Maze Runner: The Subject Experiment

30 ❀ Best of Friends

Sky had been in the Glade now for months. By now she was well accustomed to the ways of the Glade. As you would expect, spending almost every second of every day with a group of boys forces one to become close to them all. She knew everyone's quirks, realised the staring was due to several crushes developing among the boys and therefore learned to establish boundaries between herself and the others. Newt had become a definite best friend, Minho being a close second. She was also close with Winston and Fry and even had managed to create an amiable friendship with Gally.

Work had become routine. Every day she would get up and work as a track-hoe with Newt, Zart and the other track-hoes, who she got to know relatively well.

Her and Newt had put the incident in the kitchen behind them and Sky assumed that nothing would come of it. To her, Newt was a close friend but any more was expressly forbidden. It was futile to disobey Alby's rules, and what for? A fleeting teenage romance? Not likely.

The greenie that came up after her had remembered his name, Wes, and new greenies had come up in the box since then. Now she found that she was the one helping them integrate into the Glade society. It was almost like she'd always lived here. It was almost like she had known this group of boys all her life. They had become one large family of 37.

So far Sky was doing a relatively good job of not breaking any more rules. Although at times she still did clash with Alby over opinions and her general defiant nature and rebellious rejection of authority. But overall she tried her best to hold her tongue when she was irritated, usually muttering her annoyance under her breath.

Newt helped a lot with that. If he saw her losing her temper he would attempt to calm her. In return Sky still helped Newt with his nightmares.

When Newt's nightmares got really bad he would talk in his sleep. Most of the time he said things to do with grievers. Sky wondered if Newt had really been a runner. If he had he never talked about it. She concluded that Gally had made a mistake. Surely if Newt had been out there he would have told her. However, sometimes he didn't shout about grievers, sometimes he mumbled fragments of sentences. These ravings, Sky couldn't understand. Sometimes he spoke about forgetting someone, finding someone. He always spoke vaguely with no indication of who or what he was talking about.

When Newt woke in the mornings he always had no idea what he had said meant at all. He asked Sky to write down anything he said in hopes that somehow they could piece the words together and solve the puzzle, somehow discovering what his subconscious was dreaming of.

So far on the page was gibberish such as:

"Don't be bloody stupid...she...no..."

"I can't lose that"

"We could all get in trouble if you get caught."

"Where are you?"

"It doesn't matter"

"Don't make me go back there"

"I won't let them"

Yes, a lot of nonsense. Yet, all the same they both hoped it might make sense some day. They were both fairly certain that it had something to do with Newt's past life, before he came up in the box.

"It's probably snippets of memories in your subconscious that you can only remember when you're asleep," Sky said once.

However, one night, when Newt was having a particularly bad nightmare, Sky struggled to help. He sat up suddenly in the middle of the night, prompting Sky to wake up and grab the paper and pencil she used to write down the gibberish of his sleep-talking. But then he started shouting. He was distressed and frightened looking. Sky was slightly afraid when he got like this. It looked as if he was possessed. The fact that his eyes were open scared her, he didn't look asleep.

"No! I can't leave!"

Sky scribbled it down frantically.

"I need to stay here! Get your hands off of me!" he yelled.

Sky shrinked back. If he was any louder he'd wake all the keepers up.

This was a recurring dream. Newt's bad nightmares were usually about being separated from someone. Who it was, was a mystery.

"Newt," she attempted to talk sense to the asleep Newt.

"Newt, shh it's okay," she whispered.

Suddenly, Newt looked confused.

"Where are you?" he shouted, beginning to shuffle around in his sleeping bag.

The first time Newt sleep-talked Sky managed to have a conversation with him, thinking he was awake, only to find in the morning he remembered nothing. Now she was wiser. She got out of bed to sit beside him to quieten him down.

"I'm here, don't worry," she said calmly, placing a hand on one of his.

"I won't forget you, I promise," he said.

Sky decided to risk pressing for answers. "Who won't you forget Newt? Who are you talking about."

"I'll find you, M-" said Newt before going quiet suddenly. He was back into a silent sleep. Her job was done and she could go back to bed.

"Minho?" she whispered to the sleeping Newt. "You won't forget Minho? Is that who you keep talking about?"

She didn't expect him to answer, and she was right. Newt stayed silent.

The name he was about to say definitely started with an M. 

Minho must be who keeps talking about.

She got up to go to bed but as soon as she let go of Newt she started shouting again.

Alby stirred in his sleep.

"Shhh Newt you wee eejit you're gonna get us both in trouble," she hissed at him.

Finally, she realised the best solution was to move her sleeping bag right up close to his so that he knew she was still there.

Over time she had been moving closer anyway, seeing as when she first chose a spot she wanted to be as far away from him as possible. A lot had changed since then.

When Sky moved her bed close to Newt and he sensed her presence he finally stopped shouting.

Ever since then Sky slept close to him and the nightmares seemed to subside for now.

She was sure the person he sleep-talked about was Minho. It had to be. But what Sky wondered about before she went to sleep was what was happening in his recurring dream. He was being taken away from someone, probably Minho. He knew he was about to lose his memories, seeing as he kept talking about forgetting the person. It made Sky wonder, who did this to them? Where, How, Why?

Sky's fear deepened when these questions raced through her mind, what if she never found the answers?