Imprisoned ON HOLD

"We Belong to the Maze"

Only one word could describe how I felt in the moment: panic.

What was I thinking or planning to do when I was sent up or even sent myself up into the maze? The gladers would probably be rioting soon, thinking Brenda and I had some master plan to ruin their whole system.

Someone shook my shoulders violently, I looked into the face in front of my face: Brenda. "Ellie. Look at me." She peered in my eyes. "Remember what Newt said to you that one day Alby started shouting nonsense at you?"

Yes, I remembered. Those words would never leave me: 'The people we use to be before the Maze don't even exist anymore thanks to those shucking Creators. ..' I continued the rest... "All that matters is who we are now and what we do now."

Brenda nodded. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves. "Always remember those words... sister?" She awkwardly added that last part. I chuckled to myself at how strange it was that we were sisters.

I could only think of one thing to do. Go to the one person I knew I could trust. Even though we were in a temporary fight, I had to go to Newt, all this was too crazy for me to handle.

As I walked out the hospital, I saw a group of boys to my right huddled around Gally, listening to him shouting things about how bad our situation was. I rolled my eyes. He was still hung up about that. Chuck said he went in the maze and came back... he shouldn't even be here, he should be banished.

I saw a strawberry blonde boy standing on the outskirts of the crowd with his arms folded and hand pulled up to his chin, thinking. I approached Newt and grabbed his hand. I pulled him further from the crowd.

"Look. I heard all this crazy stuff about Gally leaving and coming back all shucked up in the head and then there's this stuff about me and Brenda..." I knew Newt didn't know about me and Brenda, but I needed someone to just listen to me ramble. "I just need a hug."

Newt looked me in the face. He hadn't said a word this whole time, but even if we had a small fight only a couple of hours ago, he folded me up in his arms, pressing me against his firm chest.

A tear rolled down my cheek. Why is my life so shucked up?

I looked up at Newt's face and asked him a question, "Do you care for me?"

I saw him furrow his eyebrows. Then he looked me in the face, "If you mean, do I love you, then... how do I show you I love you?"

"I want to help." I blurted out. It was true. I wanted to help him carry out all his jobs and take some things off his plate.

He looked me in the eyes, "I'm serious when I say this. If you want to help me, you can start by staying out of trouble, by staying safe, I can't bear to lose you again."

He lightly put his hand against my cheek. A tear rolled down my face, and he caught it with his index finger. He carried the droplet of water close to my eyes so that I could see what my tear looked like on his finger. "I don't like to see you cry, princess. It makes me feel like I'm not doing my job of protecting you."

Like all wonderful moments, this magical moment could only last so long. The sound of a group of chatting gladers came from behind me. "Go to the Homestead," Newt told me. "You'll be safe with Brenda and Chuck."

I ran to the Homestead, willing to do what Newt asked. I found Brenda and Chuck there, both staring out a window.

"Hey." I said as soon as I walked through the door.

"Shh." Brenda and Chuck both shushed me. They both gazed back to what they were looking at through the window. They were staring at Gally shouting things to the other Gladers.

"Oh, c'mon. Not again, Chuck. I got in trouble for eaves-dropping last time." I whined.

"Shh. This is important." Chuck whispered.

I walked over to them. I looked over Chuck's shoulder to see what both of them were peering at.  It was Gally.  He was shouting again.  But this time I heard him say something I heard somewhere before.

"We belong to the Maze."