Then She Came

Newt 3

I opened my eyes, groaning slightly from the exploding pain in my head. 

"You're awake." Came a voice, cutting through the silence. "How do you feel?" I looked to my left to see Maya sitting there, dried blood caking her hands. 

"Bloody hell," I swore, and that was all she needed to realize that I felt like crap. "What happened?"

She didn't say anything, just picked at the blood under her fingernails.

"I think you must have jumped off of something." She said finally, her voice quiet, barely above a whisper. "You snapped your leg, the bone cut through the skin. I don't think it will heal properly. You have a concussion, I can see it in your eyes." 

Then it all came back, running out of the Glade, dashing through the Maze, searching for the only escape I knew of, death. 

Jumping from the wall, the laughter, the pain. The laughter. Thoughts seared through my head, burning and sizzling. I clutched my head in my hands, begging for relief in quiet whimpers. 

"Sleep will help," Maya's hands were suddenly on my shoulders, pushing my body back down. "Sleep as much as you'll like." 

She walked away, my eyes followed her. It seemed like she just kept walking, getting smaller and smaller. Then I closed my eyes. 

--

When I woke up again, the light was shining through the windows. I was alone in the infirmary. I wanted to go back to sleep, but the pain in my leg was sharp enough, I didn't think I would ever get sleep again. 

Shifting my weight caused my leg to move, and I yelled out in pain, clutching the bandages that surrounded it. 

"Are you alright?" Came Jeff's voice, he raced through the doorway before pausing to look at me. "Need some more Morphine?" 

"Morphine?" I asked warily. If that was the new name for the Greiver Syrum, I didn't need it. I wasn't stung. At least, I don't think I was. 

"It will help numb your leg." He responded, walking over with a long syringe in hand. He carefully filled it with a clear liquid. "Probably should change your bandages too." I looked away as Jeff started to carefully unwrap the thick white bandage from around my leg. 

I tried not to show him that the movement was causing me pain, he looked nervous enough already. 

"Maya changed em this morning, but it's been a few hours." Maya. The thought of her rendered me speechless. She changed my bandages, probably saved my life even though she was mad at me. 

"She isn't mad, you know," Jeff said, reading my exact thoughts. "Well she was, but she isn't anymore. She was a wreck when we put ya down on that cot there." He pointed to one a little ways away, one that was bloodstained. "Had a panic attack and everythin'."

"Oh." Was all I had said. 

"She has to spend the day in the Slammer, otherwise she would be here. It was just gonna be the night, but then she blew up at Alby this morning. The stress is gettin' to her, that's for sure." 

The rest of the day was quiet. Minho and Ben came in when they got back from running the Maze and drawing maps. They didn't stay for long, I could tell both of em were exhausted. 

Night fell, Jeff changed my bandages again. Gave me more Morphine stuff. I slept for a few hours before waking up to nightmares. 

Nightmares of Minho getting torn apart by Grievers, Ben getting tossed off the Cliff by another. Alby just stood there and laughed, like it was part of his big plan.

When I woke up, I could see the small light off in the distance. The lantern for the Slammer, where Maya currently was. Locked up in that hunk of concrete. 

I could hear the Grievers howling. She was terrified of Grievers. I woke up every night to her soft knocks on my door. She would be shaking. 

She never stayed longer than five minutes, just talked about the nightmare, and went back to bed. 

Morning came, I felt useless. All I could do was sit around, have everyone do everything for me. Hell, Minho wouldn't even let me feed myself when he was around. He would shove spoonfuls of soup into my mouth, causing me to gag and spit it all over myself.

 "See," He had said, "This is why other people need to feed you." I had glared at him, a strong one. His smile faltered. But he kept on shoving the spoon down my throat. 

I knew Maya had been released from the Slammer, but she hadn't come in yet. It was around noon when Alby walked in asking for her. Jeff had to tell him that she hadn't shown up. Alby grumbled about that girl being stupid and making his life harder then it needed to be. 

He came in about half an hour later, practically dragging Maya into the room. "Will you let go?" She said in an outburst, moving to pull out of his grasp. "What do you want?" 

"You work here. You do your work. Glade Rules. Do the work, Maya." She glared strongly at him as he walked off, not giving her a second thought. 

Jeff gave her a look and she sighed, walking to the back to wash her hands. 

She didn't talk to me, didn't look at me. Jeff attended to my leg, she would give me more Morphine. But she wouldn't talk. 

She talked to a thirteen-year-old boy who had limped in with a sprained ankle. She smiled at him, treated him like a little brother. When he left, she returned back to her gloomy state. Then Jeff left. The silence seemed to thicken throughout the room. It felt awkward. 

I could cut through the tension with a knife if I wanted to. "Are you mad at me?" I finally asked as she handed me a bowl of soup. 

"No." She said after a long thought. "Not mad at you. Irritated? Maybe." When I asked why she gave me a tired look. "You kinda threw yourself off a Maze wall, Newt." Oh yeah. "Trust me, it is no easy thing to see one of your best friends being carried in, bone pierced through the skin. Head gushing blood. I thought you were going to die. You should have died. Your injuries were too severe." 

"I guess the Creators didn't think it was my time," I said after a long minute. 

"I guess." She shrugged her shoulders, turning away.