Silence

Chapter 19

Everything was blurry. I could hear voices, see flickering lights. I remembered the pain in Newt's face. I had to get to him. My eyes opened wider, they tried to find something to focus on. It was all so blurry and everything soon became dark again.

The next time I opened my eyes, a bright light was shining down on me. Newt's face was still fresh in my mind. I need to find him I thought and tried to rise. "No, no" Someone placed a hand on my shoulder. "Stay still" I tried to rise again. "Sch..." Someone said calming as I felt a needle inject something in my neck. The world was turning groggy again. "No, Newt" I whispered before darkness consumed me again.

*******

Darkness. That was the first thing I noticed when I woke up. I took a deep breath, feeling the air fill my lungs. I couldn't see very well, but I guess I was in some sort of square. Maybe a box? A sharp signal sounded and something opened wide.

I shielded my eyes from the sudden light with my hands. After a few seconds I blinked and my eyes had adjusted to the brightness as I rose from the ground.

I was standing in a white room, illuminated with big lights. I could see a white bed, but that was the only furniture. "Good, you're awake"

My focus shifted to the man in front of me. He was tall and slim, wearing a white button up shirt and a white lab coat over that. I looked closer at him. Grey hair and blue eyes.

"Who- who are you?" I asked while taking a step back. He lowered his clipboard and held out his hand to me. "Assistant Director Janson" He said and lowered his hand when I didn't take it. "It's nice to meet you Emily" He continued.

"How- how do you know my name?" I moved even further back, feeling my back meet the cold wall. "That's my little secret" He replied, looking down onto his clipboard again. "You should be glad we got to you. Saving you wasn't easy when you kept waking up during the surgery, but it was done"

"Saving me?" I asked again. I remembered George attacking me, Newt's tears and my wound. I quickly lifted the white tank top I wore. A bandage was wrapped over my abdomen. "Yes, saving you" Janson kept reading his papers.

"Well, everything seems to be in order" He placed the clipboard under his arm and turned to leave. "Wait" I said and he turned to me. "Where am I? Why did you save me? Why am I not in the Glade with the others?"

Janson looked at me. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that" He said and walked away. "But" Janson stopped by the door frame and looked at me. "For now, just remember: W.C.K.D is good"

He closed the door as I ran towards it. The handle seeed to disappear into the wall, making it impossible for me to get out. "Wait, open the door" I banged on the wall. "Let me out of here!"

*******

I don't know how long I was inside the white room. I slept when I got tired and stared at the place of the door when I was awake. Food would enter through a small opening and I would eat some. I never noticed when the plate was removed from the room, no matter how close to my bed I put it.

Clothes would enter whenever I had slept three times, so I assumed it was every third day. With the clothes came a smaller door, revealing a shower for me to use. Eventually it was to long for me to keep track of time and I soon became like a machine.

When I sat down in my new white clothes to look at the wall, the door opened. I quickly rose to my feet as Janson entered again. He carried a small device that he tapped on, probably electrical. I looked at him curiously. "I have something to show you" He said and handed me the device.

I looked down on it and drew a sharp breath. I could see the Glade. I laughed quietly as I saw Gally swearing as he hit himself with the hammer, Alby shouting at him. "My boys" I whispered and dried a tear from my eye.

"Now, this is the real reason I came in here" Janson swiped his finger over the device and my heart stopped. Newt. He was standing alone in the maze, it looked like he was thinking. "Newt" I smiled and dried another tear from my eye.

Newt looked up at the wall and grabbed a vine. My smile died. "Wait, what is he doing?" I asked Janson who only shook his head at me. My focus returned to the device, now showing Newt climbing the wall. "No, no, no" I said as he stopped at a high height. "Can't you stop him?" I anxiously asked Janson, he only looked down at the device in my hands. "Please" I pleaded as Newt seemed to whisper something and closed his eyes before letting go.

"No!" I screamed and fell to the floor, tears streaming down my face. The device landed by Janson's feet and he picked it up. He looked at my sobbing figure on the floor before leaving me. That night, I cried myself to sleep.

*******

Even more days passed, and every day was the same. I would wake up and refuse the breakfast I was given. After rising from the bed, I would sit down and cross my legs while looking at the wall with the door.

By lunch, I would be too hungry to refuse the food given. As I had eaten, a screen would appear on all the walls. Newt's death would be shown to me before the walls turned back to white.

How could this happen? How could they save me and not him? How was it fair that I got to live and he didn't?

I had lost count of the days that had passed, of the times I had seen Newt's death. Janson would appear in my room a few times, standing by the door and taking notes in his clipboard before leaving. Everytime he would turn to me smiling and say "Remember Emily, W.C.K.D is good"

I would never answer him. The first few times he had entered, I had tried to plead. "Make it stop" I had begged him, "I can't see Newt fall to the ground again" Janson had just checked something on his board. "W.C.K.D is good" He had said before leaving me, Newt's death playing on the walls as the door closed.

I was eventually moved into another room. The new room still had white walls and a white bed, but it also had a window. Through that window, I see Janson. The window wasn't always visible. I learned of its existence when one of the white walls disappeared and showed Janson on the other side.

"New environment" He spoke into a microphone, his voice coming through speakers in the ceiling. "Hope you like your new room. This was we can observe you better without me having to enter your room every now and then" Janson leaned away from the microphone and nodded at me. The glass disappeared from the window, becoming white. From that moment, I knew I was always being watched.