Escaping the Maze

Chapter 2

That last sentence kind of put a low mood on our trio, and we stop. I find us in front of an opening in the wall that surrounds the Glade. I spin in a quick circle, noticing there's three more, one in the middle of the wall that forms square around the Glade.
"What's out there?" I ask, pointing to the opening. Through it I can see two passageways that branch off in opposite directions, and there's vines and ivy on all the walls.
"That's the maze. Every night these doors close, every morning they open. The runners run through the maze, looking for a way out. I've been here almost two years, nothing." Harriet says, her face falling, I can tell she's one of the leaders in the Glade.
"Doors?" I ask, looking at the opening. Those walls look like they could never close in a million years.
Harriet looks like she's about to respond, but a loud grinding sound stops her.
The walls are moving, they are doors. I stop and watch as the gap gets smaller until it's completely closed.
"Yeah, doors." Harriet says, moving on.
"Okay, so there are three rules here in the Glade. One; do your part. Two; never harm another glader. And three; never go out into the maze. Got it?" Harriet says turning to me.
"Yeah." I say, swallowing the lump in my throat.
"We're going to have a council meeting in an hour. They sent up some clothes for you when you came up. You can change into those and have a shower if you'd like."
"That'd be great, thanks." I say, mildly frustrated how she says 'they' so casually without even knowing who she's talking about.
•••
Thirty minutes later I feel 100% better. I'm just wandering the Glade when I hear someone crying softly over by the deadheads. I look over curiously and decide to check it out.
I walk over there and start walking into the forest.
Just by the forest line, there's a huge tree, and a little girl sits behind it, her head down, shoulders shaking with almost concealed sobs.
"Hey, are you okay?" I ask, walking over to her side and sitting beside her.
"I-I don't know." She says, her voice shaky. "I've gotten myself hurt."
I decide she can't be more than 9 or 10 years old, with slightly wavy long blonde hair and grey eyes.
"What's your name? I'm Aris. Can you show me what happened?" I say, and then shoot to my feet. "My name is Aris." I repeat. "I remember my name!"
"I cut open my arm." She says quietly, holding out an arm. It's badly cut from just above the inside of her elbow to her wrist. This is more important than my name.
"Okay, tell me your name and how this happened while we walk back to the med-jacks." I say, gently pulling her up with her non-injured arm.
"My name is Willow. I'm 11 years old, even though I look to be 9. I was walking through the deadheads, and I saw a beetle with flashing red letters across its back spelling: WICKED. I didn't really have time to think about what that meant, when I moved closer to look at it, a sharp blade/knife thing pulled out of its mouth and slid it down my arm." She says, wincing, but the tears have stopped cascading down her face.
"We're going to the med-jacks okay? They're going to heal you." I say, leading her towards the homestead.
•••
"Hey newbie, got a name yet?" Sonya asks, skidding up to me as I'm exiting to homestead.
"Yes actually, my name is Aris." I say, smiling at the memory.
"Well, stop smiling at yourself and get your butt off to the council. We're holding it just for you." She says, smirking and walking off, not even bothering to walk with me.
"Okay then, thanks for the nice invite." I say, mumbling to myself and wandering off towards the council meeting place.
"Hey." Someone says at my shoulder and I jump a little. "Whoa, no need to be freaked out. We're in the Glade and the doors are closed. No grievers are gonna get you." They say, laughing slightly.
"What's a griever?" I ask, not remembering any information on this topic from the tour.
"Nasty monsters that lurk in the maze all night. You never want to be trapped behind those walls when the doors close. You can't survive a night in the maze, no one can." The person says, I'm thinking it must be Harriet with all this knowledge to share.
Curiosity finally overcomes me, and I turn my head to the side, seeing a freckled face and long rust-coloured hair.
"Rachel? I thought you were Harriet!" I say, trying to hide my surprise, which I'm not the best at masking emotions.
"Surprised? I came to see if you were okay. I guess some people in the Glade need to treat you somewhat nice." Rachel says shrugging and smiling.
"So, you've decided you wanted to be one of those people? Why? I'm not that fun and exciting anyways." I say, casting my gaze downwards, looking at the dirt path that leads to the council room.
"Why not? Nobody likes me here anyways, they won't mind. I sure hope you don't." She says, looking kind of nervous at being tossed away again like an old rag.
"Why would no one like you? I mean you're smart, kind, cute." I say, regretting the words as they come out of my mouth.
"Cute? You really mean that?" Rachel says, grabbing my arm and pulling me off the path, out of the way of moving gladers.
"Um, yeah, sorry if that makes you feel-" she cuts me off with an unexpected hug.
I hug back, breathing in her scent, lemon and fresh wood. I suddenly stumble backwards, feeling a wave of dizziness and familiarity wash over me.
"Oh, okay, lets pretend that never happened then." Rachel says, stepping away, as she hides her emotions, not like before when they were written all across her face.
"No-Rachel. It's not that, I just got dizzy, and I feel like I...I remember." I say, knowing that I sound crazy.
"Remember what?" She asks, her features now completely closed off, only mock confusion scrawled across her face.
"You. It's almost as if I knew you before this and I feel like I could share anything with you." I say, stepping closer to her.
She doesn't back away-which is a good sign-but steps closer, so our foreheads are almost touching.
Aris? Can you hear me? I hear a voice in my head, sounding faintly like Rachel's.
"Rachel? Did you say that?" I ask, calmly looking into her eyes.
She nods slightly, "you could hear it?" She says, her warm breath passing across my lips.
"Yeah. How?" I say, trying to breathe as little as possible, considering the circumstances.
"I don't know. It just felt right, so we can communicate telepathically now I suppose." She says, leaning a tad closer.
"Yes. I wouldn't go around telling people though, they'll think we're crazy." I say, smiling.
Rachel leans in completely, and for a heartbeat I think she is going to kiss me. Actually, I wouldn't mind that, but for all
I know I could've just met her. I must've right? I couldn't have known her before.
All she does is lay her head on my shoulder for a second, and then pull away.
"Stupid meeting." She says, pulling me back onto the path, out of a little grove of trees I didn't know we entered. But I feel grateful, I wouldn't want any other gladers to see that little scene. But it was nothing, right?
We sprint towards the building, and run head-first into Sonya who was on her way out the door.
"Ouch." She says, rubbing her head. "What took you two so long? I was just going to find you! The meeting was supposed to start ten minutes ago!"
I glance sideways at Rachel, and take a seat to where Harriet is gesturing. Rachel does the same, her seat beside mine.
"So. Ready to start?" Sonya asks, standing on a spot that looks like a stage sort of thing because it's about a few inches taller than the rest of the packed-dirt ground.