Into The WICKED Maze | A Maze Runner Story (English Version)

17. The morning after

When I woke up the next morning, I was lying in my hammock, but I was not alone. Newt was still asleep and had his arms around me, just as we had fallen asleep.
It didn't take long before I realised how tired I was after Gally had left us alone. As much as I would have liked to kiss Newt all night long, my legs had failed and he had also realised that it would be best if I slept now. He had then pushed me to my hammock and I had fallen into it completely exhausted.
When he had kissed me good night for the last time, he wanted to turn around and go to his own sleeping place, but I held him by his wrist.
"Can you stay with me?" I had asked quietly and he nodded. Carefully he had laid down next to me, which wasn't easy in a hammock, and held me tightly in his arms. His warmth had surrounded me and given me the last little push towards sleep. The last thing I had felt before I fell asleep completely was his lips giving me little kisses all over my face. With a smile I had fallen asleep.
Now I lay there and looked at him, carefully tracing the contours of his face and had to smile again. It made me happy that he held me and I wanted him to never let go of me again, that much I knew.
After a few minutes I looked around under the canopy. It had to be around 8 o'clock already, because the sun had long since risen, but all the gladers were still in their hammocks, even Nick and Alby seemed to be still in their huts. It must have been really late tonight. I wondered that I hadn't noticed how they had gone to bed, but I had probably slept so deeply that a bomb could have hit next to me.
Because I didn't want to wake Newt, I stayed in bed and waited for one of the others to wake up and snuggled up against him again. I didn't know when I would be so close to him the next time, so I literally sucked in his smell.
At some point - it had to be past 8:30 - I heard someone getting up and recognised Fry Pan walking quietly to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for us. Little by little the other gladers also woke up slowly and it got louder and louder at the glade, which caused Newt to stretch and open his eyes. When he saw me looking at him, a grin spread across his face and he pulled me towards him.
"Good morning," he whispered into my ear, ignoring the looks we were given, for by now the others had noticed that we were lying in a hammock together.
"Good morning," I replied.
He gave me a quick kiss on the mouth and I felt a tingling sensation in me again.
"How are you?" Now he sounded worried again. "Does anything else hurt?"
"No, I'm fine. Sure, the wound still throbs a little bit sometimes, but I got away with it really well, I'd say. I'll be back in the maze tomorrow."
My last words changed his expression.
"So you really want to go back out there? After what happened to you yesterday and what you went through with Stan? He was like this because one of those things stung him, you know that, right?" He looked at me uncomprehendingly.
"Newt... I just gotta do it. I had the feeling yesterday that Minho and I are really good at it and I think that if we had kept a little more calm and not run away like the lunatics, even when that Griever was already not behind us, then none of this would have happened. I wouldn't have had to go to the sanihut and Stan wouldn't have -" But I could not speak any further, because my voice failed.
"Hey, now stop blaming yourself! If you tell me not to do this, then I also demand that you stop it. Because that's cloned klunk you're talking!"
I held my peace for a while. Then I said: "Okay, you're right, it wasn't my fault. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm going back out there. Believe me, it doesn't matter what you tell me, you can't change my mind. It just feels right, and who else is gonna do it? Please, don't make it worse than it is."
As I said those words, I looked him straight in the eye, without getting dizzy. He just had to accept it.
And he did. He did not look happy, but he nodded and that was the end of the subject for me. I stood up and stretched, watching carefully to make sure that nothing else hurt me, and breathed a sigh of relief when I couldn't find anything.
Newt also got up and headed for Fry Pan, while I went towards the lake to freshen up. It annoyed me that I was still wearing the same clothes as on my first day here, even when I washed them. I hoped that I would get some more clothes with the next box at the latest, because Gally had told me that it had been like that with the others.
By the time I got to the kitchen freshly washed, most of them were already at work and Newt was no longer there either. I got myself a plate of breakfast and saw Minho sitting alone at a table and went over to him.
"Morning," I greeted him and he replied in the same way, staring at me from top to bottom with big eyes.
"Are you all right?" he asked in surprise.
"Yes, it looks like I am. Had you expected something else?"
"Well, you've been through quite a lot yesterday. But, fuck, you can run fast. That was awesome. If you hadn't gotten hurt, you would've been able to hang on a little bit better. I was really impressed."
I just shrugged my shoulders. But I hadn't held out, at least not without collapsing in the end. And that annoyed me somehow.
"Stop it now! You were incredible. And I'm so glad you're all right! Do you think you'll come back tomorrow?" he asked cautiously.
I nodded. "Yes, definitely. Are you going out there alone today?"
"No, Nick didn't want anyone going out there today. The meeting is after lunch today and he wants everybody there. But maybe we could record what we explored yesterday?"
That was a good idea. I hadn't even thought about it any more that our goal was to map the whole maze. Then suddenly an idea came to me.
"What do you think about not only recording it, but rebuilding it? That would make it even easier, wouldn't it?"
Minho nodded energetically. "We should suggest that to Nick. Let's go and see him now, shall we?"
And so we did. After we had finished our meal we brought our plates to Fry Pan and then went in search of Nick. It didn't take long and we found him together with Alby on the wall where our names were written. They were just about to cross out Stan's name. I had to swallow.
We stood silently a little way away and waited for them to come to us.
"Stan was one of the first to come up after Alby, George and I woke up here together. Only Fry came before him. So we had known him for almost a year, which is almost as long as we can remember. Perhaps his loss is not quite as terrible as George's, but it is terrible all the same." Nick stopped with us and looked at me. "Nevertheless, you mustn't think that we blame you for this, on the contrary, I am very glad that nothing happened to you. Stan would not have made it, we knew that before the incident happened. We would have banished him soon."
I had to swallow again, but nodded. When Nick said it that way, it somehow had more force than Newt's. Nick was the leader and I had come to know him as someone who said what he meant.
"Can I help you?" he then asked and that was the end of the subject. At least until after lunch.
"Yes, we - Anna - had a really great idea about the maze. We thought it might be a good idea if we didn't just draw it, but rebuilt it, in small pieces. You know what I mean?" Minho looked at them expectantly.
Nick pondered for a short while, but then nodded. "You're right, the idea is good. But I don't want everyone to know about it. I'll tell Gally that when he's finished with his current project he should build a small hut in the forest. There you can build such a model, but the other gladers will not be allowed there. This must remain our secret for now, how much we know until we find an exit."
I had to smile a little inside when he said this - Gally would not like it at all that he was not allowed to build his hut next.
We nodded. That seemed logical somehow.
Minho and I were about to leave again and start recording what we had already explored when Nick called me back. I turned around, confused, not knowing what else he might want from me, but then ran back to him while Minho and Alby left.
"I wanted to ask you something else," he began. "You seem to know Gally and Newt, as if you remember them. I saw how Gally reacted to you and I didn't miss what was going on between you and Newt."
My heart was skipping a beat. Could I trust him?
I decided that I had to. He was not the leader for nothing, right?
"Well... I wouldn't have remembered Gally if he hadn't confronted me with it, I think. At least not right away. And Newt... Yes, I remembered him immediately, I didn't know what that meant, but when I saw him, I had such a strange feeling. And I can remember both of them by now, I know some of the things we experienced together again - but I have no idea where, when and who else was there. It's as if these memories are wrapped in a dark veil that I can't see through no matter how hard I try."
When I had finished, Nick was silent for a while at first. He seemed to want to find out if I was telling the truth. I held his gaze the whole time and allowed him to search for a lie in my eyes.
But he found none. "I believe you. And I will also tell the others that we can trust you. All I want is that we have peace and unanimity here. If something happens with Newt and you, I expect you to settle everything between you without dragging us into it, understand?"
I nodded. "Sure, we certainly won't bring in any trouble."
"Good. Then come on, you should help Minho."