THE MAZE RUNNER • labyrinth

18 : welcome to the glade

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her eyes fluttered open and memories of the box and the huge walls came back. she quickly moved her body into a sitting position and looked around her. she was on a bed, in a very drab room built of wood. her eyes scan the room, and she jumped when she saw newt sitting right beside her.

he was slumped over in the chair, his head held low.

hayley slowly reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.

his head jolted up and his eyes opened wide, looking quickly around for a source of danger. he noticed her and calmed down, brushing his blonde hair away from his face.

newt moved from the chair to the side of her bed and rubbed his eyes. "hey," he said groggily.

"hey," she said. "how long have you been sitting there?"

his lips pulled up into a smile. "awhile," he said guiltily. "i would've let someone else watch over you but i promised you i wouldn't let anybody hurt you."

"you think someone would've hurt me?" she asked.

"i don't know," he shrugged. "but i wasn't going to take that chance."

"oh," she paused. "did you fix the broken water pipe problem?"

she remembered newt mentioning it when the box was first opened. it was why they took so long to open it, they were too preoccupied trying to fix the water.

"for the most part," he answered. "every week the box that you came up in sends up fresh supplies, this week included a water pipe. the end of it was damaged somehow, so we had to trim it and we were left with a too small pipe. it worked well enough though."

"that was my fault," she apologized. "i used it to slow down the box."

"from hitting the top?" he asked with his eyebrows raised. she nodded. "wish i would've thought to do somethin' like that when i came up in it. the box hit the top with a lot of force, i got bruised."

"wait, you came up in the box too?"

"oh," he paused. "right. i forgot you're just a greenbean."

"greenbean?" she asked, then shook her head when she realized it didn't really matter. they were saying alot of things she didn't understand. "i'm really trying to be optimistic here but can you please just tell me where i am and why i'm here?"

"i can tell you where you are," he said. "but i can't tell you why."

"why not?"

"because i don't even know that answer."

a split second later, someone burst into the room. it was a boy dressed in all brown and dirt smudges all over his clothes. he frantically ran over to newt. "the water pipe busted again."

"shuck it," newt groaned. "can't alby handle that problem for ten minutes without needin' my help?" he shook his head and started to leave the room.

"hey!" hayley called and jumped out the bed. newt stopped and turned around. "you were just going to leave me here?"

"no," newt lied.

"i'm coming with you," said hayley. "and on the way you can answer my questions, the ones you can answer."

newt looked down the hallway, like he was contemplating letting her go. hayley didn't give him time to come up with an excuse. she walked passed him and started down the hallway. she heard him sigh and start to follow her.

"you don't even know where you're going," newt said.

she looked around. the walls appeared to be crumbling down around them, seconds away from crushing them. who built this thing anyway? she thought.

"it's not hard to find a way out," she said, instantly finding the front door and walking out of it with newt on her tail. newt was right. the whole place was covered in puddles and in the corner was a fountain of water bursting out of the ground surrounded by people trying to cover it.

"welcome to the glade," newt said from beside her. "i'll give you the tour after i fix this problem."

the walls still caused her heart to beat faster but she didn't faint again. she tried her best not to focus on the walls this time and instead on the trees. newt made his way to the fountain but hayley couldn't seem to get her legs to move.

she watched him go, noticing for the first time he had a bit of a limp when he walked.

the tiniest pressure at her waist made her spin, instinctively slapping the person before she realized it was thomas. his hand touched his cheek as he groaned. "that hurt."

"yeah, well, you deserve it after what you said to me in the box."

"i'm sorry i blamed you," he said.

she stared at him, wanting to be angry at him but knowing she felt safer when she was with him. they came up in the box together, so she automatically felt as if they were a package. "it's okay," she said finally and looked back at the fountain.

"i remember you," thomas said, sending shivers down her spine.

"what?" she asked quietly.

"just glimpses," he explained. "i-i remember your eyes."

she quickly looked away and began to fiddle with the red ribbon around her wrist. he noticed and reached for her hand. "can i see that?"

hayley nodded and let him grab her hand. he looked closely at the piece of ribbon. "interesting.." he let go and put his head in his hands.

"what's wrong?" hayley asked, starting to worry.

" i don't know.." he shook his head and breathed heavily. "just glimpses. i think i told you i loved you before. in the box, i mean. i can hear myself saying it. what does it mean?"

hayley felt her throat tighten. for some reason she knew thomas shouldn't be saying these things. she didn't know him, not really. he didn't know her. she had no reason to believe he was telling the truth. for all she knew he could be telling lies.

"it probably doesn't mean anything," she finally said, but her words held no conviction. "newt was going to give me a tour... i should go find him."

she began to walk away but stopped and turned around. "thomas, don't tell anyone what you're hearing and seeing inside your head. if anyone were to know they might think we're not one of them. it could end badly for us both."

for some reason it hurt thomas to watch her walk away, he knew she was right but he was going to continue to try get his memories back, only to prove to her that they weren't strangers.