She's lying. She's very good at it, I'll give her that, but I'm better at reading the signs.

The ever-so-slight shift in her feet, the way her gaze flickers to the wall behind me for just a millisecond, and how she does a little exhale after she's finished speaking. I've got her pinned down.

Well, Ms. Ava, good game. She's one of the tougher ones to decipher.

I had put my skills into fair use in the Glen. Some of the ladies I was less popular with nicknamed me 'The Blonde Baddie.' Whenever Harriet or Sonya suspected a girl was lying, they would sit me down with them where we held our Gatherings. Some of them took longer than others; I always got the truth.

I guess I must have been staring too long at her—getting lost in my memories that I know I will never experience again—because Ava looks down at my food and clears her throat.

"Well, let's get you cleaned up." She shepherds me into the bathroom to take a shower then leads me down a never-ending maze of white halls. We finally reach a point that looks like everywhere else we had been, and she whispers to a guard stationed by a door.

The man nods once and takes off, leaving Ava and me in uncomfortable silence.

My brain feels like someone hopped it up on some of Beth's special drink. I wanted to yell at Ava for taking me out of the Glen, lying to me about how I went, because why, and wanting to scream until she put me back. But I stood there, silently fuming. I knew I would be able to do something sometime, but right now, wasn't it.

The guard comes back with two people that couldn't be much older than me. Both with hair was as dark as night, and the boy looked like his brain went a million miles a minute. I could tell by his eyes. There's always something inside them that will tell you a lot about the person. And his was unbridled curiosity.

The girl was beautiful, with skin about as white as the walls and blue eyes that made me jealous of my brown ones. She was studying me as much as I was her. There was something about Blue-Eyes that just made me want to walk down the hallways back to my room.

There were a lot of somethings about her that put me on edge. I'll have to figure out why. 

"These are some of our top scientists here, Thomas and Theresa." Ava introduces.

"Hi! I'm Lauren." I stuck out my hand, attempting at some politeness. Thomas shook it, and then Teresa finally did. The urge to leave was getting stronger.

Ava finally interrupted the awkward silence. "Thomas, Teresa, Lauren here is going to follow you around for a little while. Please give her a tour of the facilities, and a guard will come by later to pick her up. Probably at your camera room."

I watched as she left, wishing I could go with her. Among everyone in our little group, the person I wanted to be with the most was the guard. And he had a gun in his hands.

"Let's show you around then," Thomas says after Ava's abrupt departure.

|~^_^~|

The first thing Thomas showed me was a lab, with lots of people around computer screens. I look around, trying to figure out if I can see anyone remotely familiar.

While Thomas was doing a pretty shoddy job of taking me around the WICKED facility, I had let my mind wander. And after a couple of minutes, I started to realize that I could remember more than what I knew in the Glen. I had my memories back.

After being without them for more than two years, I wanted to cry. I could remember my mom and dad, and my childhood. I couldn't tell you how many times I had wished for just a crumb of memories, and having them all back was glorious. And terribly heartbreaking. 

Thomas was still talking, but his voice was tuned out. I had found someone familiar. With vibrant red hair and heels that looked way too tall, my old trainer looked, for the most part, the same. I stood there watching her, unsure if I should go say hi. 

My trainer must have felt my gaze, or some cosmic power made her turn her head, but she finally looked back.

Her jaw dropped, and she rushed over to our little group.

"Lauren!" Amelia enveloped me into a hug that cut off all air to the rest of my body.

When she finally released me, she held me at arm's length, studying me.

"You look old."

Amelia laughed, and a warm feeling covered me from head to toe. I missed her so much. If I put the feeling into words, her laugh was like a car driving into your driveway. You always knew when you were home when that sound hit your ears.

"Wow. The first time you've seen me in two years, and you say I look old. Typical."

"Well, it's the truth."

Teresa clears her throat, and Amelia looks over at her, her own face impassive. 

"Thomas, Teresa, this is Amelia. She's the one who taught me everything I knew about how to read people." I introduced my trainer to the two, not caring if they knew her already.

Thomas nodded, and Teresa just dipped her head.

"Well, I'm sure you're very busy, so I'll leave you to it." We hugged again, and I tried to memorize her scent and everything about her.

I wasn't about to forget the closest thing I had to a mom again.

Our group left, Teresa in the lead this time. I saw the cafeteria, training rooms, barracks, and that was about it. Once we were done, we headed to the "camera room" Ava said earlier. 

But we gained a stray along the way.

"Chuck, we don't have time to talk to you right now." Thomas sighs.

"Oh no. We have time to talk to Chuck." I interrupt. "Hi, Chuck!"

"Hi! Who are you?" Chuck asks with way more enthusiasm than I expected.

"I'm Lauren! Whatcha doing here?" I responded, trying to match his enthusiasm.

"I came to ask Thomas if we're heading to the cameras today."

"We're on our way there. Want to come with us?" Thomas answers.

"Ok!"

Teresa took off again, not caring if we were done with our conversation. She seemed to want nothing to do with me, and I was very close to confronting her about it. Her arms were folded 90% of the time, showing that she was closed off. She never met my gaze, which further proved my point that she wasn't trying to be friendly.

After a few failed attempts to talk to her, I had finally stopped trying—her loss. I was a finching fabulous person to talk to.

When I finally made it to the camera room, I studied the screens, trying to find anything familiar.

But if I was honest, I was trying to find my friends.

"Why are there only guys?" My friends were nowhere to be found. On every screen, you could see boys from about every angle. They ranged from about 12-17, and there were various stages of attractiveness. No one was a winner, though.

My memories were rioting. I could remember seeing some of them in the cafeteria before we got sent to our deaths, but there was nothing substantial to be found.

"This is Group A. Your people are Group B. If you want to see your friends, you'll have to talk to Aris and Rachel." Teresa supplies. So she can be somewhat friendly. I still didn't like her.

"And where are they?

"We don't really know." Thomas answers.

"Oh. Thanks." I go back to looking at the screens.

I finally spot a few familiar faces, and I focus all my energy into the memory that pops up. 

|~^_^~|

I can already tell I'm not going to sleep tonight. I don't know what was keeping me awake, though. The fact that Amelia lied to me, or the sound of Miyoko's snoring. It was obnoxious tonight. Shaking me from my internal dilemma, I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye—finally, something worthwhile watching.

I moved ever-so-slightly, turning my body to get a closer look at what the movement was. WICKED was too clean to have a rodent problem, so I concluded that someone was in the loft.

I had found it almost two years ago, while I was searching for my journal. The ladies in the barracks had found the thing under my bed, and they thought it would be funny to hide it.

After some hair pulled out, three black eyes and a bloody nose later, they told me that they hid it up in an 'air conditioning unit.' To be honest, they started it. Once I climbed in there, I realized that it wasn't an AC unit, but a spacious loft. I kept the finding to myself, not even telling my best friend Terra. It would be nice to have some alone time.

I creep over and climb up into the loft. "Would someone like to tell me why you guys have decided to stalk a room full of sleeping girls in the dead of night?"

They all jump, and my eyes focus on one girl in the group of boys. "Who are you?" I ask. "Why haven't we seen you before?"

The girl doesn't even look startled. "I'm Teresa. I've been separated by WICKED." She doesn't elaborate.

I study her for a second, my training coming into play. But I can't see anything that gives me more information.

"How did you see us?" A boy from the back asks. He comes into the light a little bit, and I see hair blended into the dark shadows that cover the room and curious eyes.

"I couldn't sleep. And you guys are not the stealthiest humans in the world." I respond.

"Don't tell." Curious says. His eyes are pleading.

"Why would I?" I say. I'm not a stickler for rules. It doesn't hurt that I don't even like WICKED. "I'm Lauren."

"Thomas." Curious says.

"Newt."

"Alby."

"Minho."

I snort. "What kind of name is Minho?" The guy gives me a look but doesn't say anything.

"You didn't answer my question earlier. Why are you guys here?" I ask again.

"I have a sister down there," Newt answered.

"Who?"

"Sonya." His face turns sad.

"Oh."

After an uncomfortable silence, the type where everyone becomes fascinated with something other than each other, Alby finally speaks.

"We should be going now."

"Wait! Can I see you guys again?" I ask. It would be fun to sneak around, and from what I'd read on their faces, the group seemed trustworthy and friend material.

Minho looks at Alby. "As long as you keep it secret. Meet us here tomorrow, and we'll all talk." Alby decides.

|~^_^~|

"Lauren." I'm being shaken. "Lauren? Lauren! Are you there?"

I shake my head and see Thomas staring at me. "If one is being shaken to no end, do you think that one would be there, Thomas?"

"Sorry." He looks sheepish.

"It's all right. I was just lost in a memory." I turn around to face them, trying to be more present. 

"You guys! I think there's a fight going on over here!" Chuck calls, looking at one of the screens. I follow Thomas and Teresa to Chuck, and true to his word, there is a fight going on. It's against two different guys I don't recognize. Not even with all my memories.

I look over at Thomas. He's studying me. I don't like being the one observed, much preferring to be observing. "Spit it out, I can see curiosity all over your face," I tell him—anything to get his gaze off of me.

"You were in the Maze with a bunch of girls, right?" He questions.

"Yeah. Where are you going with this?" I ask.

"Do you want to go back?"

There's a pause as the room hears this.

"What? What do you mean 'go back?'"

"Back to the Maze, where you were originally."

"Thomas, Ava would never go through with that." Teresa states.

"We'll never know unless we try." Thomas countered.

I'm too busy with my thoughts. I could go back.

The thought seems life-changing.

Maybe because it was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had to end with sass, bc, why not?

Well, I had multiple ideas on how Lauren was going to be tied in the story, the first couple ones were unoriginal or wouldn't even work with the plot (*scratches neck uncomfortably*) And I finally came up with this. 

Also, from my -.1% time researching, I am 99.9% sure that this story is original.
So don't steal it! I love Lauren with all my being, since she's a carbon copy of me with more bravery and a little more anxiousness, so yeah! And if it isn't, I didn't do a lot of research before, so I can tell you with 100% honesty that I didn't steal your work. Perks of being lazy, I guess.

Please leave your thoughts and comments! I would LOVE to hear what you guys think!