Nick soon came back panting with towels and some extra clothes.
The boys turned around as she dragged herself up and changed into Nick's old t-shirt and shorts. They were big on her but she felt much warmer. Her hair was now semi-dry.
"Ok, done," she sighed sitting back down on the ground and letting out a cough in attempt to get out a scratch in her throat.
"Alright, you hungry?" Nick asked as he turned around.
She shook her head and croaked, "do I have to go back to the slammer?"
"I'm thinking we should get those cuts checked with Jeff first," Newt said, his brows furrowed.
Lyla looked down at her hand. It was swollen and red. The bandage was gone and the cuts of her side and leg stung every time her new clothing came in contact with them.
"Are you not going to ask what happened..." she asked quietly.
"That's what the trial's for. Till then you don't have to talk about anything," Nick said sternly.
She pursed her lips slightly and cast her eyes down towards her feet. She had never heard Nick speak in this tone before.
At that moment someone bolted in through the door. It was Jeff.
"Nick!" Jeff panted, looking half-crazed.
"Jeff, we were just about to-" Newt began but was interrupted.
"It's Elias."
"What. What's wrong?" Nick asked him urgently.
"I thought he was sleeping- he seemed ok until last night but then this morning... I- I don't know what happened! You have to come right now!"
She was locked inside the homestead again, alone.
Her head was pounding and she sat in the corner waiting.
She had no idea what she was waiting for nor what was going on out there. Heck, she could barely even tell whether or not she was dreaming or awake. The only thing that kept her lulled in focus was the feeling of the blood rushing in her head in the rhythm of her heartbeat.
She glanced over to the streaks of sunlight that came in in between some of the loose branches in the walls. She crawled towards them and looked outside through the slits of light.
The glade looked as green and as peaceful as ever.
She slowly sat again with her back pressed against the wall and sighed softly. Her numbness kept her calm. She stared at the floor like that for a couple of hours until she heard someone unlock the door.
"Greenie. Come on, let's get this over with."
She looked up at Gally who had barged in. He looked halfway between mad and desperate. Behind him stood Ben, looking rather timidly at her.
"What's happening?" She could barely get her voice to sound normal as her body tensed again.
"Your trial is happening. Get up, let's go."
When she didn't move, Gally walked towards her in a few long strides. He yanked her up by the arm and began to pull her back towards the door.
"Easy, Gally." Ben said to him lowly. He was ignored.
She let herself be half-dragged toward the med-hut. Many of the gladers were outside surrounding the place. They eyed her wearily. Some shouted things that she couldn't make sense of in her disorientation. She was also busy trying to keep up with Gally.
At the entrance, a few of boys blocked the way.
"Move," Gally snarled.
"Eli wouldn't do that to himself," said one of them, equally harsh.
"No-one knows anything yet. That's why we're having a trial," Gally answered.
"She doesn't need one. Gonna get banished anyway. Just tell us what you did to him, girl."
She winced away, feeling scared. The boys neared closer towards them and Gally sandwiched her behind him and in front of Ben.
He grabbed the front of the boy's shirt and said with gritted teeth, "Don't make another scene, man. We all need answers right now so get out the way, shank."
"He's shuckin' dead, Gally!"
And with that there was chaos. The boys, supposedly Elias's friends, landed punches in Gally's face. Ben grabbed her from behind and shoved her away from them as the door opened to reveal Alby and the rest of the keepers.
"Ey! We aren't doing this again!" He shouted, quickly shoving his way towards them to break up the commotion.
One of the boys had gotten a handful of Nick's shirt that Lyla was wearing and pulling her away from Ben, shouting aggressively.
A wave of what felt like heat nausea crept up within her as she almost gagged out her words, "wh- no! Let me-!"
"Calm down and let her go, man!" shouted Minho as he appeared behind them.
Somehow, Lyla was freed from the violent grip and stuffed into the med-hut quarters. Winston had been near the entrance as she plummeted to the ground from the force of whoever pushed her in. He helped her up and lightly pushed her further into the room, hiding her quickly from the loud fight outside.
"Hell... What was Gally thinking; bringing you here?" he muttered more to himself.
She looked up at him, confused.
"Lyla... what're you doing here?" She turned to see Newt come out from the far room opposite to where they stood. His hands were full of what looked like dirty, blood-stained bandages.
Her eyes wandered over his shoulder towards where he had appeared from.
"Turn around and go sit down, go-" Newt said rather hurriedly. He stepped in front of her, clearly in attempt to hide something from her sight. She furrowed her brows in confusion and leaned to the side to quickly step around him.
"Lyla wait-"
What she saw next in that room was something she wasn't ready for.
It was Elias.
His shirt was off and his torso was wrapped in sheets. His bed was filthy and there were many sheds of bloodied bandages around on the floor underneath him - just like the ones Newt had been holding in his hands. The boy lay still with his eyes open but unseeing.
Lyla felt her stomach twist and she took a sharp breath.
Her mind blanked on all that had just happened. She could no longer hear anything.
Her knees buckled and everything went black.
When she woke, she was laying on thin material separating her from the bumpy surface underneath.
"Hey."
She shifted her heavy-lidded gaze and found Minho sitting beside her. He had a light bruise forming on the side of his left cheek. His eye right above it looked red and slightly swollen.
Lyla groaned involuntarily, feeling awful and clammy. She tried to reach one of her hands to rub her eyes with but realized only then that they were bound tightly together in front of her and tied to a thick wooden pillar right beside her.
"Sorry about that... some people wanted to take precautions in case you... picked up more knives from here," said Minho rather apologetically before asking softly, "how're you feelin'?"
"mm.." she responded, eyes closing once again in a wince at the splitting headache that momentarily took over all her senses.
After it passed she moved to push herself up and Minho immediately helped her into a sitting position with her back against the pillar that her hands were tied to.
"You skipped the maze today?" she croaked.
"Grounds are too wet from the rain. We all stayed in," Minho answered her, reaching for a cup of water behind him and holding it right in front of her lips. She took it with both her wrist-bound hands, taking a swig and finishing the contents in one go.
"You look shuckin' terrible," she heard Minho say lowly.
"Wow... Thanks," she muttered with a half-hearted chuckle before it quickly turned into some spluttering coughs that hurt her chest. Despite this, she opened her eyes again and barely managed to get out, "have you seen your face lately?"
She saw the concerned look on Minho's face waver into a crooked grin before he breathed out a quick, exasperated laugh, answering, "don't worry, I'm still best-looking."
She smiled and nodded a little, closing her eyes again. Her whole body felt beaten up.
She couldn't move without feeling like she had pulled every muscle in her body and her arms felt exhausted from being held in the unnatural position from her tied hands. There was a suffocating heaviness in her chest. Her breaths rattled in her lungs and the pounding headache was moving down to right behind her eyes.
"What happened?" she moaned, her brows scrunching up together from the pounding pressure in her head and the ache all over her body.
Minho looked at her for a moment, took a hesitating breath, and said, "well.. a lot happened..."
He began to summarize what had been going on while she was being held at the homestead since the morning. How Jeff had found Elias lying dead and the medication supplies emptied and, in panic, went to call the leaders for help.
The keepers had urgently been gathered at the med-hut and Jeff had told them that he had given Elias a small dose of painkillers from their supplies the night before. Elias had fallen asleep and when Jeff woke up the next morning on the bed beside him, he assumed he still was. When he came back from washing up and fetching some water, he noticed the medication supplies were emptied and Elias was no longer breathing.
Even so, some of the keepers were left unconvinced of what this suggested since most of them had witnessed Elias's wounds and the knife Lyla had held against him a few nights ago. Some even doubted Jeff for his close friendship with Lyla.
Soon after, the other gladers heard of the news and reacted with chaos.
And it turned out that "the trial" that Gally had referred to when taking her out of the homestead was not entirely agreed upon.
"The keepers were having a hard time figuring out what to do about all this and Gally just took off saying we had to stick by the rules. No-one knew what was happening and Elias's crowd... they've been real angry and now... well you've... become-"
"The one to blame?" Lyla finished for him.
Minho sighed again.
"Ok... uhm and why am I in the kitchen?" she asked, having recognized the place.
"Oh... Nick asked us to move you somewhere safe until things calmed down. The med-hut's full right now - people were a bit scratched up from the fight - and the homestead's been taken by keeper gatherings. Frypan offered to keep an eye out for you while he worked."
"Where is everyone now?"
"Busy cleaning up or getting looked at by Jeff. The rain caused quite a bit of damage - especially in the gardens. Fry is taking a break so I took over watching you."
Minho eyed her carefully as she buried her head in between her knees, hiding a pained expression from her headache that grew worse and worse throughout their conversation.
"You should rest a bit more. No-one knows what's going on and thinking too much about it won't help," he said sounding concerned again.
She looked back up at Minho slowly and asked, "do you think their right?"
"Who's right about what?" Minho asked back.
"About Elias... do you think it was my fault? I... I did hurt him..." she said, her voice faltering. She looked down at her feet, scared to see the answer on his face.
Minho took a moment and said, "I know you wouldn't have done so without reason."
She had never heard his voice sound so serious and low.
She felt him reach a hand on her shoulder as he said to her, "he did something to you, didn't he? What did he do, Lyla... tell me."
She raised her head again and saw his eyes were intent and he seemed almost angry.
She didn't know how to answer.
Her voice came out in barely a whisper, "h-he.. he was trying- to... he-" she choked on her last few words and she swallowed the rest.
Her body shriveled itself tightly into itself as she began to feel her heart beat fast and goosebumps form on her neck and down her spine.
It was as though Elias's hands were back on her, sliding over her body no matter how tight she wound herself into a ball, covering as much surface area as she could.
"Tell me what he did, Lyla," Minho persisted, his hand still firm on her shoulder.
"t-touched me," she breathed.
"How?" Minho's voice was near a growl.
She let out a shuddering breath, trying to calm herself. She was shaking. Her mouth felt dry.
Minho must have realized as he suddenly let go of her arm. He looked surprised and began apologizing.
"No it's ok, I'm... fine," Lyla managed. Taking another deep breath.
After a few moments, Minho backed away from her, telling her to lie back down.
"Fry will be back to get you something to eat soon. Rest."
She nodded and did what he suggested.
She was exhausted.
But before she closed her eyes again, she caught his eye.
He must have understood because he gave her a small nod and said, "I'll stay."