Gone Wrong

Questions and Answers

231.03.18 | 12:02 p.m.

"What happened to your leg?" This girl – Kat – was straightforward.

Newt looked to the side, gazing at the west door, though he did not see it. "Wasn't nice. Don't wanna talk about it." He blinked and shook his head in order to refocus on the present and the new girl. "So Nick filled you in?"

The girl shrugged. "Jobs and Rules."

Newt nodded. "The basics. That's all you need to know. It's hard enough to get to terms with all this...", his arm performed a rough circle to indicate the whole of the Glade, "so just be patient."

The girl snorted. "Patient. Great. I don't remember a big lot about me, but right now I am not patient. I'm hungry."

Newt checked his wristwatch. "It's nearly lunch time anyway. Let's get something to eat."

As they walked to Frypan, the girl couldn't help but notice: "Whatever it was, you are limping badly."

Newt scowled at her sideways. "Still don't wanna talk about it."

She grimaced. Newt wondered how old she might be. Small though she was, he guessed her age about fifteen.

They got themselves a couple of sandwiches, some fruit and water each and went over to a small group of trees to eat their meal.

"Is it true that nobody here remembers anything about their lives before they came to the Glade?"

Newt nodded, his mouth full. "You get used to it. Sooner or later you accept it. You don't have a big bloody choice about it anyway."

"How long have you been here?"

"I?" Newt chewed and swallowed. "More than a year. Nearly sixteen months. I was among the first group."

"A group?"

"One initial group. Then one bloody Greanbean a month, supplies once a week. Didn't Nick tell you?"

Kat shrugged. "Not in so many details. What kind of supplies?"

"Clothes, food, wood, tools, medicine... All the stuff we need and can't provide ourselves."

"And where am I supposed to sleep?"

"Y... er..." Newt stuttered and stopped. This girl leapt from one subject to the other, and he had to try to keep up. All the Newbies just find a place somewhere outside, like in the gardens. But you are a girl. Wouldn't dream of telling you to sleep outside. Thoughts and Words filled his mind, but all that came out was: "You can sleep in my room."

She raised an eyebrow and eyed him with her most sceptical face. "You sure?"

Newt listened to the echo of his words and went deep red. "You can have my room, I mean. I can sleep outside, like the other boys."

"So you say all the others sleep outside, only you have a room for yourself? Due to your bad leg or what?"

"Nonono, 's different. See, all the Gladers who came here first got a room in the Homestead. But since we've been running out of rooms almost a year ago..."

She winced and frowned and was clearly not at all satisfied by his answer. "Nah, I think I will find something by myself."