Strange Atmosphere | Aris Jones [1]

17 || She Remembers

When I got back to the Glen, everyone was still cleaning up and Beth was still giving out orders. I tuned her voice out and headed for the Homebase, wanting to see if Rachel was getting any better.

"Where do you think you're going, stick?" Beth barked at me.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. "The Homebase, Beth," I replied, still walking, not even looking at her.

"What for?"

"To check on Rachel."

"Well, she's not there!"

I stopped walking and turned to face her, storming her way. "Where is she?" I asked in a rude tone when I got up in her face.

"Where she belongs," she replied, looking at the Maze.

I widened my eyes, about to lunge at her. "You--"

"Oh, relax. I was kidding. She's in the Slammer, along with her boyfriend." Beth rolled her eyes. "We haven't banished her yet."

"Yet?" I repeated, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Do you really think we're gonna let her stay here after everything she's caused here?" Beth scoffed. "Like hell I'll let something like last night happen again. We're holding a Banishment for her at sundown. Anyone that wants to join her can if they want to, but I'm staying here and running things the way I want to run them, the way they should've been run the entire time we've been here."

I shot her a glare, then I spun around and stormed off, heading for the Slammer where I found Harriet, Sonya, Maeve, and Lillie. "What's going on?" I asked. "How's Rachel?"

"Still no change," Sonya replied, huffing a frustrated sigh, rubbing her temple. "I hate having to wait. She could take days or even sticking weeks to wake up."

"She won't take that long," Harriet said.

"How do you know that?" Sonya asked her.

"I just do, Sonya." She paused for a moment, then continued. "We're really close to getting the hell out of here, aren't we?"

Maeve nodded her head. "If our theory about the Griever Hole is right, then yes, we are close."

All of a sudden, Rachel gasped, her eyes wide open. She began to breath very fast. "I...I--"

"Hey, it's okay," Aris assured her in a calm manner. "You're okay, Rachel."

Her breathing went back to a normal pace as she sat up, leaning against the wall. "I'm okay," she whispered, closing her eyes.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I blurted to her.

"I-I had to remember, Piper," she told me. She looked at all of us in confusion. "Why are you all looking at me like someone just shot an animal?"

"Beth has taken control," Sonya explained. "Harriet was forced to step down as leader."

"What?" Rachel questioned.

"She said we had a choice. Either join her, or get banished at sundown with you." Sonya looked down at the grass, sighing.

"And the others agreed to that?" Rachel inquired, shifting in her spot, running her hand through her hair.

"Well, Beth has everyone convinced that you're the reason all of this happened," Aris explained.

With a disappointing look, Rachel nodded her head. "Well, she's right."

"What?" I spoke back up.

Rachel cleared her throat, looking at all of us. "This place isn't what we thought it was."

"What do you mean?" Harriet asked.

"It's not a prison, it's a test," she answered. "It all started when we were kids. The Creators would give us these challenges. They were experimenting on us. Then, a whole bunch of people disappear all at once. Soon, it became one after the other, once a month, like clockwork."

"They were being sent up to the Glen," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but not all of us," she said. She swallowed hard. "I'm one of them. The Creators, the people who put you here, I worked with them. For two years, I watched you girls. The entire time you've been here, I was on the other side of it." She turned towards Aris. "So were you."

Aris let out a small gasp. "What?"

Rachel gave him a sad look. "Aris, we did this to them."

Aris shook his head in disbelief. "No. No, that...that's not possible...that's not true..."

"It is. I saw it," Rachel told him.

"But why would they send us up here if we were with them?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter, Aris," Rachel said.

We all stayed silent for a moment, trying to take all of this information in. Beth was right the entire time. The Creators did have favorites, and Rachel and Aris were two of them. Of course, Rachel didn't know any of this before she got stung, so how could I be mad at her or Aris?

"You know what?" Lillie spoke up, which caught everyone off guard. "Rachel's right."

"Woah, when the bloody hell did you start talking?" Maeve asked in a shocked tone.

"A few days ago," I muttered.

"What am I right about?" Rachel asked her.

"It doesn't matter why you and Aris were sent up here. None of it matters. Because the Creators took care of us by swiping our memories before we came here. They're gone. But you know what does matter? Who we are and what we do right now. You went into the Maze and you found a way out."

"But if I hadn't, everyone else would still be alive right now," Rachel said.

Lillie exhaled loudly. "Maybe. But you know who would say the exact same thing if they were here?"

"Esther," I spoke up.

Lillie nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, and she would have wanted us to do something now that you've found a way out. Because if we do nothing, then that means everyone here died for nothing, and I know that none of us can tolerate that."

We were quiet for a few seconds, then Harriet chuckled. "Damn. The first time I hear you speak and you give out this great speech. You should've talked more when you got here."

Lillie let out a scoff, playfully rolling her eyes.

Rachel sighed and looked down at her hands, then back up at Lillie. "So what do you want me to do?"

Lillie stared down at Rachel, the most serious look on her face. "I want you to pick your sticking ass up and finish what you started."

~~~~~~~

A/N: DAYUMMM. Lillie got some words to say.

So yeah, the end is near! I'm so excited! What about y'all?

Song above is Fight Song by Rachel Platten.

Comment, vote, <3

-A