I'm tired by the time we're eating dinner, and I poke at the meat with my fork. It's a bit different now that I've helped butcher animals.
"Can I talk to you?" Thomas asks quietly. "After dinner?"
I nod at him, wondering what it is he wants to talk about. There's not much to say, considering we don't have our memories and have been here the same amount of time.
When we finish cleaning up our plates, Thomas drags me off towards the Box Hole. No one else is around, and we sit cross-legged near the empty Box.
"What's up?" I ask.
He's silent for a moment, tearing blades of grass apart with a precise destruction.
"I think I've been here before," he says in a rush.
I lift my eyebrows. "Wouldn't they remember you, then?"
He looks up at me. "You believe me?"
I shrug. "I've seen half of a skeleton kept in a glass box, a creature that shouldn't exist in the world, and woke up in a death Maze with no memories. Why shouldn't I believe you?"
I can see him smile a little. "Thanks, Ash. Does it bother you? I... I just recognize this place. The Glade, the Maze... even the girl seems familiar, somehow." Then his eyes grow slightly panicked. "Don't tell Alby?"
I smirk at him. "I could totally blackmail you with this, couldn't I?" He rolls his eyes, and I laugh. "I won't, though."
"I appreciate your kindness," he snarks, and I affectionately punch his arm.
"Seriously, though, you recognize things?"
He frowns a little, thoughtfully. "It just... feels familiar. Everything makes sense, and the girl... I have to have seen her! Alby was asking me earlier, and... I said I didn't recognize her, but the more I think about it..."
"Hey," I say with a shrug, "you could convince yourself a watermelon was a pumpkin if you stared at it long enough. Maybe you knew her, maybe you didn't. If you don't have any memories, though, you can't know for certain."
"I guess. Why do you think it feels familiar, Ash?"
"Maybe you were one of the Creators and they sent you here as a punishment for betraying them."
"I was serious, Ash."
"Thomas, I don't know! I don't have my memories, geez."
"Sorry." He's pulling pieces of grass apart again. "It's just really weird."
"No kidding."
YOU ARE READING
Good Grief (TMR fic)
FanfictionThey had never had someone like Ash. They had never had a pyromaniac. They had never had someone with a mind that understood the Maze. They had never had someone who could get them out. As We Watch the World Burn book one, The Maze Runner [book]...
