The Maze

Travis

July 15th-

It had been almost two weeks since Zeke's 'adoption' and I had yet to hear anything from him. I had spent my days waiting for something. Anything. I even rewatched the video he had sent me, hoping that maybe the people who tipped us off about the wall would come back. I never heard from either one. Most of my days were spent at the diner. When we weren't allowed to work anymore and had to prepare for the Maze, I thought I would go crazy from the thoughts in my head.

All I wanted was a sign that he was ok. Did he leave without me? Maybe the people who contacted me came and got him after we failed to find them. I think he would like that. That's probably why I haven't heard anything. But the darker side of my mind pushed back. What if the Fathers found out about what we did? They could've have been the ones who 'adopted' him. They could be torturing him for information.

I felt like this was all my fault. It was my idea to explore the wall. I shouldn't have brought him along. He could be in pain because of me. Zeke was like a brother to me. And I could've gotten him killed. All for nothing.

_____________ _________________ ____________________

July 20th-

I was walking back from getting breakfast at the diner when I saw him. His blonde hair stood up in random spots on his head and he looked paler than usual. I almost tripped on my own feet as I ran toward him. When I approached, I could make out some bruising along his exposed skin.

"Zeke!" I flung my arms around him and pulled him tight. "Where the fuck have you been?" I held him out at arm's length.

His face scrunched in confusion. "I've been at home?"

"Home?" He really did get adopted?

"Yeah" He looked me up and down. "I'm sorry. Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

I laughed. "I get it. It's been a bit since we saw each other."

He shook his head. "I've never seen you before."

"Not funny, Zeke."

He pulled away from the hold I still had on him. "It was great to meet you, I guess."

As he turned away from, I grabbed his wrist. "This really isn't funny anymore."

Zeke pulled from my grasp again. "It never was." He took a step away and turned to look at me. "Look, man. This isn't a joke. I'm not sure who you are. And I'm sorry that I'm not who you think I am. But it's starting to get creepy, so please let me leave."

The emotion on his face began to fade from confusion to fear. I nodded once and watched as he walked quickly away, looking over his shoulder every now and then. I stood in the middle of the sidewalk, wondering how it was possible that my best friend was now a complete stranger.

---

There was a note in the doorway of my apartment when I got home that day. I looked down the hall before stepping inside and picking it up.

Mary Lewis. 2120.

Mary Lewis? The orphanage was through with its teaching of history, but I'd never heard that name before. I pulled up a chair to the table where my laptop sat and looked up the name. The search resulted in nothing useful. Some famous singer named Mary from the 2000s era came up. So did an author with the last name Lewis. But nothing about anyone named Mary Lewis. I did another search about major events in the year 2120. Nothing once again.

Then I decided to do a dark web search. It wasn't easy to access since it held information that the Fathers didn't want getting out. But after some coding and digging, I was able to get in. I found a new search engine and typed in Mary Lewis 2120. It took a few minutes for anything to load but then there was a blog with here name in the title.

Mary Anne Lewis.

The article was written by someone who claimed to be a friend of the family. According to it, Mary was a 17-year-old girl who went missing for a few days from her college campus. She was found in her dorm room, acting as though she had been there the whole time. The girl looked normal, aside from some bruising and weight loss. She insisted she was well and stayed to finish out her current semester. When she didn't come home for the holidays, her parents went to visit her. They came home a few hours later, distraught, telling everyone that their daughter didn't know who they were. She had told them that she already saw her parents that day. The couple went to government officials, saying that something was wrong but no one would help them. They then tried to go to the internet for help, but anything they wrote would disappear.

The author stated that Mr. And Mrs. Lewis suddenly packed up and left town. They were never seen or heard from again. The family friend didn't know where they had gone or why they left. As for Mary, she still lives in Fairfield. According to other sources, Mary had disappeared shortly after doing research about life outside the Wall for a school project. The author's theory is that the government were the ones to pick her up. Comments under the article share similar stories. Many of which have to do with the Maze. They talk about families who had children go into the Maze and not return. When asked about their children, the families don't recall ever having any at all or any that were Maze age.

The common theory is that the Fathers have access to technology that allows them to erase memories. They erase those of people who find out information that they want kept secret. They erase the families of people who can't complete their Maze so they never go looking for their child.

Everything I've read matches up with the situation surrounding me and Zeke. But I don't understand why he was picked up and I wasn't. He must have done something to identify himself. Or had something they could use to track him. I spent hours on the dark web, reading everything I could about the Fathers and memory wiping. By the time the sun came up and I could barely keep my eyes open, there was no doubt in my mind that Zeke had his memories erased because of what we did.

And that it was only a matter of time before they came for me too.

_________________ _____________________ _______________

July 23rd -

Travis,

We hope this letter finds you in good health and prepared for tomorrow's Maze. A vehicle will be at your place of residence promptly at 9am. Please be ready to leave then. Failure to do so will be seen as an act of abandonment and treated as such.

We are excited to see you and wish you the best of luck.

Every sense I had screamed for me to run, to not do this Maze. The thought of leaving Luna overshadowing all those instincts. If I went, I would take her with me. Until then, I'd keep my head down and do what I need to do to stay under the radar.