomas called from down below. "Alby needs your help breaking up a brawl between the Builders!"
Newt sighed and he pulled away, climbing down the ladder, but not before smiling warmly at Marie.
Marie groaned, laying on her back and staring up at the blue sky. "So close." She muttered, she was going to kill Thomas later.
When Thomas learned about the somewhat intimate moment between Marie and Newt that he had ruined, he began to apologize profusely to her. "I'm really sorry Marie, if I had known-"
"Don't worry about it." Marie may have wanted to kill him before, but when duty called, Marie couldn't exactly keep Newt from taking care of it.
"Yo Marie." Minho walked over to them, slinging his arm around Marie's shoulder.
"Oh dear Lord, what are you planning?"
Minho had a look in his eyes that Marie didn't exactly like. "Minho, what the shuck are you planning?"
"You got me and Tommy together, the least we can do is help you get together with Newt."
"We?" Thomas asked, and it was clear that this was the first that he was hearing on the subject.
Marie appreciated Minho's thoughtfulness, although she had a gut feeling that somehow this was going to go horribly wrong.