Into the Maze

Chapter 2

"No." I managed to get out, pulling my knees close and resting my chin on them, looking up at him. He was looking down at me too, before he chuckled a little.

"I know it can be a bit confusing at first, and frightening-" He started, trying to calm me down a little. I really didn't need a pep-talk right now.

"I just wanna go home." I almost whined, burying my face into my knees, and sighing. "Except I don't know where home is. I don't know what anything is."

"Well, for starters, I'm Newt." He looked behind him, at the wall, before walking to it and sliding down, so he was sitting across from me. "I don't expect you to know your name, not many greenies do."

"Parker." I said, my name was Parker. I knew that, and now I had two facts straight. My name, and his.

For a moment, there was a flicker of doubt within me, questioning if that really was my own name. It seemed nice, and comforting, but at the same time, oh so artificial. But his sounded the same way, so I decided to drop it for good. It was crazy to even begin to wonder if my name was really my name when I was in this situation.

"Oh, well you got that pretty quick." Newt smiled, and I nodded, pulling my legs tighter. I felt like a little kid, whining and pouting. "Anyways, it's a pretty nice place here. In the Glade. We've got everything from teenage boys to nice, dark pits." He said, and I smiled a little. It didn't completely make me feel better, but it helped. I watched him chuckle, and then nod at me.

There it was again, that feeling, the feeling like I was supposed to be with him. This time it was deeper, I think past me felt this way for him, like she wanted to kiss him.

I shifted, wondering if he felt it too or if I was experiencing hormones or something. The feeling I had for him was deep, and I couldn't explain it any more than I had. I shouldn't have it, I shouldn't mind it, but I did.

"See, it's not so scary once you know someone's name." Newt added, and cleared his throat, as I shoved my thoughts out of my head quickly, scared he might be able to read them. "Shall we get outta here? Alby wants to talk to you. Don't worry, he just wants to go over some things."

I eyed him, then looked up. Somewhere along the way all the boys had left, probably going back to what they were doing before I was here.

I nodded, and watched him get up, dusting himself off. He walked over to me as I pushed myself up too.

I stood and looked to the top, before jumping and gripping the grass above. I used my arms and pulled myself upwards, then got up. I guess I had at least a little upper body strength.

I looked around, noticing things I hadn't noticed before. We were surrounded by four walls, with one opening on one wall. The area we were in, the Glade, was covered in grass, and had a forest in one corner.

Scattered around the grass were small buildings and stations, under one was hammocks, and in another corner was a big farm.

"Neat, right?" Newt pushed himself up, and looked around, like I was, as a light breeze swept through the Glade.

"Greenie." A black boy greeted as he walked over, standing in front of a closed pit. "Other greenie." He looked inside, as I noticed Newt was walking the other way. He must of had other work to do and couldn't wait around all day. I sighed, and followed Alby's gaze.

Inside the pit was the boy from the box, but up close he looked familiar too. I didn't know why I came up in the box with him, but I knew there had to be a reason.

"I'm Alby." He greeted, and kneeled down in front of the boy's pit. "You're not gonna run again, okay? Good." Alby side glanced at me when he said that, then opened up the door to the boy's pit.

The boy watched me, clearly a little startled by Alby's firm and commanding gestures. I would have been too, if Newt hadn't talked to me just a second ago. He made me feel safer, or calmer, or whatever you want to call it, it worked.

"Now can you tell me anything about yourself, anything at all?" Alby asked, looking from the boy, to me. I knew my name but now didn't feel like the time for me to speak up.

"I uh, I can't remember anything." The boy started stressing, looking around and panicking, and there it was again. The worried feeling in my chest. Was I feeling what this boy was, even in the slightest. "Why can't I remember anything."

"It's okay, hey, relax, relax. It's normal. It happens to us all. You'll get your name back in a day or two, It's the one thing they let us keep." Alby explained, as I wondered. They? As in the people who wiped our memories?

"What is this place." The boy asked, looking around like I had, then down. He messed with his hands, nervously.

"Let me show you." Alby leant in and reached his hand out, as the boy grabbed it. Alby stood up, and looked at me.

He smiled, and waved for me to come too. He was walking away, showing the boy around. I hesitantly stepped forward, starting to feel a little less scared and a little more curious.

"We eat here, we sleep here, we grow our own food, and build our own shelter. Whatever we need, the box provides, the rest is up to us." Alby explained, walking us along as some of the boys at the different stations stopped and stared.

"The box?" The boy asked, as we all looked toward where it was. Where we had been pulled out of.

"Yeah, they send it once a month with supplies and a new greenie. Normally it's just one, but I guess they felt the need to send two." Alby smiled, but I was more focused on what he said. Normally they send one? So why were two sent? And if there weren't any other girls then why send one now.

I hope whoever it was who sent me didn't expect me to reproduce because I was not about to have a child here of all places. Especially not with these boys.

"Sent up by who? Who put us here?" I spoke up, looking from the boy to Alby. I decided to ask my question about who exactly was running this.

"That, we don't know." Alby sighed, leaving the boy and I confused. So if people were providing for us, why didn't they come and get us out?

"Are you alright, Alby?" Newt came back over, smiling, and looking from Alby to the boy. Alby laughed, and pointed at Newt.

"Green beans, meet Newt." He said, as I nodded. I knew who Newt was, but I didn't really understand their weird nick-names. "When I'm not around he's in charge."

"Hey." Newt grinned and shook the boy's hand, as Alby smiled too. Newt looked at me and nodded.

I didn't really need to be introduced to him, I already knew him, but I went with it anyways. I smiled back and watched him for a second, before he turned back to Alby.

"Well it's a good thing you're always around then." Newt joked, and then looked to the boy. "Some dash you made, you know for a second I thought you had the chops to be a runner, until you face planted. That's great." Alby chuckled, as I looked at the boy. What was a runner?

"Wait, runner?" The boy asked, as I scanned their faces, he was having the same thoughts I was. I felt like I had a billion unanswered questions just screaming to be answered.

"Newt, do me a favor and go find Chuck." Alby asked as Newt nodded and walked past me, going to get Chuck, who ever he was.

"Look I'm sorry to rush this, you both came up a little late, and there's a lot to do. Got something special planned for you tonight, yeah, you'll see." Alby spoke to the both of us as I glanced back, Newt was looking around for Chuck. That's when I noticed it, Newt had a little bit of a limp. Not very much, just a little, it was barely noticeable.

I followed Alby as he lead us to a tree with a wooden structure built on it. It wasn't a house, but more like a floor, it was all open.

"Hope you're not afraid of heights." Alby smiled and started climbing as I sighed. There were so many things I wanted to know and instead, I was climbing a tree.

I looked at the boy, who looked back. We shared a glance, but it was weird. I felt something when I looked at him. I think it was love, a feeling I knew from the large, empty void of my life before now, but it wasn't romantic. It was almost like family.