Sanction -Minho-

Chapter 17

Two Weeks Later

The dream came on suddenly.

Grace was sound asleep in her room when the dream took over her mind. At first, it was nothing. Then she felt as if she was drowning. There were flashing blue lights and red buttons. There were charts of something too blurry to recognize. "Remember," a male voice said. "Grace, this is all my fault." A dark room with a patterned ceiling appeared. "You have to get out." Shouting from several voices echoed in her mind. A locked cell door with a man looking at her through the hole. A brown-haired boy turned his back on her. "I'm sorry for doing this to you," the person whispered.

Grace's eyes opened wide, and she sat up in her bed. She felt as if she couldn't breathe. The dream had scared her. It was unlike any dream she had before. It felt different. It felt more like a memory trying to refuse, but there was too much interference.

Whatever it was frightened her. Grace's heart is racing but had started to slow down. She pushed the hair out of her face and brushed off the feeling. However, the dream doesn't fade from her mind. It was the opposite. The voice sounded familiar, but it didn't belong to anyone inside the Glade.

Grace feared it might be someone else, but she couldn't entertain the idea. Nobody in the Glade had any memory of who they once were. All they had was their name.

Maybe it was just a dream? That was what Grace was trying to convince herself of. She did not have any memories of who she once was. That person was gone.

Grace stumbles out of her bed. She needs fresh air. Grabbing a random shirt, she slips it over her head and walks out of the room. She needed to clear her mind and try to forget whatever she saw. It wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Her mind was planning tricks on her.

The sun had started to rise, but it was still early. The Maze doors hadn't opened for the day. It was peaceful in a way. Grace breathes in the fresh morning air. There was nobody around because nobody had woken up yet.

Grace sat against a tree, a tree she commonly found herself sitting under at night with her favorite Runner. "I'm sorry for doing this to you." The words were clear. There was remorse and guilt. There was pain and sadness. There was familiarity. Grace didn't understand it. She wanted to believe it was all in her head. That the stress of living in a Maze with mechanical monsters just outside the stone walls was getting the better of her.

But deep down, she knew better. There was something in the way they spoke that comforted her. Grace tried to fight the dream, but the questions lingered. Was it real? Was it in her head? She didn't know, but would she ever? Nobody knew anything about their lives before.

The sun continued to rise slowly. The Glade began to warm. There was one other person in the area, Minho. He finished packing his lunch in the kitchens. The dark-haired boy was preparing to meet Ben at the doors when his eyes caught sight of the blonde girl crouched under a tree.

Instantly, he changed course. His focus was solely on her as he jogged towards the tree.

Grace rested her forehead against her knees. She mentally analyzed every aspect of the dream. The flashing blue lights and red buttons. What did they mean?

"Grace?" The girl looked up to see Minho jogging towards her. "Hey, are you okay?"

The girl offered him a forced smile. "Yeah."

He knew her better. Minho caught his breath, resting a hand on the tree. "What are you doing up this early?" Grace tried to shrink into the tree, but it didn't work. She couldn't avoid this conversation or pretend that her mind wasn't full of concern. Minho kneels in the dirt. He didn't care if his pants got dirty. "Grace?" Something was bothering her. She looks scared.