Once I got out of bed, I immediately saw that the sky had changed dramatically since I’ve been asleep. I was gapping when I saw that it was a colourless slab of grey. No clouds or hint of Sun was spotted, making the mood dampen with depression. Minho explained to me that they woke up one morning to find this, and didn’t know what had happened. It won’t change back, and now they’re in deep trouble for our plants and crops. Along with the animals, even ourselves. If we can’t get any Sunlight, we could die from hunger and health.

Newt called a Gathering, before planting me in front of all the Keepers. They were desperate to hear what made me do the thing I did, and what exactly I remember. Teresa was forced to wait outside, while the Keepers would discuss with me on what they should do. Alby was seated in the middle, looking as high and mighty as he used to be, with Newt and Minho beside him. The other Keepers surrounded me in their chairs, waiting anxiously.

“Forget all the beat around the bush Floral, start talking”, Alby demanded, before I gulped down my dry mouth. I had literally had only just woken up, not water or anything. They were too worried to care about that right now, so my stomach was rumbling and my throat was as dry as a bone. But none the less, I opened my mouth to speak.

“It’s.... a long story”, I stated. “We don’t have time to go through it all, but I’ll tell you the gist of it. When I went through the Changing, I saw mostly memories of being in WICKED, the people who sent us here. Some things weren’t as important, so I won’t bother talking about them. But I remember the really important ones. The Creators are testing us. The Maze was never meant to be solved. It’s been all a trial. They want winners-or survivors-to do something important”.

“What exactly?”, Newt said, leaning forward in his chair while eyeing me intently.

“Wait hold on...”, I said while slowly rubbing my temples and sighing. “Let me track it from the beginning. Every single one of us was taken when we were really young. I don’t remember how or why-just glimpses and feelings that things had changed the world, that something really bad happened. I have no idea what. The Creators stole us from our own parents. Somehow, they figured out that we have above-average intelligence. I don’t know, most of that kind of stuff is fuzzy and sketchy”.

“Well then what isn’t fuzzy and sketchy?”, Alby asked with a hint of annoyance. I glanced over at the boy beside him, whom the one I loved and dreamed most of.

“Mostly.... Minho”, I replied, making all heads turn to the accused.

“Me?”, Minho asked with raised eyebrows and pointing to himself.

“Why? What did you memorise of that shank?”, Frypan asked while gesturing to the glaring Minho.

“We had a.... ‘relationship’...”, I said while using my fingers for the quotation marks. “Much like the one we’re in now. I was an assistant to WICKED, but also a subject. Teresa was the same, only she seemed to be in a relationship with... Thomas”.

“M-Me?”, Thomas stuttered as heads then turned to him. A blush tinted his cheeks and he looked confused, as well as embarrassed.  I nodded, before Alby became to speak again.

“Sorry to dampen the mood, but I don’t really care about love and all that stuff. Is there anything else that isn’t too fuzzy that could be important?”, he asked, making Minho and Thomas slightly glare at their leader.

“Well nothing of our families came up. It didn’t seem like WICKED wanted us to remember them at all. But after we were taken, we spent the next few years learning in special schools, living somewhat normal lives until they were finally able to finance and build the Maze. All our names are just stupid nicknames that are made up-like Alby for Albert Einstein, Newt for Isaac Newton, Thomas for Thomas Edison and me – Floral. As in Florence Nightingale”.

“See! I bloody told you there was a nurse called bloody Floral! Or somethin’ like that!”, Newt cheered while pointing a finger directly at me.

“Calm down shuckface, you’re not gettin’ an award”, Minho said with a roll of the eyes, before turning back to meet eyes with me. “So our names... aren’t even our real names?”.

“As far as I can tell, we’ll probably never know what our names were”, I said while shaking my head.

“So your sayin’ that we’re shuckin’ orphans raised by scientists?!”, Frypan said, disbelief dripping from his voice.

“Yep”, I said, before straightening up at the thought of sounding too casual for this situation. “Apparently, they’re always watching us. Seeing who’d give up and who wouldn’t. Seeing who’d survive it all. No wonder so many Beetle Blade spies are running around this place. We’re supposedly extremely smart, and picked specifically for this trial”.

“Except for Minho”, Frypan butted, making some Keepers snigger and Minho glare viciously at the cook.

“You better keep your mouth shut shuckface or I swear that I’ll-“.

“Shut up you two”, Alby barked, making the two quieten down but glare at each other from across the room. “Keep talkin’ Floral”.

“Okay, somehow, they wiped our memories. Something called the Swipe. They injected it into us then sent us up into the Maze, one by one every month with supplies. They said that they wanted to see how we would react to what they called Variables. See if we would be able to handle it and find a solution to the problems they threw at us”, I sucked in a breath, before looking Alby dead in the eye. “But the truth is, there is no solution”.

“Whatever the reason for all this hell, it makes me sick! How they treat us like we’re not Human and not worth anything more than the dirt of their shoes. We need to get out of here, before we all die”, I said, putting more feeling into my statement.

“Well what do you propose we do then Floral? Did you get a shuckin’ idea on how to escape?”, Frypan asked.

“I did.... but you’re not going to like it”.

“What is it?”, Alby questioned.

“Through the Grievers hole, over the Cliff. Just like Minho and I found”, I stated. “We need some sort of code though. Something to open up another passage”.

The room became silent, but Minho seemed to have a small grin forming on his face. Of course he knew he was right. He loves to be right. But Alby looked slightly unimpressed. He had been told about the finding of Grievers hole, but he didn’t like it one bit. But our finding, was the best we had at the moment.

“Wait what code?”, Newt questioned, looking confused.

“The Maze makes a code, a code for our way out”.