Into The Maze Runner

Recovering

I slowly opened the lids of my eyes and blinked confusingly to where I was. Warm but stiff cheap sheets were covering my body, and dazzling light was hitting my face. Still laying down, I looked around lazily with my eyes to the right, and saw a crooked window. Then I stared to the roof, and saw wooden material. I was at one of the Homestead rooms.
As my eyes's sight eventually adjusted completely to my surroundings, I turned my view to the door, and saw Newt. He was resting his back on the door frame, with both of his hands inside his pockets. He was staring at the floor, lost on his thoughts.
When my brain finally understood, who I had in front, it sent all my body to react, and so I sat up abruptly. I regretted it almost immediately, since every single inch of my self was in soreness.
"Newt" I managed to say after my sudden awaken.
I broke him from his thoughts right away and so he turned to look at me surprised.
"Hey, hey, careful" he said while walking up quickly next to my bed, and making me lay down again. "You still need a lot of rest" he gently smiled at me, and grabbed a wooden chair that was in the room. He sat on it and rested his elbows on his legs.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, with brows furrowed worriedly.
I sat up again, ignoring his kind request. I crossed my legs in a ribbon form, trying my best to put aside the pain I got with every move I made. I put a strand of hair behind my ear, and released in a super fast pace what was inside my chest. "I am truly sorry for crossing the maze, Newt. Please don't get mad. I know it was a rule but I had the serum in my hand and if I didn't act immediately we could've lost Alby. Which also leads me to explain the reason why I had a serum without permission. I remembered a memory and went to you to tell you about it but then things went wrong with Minho and Thomas and so I disappeared into the maze to try and help them. Oh my god wait. Did Minho and Thomas get back safely? Are they here yet? What happened with Ben?" I said and asked every question quickly in just one breath.
Newt, stared into my eyes, shocked at my sudden fast rant. He proceeded to chuckle, and then placed one of his hands on one of my legs that was covered with sheets. "I need you to calm down, alright?" He said, with another gentle and warm smile of his. He didn't move his hand from my leg, until I nodded.
He stood up from the chair, and started walking in circles. He passed his hand through his hair and sighed.
"I was so worried about you, y/n/n. I mean, the four of you... Bloody hell, I thought I wasn't going to see any of you ever again. And the only thing you think is that I'm... mad at you?" He said concerned.
"You always work so hard to keep control inside The glade...and I broke the peace. I imagined it must've upset you" I said, staring down into the sheets, ashamed.
"Yeah, surely it is out of our norms to go inside the maze without being a runner. But you did something no one else would've dared to. You're crazy brave." he said grinning. "Plus, what matters is that you're alive" he added.
I smiled back. "I still feel really sorry" I said in a sad voice.
"In that case you can owe me something. Err, how about you make me one of those decorated delicious pancakes you make? For almost giving me a heart attack" Newt said, joking.
And there it was; my laugh. The happiness I felt every time I talked to Newt.
"Deal" I said.
He sat down on the chair once again. "But seriously though, thank you, for saving one of my best friends. It means a lot to me" he said, staring into me with those deep beautiful brown eyes of his, covered with small strands of his fluffy looking-soft blonde hair.
I smiled and nodded.
"Is Ben still out there?" I said changing topic, trying to get an answer for my worries.
"We... handled it" Newt said with an off-voice tone, and gulped. I didn't push anything else more of that topic.
"And Minho and Thomas? They're okay?" I asked.
Newt bit his lip and then smiled. "Better than ever. Those shanks always seem to survive anything inside the maze. In fact, they're working right now, tracing down what had happened" he said.
And then, it felt like a light turned on inside my brain. The memory I had, had to do something with keeping track of the maze. Some sort of coding. I had to tell the runners. Newt seemed to capture my sudden enlightenment.
"I...I have to go with them" I said stumbling my words, and then removing the sheets from my legs to stand up, but stopped at the sight of my painful wounds. I had felt every inch of ache through the whole night, but never stopped to stare at my scars. I had dark purple bruises all over my legs, and scratches with dried red blood surrounding my arms, my knees, my ankles. I didn't have a mirror to see it, but I in fact knew I also had marks from the strangling Ben did to me on my neck. I could feel the soreness and the purple and green lines. I kept alternating my view to all my wounds. And for some reason, I felt tears raging to come outside. Every event I went through felt like a fever dream. But now, thinking back to Ben's outbursts, the ugly disgusting machines almost succeeding at killing us and the dark confusing maze... I felt a sudden fear pounding in my chest.
And in that right moment, Newt grabbed my wrist and caringily rubbed a scrape I had there.
"You pushed yourself to the limit, y/n. You. need. to. rest. Okay? You're safe now" he said with such a soft and caring voice, I almost died of blushing right there. He seemed to notice how intimate the moment was getting and so he cleared his throat.
"But um, you can tell me about the memory here, then we'll share the information with Minho and Thomas" he said, removing his hand from my wrist. I almost let a sad whimper instantly after he took it away, but ended up swallowing the feeling.
I sighed. "Yeah, so it happened in the dame sketchy blue lighted room, with the same three people, but this time I didn't intercept them. I was hidden and they were discussing about the serum they bring" I said turning to look at the drawer of medicines and utensils."By what they said, I'm guessing the first few times the serum didn't work...?" I asked Newt.
"Yeah" he swallowed and I noticed a knot in his Adam's apple. "We lost a few guys because of that. The first doses of the serum would made the stunged runners act crazier than how they regular do in The changing. They just got worse, they didn't even get cured. They passed away" he said, looking through the window, in a serious tone. But I knew deep inside he felt sadness. God, I couldn't imagine the amount of stuff Newt had gone through and I didn't know, since I was recently put in the glade. The first months of being in this place, with no one to introduce you, must've been tough. I kept some seconds of silence, and then proceeded.
"So in my dream, I saw how blonde woman was giving Theresa the serum that would work... but that's not what unsettled me. It was what she said. 'They need this to keep track of the coding in the maze'" I repeated the woman's voice.
"Coding?" Newt asked. "What could that possibly mean?" he rested his hand on his chin.
"I'm not sure" I admitted. "But if Minho and Thomas trace stuff every day, maybe they'll understand, or come up with something"
He nodded. "We should discuss this all together. We can do it before the keeper's gathering" he said.
I expanded my eyes in surprise. "Oh. I had completely forgot about the meeting we were going to have"
"Shuck. Yeah, sorry. Gally's kinda going to go crazy if we don't have it. What you did... let's just say it didn't make him happy" Newt said scratching his neck.
"I figured" I said playing with the sheets of the bed.
"Don't worry, alright? We'll see how it goes" he told me reassuringly. "Until then you can stay here. The meeting isn't until sunset. I'll come for you when it's time to discuss about wicked. Yeah?" He said standing up from the chair and putting it on its past place.
"Yeah" I responded nodding.
" 'kay" he said walking to the door. "Oh" he stopped, peeking out on the door's frame. "And I'm serious, y/n. Rest. Take care!" He said pointing to me in clock gun fingers, and proceeded to close the door.
I smiled, even though he couldn't see me anymore.
Then, I laid down on the hard, uncomfortable bed, but managed to get myself comfy after trying various positions. My thoughts began to wander in a lot of things, as I stared disoriented into the wooden walls. On WCKD, on the maze, on my dreams (that I classify as memories), on Ben, on the grievers. Everything felt so exhausting, and I've been here like what? Two days? Three days? They've felt so long I don't even remember. My body felt really tired, even though I think I passed away for like 6 hours. From the sunrise, 6am, to... I looked throughout the window to make up the time; it was probably 12pm. I closed my eyes, hoping that sleep would come to me, but the overthinking kept winning the round. After half an hour, one thought that kept bothering me, was about Thomas and me. The way we connected back on the maze, when we came up with the idea of tying Alby, or other small stuff. I tried to push it away, but thinking back on it, made me realize the feeling was abnormal. Like it was something we had already done before. But why? And how? Did he felt the same? Or was it just the circumstances?
After getting fatigued of reflecting too much, I reach to the side table of the bed, which had a metal tray with lunch. I didn't know how long it had been there, but I was hungry. I take a sip of water, and gladly, it was fresh, so I finish gulping it down in one second. Then I take out of the ziploc bag a sandwich, and bite into it. I close my eyes while chewing the simple but delicious meal, that seconds laters, brought a warm, homesick feeling. Home. A word so empty for me, and for everyone on the glade probably. All the adrenaline and rush from these days never gave me a second to stop and think who were my parents. My mom, and dad. I couldn't make a face. Or any activity we had done together. Did I have siblings? Did I ever got pets? Where was I from? Did I have hobbies? Which school did I go to?
I waited for answers, and tried to dig deep into my brain, any names or people, but nothing came up. It's like I knew how the world outside this horrendous maze worked, but not specific stuff. I finish biting the last piece of sandwich, leave the metallic tray aside, and rest once again.
After an hour of staring into nothing, I hear a knock at the door. I frown, wondering why Newt came back really early, sunset didn't seem to come anytime soon, but then a head full of fluffy brown messy curls peeks out the door.
"Hey there greenie!" Chuck says excitedly. "May I come in?" He asks.
I smile. "Yeah of course" I say as I sit up.
He enters the room and I notice he's carrying a plastic bag.
"What you've got there?" I ask curiously.
"A bird told me you like fruits, and that it'd make you feel better after everything. I offered to bring it to you because he was busy doing co-leader stuff" Chuck said smiling, with his pink rosy cheeks raising up.
"A bird? Newt?" I ask as he hands me the plastic bag.
"Yup" he says and then sits on the wooden chair. I open the bag and see an apple, an orange, a banana and a peach. I smile as I get a warm feeling in my heart. The fact that he remembered small things such as me enjoying fruits did actually made me cheer up.
"Thank you" I tell Chuck with a big smile.
"Yeah" he clears his throat. "So... um..."
I look at him, noticing he actually came for another reason. "How's... how was it? The maze, I mean" he says with a sad worried tone.
"Uhh well..." I say while holding the apple. "You know, not really good" I answer. "Why?"
Chuck shifts on the chair and starts playing with a wooden figurine he had in his pocket.
"Since things are changing, I think we might actually out of here pretty soon" he starts saying. "Theresa, Thomas, you... all of you last three greenies seem to have something special. I'm sure you'll get us out... I just-" he says while blinking rapidly. "I'm not like any of you. So I might not make it out. Still, I'll like to know what's outside, to prepare myself"
I leave the apple on the side table and sit up, leaving my legs hanging on the bed. I rest my elbows on my knees and extend my arms in Chuck's direction. He seems to notice what I intend, so he puts back his figurine on his pocket, stretches his arms, and grabs both of my hands.
"Chuck" I say "If there's someone I know will make it out of here, it's you. Even if you don't believe me, you're one of the bravest gladers out there. Yeah, yeah, you can be annoying too sometimes-" I joke, "-but you're mostly kind and caring too".
He looks up at my eyes with tears on his eyes he seems to be fighting against.
"So you think I'll get to know my parents? And my past?" He says stumbling into his words.
"One hundred percent" I answer.
"I used to joke around with Thomas his first days on The glade. But everything is getting so serious, and now I'm... scared" he said, lowering down his tone in the last word, as if he didn't want to admit it.
"Chucky, we all are, and that's a fact. There's not one guy in here that isn't pissing his pants off at the thought of a griever" I say, and Chuck let's out a chuckle. "But we'll have to fight for our freedom. The maze... yeah, it's bad. But whatever happens, I'm not leaving this place without you. Neither is Thomas. Neither anyone else. It's all of us or nothing. Okay?" I say while I rub the back of his soft, chubby hands I'm still holding. Then, I realize how much Chuck actually means to me now. We barely spoke few times, but those were enough to connect us. And the fact that he admitted only to me that he was scared, meant that he trusted me. I considered him now my little brother.
Chuck after hearing what I said, smiles at me between sniffles, and nods.
After our sad talk, Chuck stayed for a few more hours to entertain me while I was still on bed. It also seemed like he didn't want to go back to his Glade chores, so he was happy to stay. We talked about other silly stuff, or played random games. I never felt more joyful since I came in the box to the Glade. Laughing with him without focusing on our current bad situation felt relieving after the traumatic maze experience.
I needed that distraction.