CHAPTER TWO
• light em up •

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EVONY WENT TO meet the new greenie about an hour after his little runner attempt. Originally it was supposed to be Alby who was going to show the brown haired boy around, but apparently something came up and he was needed somewhere more important. He didn't tell her where though, and she doubted he told Newt either. Since the loss of their first leader, Nick, Alby had become a lot more rough around the edges.

His words were very blunt and quick, and he started to keep to himself. Obviously the death of a fellow glader hit everybody hard, but it was unspoken that it affected the current leader the most. It was quite ironic, seeing that before his death the two were in a constant state of bickering about who should be in charge.

Her and Newt would always try to stay as far away as possible from these arguments-since they knew how easily their own position could get revoked. According to Nick, she and Newt were both the 'second in command', however she couldn't help but feel at times she only had her position because of her gender.

How could she not? It made enough sense. If she held a power position, then the other boys couldn't try anything on her. And even though she did respect this, she couldn't help but wonder if she actually deserved it.

Currently though, she was making her way across the grassy landscape and over to the bamboo barricaded makeshift jail cells. There she found the new greenie creeping up towards the edge near the wall, his fingers grasping around the dividers that locked him in.

"Hey!" She chirped, sending a small wave and leaning over to the side so she could see the greenie's face. He, however, startled at the sudden movement-threw himself against the back wall in fear. His wide eyes relaxed as he realized it was just another person, but just as soon as they did, did they reopen in awareness of exactly who was speaking to him.

The girl who had tackled him.

Evony rested herself on the balls of her feet, balancing her weight on her knees as she crouched down. She studied the way his eyes darted to everywhere but her, and how his hands were slightly shaking side to side.

She stood back up and opened the pit door, swinging it wide enough open so that she could take a seat on the edge. While her feet dangled down, she continued to sit in silence with the boy, him still having not made eye contact with her.

After a few more moments she decided to speak. "Im Evony." She greeted, offering a smile to try to sooth her acquaintance.

The boy snapped his head up, his whiskey eyes finally meeting hers. In an instant she noticed how he nervously played with his fingers, tapping them against each other and his legs. She also noticed the panic settling over his features the longer he sat there.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Whatever's happening-it's normal." She tried to console me. Just like every other greenie, a wave of sorrow rushed over her as she watched the boy attempt to remember his past. Judging by the frequent shakes of the head and the distressed expression on his face, it was clear he had no memory of his previous years.

His hands rubbed together as he shook his head in a rapid motion. "I can't- I can't remember anything-why can't I remember anything?" He released out in staggered breaths. Body shaking and heart clenching from the fear of the unknown, he peered up at the girl who was swinging her legs.

As his heartbeat rose along with the paces of his breaths, Evony quickly sought out more words to try to help him remain calm.

"You're okay-it's okay." She tried, lowering her voice so it was down to a whisper. This was something similar to what she had done with a greenie a couple months ago-however it felt a tad different this time. For some reason she had this protective instinct rushing through her, making her feel like she needed this boy to know that he would be okay. That he was safe.

"You're not alone, you have friends here."

"I can't- there's nothing I-" The need for air interrupted his thought. He rubbed his hands against his knees, the action slowly growing more intense as he did it.

Evony sighed, not sure what else she could do to help. That pained her-she didn't like it when she witnessed someone hurting. Whether that be physically or emotionally.

She kept her voice soft, making it as inviting as possible. "Do you remember your name?"

It was a pointless question with an obvious answer. Nonetheless, she had been told to ask it-just in case he happened to know.

The greenie shook his head. "No- I don't know," he paused to stare intently at her. His next words dropped down into a whisper. "Did you- your name...did you forget it too?"

She nodded solemnly at his question. "Yeah, but I got it back within the first few hours."

He nodded again. It was like his brain was so scrambled that he could only perform that action. After another pause she extended her hand towards him, gesturing towards it silently to signal he could come out of the pit.

"Come on, pretty boy." She extended her arm farther down, "you can't stay in there forever."

She couldn't be sure, but she swore she saw the faintest of smiles creep up onto his lips. Maybe her eyes had been failing her, maybe she had been imagining it, maybe it never happened, but whatever it was, she was glad his spirits had been lifted.

The greenie stood up, pulling himself out of the pit without the use of her hand. She didn't question why-she figured it had something to do with his trust issues.

With him following behind her, Evony led the pair out into the middle of the open grassland. The chilly spring air breezed onto them as they walked, making wisps of hair fly back behind her. Gesturing to the different sections of the glade, she explained to him how things went about in their daily lives.

"Okay hold on, let me remember what i'm supposed to say." She paused, sucking in a breath. "We eat here, we sleep here, we grow our own food-build our own shelter." She recited the lines that Alby had told her this morning. The greenie didn't acknowledge what she said, and instead continued to examine the different bodies that were working on different tasks.

To this she playfully rolled her eyes, giving him a light elbow to the side to gain his attention. Turning to her, the boy shifted his gaze, staring at her like a deer in headlights.

Evony smiled before pointing over to the direction where the metal crate was. "And that-that is the box."

"The box?" He questioned back, his face scrunched making his eyes squint. That was something she had already noticed about him-his incredible vibrant facial expressions.

She nodded, "Yep, it's sent up one a week with supplies, and one a month with a new greenie. Guess this month that's you." She patted the side of his shoulder, "Congrats-welcome to hell."

Giving her a funny look, one that clearly showed the amount of confusion he was under, he asked another question which had popped into his mind. "Sent up-by who though?" He queried, his lips slightly parted and his eyebrows furrowed together.

Her mouth drew into a line. "Nobody knows."

"Hey you alright Evony?"

Both her and the boy turned to the new voice to see a blonde haired boy strolling over to them.

"There you are," She replied with a cheerful grin. Turning back to the brunette she beckoned over to the blonde, "Greenie this is Newt-Newt meet...well-the greenie."

Newt came to a stop, holding out his hand for the new boy to shake. He did so, letting the gesture last only a second before placing his hand back at his side. "See that was some dash you made earlier, for a second I thought you had the chops to be a runner, until Evy here tackled you."

Evony let out a sharp laugh at the comment, immediately covering it up with a cough when the greenie sent a look in her direction. She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.

"Wait...runner?"

Her and Newt shared a knowing look. Just as she was about to go and explain that he would find out later, she was interrupted by once again another new voice added to the conversation. Alby strided up them, placing a hand firmly on the greenies shoulder. She didn't miss how the new boy's eyes glanced merely at the hand; it was incredibly difficult to keep herself from laughing at the disgusted look on his face. "Newt, Evony, I can take it from here. You two go get Chuck."

Both second in commands nodded before turning around and walking back towards the hammocks where they knew the younger boy would be located. However, whereas Newt kept his gaze locked on his destination, Evony found herself peering back to steal a quick glance at the greenie.

She did it a total of three times.

The first time she saw the boy standing, talking to the leader.

The second time though, was different. Apparently the newbie had gotten the same idea-when she turned around, her eyes met his and they both whipped their heads back around as fast as they could. The third time wasn't any better. It was pretty much just a repeat of the second time except for the addition of both the kids getting forced to turn back by their acquaintance.

Evony could practically feel the blush rising to her cheeks out of embarrassment.

"Hey Newt," She turned to face him, "I'm gonna go to the map room, see you later."

He nodded and she took that as her cue to leave. After a quick jog through the woods, she made it to the wooden shack, opening the door and stepping inside. She paced around the room mindlessly, looking and picking up the different boards that held the different maze patterns. They were missing something-she knew it, she just didn't know what that something was.

Then she traced her fingers along the maze replica that sat in the middle of the room. So many perfect wooden chips that had been set up to mimic the different paths of the maze. Eight different sections, a million different tracks-she had ran them all.

It didn't take long for the rest of the runners to join her. She had figured that since the sun was beginning to set, the faster of the bunch would have arrived sooner than later. That meant that three of her good friends would be coming any minute.

Evony only had to wait about five more minutes before the first set of people arrived. It was none other than Minho and Ben.

They swung the door open, practically collapsing on top of each other as they stumbled into the room fatigued. Minho was the first to notice she was there-in an instant he perked up, pushing himself away from the other boy.

"Hey, Evony. What's up?"

She shrugged, "Nothing much, just trying to see if there's anything we missed."

Ben sighed, visibly rolling his eyes at her words. "Right, like there's going to be anything different from when you looked at it yesterday."

"You never know," She bent down, grabbed a board with a carved out pattern, and chucked it in his direction. "What I do know though is that whenever we do find a way out-you're being left for dead."

"That's rude."

"Says the one who is convinced I'm only here for repopulation."

"But-" Ben gestured out to her, and then to Minho, who was currently sitting on one of the crates at the back. "MInho man, agree with me here."

The asian surveyed the twos pleading facial expression before curling the side of his lip into a smirk. "Sorry Ev, I got to go with Benny boy on this one-you'd make some cute babies."

"But it's not my sole purpose. Plus, I'm not even planning on having children in a place like this." She attested, sticking firm to what she said. There was no way she was bringing another human-let alone a child-into...basically a prison.

Minho nodded in a very calm and collected way, "True-I take it back, Ben you're wrong."

"Youve got to be shucking me."

A laugh slipped past her lips, "Actually I don't think he's shucking with you. I mean unless you two have something you'd like to-"

"We are not having sex!" They both yelled at the same time, annoyance clear in both of their voices.

"Whos having sex?" The door of the hut swung open to reveal another teenage boy. Max. Sweat dripped off his forehead, which he used his forearm to wipe off. "Oh." His voice droned out, he must've taken a glance around the room at the three people situated in there. He directed his gaze onto her. "Please dont tell you're shucking Minho-like really if you are making up a lie so I don't have to hear those words."

Evony rolled her eyes at his comment. "I am not shucking anyone, Max-especially Minho."

Minho took this as an invitation to jump into the conversation. "She wants to be, though." He added along with wiggled eyebrows.

"No, I really don't." She snapped back, crossing her arms over her chest. After over a year of living with boys she had gotten used to comments like this and had learned to play along. "Someone really needs to break your self esteem-you think to highly of yourself."

"An attractive man can never think too highly of himself." Max piped up from the doorway.

"Did you just indirectly call me attractive?"

"Wait, Max, I want to be called handsome." Ben spoke over the other boy's question, drowning out his words.

"Fine," Max sucked in a deep breath and took a bow for dramatic effect. "You, my dear Benicles, are one hot piece of meat." The three boys heaved over in laughter, clutching their stomachs. Evony on the other hand rounded the hut until she made it to where the door and the boy was. She whacked him on the back of the head.

"You three are disgusting-I thought you said a couple weeks ago you liked girls, Max?" She asked, genuinely curious if he had jumped ship. Honestly she wouldn't have been surprised. After all they do live in a place where ninety-nine percent of the people were of the male gender.

"Oh I do, yes, girls-love them, but I cant not be a little gay for my bros." He winked at his fellow boys, walking over to them so he could wrap an arm around each of their shoulders.

Evony raised her eyebrows-utterly unimpressed. "You do realize how cringy that sounds, right?"

"Yep."

She scoffed, dismissing herself with a wave of the hand. "Then goodbye you nasty perverts-i'll see you at dinner." With that she closed the squeaky makeshift door behind her and set out to where the bonfire would be held later that night.

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Gladers circled around the freshly lit fire, cheering at the flames that were erupting off of the wooden statue. The smoky aroma engulfed her along with the smell of seared meat. Vibrant yellow, red, and orange flares flew into the air from the centerpiece, landing either onto the ground or dissolving into the night. The sight brought bright smiles on each of their faces as the spirits of every kid was lifted by the joy that radiated around them

She loved these types of nights, however, this one in particular was going to be slightly less thrilling seeing that she would be partially responsible for answering any questions the greenie had. From what she had already seen of the boy-there was going to be a lot.

After grabbing a skewer of chicken and a jar of Gallys infamous drink, she made her way out of the crowd and over to where she saw the heads of blonde and brown hair sitting by a log. She plopped down next to Newt, spilling a tad of the drink onto the ground as she did.

"Hey, Newt," She beamed at him. Both boys immediately turned to her voice, even though she had only been directing her greeting at one.

"Hello, Evony."

The greenie leaned forward past the blonde and offered a little wave, "Hi Evo.." He muttered, his own words fading out as he realized she had not been acknowledging him. He leaned back onto the log with a flushed face.

Evony, having been paying attention to this, leaned forward just like he had done and waved back at him. "Hi to you too, pretty boy."

If it was possible, the brunette's face got even redder.

She caught the sight of a smirk creeping onto Newt's lips and simply rolled her eyes at the teasing. "You know what," Evony leaned over the other second in command to pass the jar of liquid over to the newbie. "Try this greenie-as Blondie here would say, 'it'll put some hairs on your chest'."

The brown haired boy gave a skeptical glance at the drink before taking a small sip of the mix. Like a reflex, he spit out the drink in front of him in a revolting manner. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand, coughing at the same time.

Both Newt and Evony laughed at the sight-it was almost always the same for the greenies.

"Oh- oh my god, what is that?" The brunete exclaimed while still attempting to wipe off the excess drops of liquid on his lips. He let out another cough.

Newt reached over and took the jar back from him. "I don't even know. It's Gallys recipe-"

The blonde turned his head around to look back at the fire-this allowed her a clear view of greenie. His face continued to be scrunched up from the previous action, and she found amusement in how he tried to look all knowing when Newt said the mixture was Gally's.

"-it's a trade secret." He finished, turning back to them now.

The greenie shook his head slightly in disapproval, "Yeah, well he's still an asshole."

"He just has a thing for disliking greenies, that's all." Evony chimed in. She knew Gally didn't really hate anybody-besides Aaron, he just got annoyed by how he had to reteach everything he knew about being a builder. Newt seemed to be thinking the same, as he turned to her first before speaking back to the newbie.

"He saved your life today," The blonde stated, taking the drink from her hands as he spoke. She pursed her lips, her eyes tilting downward. Saved his life? What had the greenie managed to do in the time she left for the map room that almost got him killed.

"Trust me, the maze is a dangerous place," He further explained-in a very vague way she might add. The greenie still hadn't met either of their gazes, probably still thinking back to whatever dangerous shinagan he had done earlier. Then Newt nudged her, nodding his head over to the other boy. "Right Evony."

She suddenly sat up a little straighter, not having expected to be called out. "Yeah. Yep, super scary. Almost klunk myself everytime I go out there."

"Klunk?"

She huffed, letting her back slide back down the log.

"Yo, Newt! Mind checking out something with me?" It was WInston, and he was yelling from a distance with a knife in one hand and the other pressed against his arm. He must've cut himself doing who knows what. The second in command clapped both of the teens on the shoulders, then stood up and waved them goodbye. Just like that the two of them were left alone.

It was the boy next to her who spoke up first.

"We're trapped here, aren't we?" He asked, though she knew it wasn't a question, it was a conclusion he made by simply glancing at the closed wall doors ahead of him. She let out a sigh, scooting herself over so she was a bit closer to him.

"Pretty much. But-" She swiveled around, the greenie copying her movements. "Past the fire-that group of kids doing shots, they're the runners. The one in the middle is Minho-he's the keeper of the runner."

They both faced each other once more. She noticed the eager expression on his face. He wanted even more answers, so she gave them to him. Her patience was thinning, but she still had a couple more questions she would be willing to respond too. "Every morning when the doors open they run the maze-memorizing it and then mapping it later. All to try to find a way out."

Evony paused, remembering that he didn't know at all what she was talking about. "Shit-sorry. The maze is something you'll learn about-"

"I know-" He interrupted her sentence, his eyes going wide as he realized what he had done. "I mean I- I know what the maze is. I kind of tried to go into it earlier today." He peered at her sheepishly.

If it was possible for a jaw to drop, hers most definitely would have. This boy, this newbie, had already done something so stupid as to attempt to run into a dark, enclosed space without any knowledge about what its purpose was. She couldn't be more thrilled-another person to have to keep an eye on so they wouldn't get themselves killed.

One greenie had been enough. Aaron, had been enough. But of course, why not add another boy to the mix.

So, what did she do? She slapped him. Hard. Right on the leg.

"Ow!" He exclaimed, rubbing the spot where she had just hit him. His face stayed strained on hers, asking once again for an answer. However this time she knew exactly what to say. "You can't just run into places you know nothing about. That's exactly the type of stuff that's going to get you killed, and for heaven's sake you've been here what?-all of six hours?"

"I was just curious."

"Well don't be."

"I couldn't help it."

A pressed laugh escaped her, "You couldn't help your feet from walking towards the entrance of two giant stone walls. Even though I bet you knew you weren't supposed to be anywhere near them in the first place."

He went to answer but stopped once he realized she was right. Wanting to direct the topic away from him, he went back to asking questions about the runners.

"You said that you go into the maze-how long have you been looking for a way out?" His fingers fumbled with each other again. This was the second time she had seen him do this, and now she knew it must've been a habit he picked up from his life before coming up with the box. She found it kind of ironic, seeing that she did the same thing whenever she got nervous.

Evony nodded her head, already knowing what the reaction she was going to get would be. "Two years."

"What. And you haven't found anything?" He sounded completely in shock, and even though she knew it was coming, it still made her feel guilty for not being able to find a way out. After so long the runners thought they would have found something. Anything. Anything to help them escape, but so far the only thing they had seen were small metal plaques on the maze walls that read W.C.K.D.

"You make it sound easy." She scoffed. She put her hand out to tell him to keep quiet. "Shush, If you listen closely you can hear it-the maze-changing. Every night it rotates into a different pattern."

The boy stared at the walls ahead of him with confusion evident in his features. His head shook in disbelief of the new information. "How is that even possible?"

"I don't know, that's what we have been trying to figure out. The only things we do know for certain is that it changes and at night it's home to these monsters we call grievers."

"That's it?" He asked, still shocked with the lack of information.

"Don't sound too disappointed, you're the one who asked." She shrugged in defeat. I mean there's a couple minor details, but that's disclosed information for Alby and the runners to know."

He nodded again. "What are grievers?"

Another question. Evony offered him a fake smile, one that didn't reach her eyes. "Aren't you inquisitive? Grievers are like I said, what we call the creatures that roam the maze at night. I'll tell you this much, you do not want to be trapped in the maze with them, because nobody survives a night in the maze."

The brunette looked away from her, staring at the ground deep in thought. She continued to stare at him, the greenie. Something felt off about him. It was the same feelings she got when she misplaced her scrapbook and would swear that it should've been in her room, but then it would somehow end up on the other side of the glade. There was an odd feeling that came with being in his presence, and she had the slightest clue on what it was.

Pushing her intrusive thoughts away she stood up, tugging at the brown haired boy's shirt. He quickly followed in suit, standing up next to her. Evony grinned. "Well, greenie. How about we go introduce you to the rest of the gladers."

He vigorously shook his head, "No, no it's fine. I'll stay here."

"But the bonfire is for you, and we can't have the party without the guest of honor."

"No really its-"

With her grip she had on his shirt, she dragged him over to the clearing where the rest of the boys stood in their designated groups, chatting away. She pointed to each different area as she explained the jobs. "We have the builders, you already know Gally, he's one of them."

She continued to pull him along, her fingers still clasped along the hem of his blue shirt. "And then we have the slicers, Winston is the keeper. That's the group of track-hoes, they tend to the gardens. Fry Pans in charge of the kitchen. Clint and Jeff are the Med-jacks..." Evony listed out each and every job, to which the brown haired boy just nodded along to signal he heard everything she said. He however, although was listening, still had one final question on his mind.

Evony stopped, which resulted in him bumping into her. Only then did she let go of his shirt.

He took this as his chance to ask. "What if I want to be a runner?"

She laughed mockingly, for a second not believing that he was being serious. "You want to be a runner?"

He shook his head yes.

She laughed again. "Yeah, no. Even if you did, you would have to be chosen."

"Chosen by wh-'' His words got interrupted by another boy bumping into him from inside the ring. Without looking she could tell it had been Gally. Nobody else fought in the pit as aggressively as he did. The brunette turned to face him, adjusting his shirt so it went back down around his waist.

"What do you say, greenie?" Gally challenged the innocent kid. If only he knew what he was about to get himself into. "Want to see what you're made of?"

No, she wanted to shout. No, turn around and step out of the circle before he hurts you. It's your first day, she wanted to say. He had nothing to prove.

Nonetheless she could only let out a sigh as fellow gladers began to chant greenie over and over, tempting the boy to put on a show for them. More boys started to gather around the outline of the circle, each one itching to see just how strong their newest addition was.

Gally pushed up his sleeves, "Alright, the rules are simple, greenie." The two opponents circled around each other, both getting ready to fight. She wondered who would throw the first punch, but honestly there wasn't much of a question to it-it would be the taller boy. "I try to push you out of the circle...you try to last more than five seconds."

The newbie got about half a second to prepare himself before his opponent came crashing towards him, flinging him into the crowd which then resulted in him getting pushed straight into the sand. She watched sickingly as he spit the grains out of his mouth, and set himself back up to try again.

"Come on, Greenie. We're not done yet."

"Stop calling me greenie."

Welp.

Any chance this boy had was now simply obliterated. She would be surprised if he made it out without any bed rest injuries.

"Stop calling you that? What do you wanna be called? Shank?"

She hated this, she hated the way Gally treated the greenies. It was cruel, seeing that at one point he too, was once the new kid.

"What do you think, boys? Does he look like a shank?" He smiled at the cheers of approval from the rest of the individuals. Yet, Evony, and a handful of others, were not laughing along. They, on the other hand, were frowning with disappointment.

Then the newbie charged. Full on, head first charged at his opponent. For the second time the older boy tossed him back into the sand. "You know what, I think I've settled on shank."

For a third time the brown haired boy charged. At first it seemed that he was going to lose, again, but in one split second motion he flipped Gally over so that he fell face first into the ground. She couldn't keep the proud smile from creeping onto her lips.

"Not bad for a greenie, huh?"

His gloating was short lived as he was swept off his feet and struck down to the ground, his head banging rather violently against it.

Evony winced at the sight. That had to hurt.

He laid there on the ground, his eyes squeezed shut, and his body tense. The pain in his head was throbbing throughout his whole body. But then his face cleared, coming to a sudden realization.

"Thomas..."

She heard the single word that had been whispered. The name that had been whispered.

The boy stood up, yelling it loud enough for everyone to hear. "Thomas! I remember my name. Im Thomas!" He spun around, watching the reactions on everyone's faces turn from stunned to gleeful. Then, he was swarmed. Bodies piled around him welcoming him home, telling him congratulations for figuring out his identity.

Evony stood back from the crowd, sipping on a drink and observing the happy moment that was taking place. At one point her eyes found the greenies from inside the huddle of sweaty men. She smiled at him, nodding her head in a job well done. His face lit up, grinning back at her with the same expression.

Thomas.

Pretty boy now had a name.

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MAE's FUN NOTES-
I didn't think it would take
this many words to write a
bonfire scene but yk first
time for everything.