Chapter 17: The Past Still Matters

"What the hell?" Arya exclaimed, her voice full of disbelief.

One moment, she was trapped in the maze, the scent of blood and sweat clinging to her skin. The next, they were back in the cold, white walls of the hospital. A sickening weight twisted in her gut. 

She quickly held the wound on her forehead. To her surprise, there was no wound. She held the piece of fabric that Zack tore from his shirt before, but there was no blood in it. 

Mark stumbled forward, pressing his hand to his ribs as if expecting excruciating pain. But there was none. His injuries, the bruises, even the dull ache in his shoulder–it was all gone. 

Ellie looked at the scratches on her arms— also gone. 

Jake swayed on his feet, steadying himself against the wall. "So, that…that was all…an illusion?" 

They had fought and bled…All for something that had never really happened. 

None of it had been real.

Arya is still cursing in between her breath. "So, the 2000 points was not true? At all?" 

"So, we almost died, for what? For nothing." Ellie said through gritted teeth and threw the sword into the ground. 

Zack was still in awe. 'How did I not see that?' he thought. His mind racing with a million thoughts. His eyes widened as realization hit him like a punch in the gut. 

"Of course. All of it makes sense now," Zack exhaled sharply.

"What? What do you mean?" Ellie replied, her eyes narrowed with confusion.

"This place…It is designed to deceive us. We can't trust anything, not even our own senses," his voice was firm.

"So, you're saying that the entire hospital is-" before Mark could finish his sentence, Jake immediately cut him off.

"An illusion," Jake said in disbelief.

"Not just the maze, the whole damn place. Even the food that we ate. Who's to say that was real?" Mark continued.

Arya's stomach twisted. She could still remember the feeling of exhaustion, the pain from her wounds, the ache from her body as it was pushed to its limit. Yet now, she feels fine. 

"So, even Carter's death is possibly an illusion? But if it was, where is he now?" Ellie said, trying to make sense of everything. 

No one had an answer. 

Zack broke the awkward silence. "We know for a fact that the Trial 2 was real because the announcement and the map led us here."

"But I don't know how deep this illusion runs and if we stay here any longer, we might not even realize when we are actually dying," he continued.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's get the hell out of here!" Jake said it with urgency, still not recovering from the adrenaline rush he felt during the maze. 

Everyone gathered whatever they could use to survive outside. Makeshift weapons, extra clothes they picked up from the cabinets, and first aid kits.

Jake found a black bag behind the counter top that looks like someone had left behind. He opened the bag and it was full of supplies. It has water, food, medicines, a few clothes, flashlight, and pocket knives.

'Damn, if this is some kind of illusion again, I'm going to lose my sh*t,' he muttered. He slung the bag over his back and walked towards the door. When he was already outside, he took off the bag, and stared at it, checking if it would disappear now that he's outside.

If it disappears, it was an illusion. But if not, then, it was a miracle. 

Everyone hurries outside while Jake is still staring at the bag for over 10 seconds. 

"What are you doing? Where did you get that?" Arya asked him, her brows furrowed.

"I saw it behind the counter, it has all the supplies we need. I thought it was an illusion, so I hurried outside to see if it was. But, clearly, it's not." He replied, and slung the bag over his back again, and then started walking to match the pace of the others. 

—

As they walked through the streets of Northwood, the group remained tense. The cold air brushing against their skin. 

Mark glanced at Ellie, who had been unusually quiet. It seemed like she was deep in her thoughts, occasionally rubbing her arms as if to double check that the scratches were truly gone. 

"Hey," Mark called out. "You good?"

Ellie exhaled sharply. "I don't know. I keep thinking. The things that I've done in the maze– I haven't done any of that in my entire life. And to think that I fought like hell back there, for the first time in my life…only to realize that I was fighting for nothing."

Mark sighed heavily. "Yeah, I mean, I got my ribs broken for nothing. Felt all that pain and almost died for nothing."

Ellie shook her head. "It's not just that. It's the fact that I didn't hesitate. Back there, in the maze, I wasn't just trying to survive. I was…invincible."

She let out a slow breath. "And for the first time in my life, I was not afraid to die. It felt like…not being a burden, being able to fight for myself." She swallowed hard, as if admitting it out loud made it more real.

She cleared her throat. "My mom…She used to tell me that I'd never survive on my own. That I was weak. A burden. A waste of space. A cross that she's forced to carry." She paused for a second. "And you know what? I believed her."

Mark's expression changed. He glanced at Ellie, his eyes full with empathy, while Ellie was looking down on the floor. "Ellie…"

"She was an addict," Ellie continued. "Most days, she didn't even know I was there. Other days, she made sure I knew I was nothing. It's a good thing that I was an only child, because no kid should have experienced what I've gone through." 

Mark clenched his fists. He knew that he couldn't do anything for her. He doesn't even have the right words to say. But he had to say something. 

Ellie still remembered the look in her mother's eyes, distant, glassy, lost in the high of whatever she had injected into her veins that day.

"You think you're better than me?" her mother had slurred one night, her breath thick with the stench of alcohol. "You think you can make it out there on your own? You're nothing without me. You hear me? Nothing."

Ellie had been thirteen, too young to fight back, too tired to cry. So she had done what she always did, kept her mouth shut and waited for her mother to pass out.

But the words had stuck.

Even now, as she stood among the others, fully healed from wounds that were never real, the weight of those words still pressed down on her chest.

Mark had said she was strong. That she had fought harder than anyone.

She wanted to believe him.

But a voice in the back of her head whispered: What if it was just the illusion? What if, outside of that maze, you really are weak?

She clenched her fists, pushing the thoughts away. She wouldn't let her mother's voice haunt her. Not now.

Not anymore.

She let out a bitter laugh. "So yeah. When I was in the maze, fighting, bleeding…I realized something." She looked at him directly into his eyes. "For the first time in my life…I felt alive."

Ellie quickened her pace, and Mark catched up. No one said anything. They just walked in silence. 

Arya and Zack were walking at the front. She suddenly stopped when she realized that the path looked familiar.

When she turned to her left, she saw that they were standing right in front of her house. 

The house was in perfect condition. No damage or anything. But she remembered that an asteroid had hit their home. 'Why was it still intact?'

Arya didn't think twice, she ran inside, not knowing what lies ahead. 

"Daniel!"

"Danny!"

"Is anyone here?!" 

She yelled at the top of her lungs, while she searched the house desperately to find Daniel. 

The whole group went inside the house. Jake shut the door, and blocked it with a large cabinet to make sure no one could enter. 

"Who's Daniel?" Ellie whispered quietly to Jake. 

"Her brother," he replied.