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

Chapter 9

        Our gazes locked and I let my eyes take in his face.

        He's here.

        I thought my legs would collapse. My heart was thumping frantically as I raked my eyes over him. He had a few moles scattered on his left cheek, and a boyish grin. His eyes were piercing blue and they stared into my own, flickering with recognition.

        Gally grasped his forearm and pulled him out of the Box. When he stood to his full height, the arms of the other Gladers helping him to his feet, he towered over me by about four inches. My head tilted back just the smallest of degrees to see his face, and I felt as if my heart was going to pound out of its chest.

        My fingers were itching to run through his hair, and I mumbled "Now, I'm going to get some food," quietly. 

Newt gave me a strange look and I turned tail and ran to Frypan. By the time I reached him, I was gasping for breath. Not because of the distance of the run, but because I felt like my lungs couldn't get enough air.

        When I reached the kitchen, Frypan was washing one of the last dishes from breakfast. He turned toward me, his eyebrow raised.

        "What's wrong, shank?" He asked.

        "I-uh. I'm just really hungry" I lied, trying to act normal.

        I couldn't fully grasp that it was him. Thomas was actually in the very Glade I had been living in for years. I had seen him with my own eyes. It was short-term-recall now instead of a long suppressed memory.

        An apple was tossed to me and I caught it deftly, sending Frypan grin.

        "Thanks Siggy," I sniggered, and Frypan's face darkened with irritation.

        "Do, not, call me that." He said lowly, punctuating each word with a pause.

        "Whatever ya say, Fry." I smiled as I left. Talking with Frypan had helped me calm down and when I saw Thomas walking with Alby across the Glade, I returned to the Box to help unload.

        After about half an hour of lifting the boxes of supplies out of the Box, it was finally empty. A few minutes later, the doors closed and it went back down with a clang.

        I decided to join Frypan again and I sat on the counter where he usually passed out food, talking to him. Across the area where our picnic tables were, Thomas was talking to Chuck beneath a few trees. He looked confused, but I thought it would be best to not approach him yet. I didn't want to scare him or make him even more confused.

        Past the two newer arrivals to the Glade, a figure emerged from the Maze. It was Ben, and he looked exhausted, wobbling on his two legs. I grabbed a cup of water for him and ran to meet him.

        "Why are you so tired?" I asked. "Here - I got you some water."

        Ben drank it eagerly. "A griever chased me. I've never seen a griever before, let alone out in the day."

        I frowned. It was unusual to see a griever during the day, but we knew that they were out at night due to their chilling moans that we could hear from within the safety of the Glade.

        When I was walking back to the homestead, I heard Chuck talking to Thomas.

        "It's called the Changing. It's what happens when you get stung by a griever." Chuck explained.

        "What happens in the Changing?" Thomas asked, curious.

        His voice was a bit hoarse comapred to my memories of him, and I wondered if he had screamed a lot on his way up in the Box.