𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦, thomas (tmr)

Chapter Twelve

A few weeks had passed since Nick's death. And to sum it up, Clara had simply just felt numb. She hadn't cried since finding his clothes in the Maze, because she was too busy to cry.

Her days consisted of eating, running the Maze, mapping her route, eating again and then sleeping. She avoided talking to anyone as much as she possibly could, even going as far as to cutting her meals short so she wouldn't have to be around people for long. When she found herself stuck in a situation where she had to talk to people, she was as polite as possible.

But it was obvious she was distant. She hadn't been completely present since Nick died, and her friends were beginning to think she never would be. They had no idea how to talk to her, how to really reach her, how to stage an intervention and get her to calm down a little.

To say she had been overworking herself would be an understatement. 

Even Minho took days off from running the Maze, but Clara didn't. It got to the point where the only time she was seen in the Glade was when she left in the morning and returned at night.

Newt, particularly, was concerned.

Somehow, he had managed to catch the girl before she left for the Maze one day. He had to wake up extra early and hang outside the Maze doors, but he was determined to talk to her.

He could see her sighing as she approached, already tired of whatever he was going to lecture her about. The doors hadn't opened yet, so instead of jetting off past him, she was forced to stand with Newt and listen.

"Look, we just think you need to take a break. You're overworking yourself-"

"-Are you calling me weak?"

She wouldn't have been so defensive if she could see herself from another perspective. Looking at her own actions, she only saw a girl trying her best to escape the prison they were stuck in. To her friends, she was shutting everyone out and harming herself the most in the process.

"No." Newt replied firmly, choosing to not take her accusing words personally. "You're definitely not weak, Clara, I know that. But you have to be kind to yourself, okay? Your health is important-"

She interrupted him with an abrupt laugh, making him trail off from his sentence. She wasn't okay, Newt knew this. If she was, she wouldn't be treating him so awfully.

"I can handle myself Newt."

They were left in a daring silence: the girl glaring at Newt as though she was challenging him to say otherwise. He simply just watched her with the same worry he had for her since Nick died. He only wished that she would let him try and help her, because it was blatantly obvious she was in pain.

It was then that the Maze doors opened. Clara broke her stare from the boy, giving him a tight-lipped smile before turning away to jog into the Maze. Newt was left to stare after her, sighing heavily at the failed intervention.

But it may not have been entirely failed.

Because as the girl ran the corridors of the Maze - which she had learnt like the back of her hand - she thought about what Newt said to her. She was working herself too much, but how could she stop now?

Taking a break to eat, Clara wandered slowly down a corridor she was yet to follow, and noticed something peculiar. Finishing off her chicken sandwich, she reached the turning point of the corridor and looked out at where the corridor opened up to an entire new section of the Maze.

It was an open area: the ground less rubble and more red dusty, making the floor of a clearing with Maze corridors branching off either side. In the distance, she could see a stone wall brandished with writing. With it standing taller than the surrounding walls, Clara could make out the letters WCKD painted on the side in white.