Then She Came

Maya 2

A month. A whole month.

I've been living in the Glade for a whole month, trying out jobs and eventually getting assigned to Med-Jack. Minho, one of the Runners, thought that it was destined that I would become Slicer. But when I tried out that job, I ended up hurling in the woods as Newt stood over me, holding my hair back with his eyebrows knitted together. 

Minho had laughed at me when he returned from the maze. 

I wasn't a good Builder either. I dropped the hammer on my foot. I couldn't figure out how to pound a nail in correctly. Gally pretty much told me I was a lost cause. 

I can't cook. At all. 

I wanted to be a Runner. I wanted it so bad too. I begged Newt to even consider it. Then when he did, I begged him to talk to Alby about it. He came back to me a day later telling me Alby had said no. 

Yet after all that, I could somehow bandage up a cut without messing it up. Alby decided that Med-Jack would be the best option. 

So there I sat, carefully bandaging a Builder's scrape that was around the length of his arm. He had smiled sheepishly at me as he walked in. The cut wasn't deep, just enough to leave a little bit of blood. 

"So," The boy said awkwardly and I felt a tinge of guilt for not remembering his name. "What are you doing tonight?" 

"Working," I said before looking up at his face. There was a slight pink color on his cheeks and I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

"Oh. Well, do you want to eat dinner with me?" I taped off the bandage and straightened up, coming up to eye level with him. 

"Sorry, but I'm not eating until late tonight." I felt awkward standing there in front of him as he looked at me white hopefull eyes. 

"Oh, that's ok." He jumped off the cot, landing on the floor with a loud thud. "See ya around, Maya." I nodded, sending him a smile as he walked out of the infirmary. 

"You just crushed David's dreams." I turned around to see Jeff standing behind me, leaning against a door frame with a smirk quite evident on his face. "He looked really hopeful." 

"I didn't even know his name was David!" I threw my hands up in the air and sat down on the cot. "I feel terrible." 

"Don't." He said, coming over to me and grabbing a cloth out of my hand. "I would have said no also." I gave him an incredulous look and he smiled. "He's a slob, just saying." I laughed out loud at that. 

At that, a Slicer came in, covered in blood. "What happened?" I asked frantically apon setting my eyes on him. 

"Dropped the knife." He said quietly, favoring his left arm. Jeff hurried to grab a clean cloth and some rubbing alcohol from the back pantry. I slowly peeled the apron away from him and threw it on the ground in a ball. The smell of the inside of a sheep wasn't that appealing. 

"Alright, let's see this," Jeff said carefully, trying to clean off the blood. Once we could see skin, I took the bottle of alcohol.

"This is gonna sting. A lot." I warned.

"Just get it over with." He grunted and I complied, pouring a little bit on the wound and he let out a yell, his right-hand white from clutching the table. 

"All done," I whispered and he nodded, his eyes shut tightly. The worst part was the stitches. I let Jeff do those as I still hadn't mastered them quite yet. 

The boy let a few tears out and I felt my heart splitting slightly. What did this group of boys do to get stuck in this place where every other day they were in the infirmary? What did I do to get stuck here?

"There you go, Chase," Jeff said once he finished the bandaging. "Come in later tonight so we can change the bandages." Chases nodded, rubbing his face off with the end of his shirt before grabbing his apron and leaving the room. 

--

"Newt is the reason why you're not a Runner." I felt my anger coursing through my veins at what the boy had whispered as he passed me on my way to lunch.

He said Alby had said no. I bet he didn't even go talk to Alby. 

I would have to wait until dinner for Newt to get back from the Maze.

"You all right there, Maya?" Fry Pan had asked warily as I snatched my plate out of his hands. 

"I'm fine," I grunted, turning away from him and glaring at the silent crowd of boys as they watched me rush out of the room. 

For the rest of the day, anger came and went. I had been trying to decide if getting this upset was worth it. It wouldn't change anything. 

But when Newt had jogged back through the doors, I couldn't hold it in any longer. I had stormed over to him and the entire Glade was eerily silent, watching me carefully. 

He smiled, but it quickly disappeared when he saw my face. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"What's wrong?" I asked incredulously. "Maybe the fact that you lied to me! You never even talked to Alby about becoming a Runner did you?" 

"I did, I-"

"Shut it!" I nearly screamed and he flinched. "You know how bad I wanted it! Don't lie to me now. I do not need to be protected by you, Newt! I was sent here to help! I know it!" 

"And you can help by being a Med-Jack." He said calmly. I could tell he was angry. He was mad, and his tone scared me. "You really don't want to go out there." 

"Yes, I do. I am meant to do more." I tried to keep my voice down, but it was cracking. 

"You really don't-"

"Is it because I'm a girl?" I cut him off and he took a step back. "I'm a girl so apparently I can't do everything that you can, right?" He shook his head. "You know what you told me?" He shook his head again. "After the Gathering, you told me that I would have the same rights as anyone else!" 

I stomped off again. Maybe I was being overdramatic. But he knew how badly I wanted it. I wanted to yell more. But I couldn't do it. Not to him. 

I was alone in the deadheads when Alby had raced in, his face sweat covered. "It's Newt! He ran back into the Maze!"