The Brave and the Broken

The Bonfire

Incandescence: light produced by high temperatures

     "Hey Em," Gally said to me as I walked up to him later that day. He, Ben, and a few other Gladers—whose names I didn't yet know—were working on starting a fire for once the sun went down.

     "Hey cap," I smiled. I had been mostly joking when I originally suggested we use nicknames, but Gally seemed to like it so we used them. "The Runners will be back soon, right?"

     "That's right."

     "Good that," I replied. He half-smiled but said nothing else.

     "Hey Gally," A voice said behind him. I looked over to see Ben smirking at us. He seemed to be holding a large burning stick. "You wanna stop flirting and come help us?" Gally's face turned red and his small smile dropped. He turned around.

     "I'm not flirting," was all he said and he went back over to the boys. I couldn't help but smile.

     I looked back to Ben, who was looking at me. "Why don't you try and follow your own advice, huh?"

     He smirked. "Sure thing, Em," he replied. He seemed to throw as much emphasis and sarcasm into the nickname as possible. He winked at me then shot a sly grin at Gally, who seemed to be trying not to notice. I rolled my eyes and sat on a log near them and watched them. They were holding large sticks, some of them on fire and some of them not. Gally retrieved his stick from the ground where he had set it down when he talked to me. The boys with the sticks that were already on fire were using their sticks to light the other boys' sticks. Gally lit his using Ben's.

     After all of the sticks were lit, they gathered in a circle around the large pile of sticks where I assumed the fire was going to be. On Gally's count, they all threw their sticks into the pile, engulfing it in flames. I watched in awe as the large flames flickered in front of me, seemingly almost close enough to reach out and touch. There was no way it was safe, sitting so close to such a large fire, but I didn't care. I felt the heat on my skin and welcomed it as it touched every part of my body, wrapping me in a hug of heat and light. I started to sweat for the first time since I had been there—not much, just moistness—but I didn't move, I stayed put on the log and basked in the flickering light of the flames.

     After a couple of minutes, Gally came and sat next to me. "The Runners just got back, the doors are about to close," he said. I looked around; I hadn't even noticed that the sun was almost all of the way down now. As if on cue, the loud sound of the closing walls filled my ears.

     I winced. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," I said.

     "Yeah," Gally said, "it takes some time."

     "Hey, Em. Hey, Gal." Newt said, walking up to us with Minho by his side.

     I rolled my eyes. "Hey, Newtie. Hey, Min Min," I quipped.

     "Hey, don't bring me into this," Minho said. We laughed as they reached us and sat on the log next to the one we were on. "So, whatcha shanks talking about?"

     "Not much," I answered, "just how I'll never get used to the walls just closing like that, you know?"

     "Yeah, it does take some time," Minho said.

     "That's exactly what Gally said."

     "Well," Gally chimed in, "I'm right."

     "Yeah, 'cause you're always right," Minho said, rolling his eyes.