I do not own The Maze Runner or any of its characters.

Lauren: The first girl I ever loved thinks I'm dead now because this crazy lady ripped me away from her and the first guy I ever loved got a spear through his chest after he shot our resident younger brother but it wasn't his fault because the same crazy lady was manipulating him.

Teresa: That's rough, buddy.

Lauren
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Peter walked me back to my room, arm in mine.

"Hey, try to get some sleep tonight, even though I won't be there." He gave me a small smile.

I sighed and hung my head. "I'll try my best, although I wonder if Teresa is up for some platonic cuddling."

Peter laughed. "I'm going to take a guess that she's not."

"You're probably correct." We had reached my room, and I turned to Peter suddenly. "Thank you. For everything."

"You'll see me tomorrow?"

"I know. But still. I love you." I dropped my hand down to clasp his.

"I love you too." Peter squeezed it and turned back to head to his room.

Teresa saw him walk away, and she looked at me curiously.

"He's cute."

"He's also not my type."

"Ah, so he will be if he dies?"

"What the shuck?" My jaw dropped.

"Sorry. That just slipped out. I'm just going to go to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow, Lauren." She pushed past me to enter the room and left me standing there with my mouth open.

After taking a second to gather myself, I followed behind her and settled into my bunk. Teresa was already seemingly passed out, but I had too many things to think about.

Why was I suddenly hit with a wave of wanting to tell Peter how much he meant to me? I was going to see him tomorrow. We escaped the Maze. We were done with that part of our lives and were now on our way to finding a new normal, a new life far away from Grievers and stone walls and our most recent near-death experience.

After my mind ran in circles, trying to make sense of it all, I eventually chalked it up to that. There were too many things I'd left unsaid, too many people I wished I'd be able to talk to again for just five more minutes.

Before I could pull myself away from that slippery slope of grief, my mind ran through the mental list of everyone I had lost.

My mom. My dad. All of the Gladers we had left behind and the ones we lost today. Amelia. Gally.

Gally. The grief I had shoved down for the past few hours came rushing back in full force, and I pulled up one of my thin blankets over my mouth to muffle my sobs.

His life had been cut short, and the future we could have had together obliterated. If I had just let my heart open itself up for the slight possibility of happiness with him, I could have had small memories, small lifelines to get myself through this newest wave of grief that joined my ocean of loneliness.

The worst part about losing Gally was the fact that I inexplicably felt used to the feeling of heartbreak. Losing Gally triggered a memory of a beautiful girl, one who had liked me once, and I almost was able to overcome my fear of opening up my heart and was going to tell her I liked her back before I was ripped away from the Glen. She likely thought I was dead, and I hadn't thought about her in over three months.

The name came to me in a rush. Nora.

I couldn't understand why almost everyone I cared for was ripped away. I had zero idea if she, or anyone in the Glen, had escaped their Maze or even survived.

The thought of it brought a fresh wave of sobs that racked my body.

Below me, Teresa stirred.

"Lauren?"

"I'm sorry, I just—" I tried to wipe my tears and snot, but my arm was already covered in enough of it that I ended up making an even bigger mess.

"Oh, Lauren, it just slipped out; I didn't mean it, I was—I am just exhausted."

It took me a second to realize what she was talking about.

"Oh." I sniffed again. "It's okay, I was actually, um, crying about something else. Losing," Breathe, Lauren, talking about things is healthy. "Losing Gally made me remember something about my old life."

"You remember your time before the Maze?" She asked.

"I was actually in a different Maze, one with girls in it instead of guys. I came from there into the Glade. And it turns out, I was, um, romantically involved with someone. Before I was taken from there."

There was a pause as Teresa thought. "A girl."

"Not any other genders to pick from." I forced a laugh that had everything but humor in it.

"But you liked Gally." I tried not to flinch at the past tense, but more silent tears slipped out regardless.

"I play for both teams, apparently. But she most likely thinks I'm dead and Griever food now." It was silent. "I don't even know if she's alive either."

"So you're mourning two significant others," Teresa said with startling insight.

"Yeah. And I'm just recently finding out how much they meant to me."

"I'm sorry, Lauren."

"Thanks, Teresa."

It was silent again, and I got up off my bunk to wash my face.

The water was cool, and I kept running my hands under the tap and pressing them against my face to try and calm myself down. My face was blotchy and swollen, and I knew I would wake up tomorrow with a nasty headache. But, despite all of that, I felt strangely better.

It was odd because I knew all that anger, sadness, and grief still lingered inside me, like an uncomfortable jacket I could never shrug off. It pinched and smothered me in terrible places and made my chest feel incredibly tight at times.

No, those emotions hadn't been erased, but I knew I would sleep calmer tonight by having that really ugly cryfest. The jacket got a bit easier to wear. To carry with me everywhere I went. It was healthy for me to let all of that out, to work through how incredibly unfair it was. How unfair everything in my life seemed.

I had to acknowledge it; I couldn't just keep it pushed down and ignore how it made me feel. And by telling Teresa, and by extension, letting it out into the world, I was able to release some of that negative feeling and energy and take a step closer, however small, to acceptance. Accepting my life as it was in the moment and working towards improving it.

I had to cherish the people I still had before they could get taken from me, too.

Peter. Frypan. Clint. Minho, even with his sarcasm. Newt, Tommy, and my Builders. And maybe even, in the future, Teresa.

With that therapy session, I washed my face one last time and walked back into our room to a terrifying sight.

Three tall black shapes silently moved into our room, and after looking at them closer, I saw that they were human and reminded me of the people who supposedly "saved" us from WICKED.

"What the shuck? Who are you?" I yelled, and seeing they were moving towards Teresa's sleeping body, I cried, "Wait, what are you doing?"

"That must be Lauren. Grab her, too." The tallest one called to another, who moved away from the other two to try and grab me.

"No, stop—" I tried to move back into the bathroom to barricade myself, but I didn't move quickly enough.

The one that broke off from the pack started speaking as they moved closer with their arms out, trying to grab me. The voice sounded masculine, but the way they were all dressed and covered left nothing to identify them with.

"Lauren, it's okay, it's Jake. We're not going to hurt you." They said the name like I was supposed to know who they were.

I stopped. "Who the shuck is Jake?"

The person, Jake, paused.

"Jake, just grab her, and let's go."

Teresa woke up then and started fighting the two, trying to grab her, not speaking words yet, but I knew she had to be talking to Thomas in her mind.

Which made me realize I might be able to as well.

Crackface, I'm sorry I never gave you a proper name, but I could really use some help right now; these people are trying to grab me and—

Somehow, they responded.

Lauren, go with them; I promise it'll all be okay.

I also put my hands out placatingly, still trying to move backward. "Jake, whoever you are, is Peter coming too? Are you grabbing everyone?"

"Lauren, please just come with me; everything will be explained."

"Don't mess with me, Jake."

I still heard Teresa fighting in the background against the others in the room.

Jake paused, and somehow, I knew this was painful for him. Who was I to this stranger?

"You'll be okay."

I steeled myself. "Fine. If you won't tell me, then please tell Peter. Let him know I'm going to be okay."

Jake nodded. "I promise. And I'm incredibly sorry."

He moved swiftly, injecting something into my neck. Distantly, I heard Teresa finally cry out Thomas's name.

I started falling, and Jake moved to catch me. I reached up to grab the goggles off his eyes and saw startingly similar brown eyes.

"Please tell Peter I'm going to be okay. I can't have another Nora . . ."

Everything went black.

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"Aris! Aris, are you there? Aris, please open up! You're scaring us."

"Ugh, who's Aris?" I groaned, starting to wake up and experiencing a massive headache.

"I don't know." Someone responded.

I sat up. I sleep in a room alone in the Glen.

Looking around, I realized something else.

I also sleep in a bed. Not the top bunk in a windowless grey room.

"Someone get Nora; she could probably body slam this door open." Someone outside our room said.

Nora! I have to talk to her tonight when I get done running the Maze . . .

Throughout my confusion and all of the other questions whirling in my mind, one comes to the front.

How in the world did I end up here after getting taken by the Griever?

I jumped from my bunk and landed feet-first on the floor, rattling my ankles and locking eyes with the other person in this room.

"Lauren?" The stranger pauses. "You're okay."

"I, who are you?" Turning, I run over to the door and throw it open, revealing my old friends, who seem absolutely baffled that I'm standing before them.

"Lauren?"

"You're not Aris."

"Oh my God, Lauren!"

A body immediately runs into me, almost knocking me over.

"Lauren, you're alive! If I wasn't so happy right now, I think I'd kill you for scaring me like that again."

I wrapped my arms around my best friend in the entire world, relishing that I could get another hug from her.

"Hi Terra, I missed you too."

I looked up, locking eyes with someone I knew I had to talk with.

"Hey, Nora." I let go of Terra and moved over to my possible? Girlfriend.

"Lauren." She sniffled, and I was acutely aware that everyone was watching us. Ada was at least trying to be discreet, but I knew she was as invested as anyone.

"I got delayed coming back, sorry."

Nora stood there, tears streaming down her face, unmoving.

"Nora." Ada came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, steering her closer to me. I wondered why she seemed so different from this morning, making jokes.

She looked, for lack of a better word, hollow. 

"We've been waiting for this moment for months. Go on, hug her." Ada let go, giving her a nudge. 

I went in for a hug, as did Nora, but I stopped short.

"Did you say months?"

Nora closed the distance between us, squeezing me tight, soaking my shoulder. But I didn't melt into the hug like I did with Terra.

After a moment, I slowly put my arms around Nora, matching her grip on me.

"What the hell happened to me?" I whispered. 

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*insert something incredibly funny here*

hey! hi! how y'all doin?

college classes are rough. and so is life ngl.

but hey~~lauren went to therapy and so did i.
we love dumping our trauma on our OCs 🥰