Imprisoned ON HOLD

Chuck You little...

I woke up to Chuck's face pearing at me. My eyes droopily opened.

"Why are you staring at my beautiful face?" I said sarcastically to the curly-headed boy. He just chuckled and walked away.

I groggily sat up and headed towards the Homestead for breakfast. But I was walking through the lush green grass, and I couldn't help but lay down.

I sighed as I reclined in the grass. I remembered lying on the grass the first day I got to the Glade. I was frustrated and Newt was poking fun at me. I slightly giggled to myself.

A hand covered my eyes and a deep voice said, "Guess whooooo!"

"Chuck! Run along, you little-"

"Hi, El."

I pulled the long fingers on my face off. I looked up to see a tall, dark haired boy grinning at me.

"Hi Minho! I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Hm. More like a couple of days, but sure. I heard you were in the hospital, why?"

"I fainted... again. I'm kinda a wimp..."
I muttered under my breath.

The tall boy came and sat down next to me, "I wouldn't say that... Just ... sensitive, I guess." He shrugged.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in the maze?" I wondered out loud.

He shrugged like it was no big deal, "I don't know... Just wanted a day off..."

"Day OFF?! I thought we were trying to get out of this maze together! I thought you wanted to get out as much as I did! You said-"

He started chuckling at my reaction. "Ellie. The runners have a meeting today with Alby. Don't freak out, it's no big deal. Speaking of Alby... I should probably go talk to him in a few minutes."

I tugged on Minho's shirt as he tried to get up, "Wait! Minho! I need to ask you a question!"

He took a dramatic bow. "What may I help you with, Ma'dam?"

"Do you know what is up with Newt? He's been acting strange lately."

"Yeah. I noticed that too. It's probably because Alby has him running around like crazy and doing all this work for him. We figure out tonight what they both have been working on for the last couple of days." He tried walking away but my curiosity was way too bubbly.

"Minho! Another question!" I nagged.
He groaned but turned around anyways.

"Umm." I didn't know how to begin this question. "I was helping out in the hospital yesterday, and there was someone in a room. He was... screaming. Do you know why?"

Minho stared at me blankly. He looked around as if to see if anyone was watching him. He leaned on his knees and whispered, "Let's just say that the maze is no place for the weak. There are things out there that even the brave wouldn't even dare to face."

And on that note, he left silently walking through the green grass.

I whispered to myself, "Shuck it. That just made me want to know more." I groaned and fell into the grass face first.

I sat there for a few minutes pondering what Minho said. But a voice interrupted my thoughts.

"May I help you, Ellie?"
I looked up to see Newt there.

He slowly sat down on the grass next to me and I leaned up on my elbows.

"Sorry I was in such a bad mood yesterday." Newt said to me. "Alby and just everyone is getting on my nerves."

"Yeah... I'm sorry, too. I was way too pushy yesterday and I have just been really annoying to everyone lately." I started rambling on. "Because I'm still new here and everything is getting jumbled up in my head and I just can't think strai-"

I couldn't talk anymore because Newt had placed his finger on my lips to shush me. I guess I really am annoying-
Except then, at that moment, Newt's finger was replaced by his lips. And there it was. All I could say was that sparks flied like fireworks were going off, and I forgot about everything including the Glade, maze, everything. Nothing mattered except this moment.

But, of course, it could only last so long because a certain curly-haired boy just had to interrupt.

"MARCO... MARCO!... POLO, WHERE ARE YOU?! Fine! I give up!... Holy-"
The little boy stood there wide-eyed and just stared at me and Newt. We immediately backed away from each other and acted like nothing happened.

"Hey Chuck...." Newt began scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

Chuck stood there and then bolted off like a bullet. Newt groaned and slowly got up. "I'll be right back. Just let me deal with this little slinthead..."

He got up and chased Chuck. He easily tackled him down and was shouting at him while I just sat there laughing, "You better not tell anyone about anything! As far as you know, nothing happened!" He was yelling at the little boy he had pinned down.
Chuck quickly nodded in a scared way.

Newt got up and skimpily walked back to where I was sitting. He put his arm around me. We stared into each other's eyes, and we didn't even care about the strange stares the few Gladers who passed by gave us.

I swear, in that moment all I could think about was those four letters:
N-e-w-t

But might I say, that troubles are a lot like gravity. You can choose to not believe in it, but that makes no difference in its existence. It's still there. No matter how much I chose not to believe in my troubles, they were still there. So, why not try to fix them?