Redamancy (Minho | The Maze Runner)

五 : One of the Boys

The day after, Nick officially made her part of the kitchens. Qiufeng was pretty contented with learning how to make stew and fry eggs, seemed like a much better option compared to slaughtering animals and looking at icky wounds. She shuddered at the thought of handling needles again and shook it off before she could think any further.

"Qiufeng!" Fry called and she snapped out of her thoughts. She still wasn't used to hearing her name in an accent.

"Coming!" she replied as she quickly finished seasoning the chicken meat and hurried over to the chef.

The Chinese girl looked curiously at the large spread of food that was already on the table, it was at least two times the amount of food they usually had on the few days that she had been here. She handed over the chicken she had seasoned and walked along the length of the table, admiring the feast that they had prepared. She wondered what it was for and tried to come up with her own answer, but nothing.

"Why's there so much food today?" she turned back towards Fry and casually asked.

"Oh, thought either Newt or Minho would've told you," the chef replied indifferently as he plopped the chicken into a pan. "Every time a Greenie comes in, they'll usually throw a celebration, but because the creators thought it'd be funny to throw in a shucking girl and confuse everyone, yours was postponed until today."

"C-celebration?" Qiufeng stammered, forgetting to play it cool while hoping they didn't have a thing where they embarrass the new kids. If she had known earlier, she would've just told them not to bother, she didn't really fancy being in the spotlight, especially amongst a group of boys she barely even knew.

"Don't worry about it." Frypan noticed her nervousness and laughed at her. "It'll be fun."

Qiufeng doubted it, but gave a small laugh to indicate she had heard the other.

Throughout dinner preparations, she could tell the rest of the glade was excited for the night. There was a vibe in the air as everyone did their jobs, and excited chatter wherever she turned. As Fry finally let her go for the day, Qiufeng looked up and noticed in the middle of the glade now there was a hill of wood. She wondered if they were going to have a bonfire tonight.

"C'mon greenie!" A voice called out to her from nearby the wood. It was Alby. "We're gonna light it up and you have to throw in one of the fire torches!"

She felt ticked off that half the boys were still referring to her as greenie even though her name was already recalled but headed down anyway. Her eyes darted about looking for either Newt or Minho along the way down. It was weird when they weren't around with her, they were the ones that were the closest to her at the moment, and the rest of the boys... She didn't know if she was thinking too much or if they all just seemed to avoid her. Qiufeng gave up looking for them as she approached Alby, turning her attention to what was in his hand.

Alby held out to her a piece of wood that was already flaming from the end and she took it gingerly, watching sparks of fire fly from the burning wood.

Minho and Newt who were a little way from Homestead, noticed her take the flaming piece of wood and stopped their business to watch.

"Reminds me of the time we first lit the bonfire." Newt chuckled as he watched the fire dance in her eyes.

"You mean, almost set the glade on fire?" Minho replied dryly as the other shot him a glare.

There was a pause as Alby readied the other boys and they all took a step back, flinging the torches into the wood pile at the same time. There was a blinding white before it faded to red as the wood burst into flames, and the other boys cheered. Qiufeng gazed upwards, watching the flames hungrily lick at the sky. The glowing embers of the bonfire leaped and danced, flashing in the hot swirling air before cascading to earth, and she wondered if they were perhaps celebrating their freedom.