The First Runner

I never told him

Newt POV

I met Minho and Jess at the doors. It was early and the sun was only just beginning to show itself, making the dew on the grass glitter like gold.

"No I'm telling you Minho, even with a headstart I'd still beat you," Jess said with a laugh while pulling her gorgeous brown hair back into a ponytail and adjusting the straps on her pack.

"No way, I'm definitely faster than you now," Minho said in full confidence.

I would have laughed but I physically couldn't, I just felt empty. 

The doors groaned open and we began our run soon splitting onto our different run routes. I ran maybe half an hour before something inside me snapped. Without really thinking, I began to climb, my fingers digging into the rough stone and ivy that clung to the wall. The climb was treacherous, and more than once I almost lost my grip, but I didn't stop. I didn't care. My heart pounded in my chest, each beat echoing with the desperate, hopeless thoughts racing through my mind.

As I reached the top, the wind whipped around me, cold and sharp, stinging my skin. I stood there for a moment, looking down at the Glade below, feeling like I was on the edge of a vast abyss. The world seemed so far away, the maze stretching out into the darkness, an endless sea of uncertainty. I thought about everything we'd been through, everything we were still facing, and it felt overwhelming, too much to bear.

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. The wind howled, carrying with it the faint sounds of the Glade. For a brief moment, I hesitated, a small part of me screaming that this wasn't the answer, that there had to be another way. But the darkness inside me was louder, drowning out that faint voice of reason. I couldn't do this anymore. The pain, the fear, the endless cycle of hope and despair—it was too much.

Without another thought, I stepped off the edge.

The fall was quick, the rush of air whipping past me, but then something snagged my leg. Pain exploded through my body as I jerked to a halt, my leg tangled in a thick mass of ivy. The sudden stop sent a shock through me, and I screamed as a sharp, excruciating pain shot up my leg. I hung there, suspended in the air, the ivy creaking under my weight.

The pain was unbearable, radiating from my leg in waves. I gasped, struggling to breathe, tears streaming down my face. It felt like my leg was on fire, the bones shattered from the force of the fall. I tried to look down, but everything was a blur, the world spinning around me. My leg was twisted at an unnatural angle, and I knew without a doubt that it was broken, possibly in multiple places.

For a moment, all I could do was hang there, the pain consuming me. The reality of what I'd done crashed over me, a tidal wave of horror and regret. I hadn't wanted this, not really, but now I was trapped, dangling helplessly, my leg screaming in agony. The ivy held me tight, preventing me from falling further, but it was a tenuous grip, and I could feel it slowly slipping.

As the initial shock began to wear off, the reality of my situation set in. I was alone, in the maze, with no way to call for help. The pain was all-consuming, a constant, throbbing reminder of my failure, both in my desperate attempt to escape the pain and in my life as a whole. I bit back another scream, trying to steady my breathing, but it was no use. The pain was too intense, and I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness.

The last thing I remembered was the sound of the ivy creaking, the distant noise of the Glade, and the overwhelming, suffocating darkness closing in around me. Then, mercifully, everything went black.

Jess POV

The sun had barely risen, casting a soft, golden hue over the Glade. The dew on the grass sparkled like tiny diamonds, and the air was cool and fresh. I stood at the doors with Minho and Newt, adjusting the straps on my pack and pulling my hair back into a ponytail. It was one of those rare, peaceful mornings where everything seemed almost normal, if you ignored the massive stone walls around us.