The Dark Side of the Maze

17- Sane Harriet

I'm not sure if we even slept last night. Maybe for a few hours we dozed off, but it wasn't calm and peaceful as sleep should be. Everyone was afraid to leave the place and go to their own beds in the other building, so we had many people sleep on the floor, more crowded than ever. I was more than thankful that I had my own bed in here, as well as Aris, Harriet, and Sonya. Izzy lay on the floor shivering. When I couldn't sleep at one point in the night, I put my blanket over her.

I don't remember falling asleep or sleeping at all really; I only remember Elizah waking me up. I felt a cold empty pit in my stomach without Marley. She didn't deserve to die. She was just a child, we all are really.

When Elizah wakes me she points to Sonya and Izzy who have stood up and are adressing everyone in the room who are already a wake. It's now that I realize I am a deep sleeper and I did need Marley to wake me up every morning. I swallow any tears that wish to form in my eyes and concentrate on Sonya and Izzy. Are they the new leaders now? Is Harriet going to be thrown in jail?

I search for Harriet and find her sitting up on the floor next to Sonya. She still has that mad and hatred look in her eyes, but the rest of her face is calm and she does not make any noise. She doesn't look at anything but the floor. I wonder what could be going through her mind right now. I probably don't even want to know.

"Alright everyone," says Sonya, "I know last night was kind of scary- horrific I should say- but we need to continue on as we usually do during the day. Izzy, Rachel, Aris, Harriet and I will find out what's going on and what we need to do. For now, everyone go and get to your jobs."

People don't move for a moment though some cast glances at me and Aris who I find sitting in a bed to the left of me. Harriet has no reaction, she still looks at no one. I feel sort of disappointed that she will not be going to jail; but what really burns me is that I will still have to work with her, the girl that wants me -and probably Aris too- dead.

"Um, excuse me," says Izzy, "I believe I heard Sonya said to LEAVE!"

At this, people get up and dash out of the room. They must fear Izzy because she is a runner, but I find nothing scary about her. Oh well, at least people will follow her orders and that can be to our advantage.

I walk over to Aris and sit right next to him once everyone leaves. I rest my head gently on his shoulder, hoping to find the feeling I had with him when we survived that maze at night together. But I know I can't be thinking about that right now, and it irritates me.

"So," says Izzy who looks like she wasn't just screaming at people she's known for who knows how long, "any of you chirps got a plan?"

"Escape the maze," surprisely says Harriet. She looks up at Izzy and Sonya now, keeping her gaze away from Aris and I. I have a hard time doing the same back to her, hard time not making sure she isn't going to scratch someone's eye out in the next five seconds. She starts to open her mouth to say something else but then closes it. I wonder if it is because I am here.

Aris sighs, "I lost my bag in the maze. I had a paper in it with information we needed."

"Relax Chirp okay?," Harriet almost yells but then gulps and says quieter. "I remember most of what you wrote down. Someone get me a pen and paper." She still doesn't look at Aris or me. I'm afraid to speak, afraid she will lash out at me if I do.

My mind is filled with the memory of Beth attacking me the night I came to the glade. I had never imagined then that Harriet would do that but I can certainly imagine it now.

"What do we do once we have the information down?" asks Sonya.

"I told you," Harriet says, "we escape the maze." She spits out the last three words. Harriet seems reasonable, unlike the person I saw last night, but unstable nonetheless.

"Fine. Okay," says Sonya. I have never seen her look so ticked off before, but Harriet is her best friend so she probably has too much of a heart for her to push her and tell us more of what she is thinking. But then I remember that Sonya said she didn't have much hope for escaping the maze. She must think Harriet is crazy now, and not just because she has gone through the changing.

"There's a code," Aris suddenly says. Now Harriet does look at him, but her eyes avoid me. "I...can't remember what it is or how to find it, but...there...there is one." His eyes are closed hard and I know he must be tearing through his memory, searching desperatley for answers.

Harriet nods. "I think I know how to find it." Then she stands up. "Izzy, go be your usual runner self. Sonya, meet me in the map room in an hour." She gulps and looks at Aris, then me. "I'm watching you two, okay?"

Aris nods frantically. Izzy and Sonya leave the room watching carefully behind to make sure Harriet is following. They don't doubt that she would attack us either. Aris starts walking out and pulls my arm, dragging me with him but Harriet latches onto my other arm. Aris looks at me panicked but I put a finger to my lips and mouth to him to wait for me outside. Maybe what Harriet meant to say earlier was stopped not because I was in there but because everyone else was.

We stare at each other for a moment before Harriet finally lets go of my arm reluctantly. I can see her hands shake and clench into fist, then unclench, then clench again. I just stand there trying so hard not be terrfied, at least not to look terrified.

Finally, she speaks. "You killed Cassie, you're the reason she is dead." Her voice does not sound like herself, if I couldn't see I probably wouldn't even know it was her. Then suddenly, her face contorts into the soft, but strong Harriet I knew before. "But you are her," she says. Then her face slowly twists back into her monster-like self and she sprints out the door.

I can't help but wonder if she ran out because she was afraid she would kill me. She had to have been holding on to the very last sanity left in her to tell me that. That I am like Cassie. I try to comprehend what this means. That she trust me? That she believes I can do something? She's still in there. The real Harriet. The one who doesn't want me dead though she still might not like me. I take deep breathes. Harriet is a leader. Harriet is important. These people need her.

Aris stumbles into the door and heaves a sigh of relief. He wraps his arms around me, which gives me comfort. But what I need now is not comfort.

I know what I have to do. Ever cell in my body screams no to me but it doesn't matter. I need to prove myself Harriet. I need Aris and I to prove we are not murderers, we are here to help. I don't care what Harriet and Aris remember. I don't care. I am not a killer, no matter what I was before, I am not that now. I will be a savior, and I will save Harriet...... from herself....