The Maze Girl

Lasts

This would be the last time I entered the maze. This would be my last day in the Glade. I wouldn't come back from this final run. Dark clouds swarmed and swelled in the sky. A hazy darkness was descending over this place. I knew WICKED was watching and waiting. Their sick finale was about to begin. The entrance echoed with an eerily soft silence as I approached it. I wasn't ready to face the reality of everything I had done, but I knew that WICKED was waiting for my return. The maze was my invention and they could never find anyone to replace me. I made myself indispensable to them, but as my awareness of the consequences of my invention grew, so did my resistance to their mission.

I had spent weeks in bed with no motivation or will to carry on. WICKED was indifferent at first, but their impatience grew. It was my brother Tommy that kept me going. He was getting older, and I feared the day when they would send him into the maze. He was incredibly smart and loyal to the mission. Together we were an unstoppable team, but I had become wiser since being brought in. The vision I thought I had was no longer my reality. I tried to sabotage the maze. That is why they wiped my memory and sent me in the box. They wanted me to see what I had created and remind me of who had power and control over me.

The low hum of thunder rumbled, shaking the ground and wavering my very being. A crack rang in my ears as blinding white lightening flashed. Blinking the dark spots away rapidly, I began to make a move towards the ominous, gaping entrance. With every step, the Glade became more and more a distant memory. Right as I reached the opening to the maze, freezing cold water poured out of the sky. Soaked with a burning fury, I cried out into the maze. My cries echoed back from the empty depths. 

A mix of cold rain and warm tears streaked down my face. I felt utterly hopeless, now knowing my presence in the maze was just a premeditated scheme to help reawaken me for WICKED's master plan. I couldn't escape them. I couldn't help anyone. I couldn't even save Newt. Or maybe I could? The Ending had not been triggered for a reason. WICKED needed me to fix something. Right now, I was an asset to them and this could be leveraged. Before returning to them ready to work, I needed to find Newt. I was certain they were proposing a trade: Newt's life for mine. 

I took off into the maze, traversing each and every one of the paths I had created. Paths I had designed and implemented. As I turned each corner, I called out for Newt. The rain was coming down harder, pounding against my back. The fate of the world was crashing down on me. After hours of searching, I collapsed against one of the cool, wet walls of the maze. Another wave of emotions started to wash over me. Thoughts and feelings enveloped every inch of my mind. It was all becoming too overwhelming. Pulling my legs to my chest and putting my head against my knees, I tried to just focus on my breathing and push out everything else. Minutes passed and the panic began to pass. 

"Bloody hell, Marie?!" A voice called out from above where I was crouched.

I lifted my heavy head and looked around the maze. No one was there. Surely, I was losing it. 

"Marie, up!" The voice tried again. 

When bringing my teary eyes up to the top of the maze walls, that's when I saw him. Newt stood on the maze wall across from me. Brick like stairs had appeared in the wall, creating a path to where Newt stood.