002. BONFIRE

EVELYN STARES aimlessly up at the poorly made homestead roof. After freshening up after the run, she couldn't be bothered to move from the swinging hammock and took the quiet moment to relax. The builders had very kindly built a small area for her where she was able to get changed and relax without the interruptions of hormonal teenage boys. Surprisingly, she still chose to sleep in the main homestead with everyone. She didn't want to feel like a complete outsider, but she appreciated the small hideaway. But on top of that, she slept with everyone incase anything ever happened to anyone, se that she could be the first to help or fight. Though, she'd never admit that.

A knock rattles the creaky door and a second later, a gentle British accent speaks through the wood, "Eve? You in there?"

"Yeah," She grunts lazily with her arms folded behind her head and her ankles crossed comfortably.

"Are you decent?" Newt asks.

Rolling her eyes, Evelyn throws her legs over the side of the hammock before hopping down and trudging slowly to the door, swinging it open to reveal her fully clothed self. She smirks, "Yes."

There was an incident a year ago when a group of boys walked in on her changing, and like usual, she nearly bit their heads off furiously for not reading the sign on the door that obviously read:

Changing — KEEP OUT.

Newt smiles at her and she tries her hardest to return it sincerely. He nods over his own shoulder towards the growing bustle on the Glade, "It's bonfire time. The boys are lighting it now. I thought you'd want to be there."

"The best time of the month," She hums, stepping out of the homestead and leaving the door to swing shut behind her as the pair of them make their way over.

The rest of the Gladers huddle around a large pile of sticks while a few others add a few more bits to the main fire, building it as high as the resources will let them. After taking a burning branch each from Gally, Evelyn and Newt position themselves next to one another around the bonfire. Evelyn stays as quiet as possible, hoping that no one realises that she's been given a stick when usually she's just supposed to stand by and watch.

"Light it up!" Alby roars, signalling for everyone holding sticks to through the flaming wood onto the bonfire, causing it to erupt and light up the space around them like a beacon.

As the warmth from the fire hits them all, everyone starts to cheer and clap their hands, managing to forget for just a second that they're trapped in the middle of a haunting maze. Laughing with enjoyment, Newt throws his arm over Evelyn's shoulder, lifting his hand to ruffle her hair slightly. She smacks him away gently whilst she chuckles happily.

"Gladers! Gladers! Gladers!" All the boys begin to shout, while Evelyn just watches with a smile from under Newt's arm. She jokingly rolls her eyes at their chants and how they bounce up and down in excitement. From the other side of the roaring fire, Thomas tilts his head as he watches her, trying to figure her out from afar. Earlier when they spoke, she seemed nothing like how she was currently acting.

Every single month the same ceremony occurs. According to Alby, it's a welcome to the new greenie of the month so that they can settle in and get to know the group more. Evelyn only really likes it because Fry makes his best food on bonfire night.

Gally shoves a glass of his special mixture in Evelyn's chest and she grasps it before throwing the jaw up into the air like the rest, "To the Gladers!"

As the initial excitement finally begins to die down, Newt and Evelyn make their way over to their usual log, settling down on the grass with their backs facing the commotion.

Evelyn takes a large sip of Gally's drink. She no longer pulls a disgusted face like she used to, instead she just smacks her lips in distaste for the substance, "It's getting better," She mumbles, glancing down into the drink and watching as small bits of onion float around on the surface of the yellow liquid.

"I think he's just killed our taste buds," Newt mutters, enjoying the drink just as much as her.

Calling their names, Fry jogs over and kneels down in front of the pair, holding out two meat kebabs with a merry smile on his face. They both take them greedily, quickly saying their thanks to the chef being digging in as Fry runs off again.

"These on the other hand. . . are gorgeous," Evelyn uses her thumb to wipe a bit of meat grease off the corner of her mouth before taking another bite.

At the sound of footsteps, Newt glances over his shoulder for a second before looking at Evelyn, "Here he comes," He grumbles through a mouthful of kebab.

Evelyn's brows furrow and she turns to understand what he means. Once her eyes land on the new greenie, she clicks her tongue and jumps up, making sure to collect her jar of juice and the kebab. She nudges Newt gently with her foot, offering him a small nod, "Talk to you later, Goldie."

The greenie's head turns to follow Evelyn as she makes her way over to Minho and settles down beside him instead. The greenie's face pulls up in confusion as he slowly takes her spot next to Newt, "What's up with her?" He questions, "Did I do something?"

"You didn't do anything, mate," Newt reassures him, "It's just Eve being Evelyn. She dislikes greenies."

"Chuck said," Greenie nods, "Why?"

The blonde glader picks at the small amount of meat left on his kebab stick, "I don't think she would want me to share that. You should speak to her yourself."

The greenie rolls his shoulders back, "She's scary."

Newt throws his head back as he laughs out loud before nodding in agreement, "That she is. And, believe me, she gets scarier the more you get to know her." Newt watches as the greenie's attention is drawn to the maze walls as a noise roars from behind them, "Hell of a first day, greenie," He pushes the jar of liquid into his hands, "Here. Put some hair on your chest."

Reluctantly, the greenie sips it, not even managing to swallow before he jerks forward and spits it out between his legs on the grass, causing Newt to laugh. He continues to cough, attempting to get rid of the nasty taste, "Oh, what is that?"

Newt shrugs, taking the jar back and examining the formula inside, "I don't even know. It's Gally's recipe. It's a trade secret."

Evelyn had been present when Gally figured out the recipe a couple of years ago, but she was so disgusted by the ingredients he had laid out that she physically could not stand to watch as he smashed and threw it all together.

"Yeah, well, him and the girl are still assholes," The greenie mumbles bitterly, glancing past Newt's head to watch as Gally throws a Glader to the ground.

"Hey," Newt tuts, "She saved your life today. You should think yourself lucky that she even payed any attention to you," His eyes land on the maze doors, "Trust me, the maze is a dangerous place."

"We're trapped here, aren't we?" The greenie asks quietly, staring Newt's saddened face.

"For the moment. But. . ." Newt turns around completely, pointing over at the bonfire and the people surrounding it, ". . . you see those guys there, by the fire?"

The greenie spins around too, immediately noticing Evelyn with her legs draped over Minho's lap while they playfully argue. Behind them, are a few taller boys, all of them stood with drinks in their hand. The greenie recognises one of them to be Ben, who Chuck spoke to earlier on.

"Those are the runners," Newt explains, "And that guy in the middle there, who's talking to Eve, that's Minho. He's the Keeper of the Runners, likes to claim he's the fastest. But everyone knows that's Evelyn really. Now, every morning when those doors open, they run the maze, mapping and memorising it, trying to find a way out."

The greenie furrows his brows, "How long have they been looking?"

Newt says, "Three years."

"And they haven't found anything?"

"It's a lot easier said than done," Newt sighs, "Evelyn's nearly died a few times, but I'm sure that's because she chooses to do things the most dangerous way possible." The maze rumbles loudly around them, and Newt raises his finger, "Listen. Hear that? That's the maze changing. Changes every night."

"How is that even possible?" The greenie mumbles, in complete confusion of the whole situation.

Newt smirks, shrugging, "You can ask the people who put us in here, if you ever meet the bastards," He takes another swig of his drink, "The truth is, the runners are the only ones that really know what's out there. They're the strongest and the fastest of us all, and it's a good thing too because if they don't make it back before those doors close. . . then they're stuck out there for a night. And no one's survived a night in the maze—" He rolls his eyes, "—except Evelyn, but she's just a lucky shank."

"What happens to them. . ." The greenie swallows thickly, "the ones that don't survive?"

Newt shuffles uncomfortably, "Well, we call them the Grievers. Of course, no one's ever seen one and lived to tell about it. Evelyn has, though she rarely opens up to people about what happened when she was out there. So I strongly suggest you don't go asking her all of your hundreds of questions about it if you value your life. Either way, just know, they're out there."

Closer to the bonfire, Minho's hands curl around Evelyn's ankles and throw her legs off of his lap for the fifth time, "Eve, get your legs off me." He snarls.

Evelyn sits up straight, pouting at him teasingly, "Are you worried your pants are going to get all dirty?"

Minho's face screws up as he looks down at his lap, noticing the dirty patches on the material. He points at them while lifting his head to glare at her, "They are already dirty, thanks to you."

Her eyes narrow in shock, "I didn't do anything! Those stains are from your childish rolls around with Ben."

His head tilts.

She throws her hands up, recognising the look in his eyes that tells her that he believes it was her, "I swear, on my mum's life, I didn't touch your pants while you were sleeping last night." She laughs through her lie, knowing damn well that her and Ben ruined his trousers late the night previous as part of their prank on him.

Grinding his jaw, he turns his attention back to his plate of food, "Your mom might be dead, for all you know," He smirks slyly, scraping up the last of his food.

She delivers a punch to his arm, causing him to grunt in pain through a mouthful of food while she points her finger at him daringly, "Watch your mouth."

Before Minho even has the chance to smirk, his head is whipping back and forth as a loud shout is heard from somewhere around the fire. Evelyn tenses in his seat, narrowed her eyes in an attempt to look through the flames.

"Greenie! Greenie! Greenie!" The other Glader's cheer, and immediately the two best friend's relax, realising they are shouts of joy and not distress.

Evelyn stands up once she spots Gally in his fighting rig, taunting the new greenie. She rubs her hands together in excitement, "This should be fun."

"Or boring," Minho grunts, shoving his way through the growing crowd around the dirt ring so that he and Evelyn are able to get a better view from the front.

The cheers from the giddy audience die down once Gally rolls his sleeves up and prepares to talk some more to the new greenie, "The rules are simple, Greenie. I try and push you out of the circle. You try and last more than five seconds. Ready?"

"Cocky shank," Evelyn glances up at Minho as she mumbles under her breath.

"You're telling me," Minho hums in agreement, his face pulled up into a slight grimace as his eyes return to the so called 'fight'.

The greenie stands aimlessly in the ring, unsure of what to do and slightly intimidated by the dozens of eyes burning into his form. And before he's able to ask Gally a question about the strange game, the builder has already charged at the greenie, shoving his shoulders back, which sends him flying back into the crowd. He spins as he skids back so that he's facing the crowd of people who throw him back into the circle.

Without wasting any time, Gally pushes at the greenie's back, causing him to slide on the sand below him before he face plants the gravelly surface. Evelyn hears a few boys wince when the greenie raises his head and reveals all the dusty material coating half of his head.

"Come on, Greenie," Gally smirks at the boy on the floor, "We're not done yet."

The black haired boy pushes himself back up before he quickly brushes of his dirty clothes and spits out a few grits of sand. He glares at Gally as he mumbles, "Stop calling me greenie."

"Stop calling you that? What do you wanna be called?" Gally's brows furrow as he teases the new boy, "Shank?"

The surrounding audience erupt into loud laughter, except Minho and Evelyn who just smirk and shake their heads, trying not to give Gally the satisfaction his ego desires.

"Does he look like a shank?" Gally motionsstowards the greenie, and everyone watches as the new boy slowly advances forward and at the last moment his arms circle around Gally's waist.

Evelyn's eyes are pulled away from the scuffle when she feels an arm creep over her shoulder and she glances up at Ben, who smiles down at her warmly, "Hey," She whispers on greeting.

"Hey," He nods towards the fight, "Not impressed?" He guesses by her bored expression and her statue as she stands with her arms folded over her chest.

"Just annoyed that Gally hasn't met his match yet," She shrugs, looking back at the two fighting boys.

Ben chuckles as he says, "You should get in there. Show him how it's done." She smirks at him, but just shakes her head at the idea when deep down she believes she'd be able to last quite a while longer than any boy in the ring with Gally.

"You know what?" Gally throws the greenie to the floor once more, and Evelyn almost starts to pity the boy, but again he gets back up, "I think I'm settled on shank."

Relentlessly, the greenie sprints at Gally, doing the exact same position as before; with his arms curled around his waist as the two boys push against one another like sumo wrestlers. Gally seems to be walking the greenie back with ease and the new boy's feet skid on the sand as he struggles to stay still.

But, all of a sudden, the greenie quickly shoves Gally to the floor, and the tall builder lands on his stomach with a grunt while the crowd around let out confused noises. It was rare for Gally to get pushed down.

With Gally looking at her feet, Evelyn kneels down and smirks at his frustrated expression, "Getting beaten by a greenie, not at all like you, Gall," She teases.

He raises his head to meet her eyes before he jumps up and as he does that, he shoves her face back so she rocks back onto her heels. Spinning around, Gally takes the greenie's legs out completely, sending him smacking to the floor with a crack as his head collides with the soft ground. Triumphantly, Gally catches Evelyn's gaze once more and opens his arms as he gloats, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Thomas, Thomas," The greenie whispers, before he scrambled up in a hurry, "Hey. Thomas! I remember my name! I'm Thomas."

Ben's arm falls from Evelyn's shoulders and Minho leaves her side as the rest of the Glader's begin to cheer and push forward to greet the new boy with hugs and handshakes, but Evelyn remains frozen in her position while she stares at Thomas in shock.

"I'm Thomas."

She'd heard those words before. She'd heard his voice say those words before. She'd dreamed about it a few times, a couple of years ago but in her memory now, his face is just a blur. She thought he wasn't real, just something she made up to give her hope that there was something to live for. But he was real. Evelyn had been dreaming about the new greenie — She'd been dreaming about Thomas.

Evelyn shakes her head to snap her out of her thoughts and her arms squeeze tighter around herself as she watches from afar as the group celebrate and Thomas sprays Gally's mysterious drink into the air, covering the crowd in small cool droplets.

The happiness is cut short when a loud monstrous screech carries through the maze and circles around the Glade like a tortuous sound. The group of Gladers fall into sullen silence, and Evelyn clenches her jaw at the nightmarish sound as the scar on her side begins to burn from the remembrance.

"What the hell was that?" Thomas questions, eyes wide in shock.

From her spot outside of the fighting ring, Evelyn manages to hear him, and as seen as none of the boy's step up to answer, she decides to, "A griever," She replies loud enough for him to hear, and slowly the boy's turn to look at her, each of them looking at her with sorrow and sympathy, knowing how the sound affects her, "You should be safe in here. Nothing gets through those walls."

And without saying one more word, Evelyn turns her back to the group and begins to make her way back to the homestead as her hands reach up to take through her hair anxiously. As the rest of the boys move to take themselves away, Thomas stays frozen and watches Evelyn carefully as she disappears into the darkness of the hut.

"Let's tuck in for the night," Alby's hand claps down on his shoulder, snapping his eyes away from the girl before he's pulled towards the homestead by the leader.

Thomas prepares for bed and finally settles down onto his hammock, which is conveniently beside Evelyn's. As he lays his head down onto his folded arms, he glances her way, watching as she throws a tiny pebble into the air and catches it again before repeating the action over and over while the snores from the surrounding boy's fill their ears. It amazes Thomas how quickly they all managed to get to sleep, but not Evelyn, she was still wide awake.

"Can't sleep?" Thomas whispers through the night, but the warm light from a dim lantern illuminates half of her face.

Hearing his now familiar voice, Evelyn clenches her jaw and her eyes remain focussed on the stone as she replies, "Never can."

"Why?" He questions, keeping his voice low.

"Don't like it," She keeps her replies blunt and short, but with another information for him to stop asking questions.

"Why?" He asks once more, proving her theory wrong.

"You ask too many questions," She mutters, throwing her stone to the ground below her hammock before turning her head to meet his eyes. She swallows thickly at the sight of his staring deeply at her, as if he was admiring something, "Go to sleep. You need rest."

"So do you," He counters with a small smirk, and she sighs deeply, knowing deep down that he's correct.

"When you've done what I've done and seen what I've seen, you'll understand why I don't sleep," She explains, "I'm used to getting no sleep. You aren't," She rolls away from him, cutting his view off so now all he has to look at is her revealed back as her tank top has ridden up slightly.

He bites his lip and curses silently at himself before turning away from her hammock and letting sleep overcome him instantly.

Evelyn let's out a breath once she listens to Thomas' breathing pattern and realises that he's finally asleep. Slowly and silently, she turns back over to lay on her back. Her eyes flick to the rooftop, but not without first glancing momentarily at Thomas, who now seems more peaceful and not as annoying. She'd imagined him to be uglier in her dreams.

❀˖⁺. ༶ ⋆˙⊹❀

got my november mock results the other day,
it's fair to say i'm HORRIFIED.

also ballad of songbirds and snakes was so good