A/N: Hello my lovely readers, I have recently made some changes to my book (Miya's name is now Raven and the title was changed to Deleted Memories. If you have read the book up until now with her old name. I apologise for any inconvenience but I just felt that Raven suited her personality a lot better.
Thank you for the understanding,
your author, Autumn
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The excitement bubbled inside me and kept me awake for most of the night. I was up early the next morning. It wasn't light outside yet, but I could tell that the sun would be starting to show soon enough. I hurriedly grabbed the same clothes from yesterday and pulled them on. I secured the backpack over my shoulders and clipped the chest strap uptight.
No other Glader was up, not even any Runners, so I tiptoed through the homestead, careful not to wake up anyone else sleeping inside. I got to the main landing and nearly rolled my ankle in a missing floorboard. I cursed at the darkness and continued out into the Glade. I felt my way over to the kitchen and pulled myself inside. From there, I turned on the single light bulb that hung above the door. I collected myself a breakfast of toast and fruit and two sandwiches for lunch and sat down at one of the tables outside.
I was already done my food when Minho came up, stifling a yawn. "Morning," I chimed, smiling at him, then adding, "Klunkface." I had heard several Gladers call each other it before.
"You're already up," he stated in a tone that sounded half grumpy and half amused.
"Couldn't sleep," I shrugged. Minho went into the kitchen before returning a couple minutes later with his own breakfast and lunch.
Minho ate his breakfast then led me into the map room. I watched as he cranked the wheel and opened the metal door. He shoved it aside and allowed me to step in first. It was empty besides a table in the middle of the room and eight trunks positioned evenly apart around the room. The lack of windows and air flow made the place reek of sweat, stale air, and mildew.
Minho didn't waste any time. He handed me two small knives, a belt with leather holsters, and a watch from a supplies cabinet.
I slipped the belt around my waist, making sure to cinch it up tightly so that it wouldn't move around when running. I placed the knives snugly into the holsters, strapping them in with small snap buckles. I attached the watch to my wrist and looked at Minho to see him holding several bottles of water. He threw three of them to me and slipped the others into his bag. I shoved them into my backpack, having just enough room.
A few other Runners had entered the room now and were collecting their own things. Minho exchanged a few words with them before ushering me out of the room once more.
I relished in the air that was still crisp from being early morning; I knew it wouldn't be long before the sun beat down on us. Part of me was hoping that Newt would be down to see us off. To show that he did think I could do it, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. My heart sunk slightly, but I tried to shake it off.
"Once those doors open, we run. Simple as that, keep up, don't be stupid and we should be able to make it back here in one piece," Minho ordered, checking his watch. "One minute," he said, nodding up at the doors, "get ready."
I bounced back and forth on my feet, getting antsy. I always hated waiting. I tried to slow my breathing but the excitement was starting to hit. I was finally going to get to go into the maze, something that, while I hadn't been waiting that long for it, I was ecstatic about.
The doors began to grind open and the second the opening got big enough, Minho burst out into a full run, not missing a beat. It took me a second to realize before setting off myself, running at a faster pace to catch up. When we got to the first fork, Minho took a sharp right and I followed close behind. Minho and I ran the maze. It had been at least a few hours before he slowed, but only slightly. He reached into the sheath that was attached to his belt and pulled out the knife. He grabbed a vine tightly from the wall and sliced it. He dropped it in the middle of their path and continued going. I didn't question him, only watched. My throat was so dry that I had no idea if anything would even come out if I did. He sped back up and I did my best to do the same.
I had a hard time taking in all the details of the maze at such a fast pace. The walls were very similar to the ones around the glade, but the vines were thicker. The stone floor was cracked. The middle was bare from the constant running on it, but closer to the walls dirt had collected.
A little while later, Minho stopped completely and showed me how to cut vines off of the wall to make a trail. He showed me a couple times before making me do it myself. Definitely, the trickiest part was doing it on the fly. I couldn't miss a beat. He then taught me how to take notes quickly. Alby had explained it to me in the glade, but I caught on much faster with practice.
My throat was dry and sore from the heat and dehydration. The back of it ached with the cry for water. It had become hard to swallow. Sweat beads were visibly dripping off of my body in a desperate attempt to keep myself from overheating. My legs were numb, but I kept them moving. It felt like I was floating on clouds. My heart was beating at a million times per second. It had to be close to the middle of the day, I checked my watch to confirm my hunch was correct.
As if a miracle happened, Minho began to slow down. He stopped completely and slid down the side of the maze. I mimicked his moves, but against the wall opposite. I pulled out one of my water bottles and furiously guzzled it down, not stopping until it was completely empty. I let out a satisfied "ahh."
"Not bad, Greenie, how are you feeling?" Minho asked, pulling out his own water bottle. How was it that he barely looked like he had broken a sweat.
"Like death," I replied, laying down on the cold stone. The sun had yet to touch this area. "Are you ever going to stop calling me Greenie?" I pulled my shirt up and wiped my face with it.
"Nope, or at least until you aren't," he shrugged.
We ate our lunches and I drank my other water, being more conservative this time and savouring the feeling of the liquid slipping down my raw throat. of it in case. Once we were done, we started our journey back.
By the time we got back to the glade, all I wanted to do was collapse onto the comfy looking grass field. Though, Minho didn't slow his pace. We ran straight to the map room in the middle of the Glade and pulled it open. It was already unlatched, which meant other Runners must have been in there.
"Draw out everything you can remember from our run today and add the notes you may think are relevant," Minho explained, pushing paper and a pencil over to me. I began to do just that; although, I couldn't remember our route that well. Minho took a look at my paper once he was done and shrugged, "good enough for a first try. You'll get better."
"How was your run, Greenbean?" Another Runner asked once we were exiting the map room.
"Exhausting!" I exclaimed, "how was yours?" I had yet to meet the guy, but he seemed friendly enough. His sandy blond hair was cut short and the front of his shirt was dampened by sweat.
"Same old vine ridden dull grey walls," he shrugged. "I'm Ben, by the way." He held out his hand to me and I placed mine in his, all well knowing how sweaty they were.
"Sorry," I quickly apologised, pulling my arm back. "I'm not exactly in the best shape yet." A small blush rose to my cheeks as the boy chuckled.
"It's not a problem," he reassured, "you should have seen me on my first day. Probably weighed ten pounds more from all the sweat in my clothes."
I nodded, looking down at the dirty, stone ground. I tried to shake off the embarrassment about the shape I was in and attempted to ignore the aches in my legs that begged for me to slump over against the nearest tree. We got to dinner and Ben excused himself, going to meet up with a group of Gladers who had already gotten their dinner.
I grabbed a bowl from one of the stacks on the long table that Frypan and his cooks served us from. He smiled at me, not saying anything I was happy about. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I placed the stew in front of me. My mouth began to salivate. I picked up the soup and started shoving the warm food into my mouth.
"Slow down, Raven," Minho cautioned, "you are going to make yourself just throw it all back up."
My cheeks turn the colour of ripe tomatoes. "Shut up, Shuckface," I muttered, rolling my eyes at my friend. He grinned cheekily in response but said nothing more.
After dinner, I found myself a big comfy tree to lean against at the edge of the deadheads. The sun was beginning to set and the glade was quiet. I let my eyes rest and eventually, I fell asleep.
Someone lifted me up into their arms and began to carry me. I opened my eyes just a crack to see it was Newt. I could feel him his uneven steps from his limp. It made me frown. What had he done to himself? He brought me up the stairs of the homestead and to my room. Newt placed me down on the bed gently and pulled the covers up over me. "Goodnight, love," he whispered before leaving the room.