The Outcast

Chapter 8

After an almost sleepless night going over the rules and overthinking everything, she was ready. After a hearty breakfast, she dashed through the woods to the map room. At the map room, Minho handed her the runners' set, everything she needed was packed for her. "One less thing to worry about." She thought. They then headed out to the walls, taking their time to breathe before running into danger. When the lights got a bit brighter, it was time to go in. "Ayla." Screamed Newt from a distance, he caught up with them eventually with worry written across his face.

"Be safe, please." He added.

"Of course I'll be fine, don't worry about me too much." Ayla replied.

"What about me?" Asked Minho. "So she gets 'please be safe' and I get nothing? What kind of friend are you?"

"You do the same thing every day and you're still alive." Newt snorted. Minho shrugged as they waited for one last minute before the doors open. Anytime now... Ayla thought. Crack. The doors started to open. "Let's go." She said as Newt looked at her running into to labyrinth, hoping that she would be safe once again.

The wind covered Ayla as she sped in between the stone walls, carefully avoiding the green veins while doing it. She tailed after Minho as she observed the environment, occasionally looking up towards the ceiling as well. The maze was nothing like the ones we heard from fairytales. No huge bushes, no flowers, no life. The maze was plain and hard, a confinement, as Ayla would like to think. These walls might seem to be set up for failures but to Ayla, they were set to be crushed and she was determined to be the one to accomplish this goal.

Running, running, running. That's all she did for the past few hours. There was nothing to harm them. Left, left, right, left, right, go straight... the sequence formed in her mind. She felt sweat dripping down her forehead, her calves begged for her to stop running but she also felt the urge the keep going. Soon enough, they slowed down and eventually halted. The light shined the brightest the moment they settled down for rest. "You holding up alright?" Asked Minho. "Yeah. I'm alright. It's not that hard to memorise this pattern to be frank. I feel like I've been through this before. Like, I've been in a labyrinth before and I know how to find the exit. But there's something wrong with this maze. It doesn't feel right." Ayla confessed. It seemed like there was no end to this maze. But surely the creators would not have set a dead-ended maze for them, right? "Nothing here feels right. 3 years of running and searching and yet we've still found nothing other than the sequence. It's quite depressing if you think about it. We, the runners, are convinced that there are no ways out. After a while, you'll feel the same." No. There's always a way out. We just have to think out of the box. She thought. But where would she start? That's the question that bugged her the entire run after lunch.

Minho and Ayla returned to the glade by dusk. They went into the map room and caught up with other runners. They each reported on their non-existing findings from the run and left for dinner, leaving Minho and Ayla behind. "Minho, do you think it's possible to contact people through dreams?" Ayla blurted out, breaking the silence in the map room as the idea of asking for help through dreams crossed her mind.

"Ales, if you tell anyone that you can find people through dreams no one would believe you ... except me probably."

"Why'd you believe me?" Asked Ayla, curiously.

"My instincts tell me that you're no ordinary teenager. Besides, everything here is odd and hopeless. I'd believe anything that gives me hope." and so Ayla informed him about her dream with Clovis, how he told her that someone had been looking for her and how she thought she would be able to get help from the outside world.

"That's one hell of a story but I still believe you. Before we continue this discussion, we shall have dinner because my stomach is about to kill you." With that said, they sped across the glade toward the smell of stew.

They were the last ones to arrive at the kitchen. Fortunately, Frypan was generous enough to save them the last bits of his stew. Minho was getting his food when someone, particularly with a British accent, hugged Ayla from behind. "How's your day?" he asked. "Terrible." said Minho as he caught the sight of Newt and Ayla.

"I'm not asking you shuckface."

"I know. But I wanted to answer anyway. See you later Ales." She smiled at Minho as he walked away from the two. "Well, it wasn't bad. It's more manageable than I'd expected. θα ήταν καλύτερα αν ήσουν μαζί μου." (Translation: it would be better if you were with me a/n don't sue me if it's wrong, I google translated it) She said, only now realising that she could speak in a different language fluently. "What did the last line mean?" Asked Newt. She shrugged, leaving him clueless about it. She enjoyed her meal with his company.

The gladers left the dining area eventually, leaving the two behind with a breeze of tranquillity. Ayla's head fell on Newt's shoulder as they watched the gladers from afar. The moment contained peace she had never had. It was a moment that she had wanted to last forever, and so did Newt. But we all know that a storm comes after calmness. Wicked would not treat them this well.