Into the Maze

Chapter 15

"Do you want to get out of here?" Raze asked as soon as she could breathe again.
Ellie looked up at the sunny opening above her head. The shadows of multiple boys partially blotted out the sun, as they all struggled to get a look at this Greenie. "No," she said. "I want to stay right here."
The air in the Box was making her nauseous with horrible memories, but Jackie took a deep breath and said, "okay."
The two girls sat down on the floor. "What if it takes us back down?" A glimmer of hope flashed in Ellie's hazel eyes.
"No." Jackie shook her head, sorry to disappoint this poor girl. "It doesn't leave until everyone gets out."
Ellie sighed and crossed her legs underneath her. "I'm not getting out."
"You will want to, eventually."
"Are you coming!?" Minho's voice came from above, and as Ellie shrank away, Jackie felt a stab of annoyance that he had shouted.
"Soon!" She snapped, then looked back at Ellie.
"These guys won't hurt you." She reached out a hand and awkwardly patted the Greenie's back.
"Ava Paige said they would."
A chill rippled through Jackie's spine, and she sucked in her breath, but struggled to remain calm. "What else did Ava Paige say?"
"I don't remember. I'm forgetting everything."
Jackie knew there was very little time left until her new little friend forgot everything. "What can you remember? Please tell me, it's important."
Ellie hesitated only a minute, then began, "My name is Ellie. Ava Paige told me it wouldn't hurt... she was wrong." Tears filled the small girl's eyes. After a millisecond of silence, the girl's eyes flashed open and she leapt to her feet. "Where's Jackie!? I have to speak to someone named Jackie before I forget!"
"I'm Jackie." Something like fear crept through her veins. Was Ava Paige never finished with her?
Ellie locked eyes with her. "You and me. We're important. They have to know..." then, a single name that Jackie had never heard before escaped the small girl's lips. "Teresa."
Ellie fainted.
"She's not going in the slammer, Alby." Jackie said as soon as she, dragging the small girl, climbed out of the Box. She hugged Ellie's limp little body to herself, refusing to let go. "She comes with me."
Alby stared her down for a second, then shrugged. "Go on, then."
Ben caught up to her as she crossed the Glade, his trot equal to her brisk walk. "Dude, it's a girl!"
"No, really!?"
"Another one!"
"Ben, leave me alone."
He shrugged, but kept up with her. She didn't stop until she was in the med-jacks' hut, laying Ellie down on a cot.
Ben sat down on a different cot, then jumped up, as if he couldn't keep still. "Does she need anything?"
"Yeah, water." Jackie's voice was clipped, but she was in reality extremely thankful for Ben's help.
As the boy ran out of the hut, Jackie shook the Greenie's shoulder. "Ellie... Ellie, wake up."
Ellie's hazel eyes opened, focused on Jackie, and something like a smile flitted across her face. "Jackie, right?"
"Yes. Can you still remember our conversation in the Box?"
"No. But I remember the Box, and... and the boys..."
"Okay." Jackie's heart sank. "One of the boys is getting you water right now."
"Good. I need water."
The door burst open and Ben was back, precariously carrying a cup of water that sloshed around, only half of its contents left. He passed the cup to Ellie, who shot him a look of distrust before drinking deeply.
Ellie was small and thin, her hazel eyes large in her thin face. She looked to be about nine, maybe ten.
The door opened again, and Newt, Alby, and Minho clomped in, making a lot of noise with their big boots.
"Why is it a bloody girl!?" Newt demanded.
"Jackie, you just disappeared!" Minho said reproachfully.
"Ben, what are you doing here!?" Alby glowered at the boy standing in the corner, who raised his chin defiantly.
"Where is she anyways!?" Demanded Newt.
Jackie spun around, and saw that the cot was empty. "She was... she was just-"
"Pssst!" It took her a moment to process that the small voice came from beneath the cot.
Cautiously, she bent over, and once again met the reproachful hazel eyes of Ellie.
"I don't like them," she whispered loudly, and Jackie shot a quick look over her shoulder to see Newt's face threatening to smile. "Send them away." Ellie's hand reached out from under the cot and pointed to Ben. "Except him. I like him."
"They won't hurt you either," Jackie whispered back.
"How do you know?" The small girl questioned testily.
"They're my friends. They wouldn't hurt anyone."
"Tell that to the one wearing the knife."
Minho shifted behind her, and she realized how intimidating he would seem to this poor, confused Greenie.
"The knife's not for you." But it was Minho himself who answered.
Ellie shot him a look of deepest scorn, then said to Jackie, "send them away and I'll come out."
Five minutes and World War III later, the boys trudged out of the shack begrudgingly and Ellie was restored to full power on the cot.
"Now," Ellie said with surprising maturity for one so young. "Why am I here and why can't I remember anything?"
Jackie took a deep breath, and began.
"She's insane, it's official." These were Minho's first words to Jackie as she stepped out of the med-jack hut about an hour later, blinking in the afternoon sunlight.
"Maybe, but she knows stuff," Newt said, standing up from where he had been sitting on he ground.
"Yeah. She knows Ava Paige."
"What?!"
"She used to. She forgot everything when I took her out of the Box. She said a name too, but I didn't recognize it."
"What name?"
"Teresa." Jackie glanced at the two boys, looking for signs of recognition. They both shrugged.
"It sounds like another girl," Minho groaned. "I hate girls."
"Gee, thanks," she said drily.
"Well, just hope this Teresa never shows up, then." Newt's path split off from theirs, and he held up his crossed fingers as he strolled away.
"Where is our little maniac now?" Minho asked after Newt was gone.
"Sleeping."
"How is she sleeping!? Greenies don't sleep for like the first two days!"
Jackie decided that it wasn't the best idea to tell Minho the whole truth, thinking it impossible for Ben to be honored in the other Gladers' minds for telling stories to a Greenie until she fell asleep. For Ben's sake, she shrugged and said, "she was tired, I guess."
Ben managed to slip, unseen, out of the med-jacks hut when Ellie finally fell asleep. It was late afternoon by then and he was hungry. He found Jackie exiting the map room with Minho, and when she spotted him she jogged over to ask, "is she asleep?"
"Fast asleep."
"Well, I never knew you had such a knack for storytelling," she said slyly.
He shrugged. "I guess I make them up when I work. I always liked the idea of writing them all down."
"Like in a book?"
"Why not?" Ben looked up into the sunlight and laughed as the rays of light flooded his face. "After I get out of this shucking maze, I can be whatever I want!"
Jackie smiled. She had honestly never thought about being free from the maze, thinking it would hold her forever. But now she realized that maybe, someday, she would have a normal life. A life outside of the maze. When she escaped. When all of them escaped.
"You will write down all your books, Ben," she said. "I promise you will get out of here, someday. We all will."