Amnesia: A Maze Runner Fanfiction

c h a p t e r . t h r e e

I sat, exhausted and overheating, up in the watchtower, a spot Teresa and I had claimed for our own. We slept up here, too, because it was always mild enough to sleep outside. The weather had rarely changed so far in the Glade, I'd noticed.

I looked out over the Glade, and saw all the Gladers doing their jobs and working in the little community they had made.

How long had they been here?

I felt a sudden pang of something. I felt an emptiness that I couldn't describe. I couldn't pin it to missing my family or friends, because I didn't know who they were. I could define it as missing the old life I used to have, maybe, compared to this horror of a reality. But then I didn't remember that either.

I think it was a pang of fear.

Suddenly, I heard someone climbing up the ladder from the other side of the huge trunk of wood I was leant against.

"Teresa?" I called.

"Uh, no," the voice replied. "I jus' came to talk." It was unmistakably Newt.

"What do you want?" I questioned.

"You alright? You've been up here all day." He appeared from around the tree and came to sit next to me.

"What else is there for me to do?"

"Fair point. Was just checkin' on ya. You sure you're alright?"

"I-I'm fine." This was a lie.

"Come on, what's up?"

"I said I'm fine," I repeated.

"Look," he said, turning to face me. "I can tell something's bothering you. Is this because you wanna be a Runner? I wasn't trying to be hard on ya, but we gotta have order, y'know? And I'm meant to be in charge. And I don't want nobody being put at risk, neither."

"No. It's not really that," I told him.

"Then what? You can just tell me," he said softly, in a way that made me completely and utterly trust him.

I sighed. "Its just overwhelming, I guess."

"Yeah. I get ya."

"I don't know where I am, or what the hell this place is. I can't remember anything about myself, and I'm really freakin' scared."

"That's fair enough, right," Newt said. "I think we all of us felt like that to start. Shuck, I reckon we all still do."

"And I know I'd gone in demanding to be a Runner. You've got reason enough to be ticked off at me. I'm sorry."

"I'm not ticked at ya," he practically scoffed.

"You're not?"

"Of bloody course not," he chuckled. I laughed, relieved, but after a while we fell into an uneasy silence.

"I know it's hard," he said after a while. "I know it sure was for me. Every month one of us would be sent up here in that Box. I was fourth. Those weren't good times, and I can tell you; I was bloody scared. Three years on and I'm still bloody scared. So you have every reason to be. If you ain't scared, you ain't human."

I felt my eyes welling up. He was right; I was scared, scared out of my mind.

I was scared about the Maze, and Grievers, and being a Runner - even though I was determined to be one, and certain that I had to. I was scared of that Box, and half of the Gladers. I was scared about the screams I'd hear from the Homestead, where Alby was being treated. I was scared of Gally and his aggressiveness, but really I was scared of the memory loss. Of not understanding. Of being stuck here.

The tears were threatening to spill from my eyes. "None of that," Newt said, reaching up to wipe away a stray tear that had found its way onto my cheek. "Can't be having that."

"Ain't this bloody pathetic?" I said, attempting a laugh.

He chuckled lightly. "Nah, it's not. If you ain't scared, you ain't human," he repeated.

Eventually all tears had subsided, and still we sat in comfortable silence on the watchtower. Away from it all, overseeing everything and everyone. It was peaceful.

It was almost nice.

* * *

Later on, I was stood in a secluded corner of the Glade with Newt and Minho, and we were discussing the only topic I would have stuck around to hear discussed at that point: me being a Runner. Newt was still adamant that I shouldn't be, although admittedly was trying to be nice about it.

"Why not?" I pleaded.

"It's too dangerous."

"I can handle it."

"Can you?" This was from Minho.

"Test me, then, I don't care. Throw me out there for the night - I reckon I'll survive." I was almost joking.

Minho laughed. "Right. Will you, now?"

"Probably." I didn't know why, but I had this gut feeling that being a Runner was what I was destined to do in this place.

"Is that an invitation?" Minho challenged, smirking.

"Possibly," I said, trying not very well to conceal a small chuckle. Minho was seeing right through my bluff and was playing up to it, almost hilariously.

"You wanna run the Maze now then? I think it's getting a little dark."

"Bring it," I answer, trying my hardest not to grin.

"No one's going anywhere!" Newt ordered sternly. "The doors'll be closing soon, and no one is going out there."

"Ah, I was just messin'," Minho said, breaking into a smile. "I think she's got the guts though. I suppose we'll test to see if she's got the speed and the stamina, but I'm sure you have," he directs to me. "I'm for it."

"No way! This is a stupid idea," Newt insisted. "Order."

"Things are changing though, Newt."

"If we had no order in this place, we'd all sure as shuck be dead."

"Thomas-"

"Thomas ain't everybody! We can't do this for everybody. What will the other Gladers say? And what happens when someone is draggin' you back in here, stung?" he said, aiming the last part at me. I didn't respond.

"If someone is stung, then someone is stung. We'll test her," Minho said. Newt sighed. "I'm not saying she become a Runner immediately. I'm saying we test her."

He hesitated. "It's too dangerous."

"Just a test," Minho said. "Then she does peasant work, then we think about it."

Reluctantly, Newt eventually agreed with Minho. I was to run with him tomorrow.

I could hardly wait even that long.