lover of mine, thomas tst

009: this is real

As the night grew darker, colder, and quieter, Ella lifted her head from Thomas's shoulder and whispered, "Thomas?" The boy only hummed in acknowledgment. "Can I talk to you?" She whispered again, Ella hoped she'd be able to get a second alone with Thomas to explain everything she had learned from her time with Ava.

Thomas sat up, fully awake now and looked towards Ella, "Of course, what's up?" The girl nodded her head away from the group, Thomas understanding immediately. He stood up quietly, reaching out a hand for Ella to take and helped her up. They walked hand in hand as far as they could while still being able to see the gladers.

They stopped once they were fifty feet away, both turning to face each other. Thomas' free hand reached up to place a fallen strand of Ella's hair behind her ear then slid to rest at her neck, his fingers gliding through her hair. "Do you want to talk about it?" He whispered, even though he knew no one could hear them. Ella adverted her gaze from the ground to Thomas, making eye contact. He was closer than she realized, when looking up their noses brushed. Ella hummed in agreement.

Ella's free hand slid around Thomas's waist, wanting to be as close to him as possible. It was quiet out, she couldn't hear anything besides herself and Thomas, but it was also dark so she couldn't see if there was anything either. "When I first got to that room." Ella started, her voice was barely above a whisper and caused Thomas to lean in more to hear her better. He could feel the tiny spot on his cheek that warmed as Ella's breath hit it.

"Before they put me in that thing, someone had called." Thomas furrowed his brows, leaning his head back ever so slightly so he could read her expression. He couldn't, it was emotionless as she spoke, her lips gentle and calm, eyebrows rested, eyes unsettling still.  "It was Ava Paige, Thomas. She's still alive." Ella looked to Thomas to see his reaction, his jaw clenched and his hold on her tightened, but he didn't look surprised.

"What did she want?" He questions, eye contact still being held between the two as he pulls her closer. Ella shrugged, still not exactly sure what Ava wanted herself. She knew it had something to do with that liquid they were draining from her, but she couldn't understand why Ava would ever want that. Why was it so important to her? Ella knew it had to be something of significance if it meant tying her up and torturing her to get it. She doesn't understand why Ava would do that to her if it wasn't for something important. 

Ella broke eye contact to stare at the dirt beneath them, "She said I was an anomaly." Thomas furrowed his brows, "How?" Ella only shrugged again, "She said that no one knew why I wouldn't forget, didn't understand why my memories kept coming back to me." Thomas moved so both his hands held Ella's head, tilting it up to look at him, his eyes conveyed a pleading from him. A plead for her to open up, to help him better understand her and what she was dealing with.

"Ava said that I wasn't any help in the maze, but I would be in that room. I guess they wanted whatever they were draining from me." Thomas nodded his head, but his brows were furrowed in confusion and his eyes were narrowed in concentration. Ella could tell he was trying to figure everything out in his brain, trying to make sense of it. "Wait-" He spoke, "if they knew you weren't going to help them, why would they put you in the maze?" Ella sucked in a breath. He didn't remember that he put her in the maze, not wicked. With this realization, she wondered just how little memories resurfaced from the griever sting.

"Thomas, what do you remember from before the maze?" She questions. "I remember that I helped wicked put everyone in the maze, that I used to work for them." Ella nodded, "And what do you remember about me?" "I don't remember specific things, just that I knew you and we were together, that I lo- I see glimpses of you in my dreams of the tiniest things, us holding hands or you smiling or laughing."