Newt: A Broken Boy ↠ The Maze Runner

11

"Minho. Please come with me." I was already beginning to regret my decision of telling Minho about my plan to escape WICKED. He seemed ready to do it, but he kept saying that it was too dangerous at the time. All day I had been pestering him about it, and now, as we were finishing off our dinner, I was giving it another push.

"Newt, as much as I'd love to leave and escape those Trials, I can't. We can't. At the moment, we're the only chance there is to stop the flare. Maybe, in a couple of years, when WICKED have collected up a few more immunes, then we can leave, but not yet." I considered telling him that I wasn't immune, that it didn't actually matter whether or not I was there, but decided against it. I couldn't risk losing one of my only friends for that.

Minho stood, and picked up his plate.

"I promise, that in a year or two, I'll go with you. I'll swear it. But for now, no."

"Minho-" I began, but he was already gone. I sighed. I had already realised that Minho wasn't giving in, really, I had known it since he had first refused me. But I had wanted to at least try. There was now just one more thing I needed to do.

I cleared my plate walked out of the food hall. Instead of turning left, like I would normally, I turned right, down the corridor that led to the girls wing. I was looking for my sister, Rosa's, room. I had gathered it's general whereabouts from my night with her, but it still took me a few minutes to find her room. Luckily, the was no one there.

I pulled a hastily scribbled note out of my pocket, and glanced at it again. It was short, just a few sentences.

Rosa-

First things first, I apologise for making you leave the other night. I was upset about the fact that nobody had told you, to be honest, so I ended up taking out on you. But what I really want you to know can't be said in a note. Meet me at the food hall at twelve o'clock tonight.

-James

It wasn't much, but it would have to do. I looked around the room, wondering which of the four beds was hers. I didn't have to search long, for I quickly spotted a photo of me and her on our first day of school. We looked so happy, so blissfully unaware that our lives were going to change dramatically in just a few months. The memories brought a few tears to my eyes, but I shook them out and placed the note underneath her glass of water, where she couldn't miss it.

Without looking back, I turned on my heel and walked out.

~

I climbed out of my bed, careful not to kick Minho in the head as I clambered down the ladder. I knew that he was a light sleeper, but luckily these beds were still extremely new, so there wasn't much creaking going on. I jumped off the bottom rung, landing like a cat, and crawled out the door without getting back up.

The walk to the food hall was a short one, and I ran most of the way, my feet silent against the smooth floor. As usual, the corridor was brightly lit with fluorescent lights. Day in, day out, this factory was like a bright, white, light bulb.

I walked into the food hall and saw my sister already there, punctual as ever.

"Took your time," she remarked, flitting her eyes towards the clock in the corner. It read 12:02.

"Two minutes. Come on, sis."

Rosa raised her eyebrows, then shook her head. "What did you want to tell me then? And make it quick, I want to get back to sleep."

I was a little taken aback; I wasn't used to my sister being so snappy.

"Look, Rosa-"

"No, Newt." She cut me off. "I'm not in the mood for your apologies, your 'trying to make things right' stuff. If you want to say something, then say it. If not, then I'm leaving."

I took a deep breath, feeling my face redden. "You want to know what I came here for? Well I'll tell you. I saw Jackson. The man who tried to kidnap us. The man who killed our aunt." I broke off, not being able to stay angry at my sister, the only family I had left. I brought my hands up to my cheeks - they came off wet.

Rosa stared at me, offering no reassurance. Her face seemed to be flitting between hate and love for me, but I wasn't sure why. However, I somehow was sure that if I said anything else, it would not end well.

My sister stood up, and walked towards the door. It looked as if she was going to leave without saying anything, but she paused and turned towards me.

"I love you. No matter what."

And with that, she walked out, leaving me alone, staring at the door, wondering how I had ended up driving away the only family I had left.

~

I fell asleep in my chair that night, not being able to even fathom the idea of getting up and going back to my room.

I was in shock. Most of my relatives were dead, gone, and I'd now managed to drive away my sister as well. I knew that I wasn't being rational, that it couldn't have been my fault she had left, but I still wasn't entirely processing what had happened.

If I had asked Thomas, he would have said that my sister was scared of me, and the flare, but I didn't think that was it. She hadn't looked at me as if she was scared, more as if she was disgusted, horrified by what I had said. Either way, every time I thought of the look of contempt on her face I felt like I would be sick.

Dreams haunted me that night, but when I woke up a couple of hours before dawn, I could only recall fuzzy images and echoes of voices.

I managed to get back to my room before anyone else woke up, and lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. In that half-hour of lying there, I made my decision. I would wait for a year or two, train and get fit. Then, before the trials began, I would do it. I would run and leave this place - forever.

~

A/N: Hi. First things first - thank you. I hit 50 followers last night, which might not sound very big, but is absolutely incredible to me. Sorry about the infrequent updates, I'll try and update more often, but the work just keeps coming. Not that I'm making excuses. But yeah, that's it, so byeeee!!