A little while later there is a knock on the door.
"Anna, are you ready to talk again?" Alby says from the other side of the room. Anna nods to me and gets up from the bed. We had been lying there for the past few minutes. I get up and open the door.
"She's ready." I say as Minho and Alby take their positions.
"Whenever your ready, darling." Minho says brushing her arm with his hand and taking a seat on the bed.
"We were all a bit younger. Our memories were all wiped before we got to the warehouse. So, we made new memories." Anna starts after taking a steadying breath.
"Everybody knew everybody. We were a big family. The rooms housed four people. Newt, Gally, Minho, and Alby were in one together, that's where you guys were." She says talking to the wall in front of her.
"I was in a room next to you with three other girls. We were all really close. One day we all went to breakfast and Alby wasn't with you. We searched the entire warehouse but he wasn't anywhere." Anna chokes on her own words.
"Day after day our friends disappeared. They all passed the test so they had to go into the trials, the Mazes." Anna stops for a moment catching her breath and trying to control the coming tears I see in her breaking eyes.
"I was alone in my room and in your guys room it was Newt and Minho. The rooms around us were slowly emptying out. After a few weeks when we went to breakfast there were only a few, most from this Maze. Minho was taken and that's when we all started to fear for what would happen to us." Anna turns around and walks over to me. I'm sitting in the only chair in the room. She places a hand on my shoulder.
"Then he was taken. I heard him shouting in his room and woke up. I went to see what the panic was about. I grabbed his hand and we ran for the exit, for hiding places. But I was caught and taken away to another warehouse where I had to learn to fight. Day after day I saw familiar faces pass by me while I fought for my life." She pauses squeezing my shoulder harder.
"It was the last straw when I had been fighting for at least five hours and then just as I won I saw Newt being taken. I knew he was going to the Maze. He was fighting. Every single one of you fought as you were taken away. And I couldn't help you. I remember running to the window and screaming. The people fighting me day and night tried to take me away before Newt saw me. But he did. That's where we said goodbye, both of us screaming and trying to get away." She takes a deep breath.
"After the last of you all left, I was put back in our warehouse. Alone. When I was taken I saw people in black costumes bring in a bunch of new kids, looking happy. I knew that the same exact thing would happen to them. Then I showed up here, after fighting really hard." She finishes. Her shoulder slump and she looks at the ground.
"That's why you were so bruised when you got here." Minho comments.
"That's all you have to say? We just found out our story and you comment on her being bruised?" Alby turns towards him. Minho and Alby start fighting. I jump in trying to stop them. Anna's head shoots up.
"Enough!" She yells over us. We all look at her. "I know this is hard to take in. But you will not be fighting while I'm the only one who remembers any of this. So enough." She says her voice close to yelling. Alby walks out of the room slamming the door. Minho just sits there looking lost.
"I'm going to take a walk, if you need me." He says looking at me. I nod.
"I'm sorry you had to go through all that and then remember it." He gives Anna a hug. She nods. I watch him leave and sit in silence. Anna sits on the bed and looks at me.
"You told me you loved me." She says out of the blue. I look at her, shock written all over my face.
"When?" I ask getting my composure back.
"When you were being taken away I had broken away and so had you. We reached each other. Before we were pulled away again, you gave me a hug and whispered in my ear that you loved me." She says tears piling into her eyes. "And I didn't get to say it back." She breaks down in tears. Before I can go to her she jumps up and runs out of the room. I watch her through the window. She's going to the corner of the Maze in the forest. I run after her. Stopping I realize I don't know what I'd say. Does she still love me? Do I love her? I don't think I even know what love is. I definitely care about her. I run towards her dismissing all of my questions. She's curled into a ball crying her eyes out. I get to her and hug her. She looks up after she's stopped crying. I sit against the wall. She looks at me and sits on my lap facing me. I wipe the tears away from her cheeks.
"Hey...it will be all right, love." I say softly. She nods. I drop my hands away crossing them over my chest. She reaches out attentively and touches my cheek. Brushing her hand up to my eye I can tell she's going over my scar. I got it after a week of being in the Glade. Her eyebrows knit together and I know she's thinking. But what is she thinking? I want to know what's going through her head right now. She drags her hands down to my arms and glides her hands over them. I can't help but think that this is how it's supposed to be. She grabs my hands and examines them, looking at all my scrapes and callouses. She pulls her hands away looking at the ground sadly.
"What is it?" I ask knowing her all to well, even though it's been only five days or so. She hesitates.
"Why are we here?" She asks sadness and confusion filling her words. I want to give an actual reason. But my reason will be anger filled and bitter. I don't want to make her feel worse. I put my hand on her cheek turning her head towards me.
"I don't know why. But I want to say, for the record, that being here with you is way better then being here without you." I pause. "Way more fun too." I wink at her. She manages a weak laugh, leaning into my hand. She shifts so she's leaning on me facing the trees. A few hours of sitting and talking we get ready to go to dinner.
We eat and go to bed.