Left Behind//The Maze Runner

F O U R T E E N

Minho didn't come to my dorm tonight.

My hands wring together subconsciously as I pace the floor of my dorm, checking every so often for any movement in the vents.

Of course, nothing is happening. There's no way Janson got to him already, right? He has to be okay. I need him to be okay.

I go over the conversation with Janson over a dozen times. He wasn't clear about what he knew, except for the photo of Minho outside our dorms. But other than that, that was it.

Oh my gosh, what if they hurt him? What if he's lying in bed, unable to move because they— I can't bring myself to think of what they could've done to him.

This is torture... Minho could be lying in bed, or even worse, on a metal table, bloody and bruised, waiting to be used for the stupid cure.

I can't take it anymore!

After almost burning a hole through the rug in my dorm, I slide under my bed and rip the vent grate from the wall, staring into the metal abyss, a churning beginning to grow in my stomach.

I can do this. It's just a small, tight, metal cube. It can't crush me...

Holy mother of Stingers I'm gonna throw up.

A deep breath flows through my lungs as I will myself to crawl into the vents, gently closing the grate after I make it all the way in.

Minho guided me to his room a little while ago, just in case I ever needed to get to him for an emergency. At the time I thought he was just being silly and wanted to spend more time with me outside of being in my room and our vent passage since they cut off Common Room Access.

Now I realize he was teaching me how to get to him in the case that he got caught sneaking out of his dorm.

My lungs rattle with every breath as I try my best to make my way through the metal tube. I don't look up, if I do, I wouldn't be able to move forward and I'd be stuck in here forever.

Oh my gosh what if I get stuck in here forever? What if the vent closes in on me and I–

No! I can't do that, I have to keep moving forward.

I resume my crawling, the air getting cooler as I start taking deep belly breaths to soothe my anxiety. I'm so close. Only a few more minutes and then I'll be in Minho's room, out of the confined space and threatening, shining metal.

A breath of relief pushes from my lungs as I come up to the vent grate leading into his room. I carefully unlatch it, pushing it down, and sliding out of my own personal hell and into Minho's room.

The lights are off, the room thrust into a deep darkness, my eyes struggling to adjust.

"Minho?" I whisper-shout as I make my way out from underneath his bed. "Minho?!"

I turn to face the bed, the mattress vacant, the sheet askew but not in a way that suggests he was taken. It's as if he threw it off and left.

But why didn't he come to my room?

Oh gosh I can't force myself back in those vents... I can't figure this out on my own, I can't go back into that shining, cubic death trap. Not without Minho. So I guess I'm stuck here until he comes back.

Why would he have gone out? Especially if Janson's on his case. He has to know. There's no way Rat-man didn't talk to him after coming to me. I know the dick, he wouldn't waste any precious time.

My chest squeezes with a building cry as I crash down onto Minho's bed, a few tears beginning to pour from my eyes.

Did he not trust me enough to tell me? Was I a risk he didn't want to take when it came to sneaking outside of our rooms?