What If | tmr, newt ✓

Chapter 17

The next few days were spent on and off exploring the Maze and helping the Med-jacks. I wouldn't actually have minded spending every day in the Maze, but Minho could do a perfectly good job on his own and it turned out I was needed just as much in the Glade.

Each afternoon when the runners returned, I would spend a bit of time talking to each of them, helping them map out their sections and trying to spot any patterns. Minho explained that he was still searching for access routes to the Cliff - and so far, it had been a success: another hidden gap in the wall, this time in a completely different place. We should have realised there was a whole new section of the Maze since there was a gap in the Maps, but in all fairness, it was hardly noticeable.

In my few days in the Glade, my relationship with Newt only grew. He would drag me with him to every meal to make sure I was eating, and I would visit him in any breaks I could. I found he was especially cute with his hands covered in mud as he ran them through his hair, or - to my dismay - through mine. My stomach couldn't refrain from flipping whenever I saw him from a distance too.

The creators didn't make any attempts to get me out, initially, and it wasn't the top priority in my mind. I was too focused on the Maze and my jobs.

Six days after discovering the Cliff - six days of getting to know the Gladers, learning to fit in, surprise hugs from behind and laughing by lamplight - I was back in the Maze once again. Minho and I had explored the regular sections in the morning, before passing through the corridor and into the mostly unexplored new area. I hacked down the ivy with my knife on my way through; it would only make it easier for ourselves to spot the entrance.

We sat and ate lunch on the open ground near the Cliff, careful not to sit too close to the edge. After realising there wasn't much else to do, we continued to walk around, checking behind vines and at every turn. The only thing we managed to find was a plaque - which Minho explained were dotted over the place - with "World Catastrophe: Killzone Department" engraved into the cool metal. The phrase sent a shiver down my spine, especially since they had sent me that note.

I was just pulling my hand through a thick section of leaves when a loud, deep shuddering vibrated through the floor. I snap my head up and pull my arm away from the wall, eyes widening as I turn to Minho. There was only thing that sounded like that: the Doors closing.

Before he can even react I grab his arm and start running. Even with the minimal number of days in these corridors, I know them well enough not to have to think twice about where my feet take me. All the while I could barely hear myself think, pulse doubled and beating loudly in my ears. Because it wasn't possible. The Doors only closed at night.

I'm thankful that we hadn't got very far as I push myself to sprint even faster; if we had been any further away from the Glade, I'm sure my tired muscles would have given up on me. After what feels like years but was most probably only a minute, we launch ourselves through the connecting corridor, run around a couple of corners... and my heart stops.

It was the Doors. And they were closing. Only a matter of feet separated the stone walls from sealing us in for good. I registered Minho run past me, looking back when he realised I wasn't by his side, and calling my name desperately. It sounded foreign on his lips. He only ever called me Falcon.

But right now, this Falcon wouldn't fly. She couldn't. Because no matter how fast she did, she knew she wouldn't make it through those Doors in time.

I knew there were Gladers just outside. I could see some of them, urging us to run faster, but I couldn't. My feet had turned to lead. My head was spinning. I didn't understand: the Maze only closes at night, not the middle of the day.

Finally, the Doors close, shuddering stone on stone and shattering a small piece of my heart. It wasn't even the idea of being stuck in here, which I thought was my worst nightmare, that ruined me. It was the look of despair on my best friend's face as the last ray of light was shut off. And it was the last words shouted from inside the Glade.

"Addie!"

They might be the last words I hear. The last words shouted from the boy being restrained from running to me: from the boy I now realised I loved.