in another life; the maze runner

☆twenty-six☆

Heavenly was an understatement for the way warm water, clean clothes and fresh scents felt for Mae. She felt reborn, and ready for the next phase of her life. Even though the outside world wasn't much of what she was expecting, she knew anything had to be better than being trapped in the Glade for eternity.

She couldn't even begin to fathom how Newt, Frypan, or Minho were feeling, after being there all that time. Hopefully, they were embracing the next chapter of survival. A man who had introduced himself as 'Mr.Janson' (Although Minho had whispered to Mae that his name might as well have been Ratman due to his distinctive features) had led the group into a separate part of the facility, that had a more comforting appeal to it. He separated the two sisters from the rest of the boys, and sent them to different rooms with several empty stalls to shower in.

Mae was handed a pair of grey sweatpants, a black t shirt, a white sweatshirt, and one single hair tie. It was a plain outfit, but she had no complaints as she set it outside of one of the shower stalls. She glanced down at her wrist for a moment. The bracelet Chuck had made for her was withered and drooping now, but she swore she would wear it as long as she could. She slipped it off and placed it on her pile of clothes. She saw Teresa placing her new clothes down as well, and gave her one last little wave before stepping in and closing the curtain behind her.

After she showered, Mae used a towel that had already been provided to her in the stall to dry herself. She then slipped on the new clothes, and her bracelet, appreciating the feeling of fresh fabric on her skin, and took the towel to wrap it around her hair. Swiping the curtain back, she heard the rush of the water a few stalls down, figuring her sister was still soaking up the hot water.

The towel delicately plopped onto her head, Mae found a mirror in the bathroom, taking the first real look at herself she'd had since before she could remember.

Even though she'd gotten rid of all the dirt and dried blood, her skin was still littered with bruises and scars from her adventures. Her lips were chapped and her eyes slightly red from the mental anguish. Staring intently at her reflection, she reached up to her towel-wrapped hair and shook the cloth from it, letting the damp curls fall at her shoulders.

When she'd been in the Glade, she didn't have time to worry about whether she had split ends or if her hair had gone flat. But now, she took a minute to play around with it a bit, scrunching the ends with her hands to emphasize the waves.

Teresa appeared from her stall, wearing a similar outfit to Mae.

"Hey, Teresa?" She asked, her gaze shifting from the mirror to her sister.

"Hm?"

"Would you mind if I borrowed your hair tie?" She asked, an idea forming in her head. Perplexed, Teresa nodded and slipped her dark band off her wrist, taking a few steps to toward her focused sister. Mae smiled gratefully, accepting the hair tie. She pulled out the one she had been given, her eyes lit with joy. It was the little things, like trying out a new hair style, that made the girl so excited for a new life.

"You go along, find Mr. Janson and the boys. I need to do something. It'll take just a second," She explained, urging Teresa to go on. She nodded, walking down the hall and past the stalls, disappearing through a door to another part of the facility.

And then, Mae turned back to the mirror. She leaned her head down slightly, parting her hair into two sections. She swung the hair on her right side in front of her shoulder so that it wouldn't be in her way, and took the left section in her hands. Then, she proceeded to take that hair and further divide it into three sections.

She didn't know when she learned to do this, or how she remembered it so vividly, but she did it anyway. It felt natural. Maybe she'd done this every morning before school. Or maybe she used to practice on Teresa, forcing her to hold still so she could live out her dream of a hair stylist.