What If | tmr, newt ✓

Chapter 23

The memories stopped. And so did the creators' attempts to get me out.

It had been over a month since being trapped in the Maze, and since then, life in the Glade... well, it just continued. Minho had gone back to working as a Runner, and a few weeks after that when Alby said I could return as well, I quit. I realised I didn't want to go back into those corridors. Ever.

And so I worked as a Med-jack as my injuries healed, bandaging up the wounded and tending to the sick, and every afternoon when the doors closed I would help the Runners with mapping. My routine was constant, and repetitious, but familiar: and I was fine with that. Wake up, breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, sleep, repeat.

In and amongst that I always made sure I found time to talk to the Gladers. Newt, of course, would constantly check on me, but Ben, Zart, George, Frypan and Alby became just some of the boys I knew I could trust.

With the physical distance separating us, I found it increasingly harder to talk to my best friend. Minho returned fully to his usual self, barely even showing a hint of the scarred boy he was after that day in the Maze. But I had to allocate time every evening to talk to him or I knew I wouldn't ever be able to.

The Greenie from last month remembered his name, just a couple days after arriving. Frankie. Not that it mattered: he kept himself to himself, after being assigned to the Sloppers, and didn't make so much of an effort to fit in. And now, we were all anticipating the newest arrival.

When I say 'we', I mean pretty much everyone else apart from me. When the alarm started blaring an hour ago, I didn't bother to go look. I didn't even make an effort when the Box arrived; I just stayed in the homestead, already predicting that there would be some poor confused boy with his memories wiped.

I did, however, sit with him and a few of my friends at dinner. On first meeting, the Greenie raised his eyebrow, a glint in his eye, and smirked when he saw me approaching, so - disgusted - I pushed past him and made a show of kissing Newt, right in front of the newbie's eyes. Newt was surprised at first, but then smiled into it and wrapped his arms around my waist as if he knew what I was trying to do. When I pull away, at first I'm laughing inside my head at the Greenie's reaction, but then - yes, I might have used Newt just to make a point initially - but now I didn't want to stop. I stare into his gorgeous eyes, smiling, trying to refrain myself, before copying the Greenie's actions, raising my eyebrow at him. Like a challenge. Keep your hands off me, asshole.

Newt sits unnecessarily close to me whilst eating, and I realise that the little show I put on earlier wasn't needed. He would make sure nobody touches me.

Hence why dinner is positively awkward for the Greenie. Yeah, I feel a slight pang of apology and empathy for the kid, but then again, he had to know his place. Alby and Minho made an effort to talk to make up for our silence; the newbie would keep looking at me in between taking bites, I did a pretty good job of staring him down, and Newt sat playing with my hair, looking quite content.

The next day, he remembered his name - Marty. He was given the tour, assigned to the builders... and then life in the Glade continued seamlessly. I wasn't giving up hope, exactly, but what Minho and I found all those weeks ago didn't provide any help or indication of a way out. Unless falling from an endless cliff counted. So there was still hope; it was just extremely faint to the point that, at times, it appeared absent.

***

"Falcon, come back to your old job," Minho pleads, sitting down at our table after coming from the map room.

I can feel a shadow pass over my features as I remember the Maze. I close my eyes for just a second, and as soon as I do, the picture is there again; vivid, haunting. Turning a corner and running into one of those monsters - claws, spikes, needles and all. I have to resist from shuddering as I open my eyes again.