Saudade // The Maze Runner // Thomas [IN EDITING]

Chapter 6

The next week,  I was awakened by footsteps pounding down the hallway outside my bedroom door. Sleepily, I peeked my head out to see Newt running by. His eyes looked red and irritated, and I heard him sniffle harshly before he rounded the corner to the stairs. 

I followed down the hallway to the first floor. By the time I'd thrown open the front door to follow after him, his now distant figure was disappearing between the Doors into the Maze.

His eyes were probably tearing up because it's so cold. He must be getting an early start on his run. I told myself.

Before beginning work at the slaughterhouse, I went to see Frypan. He was serving the Runners breakfast at the moment, and He was just putting the finishing touches on their lunches. I sat on the make-shift counter as he worked and we had idle chit chat until he presented me with my breakfast.

Over the years, I had developed a great relationship with Frypan. He knew I would get up early on days I had to work and he would always have my meal ready so I could eat before the boys got up. I didn't like eating with the other Gladers. there were too many people crammed in one room, and most of my friends like Minho and Newt were in the Maze anyway. 

After I finished with breakfast, I ran up to my room to grab my apron and I made my way to the Bloodhouse. I tied it tightly around my waist, grateful that the thick leather protected my clothes. Winston showed up about an hour later, and we worked on the carcass of a lamb. It's sad, I know, but I have to be honest. Considering how good lamb shank tastes, the gore was totally worth it.

Today the Glade was expecting a new greenie, and I still had that nearly invisible spark of hope that it would be a girl.

At noon, we stopped for our lunch break and jogged over to the Box once the greenie alarm sounded. A thick boy was cowering at the bottom of the box, his blonde hair stuck to his head with sweat. His name turned out to be Zara, and while Alby gave him the tour, we pulled the boxes of supplies out of the Box.

When everything was unloaded, Winston and I went back to work until it began to get dark, and the doors closed.

I'm going to be honest with you, Slicer work was mind-numbing. I may remember nothing, but this shuck job was boring. I was a person who loved change and adapted to it quickly. Butchering  and chopping up animals on a daily basis really wasn't doing it for me.

- -

The monotonous cycle of rising early for breakfast, working with Winston until dinner, going to bed tired, and repeating went on for several months. As the days dragged on, I grew more and more frustrated. The walls felt as if they were suffocating me, and each time I passed by one of the Doors, I craned my neck, desperate to see anything in the hallways that stretched away from the Glade. The opening was always in reach, but it was against the rules Alby and the Keepers had created.

"Never go into the Maze. Only runners are allowed, it's too dangerous." He had laid down the law, and his voice had been stern and foreboding.

My relationships with Newt, Minho, Gally, and Alby slowly withered as the months passed. I hardly saw them anymore. I said good morning to them before they left, but once they come back they locked themselves in the Map Room to work on the Maze model Minho and I started together.

I rarely slept soundly enough to dream, but when I did, I  dreamt of Thomas. Those nights felt like a respite. I could simply slip away from the Glade and be comforted by Thomas, even if it wasn't real. He was familiar and it gave me peace. It crushed me to wake up each morning and realize he wasn't in the Glade, and I wasn't home.

Through each passing night and memory, I couldn't help loving this boy I'd never met. Experiencing glimpses of our time together before I came to the Glade was like meeting him for the first time. Falling in love with him felt as natural to me as breathing.