ONE WAY RIDE | Maze Runner

➭ Chapter 4: Next to me

He now found himself in a room, completely unknown, but somehow familiar. It looked in a way like the one back in the scorch, but instead on a bunch of bunk beds, there was only one solitary bed at the corner, a bathroom and a locker.

They just left him in there, as soon as they got Newt out of the heavy medication, they dragged him out of the room, and put him in here, told him to shower. Tomorrow he is supposed to start with the tests and basically his new life from now on.

The blond boy didn't seem to want to get out of his head, every room of his brain was inhabited by him. Thomas couldn't explain the relief he felt at his reaction when the serum was injected, but knowing he was in pain even in his unconscious form literally broke his heart.

Thomas practically had to tell his limbs to move, he hadn't taken a proper shower for a long time, and somehow he had to take a little bit of advantage of this situation. He found some clothes in the locker, just a short sleeve grey tee shirt, navy skinny joggers and clean white socks. He also saw black slippers and figured there was white trainer shoes somewhere in there. With that, he immediately jumped into the shower stall, enjoying the hot water running through his body, and couldn't bit down a pleasant sigh. Dirt immediately filling the tile floor around his feet and steam flooding the washroom.

He didn't allow himself being too much time inside the shower because he knew his mind would go into places he didn't want to, just like every time he wasn't doing anything to entertain himself. He knew this place would drive him crazy. He didn't even know what time it was, but he was conscious he would've be able to learn how to live here.

He didn't bother in drying his hair as he let small droplets of water fall from the short strands, and walked out of the bathroom to his bed now fully dressed. He guessed it would be the middle of the night, since it was getting dark when WCKD ambushed him and his friends back in the city. He also felt tired, so he could use a couple of hours of sleep.

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"Will you ever forget your name? Will you ever use another one?"

"No"

"Okay. Then I'll give you one last reminder..."

Thomas jolted awake, sucking in a massive amount of sweet air to his lungs. His whole body covered in a cold sweat and his limbs trembling. Now he understood.

Randall's words kept repeating in his head, bumping into every corner of his brain. He learned how to live with the flashbacks, he even found them useful to understand a lot of things, but he definitely didn't want this one.

Stephen, Stephen, Stephen. My name is Stephen

The sentence haunted his already disturbing thoughts. That name that once had been everything that identified him, now was a strange word. That name belonged to another person unknown to him. That name belonged to a scared four year old little boy who didn't even understand the terrors happening in the outside world.

"Teresa hasn't had any problem taking her new name"

He tilted his head to one side, his senses focusing on his first memory of WCKD ever. He didn't want to pay attention, however, it seemed as if he was attracted by it.

"Don't move"

His hand immediately traveled to his neck by instinct, as if he could actually feel the small pricking sensation. What was that?

"It's a pain stimulator. Don't worry, it'll dissolve and get flushed out of your system. Eventually. By then you probably won't need it anymore"