Complicated

Chapter 67: We're All Bloody Inspired

There was a collective intake of breath and then everything froze. My mind, my heart, my lungs, even my hearing; everything froze.

What could I have possibly done that would make these guys, the ones I counted as friends...as brothers, want to kill me?

"That was the biggest bloody klunk to drop Tommy. You better start explaining!" Newt's eyes were narrowed.

"The shuck you talking about Shank?" Minho growled.

I finally unfrozen, everything came crashing back at once, like I slammed back into my body from an out of body experience.

"Tommy...?" I whispered.

I raised my wide terrified eyes to his. He didn't look worried, or scared. His were steady and unwavering.

"Like I said, the three of us worked for the Creators - against our will though. They would make us, especially you, Char, do something and if you hesitated or refused they would torture you...or someone close to you. He was manipulative...sneaky and cruel-"

"Who?"

"Our uncle." He said.

"Okay, fine...But. What did I DO?"

Thomas finally hung his head. He took a breath.

"He made you look over lists of kids, pick the ones for this...trail or experiment, the others were...disposed of. Many of the kids here...were taken...you were the one who found out where they were living or hiding...you came up with many of the horrible situations that happened inside the maze, Gally said last night their variables and how the changing would work...how the Grievers would work, their poisoning..."

I blinked a few times trying to process everything he just said.

"So...I sentenced everyone to death or a life of trauma and misery?"

"Against your will. And we didn't find out what was really going on until much later. I told you he was manipulative. You and Gally came up with an idea to escape. It didn't work and everyone who tried was punished...you and Gally more severely than the rest."

I was too shocked and terrified to react.

"Well time to kick the psycho murder up now." Teresa said.

Drawing Thomas's attention. His eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched.

"Don't be so high and mighty, Teresa." Thomas snapped.

Her eyes brows raised.

"We made this shuck place. We came up with the idea of this place and the maze. We helped send these guys here. And you were the leak that got us caught when we tried to escape the Creators. There was something else too, right before I was sent up, but I don't know what it was..." Thomas's voice was full of venom.

"If we worked with them, why would they send us here?" Teresa asked, challenging him. She flung her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms with a sniff of superiority.

"I don't know." Thomas confessed, "doesn't really matter much. We're here now."

Thomas hung his head, I felt the fight leave, the defiance was replaced by guilt and shame. Sometimes sharing this mind link sucked, having my own emotions to deal with and then having someone else's piled on top. I felt heavy. And it was getting harder to breath.

"He's right." Newt cut in. His voice was sharp and it took the attention away from Teresa and Thomas.

"It doesn't matter." Newt repeated forcefully, "Any of it. Because the people we were before the maze don't even exist anymore."