TST: Searching In The Scorch :Sequel to The Maze In Her Heart: ✔ (UNDER EDITING)

Chapter 4: "My name is Aris... Who are you sticks?"

        By the time the boy had woken up, there was already a crowd of Gladers grouped around him. He stirs and lifts his head, his thick mop of brown hair limp in his eyes. He's been tied up in a chair with one of the Gladers belts, the soft leather constricting around his chest. His eyes widen, and his nose wrinkles, pushing his light freckles closer together.

        "What the hell?" he says, flexing his long fingers as if checking to see if they still worked. I stood in the crowd of Gladers, arms folded across my chest. 

"I'm sorry that my sister punched you. But we're all really anxious, and we think it's best if we question you like this." I say, biting down on my bottom lip. The boy gave me a bewildered look. his eyes wide and his lips parted. There was a small gap between his front teeth.

"What's your name, shank?" Minho leaned his hand against the chair, tilting it back. The boys feet brushed against the floor, and he gripped the edges of the chair. Minho didn't mean to frighten the boy, but the look in the captive's eyes made Minho slowly set the chair back down. 

"My name is Aris... Who are you sticks?" He asked, looking around. He glanced slowly, his gaze brushing across everyone, taking in every new and terrifying face. He lands back on me, then Minnie, eyes flickering like candlelight.

"Sticks?" Newt said, rubbing his chin. 

Aris looked at him breathlessly, before looking up as Minho said, "Where is Roxie?" 

Aris tugged at his bonds, and did a small jump, making the chair wiggle. "I am not going to answer anything until I'm let go." He said, giving a limp groan.

"You'll do whatever we tell you to do, shuckface, unless you want the same fate as those cranks." Minho says, his hand still on the back of Aris's chair. I remain silent, standing between Minnie and another Glader. 

Aris goes slightly pale, realizing that even though he must not know what happened, it must have been bad.

"Listen, I don't know anyone named Roxie. I haven't heard that name ever, and I know a lot of girls. Just.. Just let me go, please." He looked up at me pleadingly, and I gave a nervous twitch. The Gladers are silent for a minute, obviously thinking this over. 

"Alright, ya shank. I don't think you'll try anything." Newt says as he squats behind the chair, carelessly untying the ropes. Aris shakes them off and remains sitting, watching us cautiously. His hands find themselves clasped nervously in his lap.

"So, tell us what you know, alright?" Newt was still squatting in front of Aris, level with him. The two boys shared a look, and Aris seemed to ease. Even though Newt had his moments, Aris must have taken one look in those brown eyes and realized he could trust the Brit. 

"Starting from where?" He said. "I-I can tell you everything I remember. The Maze and all." 

At the mention of a Maze, everyone in the room tensed. Aris noticed this, sitting up. "A Maze, yeah, I went through a Maze. Did you guys?" He had a hopeful tint to his voice, something that made my maternal instincts kick in. 

"Yeah, we did. It was really shucking weird." I shake my head and tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "Can you tell us about your experience, leading up to now?"

"Yeah, okay, now that I've warmed up to you guys." Aris was smiling now, beaming like a child. He clapped his hand, and motioned the Gladers close. "Gather round, and I'll tell you about the Glade." 

And just like that, every Glader leaned up, drawn to him like a magnet. He began speaking, eyes scanning our faces again, "Okay, well, all I know is that one day I woke up in a maze, filled only with girls, and I was the only boy. It was a bit weird to be the only boy in a bunch of girls, but I made a lot of faithful friends. Soon, we found out that the maze was some sort of code, and I had figured that out because I had these weird... memories... dreams, I guess..." He paused, a far away look in his eyes. 

"I began speaking to another girl in my mind, like, a girl I was close with. We went back... I saw her in my dreams, and she saw me in hers. It was weird. Thought I was going crazy. But she felt it too... Did that happen with you guys?"

There was a silence. I glance at Minnie, her eyes locking onto mine for a minute. I nod and we both turn to face Aris again, our little agreement as if it never happened. 

He pauses, before sighing, "Guess not." And then he went on, explaining his experience. Everything he said lined up with our experiences, and as he went on, everyone in the group began chiming in, and sharing looks. 

"I just, I went to the bathroom in my room, and when I came back out, I was face to face with you girls. I don't even know how I got here, or why, and I have no idea what's going on, but if you give me the chance, I will try to help you guys no matter what." He looks up. The genuinuity in his voice was so strong, it was hard not to give in to him. The gladers nodded, and appreciated the obvious loyalty. 

"This isn't the first time people have been confused here. Welcome to the club." George said, clapping a hand on Aris's shoulder. Aris smiled when seeing that, but the emptiness behind it urked me. Obviously he was missing someone, and those people were his Gladers. Where had they gone?         

"I also have something else to confess.." he says, causing a few Gladers who had walked off to look back. "My partner that I spoke with through my mind.. she was killed.. shot by another girl.." He pauses and licks his lips, as if trying not to remember his friends murder. His face screws up in grief, a look that I had seen in flashes of memories and in other Gladers faces. For a second, I saw Newt's face back in the Glade, crying and leaning over Alby's body.

"Which one of you can speak to another through their mind?" Aris says, looking up. Every Glader looks about, mumbling to themselves. Minho was glancing around, attention perked. 

Minnie suddenly raised her hand without even looking at me. "We were. My sister and I." 

"Like twin telepathy?" Chuck said, pausing a moment before laughing at his own realization. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious." I nodded, a bit afraid that the Gladers would see us different from now on. It was odd, to find out that two girls could speak telepathically. But in knowing that Aris could do the same made me feel a little less insane. 

However, the look on his face when I looked over wasn't relief. "But that's impossible. If Beth died, the girl I could talk to, then why are you both alive?"

"I mean, we were threatened with a gun. If our stories correlate, that doesn't mean the details have to be the same." I counter.

"You don't understand." Aris said. "When Beth was about to die, the girl with the gun said something about another variable. Something we didn't understand at first, but I think I get it now." Aris gulped. "If a girl from my group was to die, then someone from our group was supposed to die." 

"Nobody died, and nobody will." Newt snapped. "I was the one who got shot, but it was in my leg." 

Aris eyed the bandage, then shook his head. His face was gaunt now, and his eyes turned glassy with tears of fear and regret. "That's the problem." He said, obvious tears now welling in his eyes. "Now that one of you didn't get killed, one of you must die.

"I think my group is after you."