➊ 𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 - 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨, ᵗᵐʳ

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑: 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬

The Asian boy looked ready to snap back, but Newt cut him off.

"Can you two shuckin' stop? Minho, she just got here, let her bloody breathe," he sighed.

Weirdly, I felt... kind of okay with them. Comfortable, even. I shouldn't have. I had way too many questions, and none of them made sense.

"My name's Newt," the British boy said, offering his hand to shake.

I didn't take it. Newt? That didn't sound like a real name, especially not for someone British. I thought about giving mine, well, the one I thought was mine. In the worst case, I could always punch someone's balls again.

"Ben," I said confident about it.

The boys standing around us nearly dropped their jaws. What? Was it that bad? I mean, sure, Ben's a boy's name, but it couldn't be weirder than Newt.

"No, it's not," Newt said with a chuckle.

I stared at him. He realized I wasn't laughing.

"Oh—you're not joking," he added.

"Why would I be?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Newt looked over at the Asian boy—Minho—and they exchanged a quiet, awkward whisper. Then Minho walked away.

"There's already a Ben here," Newt finally explained.

"So? What's wrong with that?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Nothing, but hey do you wanna meet the real Ben, maybe you will remember something," Newt asked gently. His way of speaking was reassuring enough.

"Why would seeing a boy make me remember anything?" I interrogated as we walked out of the woods.

"Those who don't try got nothing" He quoted.

A taller, dark-skinned boy who'd been quietly listening stepped in. He looked a little older than Newt.

"What even is this place? Why don't you guys know anything about it?" I asked him.

"We call it the Glade," he replied. "Everyone here's a Glader. We grow our own food, build our own shelters. Whatever we need, the Box provides."

"The Box?" I repeated, confused. "A box gives you stuff?"

As we reached the main area of the Glade, he pointed to a square opening in the middle of the ground.

"That's the Box. Most of us wake up there on our first day. Then we give the Greenies a tour. But you... You didn't wake up there."

I furrowed my brow. "Greenie? And where did I wake up then? I can't just appear up in the middle of the grass and you never noticed." They told me it was the infirmary, but something told me it was not all there was.

"There.." He pointed to an opening in the wall of rocks. I weirdly didn't notice it earlier, probably too scared to witness it.

"But that's not where I woke up."

"I mean, we found you in there but you woke up in the infirmary. Does that make sense?"

I nodded. "And what's out there?"

"That brings us to the rules," He said. "First: never hurt another Glader. Second: do your job, eventually you'll pick one. Third: Never go out into the Maze. It's not safe."

"I already broke one of those," I muttered, biting my lip. So much for making a good first impression.

"Don't worry. Minho's tough—he'll be fine," Newt reassured me.