SOLACE ─ the maze runner

prologue ◦ doomed

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prologue:
doomed
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DARKNESS — complete, total, darkness — surrounded the girl as she opened her eyes. A splitting pain shot through her skull as her surroundings shook, an ear-splitting creak echoing in her head over and over and over. 

As she brought her heavy arm to her head, she brushed against another form. Recoiling in shock, her back hit another solid object, which in turn stirred before shooting up and emitting a strange rasping noise. The girl, unsure of what to do, and trapped between these objects, just stared at the form until she heard a familiar sound — or at least her brain registered it as familiar: breathing.

There was someone else here with her. 

Sitting up, her back aching with the effort, she looked around, and since her vision had adjusted to the lack of light in the space, she realized there were, in fact, many others in here with her, wherever here was. 

Beside her, a voice croaked, "Where —?" But they were cut off by their own voice cracking, completely rendering their voice inaudible. 

The person to her other side, the one who had sat up moments before, seemed to be leaning against something — maybe a wall? — and was gathering their bearings. 

She turned around, slowly, attempting to comprehend the size of this room they were in, when the room lurched, and the realization that they were moving slammed her in the face — almost as hard as the figure who was literally thrown against the wall across the room, giving her a grasp of the size of the space. 

She placed her hand on the barrier behind her, and when feeling the grated edges, she looked up. A wave of nausea almost knocked her right back onto the ground when she gazed into the shining, blinking, fluorescent lights above her.  Fluorescent lights that were becoming easier and easier to see as this box that they were in moved up and up and —

Up — they were moving up. The sensation felt like it should be one of anticipation, possibly fear, and the girl knew she had felt it before. She knew what she was feeling, she knew so many things, but there was one thing she didn't know — one thing that should be ingrained into her soul because it was a part of her — her identity. 

The thought almost made her sob on the spot, and she would've, if they weren't soaring up into what had to be their certain doom. And she needed to find a way to stop it. 

The concept of her identity — her name, her memories, who she was — being taken away from her never fully set into place; not whenever she was on a sensory overload. The sight of those bright lights, beckoning their little box upwards towards whatever end awaited for them, the feel of the grated walls as she clung to them like she would her life. And that is exactly what she was doing; clinging to her life, or what was left of it, at least. 

Suddenly, a masculine voice floated across the room, its occupant panicked, saying, "Where am I?!"

But when he was met with no response from the other occupants, he returned to his previous state of mind, the state of mind they were all in: Trying to figure out who the hell they were and where the hell they were headed.

Which is exactly why the doom — the total, outright, through-and-through doom — the girl was about to face was able to creep up to her doorstep. It didn't even have to knock; it just came creeping in, like a burglar preparing to steal away the life she had once lived, replacing it with this. This terror, this horror, this overwhelming urge to find someone and cling to them, just like how she was clinging to the grated wall. That's what she needed; but in whatever awaited them, no such person existed. So the girl was doomed, just like the rest of them.

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pls i've never written smth so dark in my life and this is only the prologue 😩

so i hope you all enjoyed! i really loved getting back into writing — in all honesty, i really haven't written much since putting valiant on hold. this book is my pride and joy and it's the first fic i've actually thought through before publishing (so there will be no more lack of updates bc i don't know what the hell's happening in my own story 💀)

yeah, so this is the beginning of our main character's journey. there will be a time skip leading up to the first chapter, but i felt that this was good place to start (who am i kidding, i just wanted to write smth angsty lmao)

thank you for the reads, votes, and comments thus far! i appreciate the support and love from each and every one of you <3