𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙈𝘼𝙕𝙀 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙉𝙀𝙍 ━ 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘰

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏

━ CHAPTER SEVEN

KATHERINE went to the deadheads after dinner. She finished up her job and she immediately went to the Deadheads. Katherine sat on a log, a handful of pebbles she picked up of the ground only to throw them back onto the ground. 

That boy's voice continued to ring through her head. She thought about his words and whenever she thought about a certain conversation they shared when he was sent to the maze which she figured after she told him he would forget her, she could literally feel his warmth ripped out of her arms and she hated it. 

"Having troubles?" A voice called from behind her. She snapped her head to look at who had found her. It was Minho. 

Katherine rolled her eyes and turned back to look at the ground. "You have no idea." She threw another pebble onto the ground. The girl could hear the leaves crunch under his shoes as he walked towards her. Minho sat himself down beside her, also looking at the ground. 

"Yeah, me too. What's your problem?" He asked glancing around at the trees. She glanced up at him before back to the ground. 

Katherine sighed. "I just... Ok, you can't tell anyone, but I keep having these weird dreams. I don't know if they are memories or not, but I keep hearing this voice. It's a boy, there's two of them. Well, the third voice is a woman." Minho kept his eyes on the girl, a surprised look on his face. She looked at him weirdly. "What?" 

"Um, what did... what did the boy say?" Minho shook his head still keeping his eyes locked on the girl. She looked at him weirdly and then turned her gaze to the ground again. 

"One of the boys said that 'I couldn't trust them', whoever he was talking about and that's all I got from the first boy, and the other told me that he loved me. I told him that he would forget me and he told me he would feel empty without memories of us or of me." Katherine glanced back at a concentrating Minho, his gaze on the ground with his eyebrows pressed together in thought. 

"I had the same kind of dream. It's a girl's voice echoing in my head. She says that she loves me and that she'll see me again, but we won't remember each other..." Katherine suddenly felt dizzy, the breath seeming to be knocked out of her. Was Minho the boy she kept hearing? That itch to remember? 

"It can't be us... Can it?" She questioned looking to Minho. He shrugged. 

"No. I mean, maybe the creators will send up more girls. Or maybe if we ever get out of here, that's when that girl and I will see each other." The two came up with some explanations. "There's this itch at my brain, I know her, but I can't put a face to her voice. It's on the tip of my tongue and just makes me want to..." He squeezed his fists, watching the skin tighten and turn white. 

"Scream." She finished. The two teens looked at each other. "It makes you want to scream. Me too." She nodded. Minho did as well. 

"How about we don't talk about this..." Minho gestured between them. "Let's not tell anyone about our dreams. It's not like it'll help us escape." The Asian chuckled nervously. Katherine nodded quickly. 

"Good idea. It's not like our past relationships are going to help us escape the maze." She chuckled nervously as well. 

Minho nodded and they both turned to face in front of them, the brunette playing with her fingers and the boy rubbing his thighs awkwardly. "Wait... You said you heard a woman's voice?" Minho suddenly turned to the girl quickly. She nodded and turned her body to face Minho. "What did she say?" 

"She said that WCKED is good? Whatever that means..." She trailed off shaking her head, her natural brown curls softly hitting the sides of her cheeks. 

"And you said that the boy told you not to trust them. What if he meant not to trust WCKED. Our boxes come up with letters on them. W, C, K, E, D. What if WCKED put us in here?" Minho seemed to get worked up about this newfound discovery. 

"But why they would throw a bunch of teenagers into a huge shucking maze?" Katherine furrowed her eyebrows. 

"Good point..." His eyes trailed off to her bandaged wrist. Her other wrist had purple and blue faded bruises all around her small wrist. "Hey, how's your, uh..." He gestured to her bandages. She looked down at her wounds. 

"Oh, uh, good. Yeah, Clint says they're healing really well. I mean it still aches and I get headaches sometimes, but it's good. Most of the bruises are pretty much gone except this one." She put her bruised wrist up beside her face. "It's still pretty sore, but not so much anymore." She smiled nervously. Minho seemed to give her some sort of feeling and she didn't know how to describe it. 

"That's good. I still can't believe Ryan went all shucking psycho." Minho frowned. Katherine did as well. 

"Yeah, he was a really sweet boy." She nodded and looked down to her hands, her fingers tangled together and untangled as she sighed. "What is it like? In the maze?" She looked up at the boy waiting for an answer. Minho sucked in a breath, looking down at the girl. 

"It's, exciting in a way. I guess the thrill of running just interests me. Exploring it is dangerous, but it'll help us." He nodded. Katherine always wondered what it was like to be a runner. 

"Do you think there's a way out?" She asked quietly as if she would get in trouble for the question. Minho had this feeling around this girl. He felt weird, his insides churned when she looked up at him with this sort of innocent and curious look on her face. She stood at his shoulders and she always had to crane her neck to look at his face. He secretly found it adorable. 

"I think that if there is, we'll find it. The main thing that gives me motivation is getting out of here, finding my family, not having to worry about grievers killing us or getting stuck or lost in the maze." Minho explained. He seemed to be sincere about everything he said and he did not seem to be the type of person to be so... soft. Minho always put up a serious front and he was one of the smartest people in the Glade. Not mention sarcastic and sometimes cocky.

"We should head back." Katherine nodded seeing the sky began to lose the brightness of the sun. Minho nodded as well and stood up. The girl followed his actions but stood up too quickly making her feel dizzy. She stumbled into Minho's chest and he wrapped his arms around her waist without thinking because really that's just anyone's reflex. 

"Woah, you ok?" He asked steading her. He kept his eyes on her face as she blinked rapidly. After a few seconds, the brunette nodded rubbing her head. 

"Uh, yeah, sorry. I just got dizzy there for a second." Her face flushed as Minho's hands slipped from her arms. He nodded. 

The Asian moved to the side to let the girl go first just in case she were to get dizzy again and possibly fall down a hill and hit her head. Why did he have this small part of him that felt protective of her? He didn't know, but he didn't question it either. 

Minho thought about what Katherine had told him, what the boy had said to her in her dreams or memories. That he would feel this emptiness inside him without their shared memories of them together, that is exactly what he felt. Like a part of him was missing, locked away in a place that was unattainable. 

The teen boy didn't know what to do with this information, it could've been a coincidence for all he knew. Minho didn't really want to say anything and would much rather focus on finding a way out of the maze.