I sit up in bed and then lay back down. I don't want to get up, but I need to clear my head and I can't do that in here. So I sit up again, slip my shoes on, and walk out of the Homestead. I follow my usual routine of going to the tree and climbing up. Then I sit and think. Those dreams had to have been memories of saying goodbye to them right before their memories were wiped. What did I mean when I told Alby that we'd be watching? What did Minho mean when he said that we'd fall in love all over again? Were we in love? Are we in love? No... Minho and I... No... That would never happen... Right? I groan in confusion and put my head in my hands.
"Why are you frustrated?" I hear Shadow's voice ask from below.
"I'm not." I tell him.
"Then what are you?"
"Confused."
"Why are you confused?" I am about to tell him when I remember that I know who he is. That's Minho. I feel heat rise to my cheeks as I remember my dream. I need someone to talk to about this, but it can't be him. Not this time Instead of answering I look down at him to find that he is still hiding in the shadows.
"Come out of the shadows, Shadow. I know who you are, remember?"
He steps out of the dark and into a space that is lit by moonlight and I climb down out of the tree. I drop down next to him and he asks again,
"Why are you confused? Did you have another dream?"
"Yeah, but this one was different."
"How so?"
"We were younger in this one, by a couple of years it looked like. And we were different. We were more... relaxed. Softer. More like regular teenagers than dirty, stinky Gladers. And we were saying goodbye and talking about how none of us would remember anything and how we needed to stay safe in the Maze." I almost tell him about the part he was in, but I stop myself. He doesn't say anything so I continue. "I think that this one was a memory. A memory of me saying goodbye to my friends before they lost their memories and got sent here." I am praying that it is too dark for him to see my blush as I once again remember saying bye to him. He still doesn't say anything so I keep going, more cautious this time, because I know he has a short fuse. "The weirdest part was that we knew what we were doing. Everyone that I saw was getting their memories wiped willing. Alby was talking about it being necessary and-"
"That's bull klunk." Minho says in an angry, but calm voice that terrifies me. "None of us would ever do this to ourselves willingly."
I decide to keep talking, praying that he won't blow up in my face. "Well you were." I talk in a calm, smooth voice, trying to be as gentle as possible as if I am trying to talk someone out of doing something awful. "We all also seemed to know a lot more about the outside world and possibly the Creators than we do now. Maybe we were okay with it at the time because everything had been explained to us. We don't have the full story right now, nothing even close to it, so this seems awful to us, but-"
"I know enough of the story." He says, visibly having trouble staying calm.
"No, Minho, you don't. You can't possibly know the whole story when you are cooped up in here. None of us can." I say, my voice getting louder as I try to get my point across.
"We are trapped in a Glade, surrounded by an ever changing and unsolvable Maze and you are supporting the people who put us here!" He yells. I almost flinch at his words, but I refuse to back down on this. He needs to understand.
"I'm not supporting the Creators, I am trying to make sense of this and you aren't helping at all!" I yell back. "We did this willingly to ourselves, Minho! There must be a reason! This must be of some significance, otherwise we wouldn't have agreed to it!"
"There's no way I agreed to it!"
"I saw you with my own eyes and it sure looked like you were totally okay with it! We both were! The only issue we had was-" I stop myself before I say anymore. He is still fuming with anger.
"What?" He yells and I don't respond. I wont tell him. After the way he is reacting to all of this, there is no way I am telling him. "What issue did we have?" He says stepping closer to me. I flinch away slightly and see the slightest bit of regret in his eyes, but it is gone quickly. Then I hear footsteps behind me and break eye contact with Minho to turn around. When I do I see Newt limping towards us. My first thought is to ask him about the limp, but I decide that now isn't the best time.
"What the hell are you shanks yelling about? You woke up the whole bloody Glade." He says.
Before I can respond Minho starts walking back to the Homestead. Right before he is out of sight he turns around and glares at me. His eyes filled with anger and something else that I can't quite place. "Go on Echo. Tell him what we're yelling about. You already told him everything about the other dreams, so why not tell him about this one? Hell, maybe he can even be Shadow from now on." Minho says angrily before he storms off towards the Homestead. How did he know that I told Newt about the dreams? I thought that he had already gone into the Maze when I did that. I feel guilt rise up inside of me, though I'm not sure why. It's not like the dreams were our little secret or something.
"What was that all about?" Newt asks me.
"I don't know. I'm just so confused." I say as I sit down on the ground and lean up against the tree.
"Why did he know about the dreams? You said no one else knows."
"Yeah. No one besides you, me and Shadow."
"Wait... That was Shadow? Minho is Shadow?"
"Yeah. I was surprised too."
"What were you guys fighting about?"
"The dream I just had."
"Do you want to talk about it."
"After the way that Shadow reacted, I'm not sure."
"Yeah, but Shadow is Minho and Minho is hotheaded. I'm not. Now come on. Spill it. What did you dream about?" He says, taking a seat next to me. I don't even think twice about it before telling him everything. Well... Almost everything. I leave out the little thing between Mnho and I. Even after I am done telling him about the dream I keep talking. I tell him word for word what I told Minho and Minho's reaction.
"Did we really do this willingly?" Newt asks after I am done.
"That's what it looked like."
"Okay."
"'Okay'? That's it?"
"Yeah. I trust you. Besides, you make a good point about there being a reason. I know for a fact that I wouldn't do this for fun. And anyway, what happened, happened. There's no point in stressing over it now."
"Okay then. Now it's your turn to spill it." I say, my curiosity winning out. "How did you get your limp? And don't try to tell me that it was before you got here so you don't know. You didn't have it in the dream, so you got it here. What happened?"
"The Maze happened." He says grimly before standing up and walking away.