CHAPTER ONE
• a fall to remember •

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FREEDOM, SUCH AN ironic word to use for the situation she was in.

What was freedom? Well-she classified freedom as the ability to make her own choices in her life. To be able to do and say as she wanted and not let others dictate her actions.

She saw freedom as a privilege. As an advantage against the other problems in her life. She relied on her freedom to get her through the day.

But in all honesty-she never had that. She never got to make her own decisions, or choose to do something just for the spite of it. Because her freedom had been ripped away from her before she even really knew what it was.

It was the moment she woke in a moving metal cage, soaked in lukewarm water, and blinded by flashing lights-that she knew something was wrong.

It was at that moment, she felt trapped.

She couldn't see anything but the red splays of light bouncing against the metal. She couldn't hear anything above the buzzing sound of the erratic sirens and the shaking of the cage. Hell-she could barely get down a choked breath.

Then everything stopped. For the first time she was blinded by the beauty of the nature around her. Trees, grass, the bright blue sky. And it was then that she felt at the most peace. Seeing the sunlight, feeling the cool against her skin-it was all so breathtaking. But once again-only merely a second later, was it snatched away. Crushed into oblivion. The realization that she wasn't alone was enough to send her brain spiraling into a chaotic strand of tangled webs.

People. More specifically...boys.

Lots and lots of boys.

There had to be at least thirty males that surrounded her-them too gazing wonderingly at the outside world. Each set of eyes stayed set on the foliage around them. Examining-soaking in their new surroundings. She always wondered if by this point they had realized the elephant in the room. Or clearly speaking-the walls.

Giant, skyscraper structures with ivy strands pooling down, covering the slate.

They were surrounded by them. Completely and utterly surrounded, and in that moment she knew she was truly trapped. Boys began to stir from their fetal positions, climbing up out of the hole by using the crates as stepping stools. She had followed behind, making sure to stay a safe distance away from the ones who seemed to already be fuming with anger.

Next came confusion. Where were they? Why were they here? Who were the people that stood next to them? And of course, with the last of those sets of questions came the all too familiar-'what's your name?'

Answer was, nobody knew. Not one of those teenagers were able to recall something as familiar as a name. In fact, nobody could remember anything, and that in itself was enough to make her want to curl up and cry.

She felt stripped from her identity-stripped from anything that made her feel human. SHe didn't know her name, how old she was, what she looked like, or anything about her life. It was as if she had just been born. No memories-just a fresh start to a new life.

Quickly after the initial realization of their current circumstances, the group of kids split. There were the older ones-who already seemed to be trying to take charge and find a way out. There were the scared ones, like herself, who did not say much but still roamed around aimlessly in hopes of finding something useful. Then there were the wild ones. A select group of boys who inflicted their confusion onto the others around them. Screaming, shouting, even hitting other individuals for their own personal gain.

It went on like that for about a week.

Then everything changed. Leaders were established, and rules were set in place. Jobs were given accordingly based on everyone's talents. Runners, gardeners, slicers, medjacks, builders, cooks, and more. Together her and the boys worked to create the most pleasant living conditions that they could.

And after a month-when the box that they first arrived in came back with a load of supplies and another kid, they knew that this was their life now. They were stuck-trapped with no way to get out.

So it went on. Day after day, month after month, the same repeated routine from the crack of dawn to the time where the stars shone overhead.

She was fine, it was fine. Everything was perfectly fine. At least that's what she kept telling herself.

But it wasn't fine. Something was wrong-she knew it, she knew that they weren't supposed to be there.

And Evony was right.

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"New greenie today! Are you excited, because I'm excited!"

Chuck bounced anxiously on his feet, watching with a fixed gaze as Evony tied up one side of the hammock to a nearby tree. She grabbed the rope, twisting it around the trunk and knotting it securely in place. Still trying to focus on her task, she casted him a half smile. "Yeah, buddy. Im real excited."

Then in a hushed voice. "Real excitement for another teenage boy."

"What was that?"

She whipped her head up and quickly tried to stutter out an excuse. However, the little boy was much too spazzed out at the moment to even take into consideration her words, which resulted in him rambling once again.

"Look, I might be the youngest, but maybe I could get a promotion once the new kid comes?" He said in a rush. "Like you know, maybe I could move from cleaning human poop to animal poop."

Evony finished tying off the end of the ropes and stood up to ruffle Chucks hair. "How come?" She asked in a sarcastic manner. "Don't like cleaning up our crap?"

The boy's nose wrinkled as he made a disgusted face. Then together the two laughed, her arm around his shoulder as the pair made their way towards the kitchen.

It had been two years since the first group of gladers made their way up the box, and only one a couple weeks less that a single greenie began coming up every month. She had the routine down. After all, it was the same every time.

Wake up. Eat breakfast and explain to the last newbie what expectations they should have. Remind Minho for the hundredth time that she doesn't run on box days because she helps get the greenie sorted out. Wait for the new kid, then depending on how they react to their new surroundings, either give them a tour right away or throw them in the slammer and wait until they calm down.

So far only two newbies actually had to go into the slammer on their first day. One being Chuck, who against his will wouldn't stop crying and klunking his pants. She had felt really bad when Alby told her she needed to put him in the pit and reassure him that everything would be okay.

Then there was a kid named Aaron. He was quite the definition of the phrase, 'did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning'. The first time the gladers saw the raven haired kid, he had two machetes in his hands and the hilt of a knife stuck securely in between his teeth. Whenever Gally threw down the rope to pull the boy up, he would refuse and threaten anybody that dared to come close with one of his weapons.

It was safe to say that after that nobody really liked Aaron. He had actually never done anything wrong-he obviously was just being scared like the rest of them, but it was hard to trust someone who had a bomb inserted into their face half the time.

So, Aaron got designated to the job where he could take out the most anger. Whacking things as hard as he could with a hammer. Yes, he was a builder.

Thankfully the boy hadn't argued about his job, if he had then that could've been a whole different story. Her, Alby, and Newt didn't like it when greenies were difficult, or asked too many questions. It could get quite overwhelming at times. Especially when usually she was the one being asked the questions.

Evony and Chuck took a seat at the foot of a tree trunk, where they sat and chowed down on their breakfast.

"So buddie, you remember what you got to do today?" She asked him while plopping a grape into her mouth. The young boy whizzed his head over with a gleeful smile. Obviously he was having a hard time trying to contain his excitement.

He wiped the bread crumbs off his lips with the back of his hand. "Yeah! I show them their hammocks, and make sure that they don't get into any trouble."

She smiled at him, proud that he remembered the instructions she had given him a couple days ago. "Just remember, if you want them to like you, you need to make a good first impression." Her lips pursed, "but I dont think youll have any problem with that."

Chuck shoved another bite of his loaf into his mouth, pieces breaking off and falling into his lap. She thought it was adorable how excited he was. This whole past month the older boys had done nothing but taunt him for being the youngest, but now there would be someone else-someone new. Perhaps those certain boys would stop the teasing and pass it onto the new greenie.

She knew that sounded mean, but she didn't think it was fair for an almost adult to pick on a newly turned teenager. Now with any other boy, she didn't care, because everybody went through that initial month of jokes and jesting. It was just nature.

"Me and him are going to be best friends!" Chuck exclaimed, "I can feel it."

"I'm sure he'll love you," Evony assured. She let her grin form into a tight lipped smile."But you better not let him take my place."

"I would never!"

She playfully nudged him in the side. "You better not."

The two laughed, and she let herself find joy in the moment. However it was short lived as the shrilling sound of the box came erupting from behind them.

"Is it time?" He mouthed over the noise. Evony nodded, standing up and lending out her hand for him to take. Together they ran over to the noise, where the group of boys were already standing, anxiously awaiting their new arrival.

"Look at that shank." She heard one of them laugh.

"How old is he?" Another voice rose above the crowd.

Evony continued sprinting over to the area, the young boy right on her tail. Pushing past a couple of taller boys she finally managed to get a glimpse of the new greenie.

He was a smaller figure, but nonetheless looked muscular enough to pull his weight. His deep brown hair caseded over his forward where drops of water leaked down. A tight blue shirt, which also looked to be wet, hugged his torso just enough to the point where it was sticking flush to his body. Like every other greenie-a confused expression was plastered on his face. The look of sheer terror in his eyes as he glanced around at all of the teenagers.

Their eyes made contact for a split second, but that was all that was needed. A wave of familiarity rushed over her, consuming her. However one shove from the boy next to her snapped her out of the trance-like state, making the feeling vanish.

She watched from the back as Gally hopped down into the lift, the sudden movement making the new boy scurry back in fear. His eyes widened, and he had no more than a second to compose himself before the older boy grabbed ahold of his shirt, saying the same deadly welcome they all got.

"Day one greenie-rise and shine."

Then just like that, the brunete was heaved up from the crate and thrown ruthlessly onto the ground. Instantly boys surrounded him, them already picking out flaws and quipping rude comments back and forth. Evony could only watch from afar, as she was still situated behind most of the group. It also didn't help that she was a couple inches shorter than most of the people there.

The boy twisted his body around, fear still prominent in his features as he flailed his arms in hopes of getting free. Then, he did. In the blink of an eye the greenie pulled himself off the floor and rose to his feet. Suddenly boys were moving out of the way to make room for the newbie as he pushed past the mob, doing whatever he could to flee the area.

Then he was running.

Evony stared at the scene before her, but only for a second. Like a reflex, her legs kicked out from underneath and began sprinting after the boy.

In the background she could hear one of her fellow gladers calling out something along the lines of 'we got a runner'.

Quite hilarious actually. This was supposed to be her one day a month off from running, and now she was chasing someone with the goal to stop them. She knew where the greenie was headed-it was obvious. The question was if he was going to make it all the way. If that was going to be the case then she needed to find some way to slow him down.

Trip him?

Trip him.

"Hey greenie!" She yelled from a few feet behind. The boy in front of her was fast-no doubt about it, but seeing that she's been running everyday for the past two years, she was obviously faster. Meaning that it wasn't that hard for her to catch up with him.

They were now side by side, both sprinting towards the North door as fast as they could. While a fixated expression was visible on the boy beside hers face, she was, on the other hand, smiling.

"Last time greenie!"

Still no response from the boy.

So, with a single move, she rammed the side of her body into the male, sticking out one of her feet for him to stumble on. In a chain reaction, the brunette's once steady strides stopped abruptly, him relying on the weight of one leg to hold him up. However, the momentum he had gained from his previous sprint was too much, and all of that energy rendered him unable to catch his balance.

So he fell.

But not before desperately reaching out in aspiration for something sturdy to grab ahold too.

Evony.

The so-called 'sturdy object' which just conveniently happened to be in his grasp.

At once she felt the boy lean on her, gripping her, tugging her down with him. There was no way for her to match the impact from his hold, so in a hopeless demeanor-she fell with him.

The two crashed into one another as they were sent in a flurry of spiraling flips. Hands were flying everywhere and at one point she was certain their heads had bonked. Like tumbleweeds the two rolled along the grassland landscape, until finally-finally the momentum wore off, and they skidded to a stop.

Evony looked up at the boy with a revolting expression, but clearly he didn't seem to care. Instead his eyes were already fixated past her and onto the large stone walls that surrounded the homestead.

Standing up, she brushed herself off and joined back with the group of gladers. From there she watched the boy as he slowly spun around in staggered steps-examining, studying his new surroundings, just like all of the other greenies before him. He continued moving in a circle, his mouth gaping open as he attempted to process everything going on around him.

Next to her, Newt, who had been inspecting the whole situation as well, gave a curt nod in the new kid's direction. She knew what he meant by it. The greenie had tried to sprint away at the first sight of his new life-they couldn't risk that he wouldn't do it again if given the chance.

"You think Alby will agree?" She whispered to the blonde so that only he could hear. He glanced over to the boy, a questioning look on his face as he made a decision. After a moment he nodded in response.

"Alright!" She shouted over the crowd of laughing voices. To her pleasure mostly all of the boys turned to listen to her announcement. Evony waved her pointer finger in a circular motion, something her, Alby, Newt, and a now lost friend did to catch the attention of the gladers.

"Somebody put him in the pit."

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MAE's FUN NOTES-
-and we're back lol

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