The Maze Girl

The Glade

I was finally awake. Sunlight streamed through the crevices of a small hut onto my face. My eyes fluttered open and for a split second, I was calm. Then the memories of the gloomy maze seeped back into my mind. I looked around the cozy room and saw supplies of various medical purposes laying out on a table beside me.

I quickly sat upright on the hard wooden bed ready to jump off it and run like hell to the nearest exit, but I halted. Two voices were right outside the room in a heated disagreement and I knew I was trapped.

"Newt do you have any idea what danger you may have brought back to the Glade? You carried some stranded girl you found in the maze back to the rest of us!" Growled an angered voice.

"What was I supposed to bloody do, leave her there? The grievers would have gotten her, you know she wouldn't have survived," said a different voice cooly. The accented voice was so familiar and mesmerizing. My trance was abruptly interrupted when the other boy spoke again.

"We don't even know why she was out there and she could be working against us for the creators. We've never been sent a girl." The angered voice recoiled. His emphasis on the word "girl" was one full of astonishment and disbelief.

My eavesdropping was interrupted when a very young boy with curly brown hair entered the tent. His wide eyes stared right at me in shock. He looked like a deer in the headlights of a large truck. I pitied this boy who only looked about 13, and I gave a slight smile. He was taken aback by this act of genuine kindness and returned the gesture with a boyish grin.

"The girl! She's awake!" He called out to the others and stood there seemingly unable to move.

Almost immediately, teenage boys around 16-17 entered the small hut pushing the smaller boy out of the way. He disappeared from my sight and I focused on the new boys standing before me. They all looked so different with varying heights, ages, and hair colors. It was a mystery of what could have drawn this many different boys together. They stood in a cramped group whispering and staring at me with their unblinking reptilian stares. No one dared to get to close to me until a dark skinned boy stepped forward from the group.

"My name is Alby and I am the leader here at the Glade," he stated sternly. His dark eyes seemed to pierce through my very soul. His eyes were full of something dark perhaps sadness or anger. I broke the intense stare by looking towards the doorway of the hut.

Just as Alby was about to say something else, another boy walked into the hut. He was a tall and looked about 16 or 17. He brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes and then it hit me. There he stood staring right at me with those familiar brown eyes and I couldn't control myself.

"Isaac?!" A voice that sounded nothing like mine cracked as I shouted. I immediately covered my mouth shocked at my own outbreak. All the boys puzzled expressions were clear on there faces. They all looked at one other trying to discover who I was talking to. I looked over to the blonde boy who was avoiding eye contact with me. His eyes were wide, and his face masked in confusion and concern.

"Enough" Alby said calmly trying to cease the chatting, "She must still be shaken up from the maze. What is your name girl?"

I quickly changed my attention from the mysterious boy to Alby and I searched my brain for an answer. I couldn't remember my own name and that was all I was going to have of my past life.

"I-I can't remember. Where am I? What's wrong with me?" I asked as more questions filling my brain. The tiny room was getting hotter by the minute due to the crowd of boys and I was starting to feel lightheaded.

"Nothing is wrong with you. You had a head injury from some sort of a fall but Clint, our med-jack, cleaned it up as best he could," Alby said assuringly.

"I still don't understand where I am or what is happening." I said. The frustration was clear in my tone.

Alby looked at me and then said, "Everyone clear out and go back to your jobs, except Newt and Gally I need y'all to stay here."

The other boys begrudgingly left the small room making it immediately feel cooler. I sighed heavily, running my fingers through my tangled hair until I realized the three boys were staring at me unsure where to begin their story.

"This is Newt and Gally," said Alby while pointing to the blonde boy and the other scowling boy. The blonde boy had a shy small on his face as he reached out to shake my hand. Unsure what to do, I shook it and looked over at Gally who was clearly puzzled from Newt's gesture.

"This is the Glade," Alby said, "We were all placed here by who we call the creators. We live in this green area called the Glade. A boy is sent up with some supplies every month through a machine we call the Box. You however, were found outside this place in the territory known as the maze by Newt here. You owe him your life so for your own good you better answer this question with the truth; what all do you remember about yourself?"

"I don't remember," I replied softly.

What did he mean by the creators? Why was I sent here? Where are any other girls? A million questions raced through my head as the three turned around conversing with each other.

"I remember the maze," I muttered quietly stopping there conversation.

Yes, this was a start. Memories of the maze and it's pathways started flooding back.

"Well of course you do, that's the place where you woke up." The boy named Gally spat.

"No, I mean I can see the layout of the maze. I'm not walking or running around in it, I'm looking straight at it," I said.

I heard Gally chuckled and comment something about me being absurd but I was too busy pondering the maze.

A feeling that something was going to happen flooded my body. I felt drawn to the maze at that moment, so I hurriedly got myself off the table and stood up straight. I had to leave, and I needed to get back into the maze.

"I've got to go back out there." I said, desperation clear in my voice. The boys stood dumbfounded as I ran swiftly past them.

After a moment, I heard Alby shout, "STOP! Someone stop her!"

I squinted in the sunlight and I canvassed the area for the entrance to the maze. All eyes were on me as I spotted the gate and sprinted towards it. I was so close to entering the mysterious land when an Asian boy came running out from the maze colliding into me full force.

"What the hell?" He groaned.

We both tumbled to the ground and I quickly scrambled to get up once I heard the unfamiliar screeching of metal. The heavy entrance was moving!

I sat on the ground staring up towards the maze as the entrance walls began to close.

The other boys had caught up by now, watching with me as the walls shut tightly together. The maze instilled an unknowing fear throughout my core as the sun began to set over the walls.

"Welcome to the Glade Greenie," remarked Gally sarcastically.

I felt a steadied hand being placed on my trembling shoulder. I looked up to see hesitant Newt standing too casually beside me as he stared up at the closed entrance. I felt strangely comforted by this small gesture and returned my gaze to the wall.