Her || The Maze Runner

Three

"You know, none of us knew jack on first day, so you neither. Few weeks, you'll be a bloody happy shank." Newt smiled as he approached Mara, who was sitting under one of the trees near the wooden shack, carrying two cheese and ham sandwiches. He plonked himself down opposite her and handed her a sandwich, which she took gladly. She hadn't realised how hungry she was until she began eating, and before she knew it the sandwich was gone. "Bloody hell, you eat like a shuckin' pig greenie." Newt laughed as he took a second bite of his sandwich.

"I'm hungry." Mara spoke through her last bite of food, making Newt laugh again. She swallowed her food and sat watching Newt finish his, he was actually kind of attractive as he sat there. "You know, you keep calling me a 'greenie', whatever that is, yet you never asked for my name."

"That's because every new shank's called a greenie. Once a month we get a newbie, so I'll ask for your name next month greenie." He smirked as he looked into Mara's eyes.

"Well, it's Mara." She told him, hoping he would call her Mara instead of greenie, it was starting to annoy her quite a bit. The only thing she could remember was her name, and he wasn't even calling her it.

"Okay greenie." He smirked again, looking into Mara's matching chocolate brown eyes. "There are three rules in the Glade, Best I tell you now before you get your butt in trouble, but no questions. There ain't no good answers for you yet." He told her, changing the subject. "Rule one, do you part, you'll get that in a few days. Rule 2, never hurt another Glader, or Alby and I will throw you butt off the cliff. Last but not least, rule 3. Never, ever, leave the Glade. Enter the maze and you're shucked. Bloody thing is a nightmare." Newt explained, a look of fear hid behind his eyes, maybe something had happened to him in the maze before. Something bad.

"Was that the place you found me in? The maze?" She asked, this maze intrigued her. It was a puzzle waiting to be solved, and she wanted to solve it.

"Just outside that door." He said, pointing to one of the openings in the solid wall. They couldn't have found me there, she thought. There was no opening there before. Newt sensed her confusion, and a smile landed on his face. "They move. Every night they shut."

"What?" The walls were solid, definitely not movable. There was no way those walls could move. "No way those walls can move. Don't shuck with me." The word shuck rolled off the tip of her tongue, surprising herself. She had been in this place called the Glade for less than an hour and was already picking up the local slang words.

"Already catching on are you greenie?" Newt chuckled. "Good that."

The two of them sat in silence for a while, Mara staring at the place around her. She didn't understand how she could feel at home when she had been in this place for less than a day, it was weird but comforting. She felt like she was home, but she wasn't, and she knew that. The place of mystery called out to her, she loved it. I must've been a very curious person, she thought-everything without an answer, she felt obliged to solve it. To solve this maze.

"I'll leave you to look around if you're that bloody curious. Need to check in on that shank Nick anyway. See you around greenie." Newt smiled as he stood and walked away. Mara watched him leave, noticing a slight limp while he walked. How did he get that? Mara wondered. She'd ask him when she got the chance, but she didn't want to upset him.

Mara sat against the tree for a while, she still felt slightly weak after the panic attack, so she watched the rest of the boys work. It was about one o'clock after lunch, the boys had just started working after their lunch break. She mainly watched the boys working in the farming area, Newt joined them for a bit after disappearing inside the wooden shack. As she watched one boy looked up at her, noticing her watching them and smiled. He had choppy brown hair that he ruffled his hands through as he stared at Mara, his emerald green eyes burning into hers, but not in an uncomfortable way. Newt tugged at his sleeve, turning the boy's attention away from Mara and back to his work.

A while later she got bored of watching the hard-working boys so she stood and walked over to the wooden shack, interested in what it held inside. She approached the loosely attached door and carefully pushed it open. The first thing Mara noticed was a crooked staircase, the steps were all angled and facing different directions. The walls of the foyer were covered in a dark coloured wallpaper, most of it was peeling off of the walls, revealing the wood behind it. The floor was covered in holes and missing planks. There were only a couple of decorations in sight, a dirty vase sat on a wonky three legged table and a black and white painting hung on the peeled off wood which contained an ancient woman who was dressed in an old-fashioned dress, her expression blank. Who was she? Was she the owner of the place they lived in? Mara didn't remember seeing any other girls around the Glade, she was the only one.

The place had an eerie feel, like in a horror film. Dim lights from the ceiling lit up the room, but that confused Mara, how would a place like this have electricity? She didn't understand how a place that was that badly built and based on survival had electricity.

"Look, it's the new greenbean girl." A voice snickered from behind Mara, she spun around to face the voice's owner. A acne-covered boy was stood in the doorway with a pack of boys surrounding him, also snickering at her. The boy looked about fifteen, he was tall and skinny, although he didn't have many muscles. He had black hair, but one thing stood out on his face. His rather large nose. It was like a deformed potato. "You lost? Klunked yourself yet shuck-face? Probably think you're all special being the first shuckin' girl don't ya?"

"My name's Mara, call me that. Not whatever you think you can call me." She replied, scowling at what seemed to be her new formed enemy. She turned around and started to walk away, but two of the black-haired guy's friends grabbed Mara by the arms and turned her around, she would have hit them but she didn't want to break one of the three rules on the very first day. "Get off me!"

"I'll call ya what I want shuck-face. Think we got a feisty one here boys." the bully said, walking over to Mara with his arms crossed. Mara raised her eyebrows at the boy and stood looking at him, she was not about to back down to some stupid kid she thought was younger than her.

"Listen, shmuck. I don't care if you think you're the tough one around here. Now, I have a question for you, and you're gonna answer it. Then, you're gonna get your butt outta my bloody sight. Got it?" Mara waited for her reply, some of the boys around her snickered, but some were silent.

"What's this shuckin' question then?" He replied with a smirk. He seemed like he was up to something.

"Where's Nick?" Mara asked impatiently, the boys around her laughed at her question. What was so funny? She wanted to ask this Nick some questions, and she wanted this 'tough guy' to tell her where he was.

"Upstairs. But newbies aren't allowed to see someone whose been... taken. Newt and Alby won't allow it." The boy warned Mara with a hint of a smile peaking at his lips.

"So now you listen to the rules?" Mara scoffed, this guy was a total joke.

Before anyone replied the door to the wooden building swung open, the brown-haired boy from earlier stepping inside the room. He stopped when he noticed everyone looking at him, including Mara. "Problem?" He asked, his voice was rough and sounded tired. Sweat dripped from his mane of hair and onto the wooden floor. He was carrying a big bag of things over his right shoulder, probably containing food.

"The greenie was just about to go visit the shuck-face upstairs." The bully smirked, turning to the other boy, by the way they talked they seemed like friends, who disliked each other.

"Actually, she's coming with me."