My eyes fluttered open almost immediately. The ground shook, and cold hard metal stung my hands. Where am I? Why can't I remember what I was doing in this... box? I start to panic, but try to control myself. The box shifted, and I finally realized I was going up. Like in an elevator... a giant metal elevator. I halted to an abrupt stop, and a beam of light shone down through a tiny crack at the top of the box. I covered my eyes and face, not adjusted to the light yet. Suddenly the small crack turned into a huge open space. As soon as I look up, I was blinded by horrible, yet glorious light. "A girl..." "What? It's a girl?" "It's a shank girl... what do we do with her?" "She's beautiful..." "She's hideous!" "Get er outta the box, get er name, something!" What? What're they saying about me? My eyes finally adjust, and I see a swarm of sweaty dirty boys leaning down staring at me. I back up to the edge of the metal elevator and grab my knees in my hands. I slowly stand up, reluctantly. "Where am I?" All the boys laugh. Except for one. He plopped down into the box and stared me down. He was tall, and scary. Even the expression on his face freaked me out. "Day one greenie. Rise and shine."
At that, he left. When the laugh fest was over, a small, nimble boy jumped down in front of me. I wasn't scared. He wasn't intimidating.
"Morning, greenie. Let me help ya out of here." This boy had a strange yet cute accent. I trusted him already. I took his hand and he helped me out of the box thing.
"Names Newt. Please, be calm. You'll have everything explained to you in a matter of time. Til then, Tommy here will be showing you around." He gestured to a funny looking boy, with black hair and brown eyes. He waved and smiled. That made me feel a bit better, but not enough to smile back. Or even say anything else. Newt slapped my back lightly and "Tommy" walked toward me. "Hey, I'm Thomas."
I slowly nodded, still not wanting to speak. I followed the brown eyed boy to a room with hammocks, guessed it was a sleeping area until Thomas told me it was. They call it the homestead. All while he was in the middle of explaining sleeping arrangements, I got the courage to speak up. "Why are we here?"
He laughed to himself. "I know just as well as you do. As all of us do. I was sent here just a month before you were. But we're meant to go through that maze. Find our way out. None of us know why we were ever sent here though."
"Maze?"
"Over here. Follow me." he let out a small sigh and trotted outside the homestead. Of course, I followed slowly behind. A huge wall stood before me. There was a large opening in the wall, a door, maybe.
"So this is the west entrance. There are three others. What us Gladers call Runners enter one of these doors every afternoon. The doors close at sunset ever night. If you don't make it back before sunset, you're dead. No man has survived a night in the maze."
"Why? What's so bad about the maze? Won't the doors just open back up in the morning?"
"Yeah, but there are these truly unexplainable creatures who live in the maze. They arrive every night, and thank God we have these doors or we'd be dead. They're called Grievers. I've never seen one."
"Alright, shanks. Get in the conference room, Newbie stays in the homestead. Thomas, keep an eye on er." the tall intimidating boy from earlier shouts from across the glade, and then heards all the boys into the "conference room". Thomas nods and takes me to the homestead. He sits down on the ground and I lie on my back on a hammock, my hands on my chest.
"Careful, greenie. That's where Gally sleeps, and he'll shucking kill me and you if he finds out you were lying here."
I sigh dramatically and get up. "Where do I sleep?"
He points to a sleeping bag directly next to Gallys hammock. "Really? Here?"
"Newbies get the floor for their first week. Gallys dumb rule. Wants to make sure you're not crazy before you get comfortable here."
I nod and sit down on my sleeping bag. "It isn't so bad, I guess. Just don't want to sleep next to Gally."
"Who would?" Thomas jokes, and for the first time since I got here, I laugh. "Why do you dislike him so much? I mean I get it, he's a bit scary but did you two even converse?"
"No, not at all. I'd prefer to keep it thay way. He doesn't like me, I know. He calls me names and gives me dirty looks..."
"He calls all of us names. Plus, you're the first and only girl. He probably has a crush." We laugh again and Gally comes outside. I quickly stand and Thomas stands too. He wies some dirt from his pants and aks me what I'm looking at. I don't reply, but instead say "do you really think he likes me?"
"Uh, maybe, why?"
"That's crazy..."
"Hey shuck face, what are you just standing around for? Get your job done, lets go!" Gally comes storming over to where Thomas and I are talking. "and what are you staring at, shank?" I look down at my feet and bite my lip. I will not let this kid get to me. When I hear him stomp away, I ask Thomas what I need to do. He told me I could stick around him for today, or go work with Newt and Zart. He explained to me what each job was, and which ones I'd probably be able to do. I don't want to be a runner, but it seems cool. I'd love to explore the maze, but for myself, not Gally.
For the most of the day, I stayed by Thomas' side, and he taught me the basics. I had so many questions I was sure I'd never get answers to. We worked in the kitchen with Frypan, because there wasn't much for me to do today since I just got here. I was talking with Thomas when everyone started yelling.
"Thomas?-"
"I don't know." He immediately started running over to the crowd of boys huddled around the same entrance Thomas showed me earlier. The west entrance. He pushed his way to the front, the doors were closing. Me being about 5'2 and the rest of the guys being at least 5'11, I couldn't see a thing. Just heard shouting.
"MINHO, COME ON COME ON."
"KEEP GOING!"
"MINHO!"
"DONT STOP!"
"MINHO YOU HAVE TO LEAVE ALBY."
"DROP HIM LEAVE HIM GO!"
What's happening?
I start to try to push my way through the crowd, but I'm stopped by the same tall intimidating guy from earlier. Gally. "Slim it, shank." He says and turns back around.
"Well what's going on?!"
"I said slim it! Shut up!"
Ugh I cannot stand one more second of being around this kid. I shoved past him aggressively and I shoved past every other boy in the same way. I finally reached the front, and the doors were almost closed. I could see two boys still in the maze, one dragging the other.
"They aren't gonna make it..." ️Newt said to himself quietly. I bowed my head, and looked over at Thomas. He was mad, upset, sad, something. We made short eye contact, and then, he ran into the maze.
