Into the Maze (English Version)

2

J sat with Minho again at the campfire. It was nothing new that they would get on each other's nerves and then hang on to each other again as if nothing had happened afterwards. Just like now at the fire. This campfire, once a month, was a tradition to welcome the Greenies. And it was fun every time, usually those were the funniest evenings.

"Did you scare the Greenbean again and whispered any names?", Fry Pan asked as he brought J and Minho their dinner. The dark-skinned boy was the cook of the glade and a true blessing. If it weren't for him, the gladers would probably eat dry bread every day. But thank God they had Pan, who stood at his pots and prepared three meals for them every day.

"Sure, what do you think? Same as always," J couldn't help but grin. Then she looked over at the Greenie who was sitting on a tree trunk with a blonde boy. "Newt will welcome him well."

He would, of course, J knew that very well. Why did she know that? Quite simple, apart from Minho, she knew Newt better than anyone else. Because not only was his hair color very similar to hers, they also had a lot more in common. Because Newt was her brother. It was a miracle that she had been able to remember it. But she had had this familiar feeling towards him from the start. At first she had thought she was in love with him. Without her memories, she had no other way to explain the feelings. But then at some point, after she had been in the glade for a few weeks, she had realized it. It had been playing like a strange, twitching film in her head. Like a poorly edited video. But it was clear. And Newt had experienced something similar back then.

"Sure. Your brother isn't as scary as you," Minho said this while grinning at his plate.

"Scary?" Zart, who was about to walk past them, paused.

"Don't interfere," Minho replied to him immediately. Pan just rolled his eyes, giggling, and then walked away.

"Leave me alone, then no one will have to intervene," J pointed her fork threateningly in Minhos direction. Since they weren't sitting far apart, she could easily have pricked him.

"Who says anything about getting in the way, I'll never. In the end you'll stick together again and I'll be the fool," and then Zart walked away too, like Pan did earlier.

"Well, bad luck," Minho grinned victoriously. But J wasn't impressed. "Well, I thought I'd be merciful and let Zart speak for me, then for once you won't have to cry yourself to sleep."

Minho was already starting to say something back. But J interrupted him with a shake of her head. "Just shut up and eat. Gosh, you're so annoying."

And that's what he did, that's what they both did. Anything else would have been rude to Pan Fried Rice with Vegetables. It tasted wonderful as always.

"What do you think of the new one?", Minho asked matter-of-factly when they had both finished eating. While sitting, he leaned forward a little so that his voice sounded close to her ear.

J looked at the Greenie, who was still sitting with Newt, and sipped the drink that Pan had brought her earlier. She pretended to think about it, then turned to Minho. Their faces were now barely a hand's width apart. She grinned smugly. "You just can't get over it, can you?"

"What? That you talked to him? Klunk! No, Ably said he sprinted away from the box." Minho changed the topic a little too quickly. Sometimes J wondered what was going through his mind when he was so close to her, or when they were together in general. Sure, he always reacted irritably when one of the gladers made fun of how close he and J were. Although he never seemed to think about putting some distance between the two of them.

"Hey?" Minho flicked his fingers urgently in front of her face. "Are you even listening to me?"

Yes she did. She was just... distracted. J quickly focused on his words again. She knew immediately what Minho was getting at. It was about the running. He wanted to know if J thought the new guy had what it took to be a runner. Because they were definitely in demand. Not many people wanted to run around out there in the maze, or were even made for it.

"He looks a bit skinny," J looked at the Greenie, who now stood up with Newt.

"That's what I said," Minho agreed immediately. Nevertheless, he continued to watch the Greenie. Things actually became interesting when he bumped into Gally.

J already knew where this was going. Gally, a broadly built boy with short light brown hair, had a similar sized ego to Minho. Albeit in a different way. Gally was the keeper of the builders and where Minho was sarcastic and cheeky, Gally was more arrogant and short-tempered. However, J didn't really have a problem with him. Well, they had had their struggles, but J could say that about everyone here. Gally was one of the particularly suspicious ones. And when a girl came into the glade, it seemed very strange to him. But over time they somehow became quite good friends.

However, it didn't look as if the same would happen to him and the Greenie in the near future. Because Gally now challenged him to a duel. Minho immediately stood up and approached like the other glades. J just followed him with a sigh. She didn't think much of the silly tussle that the boys occasionally had to pass the time when they got a little cocky. But that didn't mean she was bad at it. Compared to most guys, she was pretty small, which gave her an advantage when she decided to take part in something like that.

Thomas, on the other hand, was rather bad in the ring and had little chance against Gally, who was much stronger. But towards the end of the fight, J raised her head and became attentive. Gally had caused the Greenie to fall, whereupon he hit his head badly. But he quickly got up again and then shouted a word, more precisely a name. "Thomas. My name is Thomas."

Then his brown eyes flicked to J. Apparently the Greenie had realized that she had already known his name. Ah shit. She pursed her lips, it was clear what that meant. Sooner or later the boy would come up to her and want answers. Answers that she couldn't give him. Because apart from the names, or the fact that Newt was her brother, J had never been able to remember anything.

But these thoughts immediately disappeared when all the glades shrank together. A distant scream had drifted across the glade. Thomas in particular looked scared. But Gally explained it to him. "Grievers. They live in the labyrinth. But don't worry, you're safe here in the glade. Nothing gets through these walls."

And before anyone could waste a thought on what was wandering around the labyrinth at night, their leader had swung into action. Alby, a dark-skinned boy with close-shaven hair. Most of the time he looked rather gloomy, the responsibility he had as leader was pretty huge. But he did a good job keeping the glades together. Like now. He solemnly raised Thomas's arm and made sure that the glades celebrated that he had remembered his name. So no one thought about the Grievers and the labyrinth anymore.

However, when she went to sleep, Thomas became curious again. He was laying in a hammock between Chuck and J. The two of them usually slept next to each other because Chuck had liked the girl best from the moment he had arrived. But because Thomas was new and probably still really scared >they all were in the beginning< they had hung his hammock between the two of them.

"Is this perhaps a prison? Have we been locked up for something?", Thomas mused. J, who had already closed her eyes, chuckled. She had heard, or made up, so many theories about what this place could be.

"Dude, I'm probably 12 years old," Chuck replied. "What should I go to jail for?"

J had to laugh about that too.

"Hm," Thomas mumbled, then J heard him turn his head to her. "Tell me... J... You knew my name, right?"

"Yeah," J didn't open her eyes when she answered. She knew what Thomas would ask next anyway. "Where from? How did you do that? Why can you..."

"I don't know how I know, sometimes it just happens. It's always been like that," she interrupted him. "Now get some sleep. Alby will show you the jobs tomorrow. If you don't get enough sleep, it'll be even harder than it already is."

"But..." Thomas didn't want to be brushed off like that.

"I'm serious, Thomas, sleep now!", now she had opened one eye, with which she glared menacingly at the Greenie. So he did her a favor and finally kept his mouth shut.