The Trigger

      I woke up to the feeling of someone running their fingers through my hair, playing with the strands as if they were threads of silk. I smiled before opening my eyes knowing that it was Newt. I opened them slowly to let them adjust to the morning light that was now pouring through the grimy window of the Homestead. Sure enough, Newt was there, kneeling next to the bed with his face close to mine, smiling. I noticed he had taken off his white long-sleeved shirt and was now in his brown tank top. He let go of my hair to grab another strand using his pointer and middle finger, running the length of it before flicking the ends with his thumb.

      "Mornin' Meg." He said softly, dropping the strand and laying his arms on the bed with his chin resting on top. "Good sleeping?"

      I yawned as I nodded my head, stretching my still aching body and groaning as my bones cracked and moved back into place. Newt just chuckled looking down at me. "I'm too exhausted to move. My body still hurts"

"Then stay here, in bed. I'll have Chuckie fill in for your builder job." He sighed and got up from his crouching position. I lightly grabbed his wrist when he turned to leave. His stare turned back to me concerned; probably thinking I was suddenly in pain. He sat down on the edge of the bed. "Are you okay? Can I get you something before I go?"

      I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. I just wanted to say thank you."

     "For what?"

     "For giving me the strength to survive in the Maze. For giving me a reason to come back. It's amazing how much you mean to me, even in just the short amount of time that I've known you." With that he smiled and planted a kiss on my forehead. He pulled away and hovered over my face for a moment, as if he was studying my features.

    "You know, I would never wish all of this upon anyone...but for what it's worth, I'm bloody glad you were brought here." Newt said, his eyes focused on mine.

"Ditto." I replied as I felt my face blush.

He smiled and got up to leave, pushing the door open as I watched it swing closed behind him. I nuzzled my head into the pillow and soon found myself drifting back to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A scream filled the hallway and flooded into my room, sending me jolting upwards out of my sleep with the sound still echoing in my ears. Then I heard voices and the sound of footsteps walking past my room and down the stairs. I waited until I couldn't hear anyone outside my room anymore and made my way out into the hallway. I looked both ways outside the door and seeing that no one was there, I walked out to the left towards the room where the screams resided. I walked all the way down to the last room on the left and slowly pulled the door open to see Alby lying on a bed. He looked so weak; a mixture of sweat and tears streaming down his face. I pulled a chair over from one of the walls and sat next to the bed. I looked down and saw Alby's hand laying there, twitching in pain. I grabbed it and stroked it with my thumb, trying to soothe him. "Oh, Alby." I whispered.

     The door behind me opened and Newt stepped inside, motioning for someone else to follow him. Thomas stepped into the room next, looking first at the floor, and then glanced up to me. A look of shock began to take over his face seeing a suffering Alby.      "Is he asleep?" Thomas whispered.      "I don't know," Newt replied. "Is he, Meg?      "He was screaming not that long ago, that's why I'm in here." I didn't take my eyes off of Alby, and I couldn't shake the feeling that what happened to him was somehow my fault. I should have stopped them the morning that I saw him run in with Minho; maybe asked them questions to delay them from actually going into the Maze.

     Newt made his way next to me, then eyed the other chair against the wall, bringing it over to sit by me. Thomas took a seat on the other side of the bed. An awkward silence swept over the room, and I was relieved when Newt finally spoke.

"Alby," Newt whispered. Then more loudly, "Alby, Chuck said you wanted to talk to Tommy."

     To my surprise, Alby's bloodshot eyes fluttered open. He looked over to Newt, then to me, and lastly at Thomas. With a groan he shifted his weight so that he could sit up with his back leaning against the headboard. "Yeah," he muttered, barely audible as I let go of his hand.

"Chuck said you were thrashin' around a lot, acting like a loonie." Newt leaned forward. "What's the matter? You still feeling sick?"

     Alby's next words came out in a wheeze, as if every word caused him physical pain.

     "Everything's.........gonna change........Meg........Thomas.......I saw them........." His eyelids flickered closed, then open again, staring at the ceiling. "Don't feel so good."

     "What do you mean, you saw-" Newt began.

     "I wanted Thomas!" Alby yelled, with a sudden burst of energy that I didn't know he still had in him at this point. "I didn't ask for you Newt! Thomas! I asked for freaking Thomas!" He grouched. "And Meg too."

      Newt looked up at Thomas, and then to me, his eyebrows raised in confusion. Thomas shrugged and I sat there puzzled.

     "Fine, ya grouchy shuck," Newt sighed. "He's right here, and so is Meg. Talk to them."       "Leave." Alby said with his eyes closed.       "No way! I need to hear what's going on."      "Newt." Alby paused. "Leave. Now."      "But-" Newt protested.       "Out!" Alby screamed as his voice cracked. "Get out!"

     Newt winced, obviously hurt by Alby's orders. After a long tense moment, Newt stood from his chair and walked over to the door, pushing it open.

     "Don't expect me to kiss your ass when you come sayin' sorry." He said as he stepped into the hallway.

     "Close the door!" Alby shouted as one final insult. Newt obeyed, slamming the door shut.

      My heart raced in my chest and I knew Thomas's was too, looking up at him and seeing little beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

     "I remember." Alby said, breaking the long silence.

      Thomas and I looked at each other, not knowing how to respond. He opened his mouth to reply, but nothing coherent came out. We were both confused, and even a little scared until Thomas finally got the courage to speak.

     "What do you remember?" He asked, his voice shaky.

     Alby glanced over at him and looked him dead in the eyes. "You." Thomas just stared back in shock. Then Alby switched his gaze over to me. "And I remember you too. I know who you two are."

      I gasped a little at his words.

     "I know who you two are." Alby said, almost in a whisper this time. "Seen it. Seen everything. Where we came from, who you are. Who Meg is."

     "Who are we Alby? What did you see? I'd love to know who we are." I said softly.

     "It ain't pretty, it's horrible actually. Why would those shucks want us to remember? Why can't we just live here and be happy?"

     "Alby..." Thomas said causing me to look at him. "The Changing, what happened? What came back? You're not making any sense."

     "They won't let us leave." He whimpers, a tear escaping his eye. I shook my head.

     "Who won't let us leave?" I asked.

     "The-". Suddenly, Alby started grabbing ahold of Thomas's shirt and started yelling in his face. "I know what you did, Thomas! I know! I've seen it! Why would you do this to us!? Why?!"

     "Newt!" I called, standing quickly from my chair, causing it to crash to the ground. "Newt, get in here!"

The door flung open and Newt ran to Alby and Thomas, prying his fingers off of him and settling Alby back down. I ran to Thomas and pulled him up and away from Alby. Then all of a sudden, Alby's hands gripped his own neck and started choking himself. Newt turned back to me, panicked. "Grab his legs!"

I ran forward and tried to grab ahold of Alby's legs as he kicked and flailed, making it almost impossible to restrain him. His foot kicked out and hit me in the jaw, sending a shooting pain throughout my entire skull. I stumbled backwards and with anger building inside me I ran and jumped onto Alby's legs, putting all my weight on them and wrapping my arms around his knees. Newt had put his knee on Alby's shoulder, still trying to pry his hands from around his throat.

     "Alby, let go!" Newt yelled as he pulled. "You're bloody killing yourself!"

I looked over to see Newt still struggling, his muscles flexed with veins that popped out from the strain. Finger by finger, he was able to pry Alby's hands away. Newt took Alby's arms and pinned them to the struggling boy's chest as his torso thrusted up from the bed a couple times, and then slowly stilled; his breath evening out and his eyes glazing over.

     "I'm sorry, Newt." Alby whispered. "Don't know what happened. It was like...something was controlling my body. I'm sorry..."

     "Sorry is nothin'," Newt replied, trying to catch his breath. "You were trying to bloody kill yourself."

     "Wasn't me, I swear." Alby muttered.

Newt just threw his hands up in the air. "What do ya mean it wasn't you?" He asked.

     "I don't know...it....it wasn't me."

     "You're messed up, shank." Newt sighed, giving up. "Get your ass to sleep and we'll talk about it later." He then turned to Thomas and me. "Let's go."

      I get up off of Alby's legs and stand on the bed. Newt and Thomas helped me down and we all walked over to the door and were just about to leave when we heard Alby mumble something from his bed.

     The three of us halted and turned around. "What?" Newt asked, leaning forward as if to hear him better.

     "I said, be careful with that girl of yours. Be careful of Meg."

Newt looked at Thomas for an answer, but Thomas just shrugged. I just stared at Alby, wondering what he could mean. Was I dangerous? My face dropped at the thought and the boys seemed to take notice.

     "Let's go." Thomas said, placing a hand on my back to lead me out into the hall. As I was just outside the door, voices started to fill my head that made my stomach churn. The voices of Alby, Minho, Newt, Chuck and others filled my head with their screams, choked back by the water that spilled into their lungs; and my own voice saying, 'everything's gonna change.' They were overpowering and echoed so loudly in my head that it was too much to handle. I fell over to the side and Thomas quickly grabbed me by the waist, holding me up against him.

     "Meg. Meg! What's wrong? Meg?" He wiped strands of my hair from my face and gripped my chin so that he could look into my eyes. I couldn't see him though; instead, I see a vision of myself in some sort of control room. I'm dressed in a long-sleeved blue shirt and black pants. I glanced down at a table to see a red button. I hit the button quickly and a warning popped up on the transparent screen in front of me, followed by a blaring alarm. My breath quickened as people grabbed me and dragged me from the room, but my gaze never left the warning on the screen, rereading it over and over. I felt something prick my neck, and then my body went limp.

"Meg, what's happening?" Newt yelled, bringing me back. I found myself sitting on the ground leaning against the wall of the hallway with Thomas holding my hand. I stared up at his face and Newt leaned down, putting a hand on my cheek to wipe the single tear that I hadn't noticed falling from my eye.

"I did it." More tears started to flow, my voice monotone. "I did it, Thomas."

"What is she talking about?" Newt looked at Thomas who shook his head.

"I don't...I don't know." He sighed with worry. "Meg, what did you do?" I shook my head, not wanting to say it out loud, hoping that if I didn't say it...it wouldn't be true. "What did you do, Meg? Tell me." Thomas now held my face in his hands, making me look into his brown eyes once more. I took a deep breath and spoke in almost a whisper.

"I triggered the ending."