We all stared at her in complete shock.
"Mum, how can you not remember Ben?" Thomas queried, frowning.
"I don't know a Ben, dears" she sighed.
"Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall, well built" I described him.
"I don't..." she put her head in her hands and ran her fingers through her hair, "I don't remember! Are you sure?"
"Yes!" Thomas and I chorused.
"He looks kind of like Thomas if you give him blonde hair, blue eyes and a smaller nose" Minho laughed.
I smacked him over the head, jokingly.
"You used to do that all the time when you were together" Mother reminisced.
"Yeah, well we're just friends now" I smiled, "He's like a brother to me"
She sighed, "Yes. I suppose things have changed over the years. I just wish things would go back to the way they used to be"
I took her hand and held it in my own, "I'm sorry, Mum"
"It's not your fault, dear" she smiled sadly, "Things change... I wish your father was here. Maybe he would remember Ben"
"Ben?" Vince said, walking in, "I remember him. You don't?"
"No" she frowned.
"Jeez, that must be tearing you up real bad" he winced, "Not remembering your own son... Where is he anyways?"
"He's dead" Newt said, blankly.
There was an awkward silence, during which Vince left.
"Tell us about our dad" Thomas asked.
Mother smiled and sighed happily, "He was an extraordinary man. Solved many of our problems here. He got on with everyone, stopped all the fights."
"That sounds like Y/N in the Glade" Newt laughed, remembering old times.
"He thought the world of you!" she told us, "Always played with you and read you stories. Then when you two and I'm assuming Ben were taken, your father and I got jobs at WICKED. We were both immune, so they accepted us. Everyone called us 'the dream team' because we solved every problem we were given. And every day, without fail we'd check on you, just to make sure you were okay. But one day he was sent out to pick up a sample from the Scorch. Obviously because he was immune, we thought he'd be fine. He came back later on in the day with a sample and he was, he was absolutely fine. But he was tired so we finished early and headed to bed. Within the next few weeks, he became more agitated, more aggressive. The tiniest of things drove him crazy. He was infected... He told me he hated me, he never loved me. His exact words were 'I only stayed for our children'. It got to the point where WICKED stepped in and tried to kill him, put him out of his misery. But he escaped, ran out into the Scorch, and was never seen again."
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and continued.
"I remember the day I told you all..." she said, hesitantly, "You all... I remember... I remember Ben!"
"Keep going" Thomas grinned a bit, looking at me.
"I remember the day I told you your father was gone" she continued, "That was the last time I saw you. They injected me with something and moved me to another section of the building. I forgot everything that happened before WICKED employed us."
"But you remember now?" Minho asked, curiously.
"Yes, I remembered it all as soon as I left" she answered, "I just don't understand why I didn't remember Ben... Oh my dear sweet Ben"
She burst into a fit of tears. I thought frantically of something to distract her.
"Show us the pictures" I requested, gently.
She took out another picture and showed it to us. It was a picture of all five of us; Mother, Father, Ben, Thomas and me. We were smiling and the sun was shining down on us. The next picture was of Minho and I, arms around each other, gazing lovingly into each others eyes. Newt's hand tightened around mine at this moment. I glanced awkwardly at Minho, who just shrugged and grinned.
"Oh, this is one of my favourite pictures!" Mother gasped, "You two hugging each other and pulling funny faces. You were unlike other siblings, you actually got on!"
Thomas and I smiled at each other.
"What's your absolute favourite picture, Mum?" Thomas asked.
"Oh, that's easy!" she exclaimed.
She stood up from the bed and walked over to a chest of drawers. She opened one of them and pulled out a photograph the size of an A5 sheet of paper. She placed it in Thomas' hand and he smiled, showing it to me.
In the picture were me, Thomas, Ben, Mother, Father, Minho and Teresa. Father's arm was wrapped around Mother's shoulders and Mother's head was rested on his shoulder. Teresa was on Thomas' back - he had clearly been giving her a piggyback. Minho, Ben and I were sat on a picnic blanket, laughing about something. Minho's head was rested on my lap.
Something knocking over distracted me from the picture. I turned to see Newt storming out.
