"Dr. Paige, don't do this, I'm begging you!"

"Thomas, we've been over this, the decision has already been made, Kate is halfway through the Swipe by now, I could't change her fate even if I wanted to."

"But you can't send her in there. Anyone but her!"

"Thomas, you knew from the start that Kate would be going into the maze."

"But that was before the accident-"

"And if I am not mistaken, that was your fault. Was it not you who suggested to your friends to leave the compound again?"

"Well, yes. But-"

"No but's Thomas. That's it."

"Dr. Paige!"

"What?"

"Give Jack his memories of her. Please."

The first thing the girl realized, was that she was moving. She walked and felt around the dark place she a woken up in, and realized that she was in a metal box that was moving up like an elevator. 

My name is Kate. This was all she knew. Kate stood up and wiped away the tears threatening to come before they even formed. 

She also knew something else: she knew that, one day, she had promised herself that she would never let herself cry over something she couldn't change, ever again.

What she had been crying over at the time, she didn't know; but she knew now was one of those times. 

She would stand in the center of this box with her head held high, waiting for whatever was coming for her. 

Something Kate found very strange, was that the box made no noise. She could feel it shaking and scraping, but there was no sound. 

Finally, the box stopped, and a small beam of light appeared above her. 

The beam of light became two pieces of metal sliding away from each other, and again, though she could feel the friction between the metal, no sound was made.

Kate looked above her and saw a group of teenagers, mostly boys, but about a dozen or so girls as well. 

She could see their mouths moving but they were talking so quietly she couldn't hear them. 

One of them threw down a rope with a loop on the end, and Kate allowed these mysterious people to pull her out of the box. 

Once she was out, one of the older boys, a dark-skinned boy with black hair approached her. 

Kate could see his mouth moving, but she couldn't hear anything. 

She must have had a confused look on her face because the boy said something else a little more urgently. 

She then saw him talk to someone else and then look back at her. A few seconds later she could see everyone else start whispering to each other. 

A boy walked from behind her with a worried look on his face.

What's going on? Why aren't they saying anything. 

Then it hit her and she finally said something of her own. "I-I can't hear you?" 

But she didn't hear herself say it. "You're all talking and I can't hear you?"

The boy in front of her nodded his head. 

"Well," Kate thought to herself. "Nothing I can do about it, so may as well get on with our lives."

"M-my name is Kate."

The second boy, who had long, dirty blonde hair, nodded and gestured for her to follow him. He put his hand on the small of her back and led her to a wooden building that looked to be on its last legs. 

He guided Kate upstairs and into a small bedroom with only a bed, a small table, and an old trunk.

He went over to the trunk and brought out a piece of paper and some pens.

Kate walked over to the table and looked at what he had written on the paper.

My name is Newt. 

She took the pen he offered her and wrote:

Do you know sign language?

Kate didn't know why, but she can still remember something called sign language, where you move your hands to communicate. 

No, can you teach me?

Yes. ABCs

She turned his eyes to her hands and began spelling the alphabet. 

The greenie is a girl this time, according to everyone. When they pull her out I feel like I know her from somewhere. 

"I'm Alby, what's your name, greenie?"

The girl tilts her head slightly to the side and looks confused, and says nothing. She looks like someone trying to solve a very tricky puzzle. 

"Hey, greenie! You know what I'm saying?"

The girl just stands there. 

"Hey, Newt!" 

"Yeah, Alby?"

"Walk behind her and make a noise, but don't touch her."

"What kind of noise?"

"I don't care! Clap, whistle, snap, sing her a freaking lullaby, for all I care, just try to do it where she wouldn't expect it."

Newt walks behind the girl and holds his hands right behind her ear and claps, but the girl doesn't even blink. 

Whispers spread like wildfire, 

"I think she's deaf!"

"No duh, Einstein."

"I'm just saying."

The whispers cease when the girl opens her mouth, her voice is a little shaky, but she still speaks, "I-I can't hear you?"

"You're all talking, and I can't hear you?"

Alby nodded solemnly. But the girl just straitens up and says, "M-my name is Kate."

Newt nods and leads her towards the Homestead. 

"Listen up, everyone," Alby says once the girl has turned the other way. "Ain't no one gonna mess with this girl. You all leave her alone, or you'l have me to answer to, now back to work or next break is cut in half!"

That night I have a weird dream. 

"Are you sure about this, Tom?"

"I promise, Teresa, we won't get caught this time, we're only getting a bit of fresh air." 

"Come one, T, live a little bit."

"You guys weren't there the first time, you guys didn't go through the punishment."

"We can handle a few cranks behind bars, T, can't we, Jack?"

This time he heard himself talk, but it wasn't really him, "Of coarse we can, we've been through worse."

The snow crunched beneath our feet as we walked through the forest for about thirty minutes, or so. 

We were almost back to the building when-

"Kate, look out!" Thomas yelled.

I heard Kate scream, as the crank tackled her. The snow was stained red and I looked around for something to help her. 

Teresa grabbed a bit of pipe on the ground and threw it at the crank who tossed Kate aside like she was a rag doll and advanced towards Teresa. 

I ran over to Kate and tried not to look at the gashes all over her body. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was faint.

"Kate? Kate, come on, don't do this to me."

"Jack?" 

"Kate?" Her eyes were slightly open and she looked at him. The gunshots and people shouting my name didn't matter.

"Jack?"

"Hold on, Kate, you'll be okay."

"Jack. . . I can't hear you." 

"What?" I had started shouting now. "Kate? Kate? Come on, Kate!"

The scene changed and I was sitting beside a hospital bed. Kate was covered in bandages, a cast covered her leg from the top of her thigh to her toes, her neck was supported by some metal contraption, and she was hooked up to a dozen different machines. 

I was holding her hand as a machine tracked her heartbeat. The doctors told me that, when she had been thrown, she damaged the part of her brain that tells the nerves in her ears what to do. If she lived she would be deaf. And that was a big if. 

I rubbed my thumb across the back of her hand; it was still warm. 

Thomas and Teresa came in. 

"How is she?" Teresa asked.

"No change." I couldn't look at Thomas, this was all his fault. It was his idea, and I was stupid enough to go along with it. 

"Jack," Thomas started. 

"Don't."

"I'm sorr-"

"No, Thomas! This is all your fault! It was YOUR idea and I was stupid enough to agree."

"Jack, we all did," Teresa said. "It's no one's fault."

"Yes it is, Teresa. It's his fault and it's mine. I was supposed to protect her. I promised her nothing bad would ever happen."

"Jack," Teresa sat down next to me. "No one blames you. No one blames anyone. Kate's strong, she'll be okay."

"No she won't, Teresa. She won't be able to hear, then what? I'll never forgive him or myself for what happened."

Then I was in a dormitory. Thomas, Teresa, and Kate, looking just fine, were there. 

I made some sort of gesture with my hands, "I guess this is goodbye." 

"No," Kate signed back. I know what it meant, somehow. "I'll see you again." 

"But I won't know you." 

"That doesn't matter." 

I turned to Thomas and Teresa, "Thomas, don't let them send her in, if you do that for me, I'll forgive you for what happened."

"Jack, I swear, I would have tried that even if you hadn't asked me."

"Well, now I am asking, so you have to now."

"Jack," Teresa said. "If we ever see you again, I hope you will have forgiven everything."

"I won't remember. But I'll always know in the back of my mind." 

"Jack, I never meant for it to happen," Thomas said. I know, but I need to blame someone, and blaming myself just doesn't cut it. "Forgive me. Please."