We Met By Chance(Aris Jones x Reader)

3) Panic

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A lot of times it felt like I lived my life with what made my friends thought was good for me instead of what I believed was. I wish I knew how to make them understand that I was capable of deciding things for myself. I did things they would want to strangle me for anyway, but I did it in secret.

It had been like that since forever. I couldn't be in the fight ring because I could get hurt. I couldn't be to close to the Greenie's because they might go crazy on me. I couldn't really do anything, and I definitely wouldn't be able to crawl in a vent with a stranger.

Then again, I don't do what I'm told. How was I supposed to do that when they didn't want me to do anything? I never did anything big because I literally couldn't. Recently, I don't know if I would have even agreed. It was Aris though. I trusted this random boy I met in a place I shouldn't have been near. Something about him felt magnetic. No matter what that reason was I was going to let it pull me in.

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"Hey Y/N,"Aris whispered. I turned over since I was already on the floor.

"Hi,"I told him, smiling. Should I be smiling in this place and situation? Nope. Do I let what I'm not supposed to do define my life? Not in a million years.

Carefully and just as awkwardly as last time I joined him in the vent.

"What you're about to see is important, but isn't a pretty sight,"He warned.

"Is anything anyone here has seen been a nice sight?"

"Whatever you're thinking about, this is worse,"He whispered solemnly. I could hear in his voice that this was genuinely something to believe.

It felt even smaller this time. Then again I was right next to Aris so it kind of was. I didn't particularly mind. I liked Aris. He seemed trustworthy and kind. It'd be ridiculous not to trust my intuition.

"Are you okay?"He asked quietly.

"Yeah, why?"I asked.

"Nothing. You just look like you're zoning out. I'm just making sure you're okay."

Aww. He really is a sweetheart.
"I'm fine. Not that I'm trying to rush you or anything, but are we close?"I asked.
"Unfortunately yeah. We're right here. Just look down."

I didn't question it and looked through the cracks of the vents. For the first time here I felt true fear. All at once everything clicked. They had me about something called WCKD in an interview. They had taken our blood, and made me stay still for as long as I could with wires in my head. That 'Safe Zone' was what this really was. It was simply death.

Every paranoid thought I ever had was justified now. There was no one to ever truly trust. No matter what we could never be free. Even if we were physically we would forever live in fear. In the back of our minds there would always be doubt. Right now we only truly had our friends. Strangers like them are people to always be skeptical of.

"Every night they come in and out like clockwork. They go in that room, but no one ever comes out,"He explained.

I clenched my fists to stop my hands from shaking. He wasn't wrong by any means. At the Glade there was always at least a little bit of certainty. Even when there wasn't as much we knew there were those of us who could stay out of the Maze. Now what did we have? The short answer is absolutely nothing.