"False hope," she said. "Guess that's better than no hope at all."
James Dashner, The Scorch Trials
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The sound of the metal door opening got everyone to their feet. A man walked through.
"You kids doing alright?" This mystery man asked. "Sorry about all the fuss we had ourselves a bit of a swarm," he further explained.
Teresa, who was braiding your hair at the time, had gotten up leaving the braid to fall out and your hair to hang loosely.
Thomas stood on your left, and Newt on your right. Minho was behind you playing with his hands and scoping out this man and basically the whole room. Everyone walked over when the guy started talking though.
"Who are you?" Thomas asked.
"I'm the reason you're all still alive."
You immediately recognized him from your dream.
He led you through a construction area as he talked about everything that was going on and why they have this place. That they were going to take you home. But not really home...
"Why are you helping us?" Minho asked suddenly. The man, who you learned to be Mr. Janson, stopped and looked thoughtful for a moment before explaining the world's situation. He kept glancing at you during his speech, and you at him. It was the same guy, right?
You hated the idea of being targeted. You looked around while Newt held onto your hand for dear life as you walked. No matter what he wasn't going to let you go.
Mr. Janson swiped a key card of sorts and a huge door opened, supposedly leading you to your 'new lives' he claimed. There was a hallway, and then he stepped in front of everyone. "First things first, let's do something about that smell," he stated.
Newt looked at you as he lead everyone to the shower rooms, still clutching your hand in his. "Will you be okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry," you said.
Thomas's shoulder bumped you on the other side and he smiled in your direction before putting a hand on your shoulder. "You better be okay, otherwise I'm going to have to kill that Mr. Janson guy. Though I already want to," he whispers to you.
"This is heartwarming and all, but let's go." The Mr. Janson guy said from behind you three. You blushed a bit before stealing one last glance at Thomas and Newt before heading your separate ways.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
Hot water streamed down your body as you leaned against the shower wall. Your gunshot wound stung and the pain was hellish but it felt so nice to wash everything away down the drain. The horrors, the dust, the blood. A mild headache that had come as the result of dreaming about past memories settled into the back of your head. But not for long as the steaming water melted even that too, down the small drain beneath your toes.
Your hair grew wet and hung down like matted masses. A few strands let loose and scuttled down the drain. You tried to comb through it with your hands as best as you could. You rubbed at your eyes under the steaming water. Three or four eyelashes popped out with the sudden abrasive motion. And as you saw all the dirt and blood get washed down the drain you thought to yourself. Is this what a normal human should feel like?
The shower was nice and the warm blanket of a towel wrapped around you after was even nicer. You swore you could fall asleep right then and there, but you noticed the hair brushes laid out for you and Teresa. You took the bristles and ran them through your hair a few times, noticing how it flattened and straightened. How it looked less gnarled and as you stared at yourself in the mirror you realized it was one of the few times you actually saw yourself. Back in the maze the mirror you had once seen stayed in the boys' shower area. They never unearthed another one so you had only seen yourself once. You had y/h/l, y/h/c hair, and y/e/c eyes. y/s/t skin and a few freckles speckled here and there. Your eyelashes clung to each other as droplets of water stayed afloat on them. You looked down at your hands and your body, letting yourself take in how you looked from each angle. Some of it you loved, other parts you hated. But it was okay.
Then, you leaned against the countertop. Your palms pressed into the cold granite pattern and you stared directly at yourself. If eyes were the key to the soul, yours told you everything. The hurt, anger, trust, sadness, relief, and uneasiness of everything. But beneath the bad emotions lay the happy moments. Your eyes flashed with recognition as you reminisced on moments like you and Newt holding hands, and laying on Thomas' lap. Chuck braiding your hair in the rain as Gally held you close to keep you warm.
The sadness came back with the realization that both Chuck and Gally were now gone. You had tried to save them the best you could like you tried to save everyone else. But in that instance, you had failed. You tried to think of something else instead.
A moment, a distant memory came to mind. Newt and you, sitting in the med-jack hut. You had threatened to not eat if he didn't and this had resulted in him feeding you each meal and he watched until you got better, and you watched him get better in turn. Then your mind shifted to the night in the pit, creating flower crowns for both Thomas and Newt.
Giving them flower crowns was one of the best memories you had made to date. The thought of it made the corners of your lips tug up just slightly. Your eyes were distant and longing, and you closed them relishing in the happy feeling buried deep down. You felt a full smile alight on your face and your grip on the countertop eased.
Your final thought in that bathroom was, keep them happy.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
When you got back the doctors immediately went to help you with your arm.
"What is that?" you asked when a doctor picked up a large syringe.
"Calcium, folate, vitamins A through Z, and everything else you've been deprived of in the maze," they said while injecting it into your good arm.
Then they moved to the other side, cleaning the bullet wound and bandaging it for you, also applying a healing aid.
You saw Newt on a similar bed to yours, sitting down and getting the same injection you hoped. Then you glanced over at Minho who was on a running machine. He's been going at it since you got there. You hoped it wasn't too hard for him. Thomas was also on a bed near him and you glanced over at Teresa the same time he did as a doctor walked over.
"And you must be Teresa," she says while pulling the curtain closed. You did not like that. Then, the weird Mr. Janson guy walked in, stopping in front of you.
"y/n, a surprise indeed," he said. "The one that has captured two hearts here I see?"
"W-what? I didn't..."
"Stand up for me," he said. You stood up obediently, a bit scared. He brushed off your shoulders, compared his height with you, and took your good arm spinning you around once.
"I haven't seen you in forever," he said a bit sadly before giving you a hug. You wrapped your arms around him as well for a short moment in courtesy. It felt like home, but it wasn't home. "Do you want to see your old room?" he asked.
"My what?"
"Come on, just follow me!" he was practically giddy at that point. As you walked he began to talk about watching you do so great out there in the maze, how proud he was of you.
"Excuse me, sir, why are you telling me this?" you stopped him for a moment. He looked back at you with a sad glance.
"Because..." he paused before putting both hands on your shoulders. "You're my daughter."
You stared at him hard, you tried to read his mind to know if he was telling the truth. This man felt like he couldn't be trusted, but it also felt like home. And there was a big difference there. Those feelings conflicted you a little longer but you eventually decided that he couldn't be dangerous if he was your dad. Boy were you wrong.
Little did you know that Thomas and Newt watched as you left. Even after you were out the door. Minho glanced over, and Teresa looked confused just listening to the interaction from behind the curtain. You didn't see these looks though, so you thought nothing of it.
Your dad led you to a small back-door-type room, the inside decorated with fairy lights and small photos of your parents. And there you were, in between Mr. Janson and a beautiful lady. You looked so happy.
"Why did you make me go through that?" you asked after a long pause.
"I couldn't stop them from sending you up into the maze, though I did protect you. You're more capable than everyone else here, more equipped for survival. That's why you were able to survive those 8 days in the maze. It was horrible to watch you go through that, but I couldn't do anything," he said, his voice breaking at the end.
You gave him a tiny smile, and turned back to the photos, picking one up off of a small table by the bed. You peered through the glass at the small paper picture. A beautiful woman stood next to you and your dad had his arm wrapped around you holding you up for the picture. The whole family's smile was bright.
"Mom is so beautiful."
"Yeah, she was. I still love her as I still love you, y'know," he said looking into your eyes.
You turned back to him and wrapped your arms around his torso, a few of your tears leaving water droplets on his shirt. He wrapped his arms around your shoulders, resting his chin on the top of your head as you talked.
"I'm so glad to have you back," he said with glassy eyes.
"Dad..?" you asked, testing out the new word.
"Hm?"
"I had a dream on the helicopter here, that you left me to these people in Hazmat suits. At a metal fence. I don't remember much anymore," you said with a whisper. You were afraid of what he was going to say to that.
"That wasn't a dream, sweetie, that was a memory," he told you. "But, I did it for your own good. Those were the early days of the virus, and before I knew it I had come to your facility to work there and I got to see my precious daughter once more."
You thought about this for a moment before sitting back down on your soft bed.
"I'll leave you alone for a bit if you want to stay here," he offered. "I have some work to do."
"Yeah, I think I'll stay here, thanks dad." You smiled appreciatively at him. He gave you one last salute before shutting the door. Thankfully, he didn't lock it.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
(omniscient reader 3rd person pov)
A man comes in and walks Thomas out of the lab. Now Minho, Newt, and Teresa are really confused. Newt was starting to get worried about y/n and it's not like they knew where she went. Thomas was left in a small metal interrogation room before Mr. Janson walked in.
"Hey, I just needed a moment to talk to you," he says.
Thomas begins to answer his question as honestly as he can. Mr. Janson pries a bit, seeing if he can get anything out of Thomas. Once he got a response he could work with he nodded a few times before getting up to leave.
"That's it?" Thomas asks.
"That's it."
"Wait," Thomas says and Mr. Janson pauses with the door open. "Where is y/n?"
"In her room," he says.
Thomas is led into a cafeteria, extremely confused. Minho runs up to him, "Thomas, there's more than one maze!" he says with astonishment but without joy.
"What?" Thomas walks over and sits by Newt and Minho. There were two other boys across from them, telling them the story of how they got out of their maze.
"How long have you guys been here?" Newt asks.
"About 1-2 days. But that guy, over there, has been here the longest. About a week." But before anyone could ask more questions Mr. Janson walked in with a clipboard.
He announced that people should come up and form a line when their name is called to get to the new 'safe area'.
"Hey, Newt," Thomas nudges him with his foot.
"Yeah?"
"Where's y/n?" he asks. Then Newt's eyes widened and he glances around. As the names are called cheers and high-fives are heard. The sighs afterward and then applause as the kids who were picked left the room. It was all so new and unfamiliar. They saw Teresa walk past in the hallway with 3 other women. Then, after their meal, they were put in a room. The door locked.
.·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .
(your pov)
You were contemplating the reality of this situation. Your dad, the maze. Then, your stomach made a weird gurgling noise and you realized you hadn't eaten for what seemed to be a long time. The door was unlocked so you hesitantly opened it to an empty hallway. You walked around curiously for what seemed to be forever. It was eerie. You did not like empty hallways. You heard some crawling around above you, and... Thomas's voice? There was another guy there too. You saw some doctors at the end of the hallways, with what looked to be, bodies on giant tables that rolled along.
"Ms. Janson," one of the doctors got startled by you.
"y/n?" you heard someone breathe from above you.
"What are you doing walking around here?" the doctor asked.
"Um... I was a bit hungry, and my dad left me in my room, so I-" The doctor cut you off with a sigh.
"I'll lead you there in a moment then, Ms. Janson," she said before signaling the doctors to enter the door. You looked weirdly at the tables and all the doctors seemed so sketchy about this.
The doctor who offered to help you find the food area went through the door mumbling something about being back in a few minutes.
After you heard the door close, you looked up and saw a vent.
"y/n?" the voice called again.
"Thomas?" you asked.
"Yeah, it's Thomas, where were you?"
"I was with my father. He showed me my old bedroom and stuff, then went to do some work."
"Your father? Wait, our parents are here?"
The other voice from the vent shushed him as his tone rose. "No, just hers."
"Why?" he asked the other boy.
"You should let her tell you," he said nonchalantly.
"y/n..." Thomas said with a hint of longing. You looked back up to the vent.
"You guys should get back to bed," you said.
"Yeah," was the reply you heard before shuffling and the mysterious boy and Thomas left you in the hallway.
Luckily, the doctor came out within the next minute and you got some food in your stomach while chatting happily with your dad. "Do you want to go to your maze's room? Or stay in your own room?" your father asked at the end of your meal.
"Um- would it be okay to go with them?" you asked.
"Of course, I'll take you there," he said while putting the dishes in a small cupboard to be cleaned later. As you walked, you learned about yourself. You learned about some memories from before the virus when you were a baby and they taught you to walk and talk. He gushed about how cute you were and how beautiful you'd grown to be. When you reached the door he gave you a side hug and said, "Goodnight, sweetie," before closing the door and locking it behind you.
When you entered the room it looked like most of the lights were off. All the bunks were full and everyone seemed to be sleeping soundly except for Thomas. "y/n?" you heard him ask.
"Yeah, it's me."
"Oh, good. Where are you going to sleep?" he asked. You hadn't thought about that.
"I'm not sure..?" you questioned. There was a moment of silence.
"You can... y'know... crawl in with me," he said, his voice becoming quieter and quieter as he said that. You could see the slight pink of his cheeks as he spoke because of the small lights on the walls that lit up the floor.
"Okay," you whispered.
You crawled in beside him and turned towards the rest of the room. Knowing Thomas had your back, you could comfortably sleep on your side. The bed was a little crowded with the two of you though. But it was so comfy that you were lulled into a deep sleep by the sound of Thomas's breathing and your own. You did in fact need to meet that boy that Thomas was crawling around in the vents with though.
Your dad was sure to tease you about this in the morning anyway, he probably knew there weren't enough beds.
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3015 words
Yeah, so this part in the facility might be a bit longer than how long they're actually there, but it's not much different. I guess you'll have to wait and see!!
QOTD: Do you have any pets? If so, what are their names? Or what would you name a pet if you ever got one?
I have three parakeets called Angel, Lemon, and Sparkles Cirrus III (there was not two before my brother just thought it was funny).