Disclaimer: I give James Dashner full credit for the Maze Runner Trilogy. The only character I own is Kelley. And just a fyi, I cried a lot writing this chapter.

Day 949

Work was slow today. Doing calculations seemed rougher than it usually was for me. My supervisor told me that it was okay, that everyone has those days and all I needed was a small break to get my bearings. But I knew how she really felt. She was upset with me for making so many mistakes. She expected me to be perfect, like I was some savior sent to do math for all of these adults so they wouldn't have to. I was expected to have no faults, despite the fact that the people who were training me were full of them.

The only time I truly got to enjoy myself was when I got to hang out with Thomas and Teresa, when I snuck out with Newt, and when my family came over to visit me.

It had been the only requirement I made of the W.I.C.K.E.D. officials when they brought me out of the main education system for their test subjects to use my "gift" for finding the cure. They agreed to let my mother and siblings visit for three hours every two weeks. 

Lucy and James had grown up so much. They were five now and definitely gave my mother a run for her money. She told me story after story of the havoc they would wreak around the household. It kept me laughing and it kept me happy, but most importantly it kept me compliant with everything W.I.C.K.E.D. asked of me and that's all they cared about.

Every time my mother would have to leave, she'd sing her song for me and tell me that she loved me. This last time, she told me to never forget who I was no matter what W.I.C.K.E.D. forced down my throat.

"I love you, Emily." 

That was the last thing she had said at her last visit. The guards were very quick to rush her and my siblings out at that time and I was confused as to why. I was also confused why she had called me Emily, she knew my name was Kelley. It had always been Kelley...

Today was the scheduled day for another visit from my family, but the guards who were escorting me that afternoon took me straight to my room and didn't say a word. I waited and waited for someone to come get me, but no one did.

Eventually, my supervisor came in, but only to hand me more work and wish me sweet dreams before I went to bed.

"What about my family? I was supposed to meet them today." 

She stared at me for a long while and then gestured to the spot next to me on my bed.

"May I sit?"

I nodded, not sure why she had to sit down to tell me something.

"Kelley, you know your family is not immune, right?"

"Yes, but that's why I'm here, to help them stay safe."

She nodded, "Very good, Kelley, but you must understand that W.I.C.K.E.D. can't save everyone. It's impossible to monitor every single person on the planet and keep them from being infected by the flare."

My heart started to pound.

"Where's my family?" I asked.

She sighed, "Kelley, please try to understand that we did all we could, but that mother of yours is very hardheaded. A free spirit, mind you. She doesn't do what people tell her to do. She wants to do things her way, and her way was to go back out into the world instead of staying here with us and offering her services to finding a cure."

I wasn't sure where this was going. I grabbed tightly onto the edge of my bed to help calm myself down, but I knew it was impossible. My supervisor liked to drag things out when she knew it would hurt me in the end. She had never liked me for some reason. I had asked her why once, but she never gave a response.

She reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder, a feeble attempt at comfort. I knew better than to think she wanted to comfort me. She wasn't going to mean any apology that would soon come dripping like poison out of her mouth.

"Our guards went to your house this morning to pick her up for your meeting, but when they found her she had been infected. The woman was smart enough to lock herself in her room to keep her from eating her children, but she was a complete wreck, well past the gone. She had ripped off her fingers and knawed away at her legs. There was nothing we could do for her except put her down. Your mother's dead, Kelley. I'm sorry for your loss."

I started shaking. My heart felt like it had been slowly pried out of my chest with my supervisor's every word. Tears streamed down my face and soon I was heaving with my sobs. Snot trickled down my nose.

My mother was gone. That wonderful woman who had done nothing except love and provide for her family was gone. I'd never again see her bright smile, the sparkle in her blue eyes and the way she'd toss back her head when she would give a good hearty laugh. She'd never make faces at me to cheer me up, hug me or kiss me ever again. I'll never hear her say "I love you" or sing her song to me. I began to cry even harder as I remembered her song.

My supervisor held me in a hug that I knew was meant to muffle the noise of my crying rather than to comfort me.

Finally, I realized something and I stopped crying.

"Where are my siblings? Lucy and James?"

She seemed slightly surprised I had asked about them. "We gave them to an orphanage. We had no use for them and you didn't have any family nearby that would take them."

I pushed her away and glared at her.

"You gave them away?"

She spoke blatantly like I was acting stupid. 

"Yes, Kelley. It's what we're supposed to with young children who don't have anyone to take care of them."

I balled my hands into fists. Angry tears poured down my face.

"But they have me to take care of them!"

She scoffed, "You're going to take care of them? You're only twelve, Sweetheart, hardly fit to be a caretaker of two."

I stood up and got in her face.

"Give me my brother and sister back!"

She wiped away a piece of spittle that had flown onto her face.

"Now, Kelley, that's hardly how we discuss things. Be diplomatic please, show some manners."

I felt my face becoming red. My built up hatred for her was beginning to come out. I wasn't able to think clearly anymore. I was saying the first things that were coming to my mind.

"NO! I want my brother and sister now!! Or I won't work for you anymore!!"

She gave me a disgusted look, "Kelley, you and I both know you don't mean that."

"I do mean it! I only worked for you because you promised I would get to see my family, but now my mother's dead and my siblings are gone. Bring them back or I'll stop working for you! Bring them back or I'll get you infected!!"

She laughed nervously, "You'll get me infected? How on Earth do you plan to do that?"

"If I were to tell you then you would know how to stop me and I wouldn't be able to do it."

She stared at me, trying to catch my bluff, but she couldn't find one. I was willing to do anything to get my siblings back. I knew what I could do to get her infected. It was easy and highly accessible. I could see the confidence falter in her eyes.

"How do you plan on taking care of your brother and sister?"

"We already take care of enough kids, and some of them already aren't immune. It'll be easy."

She stood up and walked to my door, "If that's how you really feel and if you think it's really that easy, then I'll take this up with my superiors and let you know what they say."

She opened the door.

"Be fast," I said as she started to walk out.

She crinkled her nose in disgust and left my room.

Two more days passed and finally, I had received news that Chancellor Paige was going to allow me to have my siblings with me. The only condition was that I had to take full responsibility for them. I would have to make sure they were fed, healthy, learning and doing some sort of useful service towards W.I.C.K.E.D. I asked if they could sleep in my room with me and to my supervisor's dismay, Chancellor Paige thought it was a marvelous idea.

The next day, guards brought me outside and we waited for Lucy and James to arrive from the orphanage. Eventually, one of W.I.C.K.E.D.'s heavily fortified vans pulled up and as soon as they came out of the vehicle, I ran up to them and smothered them with hugs and kisses. They grabbed onto me tightly and gave me kisses in return. My heart swelled and right then I realized how much they really meant to me. How much I really loved them. I was nothing without them. They were all I had left of Mom and Dad. Then the thought occurred to me that Lucy and James hadn't gotten the chance to know and love them like I had. Tears came streaming down my cheeks and soon my siblings were crying too. I might have misheard, but I thought I even heard a few of the guards sniffle.

"Kelley, I miss Mommy," Lucy whimpered, her tiny hands pressed against my back.

"I miss her too, but everything will be okay. We're safe here. I'm going to take care of you."

The guards told us that was enough for now and escorted us back into the W.I.C.K.E.D. building. We walked to my room together, James holding my left hand and Lucy holding my right. I showed them their beds that were on the wall separate to mine. When they were done checking out their new room, we all sat down on my bed and hugged each other for a long time.

"Kelley, can you sing Mommy's song for us?" James asked.

I kissed his forehead, "Of course."

"I'll love you forever. I'll love you for always. As long as I'm living, my family you'll be."

They started crying again and I kept singing it until they both fell asleep in my arms. I held tightly onto them and looked up at the ceiling, hoping that my mother and father would hear from heaven.

"I promise I'll take care of them. I swear I'll find a cure. I love you, mom. I love you, dad."