The Waking

"Meg."

       The voice was muffled in the distance, like it echoed through a long tunnel.

   "Meg, can you hear me?"

    I didn't answer, fearing that if I drifted back into consciousness the unbearable pain would return. I saw light on the other side of my eyelids but didn't dare open them, so I stayed quiet and said nothing.

     "Meg, it's Newt. Are you okay? Please be okay."

     Everything came crashing back to me, the Glade, the boys, the Grievers, the stinger, the Changing, the memories. My heart sank as I realized that I now knew the Maze could not be solved. It was never meant to be. My heart completely broke at the memory of Thomas and me designing this horrible place.

      Groaning, I cautiously opened my eyes to a squint. Newt's face came into view with fear in his eyes that was soon replaced by relief and a huge smile appeared on his lips. Through all the fear and pain, Newt smiled with hope.

     "You're awake." He said, stroking my forehead with his thumb before glancing up at the hallway. "She's awake!" Newt yelled to whoever could hear him. "Meg is awake!" He repeated, now resting his forehead on mine giggling and sniffing back tears of happiness.

      The booming of his voice made me wince and I shut my eyes again. "Do you have to be so loud? I just came out of the Changing." I said half jokingly.

      "Sorry." He sat up, still smiling. "I'm just glad you're alive. You're lucky I don't give you a big kiss. You were out for four days and that's the longest anyone has been knocked out from being stung. Thought you were bloody dead for sure about thirty times since you started the Changing. Scared the klunk out of me! But by the looks of you now...you look brand new."

        I forced myself up on my elbows and Newt helped me to sit the rest of the way up. I rested my back against the wall and stretched out my legs where soreness took over my joints and muscles. I sighed when I thought of how much of a mess I must look, and hoped it wasn't as bad as I felt. "Did the Grievers come?" I asked, fearing the answer.

      He swallowed harshly. "Yeah...they got Zart and a few others. Minho and the Runners have scoured the Maze, trying to find an exit or some use for the information that you gave us before slipping into the Changing."

       My head snapped up to look at him. "Information?"

      Newt nodded at me. "Yeah, you said 'The Maze is a pattern. Find the pattern.' Don't you remember that?"

    I nodded, vaguely recalling what I had said, but my stomach then surged into nausea when I realized that most, if not all of my memories came back, except for what the pattern was. I looked up to see Newt looking at me concerned. "Yeah, I remember. I remember Gally stinging me with the Griever needle and him punching Thomas in the face." I froze for a moment and shot a worried glance over to Newt. "Newt, where's Thomas?" I asked, demanding an answer.

      "He's going through the Changing." He looked into my eyes, seeing the hurt that built up in them. "Got himself stung by a Griever on purpose. Bloody crazy shank." He scoffs. "What was he thinking?"

       "He wanted to see for himself." I said under my breath, but Newt overheard.

       "See what exactly?"

   Before I could answer, Frypan and Minho burst into the room, trying to catch their breath. I looked at Minho's face, looking for any sign of hope in it. "Thomas is awake."

   I jumped up from the bed, stumbling a bit from the effects of the Changing still wearing off, but I didn't care. I walked past Fry and Minho to go out the door and down the hall. I saw Chuck staring at me in the doorway to Thomas's room. He smiled and hugged me tightly as I kiss the top of his head. I missed that little shank. He then moved out of my way, and I walked into the room as Thomas glanced up at me and smiled.

      "Meg."

      I hurried over to him and threw my arms around his neck, both of us not caring about the pain that still surged through our bodies. We didn't let go for a long time, even though I could feel everyone's eyes on us. Then I let him go and sat next to him on the bed, our hands intertwined, afraid to be separated.  Newt walked in and took a seat at the end of the bed, handing me my blue long-sleeved shirt to put on, glancing down at our hands then quickly to Thomas.

      "Tommy, you barely look sick. Neither of you do."

      Thomas nodded. "I feel a little queasy, but other than that, I'm fine. Thought it would be much worse."

      Newt shook his head, his face showed both anger and awe. "What you did was half brave, and half bloody stupid. Seems like you're pretty good at that." He hesitated. "But I know why you did it. What memories came back? Anything that'll help?"

    "It's a test, Newt. The whole thing is a test."

    Newt nodded. "Like an experiment."

   "No." Thomas said, shaking his head. "They are weeding us out, seeing if we'll give up. They are trying to find the best of us. They keep throwing variables at us, trying to make us quit, testing our ability to survive and fight. Sending both Meg and I here, at the same time and stopping the doors from closing was only the last part. One more....final analysis. Now it's time for the last test. To escape."

     Newt furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean? You know a way out?"

   I sighed, now knowing the truth. "We both do, Newt." He turned to stare at me as I ran my fingers through my knotted hair nervously. "Before we forget, we need to talk to the Keepers, we need to tell everybody that's left in the Glade, what Thomas and I know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

       All of us gathered in the Maze room, where the Runners go to record and talk about the Maze after they return. Frypan, Winston, Jeff, Minho, Newt, Chuck, Thomas, and I all stood around, looking at each other. Gally sat in the far corner of the room with his hands tied and I glared at him, but he shied away almost in shame.

"Alright you two," Newt placed his hand on the table, leaning over to face Thomas and I. "Start talking."

       Thomas started first. "It's a long story," he began. "We don't have time to go through it all, but let me tell you the gist of it. When I went through the Changing, seeing flashes and images, a lot came back to me... but only some of it is clear enough to tell you. Other stuff has faded or is fading, but I remember enough. The Creators are testing us. The Maze was never meant to be solved. It's all been a trial. They want the winners, or in this case survivors, to do something important."

      "What's that?" Newt asked.

       "Let me start over," Thomas said running his hand through his hair, shutting his eyes tightly. "It's just that...uhh.."

        "Listen," I spoke up, leaning on the table in front of Newt and taking control of the situation. "Every single one of us was taken when we were just kids. I don't remember how, and I'm pretty sure Thomas doesn't either, but they stole us. Somehow they figured out that we have above-average intelligence, and that's why they chose us."

      I looked around the room, seeing that I had caught everyone's attention, including Thomas.

     "So, we were practically raised by scientists?" Frypan asked. Thomas nods at him. "Supposedly we're really smart and they're studying every move we make, analyzing us."

     "That's what Tom and I did... we watched you guys from the beetle blades." The boys all started to fidget, no doubt feeling uneasy by what I just said. They just stared at me, and I continued. "Our job was to see how you acted, handled, and responded to certain situations. We were great at our jobs until," I glanced up at Newt, the vision of him jumping off the wall flashed before my eyes, and I cringed. "Until I saw something that changed my mind and I realized that what we were really doing was hurting you guys, not just mentally, but physically." I frowned turning my eyes to the ground in shame. "I thought we were helping you, protecting you, but I was wrong."

      "And when did you stop thinking that you were helping us?" I heard Gally's voice coming from the corner. "When you saw me banging on the glass for mercy? Screaming for you to let me out, to help me?!" He shouted now, and I just stared at him.

      "The Creators told me that we were helping you, that it was all for the best. I'm so sorry."

    "Yeah." He huffs, rolling his eyes.

      "What else Tommy?" Newt asked him.

     "Like Meg and I said, they wanted to test us, see how we'd react to what they call the Variables, and to a problem that had no solution. See if we could all work together and build a community. Everything was provided for us, and the problem was laid out as one of the most common puzzles known to mankind."

      "A Maze." I said, finishing Thomas's thought.

    He nodded to the group. "All of this added up to making us believe there had to be a solution, just encouraging us to work all the harder, while at the same time magnifying our discouragement at not finding one." He paused to make sure he still had everyone's attention.

       "And that's the problem for us," I sighed. "There isn't one. The Maze doesn't have a solution, it was never meant to be solved, only escaped. But to escape we need a pattern of some sort. I don't know what the pattern is, but I know that I can figure it out."

        "So, where's the escape hatch?" Frypan folded his arms, waiting for one of us to answer. "How do we leave?"

        "Remember when Gally threw Meg into the Maze and the next day she brought back the metal tube from the Griever with the number 7 on it?" Thomas asked him and he nodded. "Well, that tube opened up a section of the Maze, a section where the Grievers hide during the day. That's our way out."

        "Basically, you're telling us that our way out will be infested by Grievers and some of us will most likely die?" Winston now spoke up with concern taking over his voice.

          Thomas nodded. "Very much so."

        "It's a test of courage and smarts." I said as Frypan looked to me. Newt sighed, his shoulders moving with the motion.

       "And exactly how do you guys know all of this if all you did was watch us on those beetle blades? And don't answer with 'because of the Changing', because we deserve and actual answer." Frypan asked.

       I looked over to Thomas and he glanced to me. We both knew we saw the same memory, and that it could mean that the other Gladers would turn against us, even hurt us. He placed his hand on my shoulder, encouraging me to say it out loud. I looked back to the crowd of boys, my body shaking from fear and disgust for what I was about to say. Thomas squeezed my shoulder to steady me.

       "We know because, the Creators asked us to think of a place that would serve as a challenge of strength, mind, and willpower. I suggested a barren land, but Thomas...suggested something else from what he had remembered when he was younger. He suggested a maze." Everyone's face dropped and they all stared wide eyed at us both. I saw Gally in the corner scoffing as if to say, 'I told ya so.' "They liked the idea, and they told us to create a diagram of what the maze should look like. So, we did." My voice cracked, and I felt dizzy.

       "Meg, what are you saying?" Newt asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it out loud.

      I bit my lip to stop it from shaking so I could speak, but Thomas saw me struggling so he spoke for me.

        "Meg and I... we built this Maze."