𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 // 𝐭𝐦𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨

𝟎𝟏. 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥?

CHAPTER ONE—A GIRL?
[EMMY'S PERSPECTIVE]

AS THE GIRL OPENED her eyes, she felt her stomach lift. terror struck over her as she looked around to see a metal box surrounding her, making her trapped. she stumbled to her feet as she looked above her, seeing a roof. nobody heard her screams of fear. nobody heard her shaking the metal cage around her as she tried to save herself.

preparing herself for the cage to crash into the roof she wobbled to the corner, sitting down and sealing her eyes shut as she hoped it would all stop. and it did.

a buzzing noise occurred as the roof opened, light shone through which made her squint so she could see. in attempt to block the light, she tried to cover the sun with her hand. the top of the metal cage was opened and a boy hopped in.

"it's a girl." he announced, looking as shocked as the girl was herself. he looked back to the other boys as she climbed out of the box, slicing her shin whilst she escaped.

"she's making a run for it!" one of them laughed, everyone else chiming in with similar comments.

without a second thought, she ran and ran. the girl headed directly for the gap in between the walls and didn't stop. that was until a boy shoved her over. she winced as her head hit the floor and tried to get back up, making the boy wrap his arm around her.

"get off of me, dickhead." she struggled but the boy didn't stop, he just held her tighter. "what is this place?" she asked, not getting an answer in return.

"newt!" the boy called out, a blonde boy running over to him. "put her in the slammer." he threw her over to the blonde which caused her to fall on the grass again because of the injury on her leg.

she sprung up and backed away from him.

"stay back." she warned him and he held out a hand as if to tell her to 'calm down'. "just let me go." she motioned to the doors before dashing off again. a new boy ran after her this time, he was much faster and pulled her back.

"listen, shank, we can't let you go out there and if you would stop running off we would explain why!" he grumbled into her ear and she calmed down, holding back the urge to run off again.

"what is this place?" she panted, trying to catch her breath. once again, she didn't get an answer. "answer me!" she yelled, picking up a stick off the ground and pointing it at him threateningly.

two more boys grabbed her by each arm and dragged her somewhere. she was scared out of her mind but of course she didn't show it. they threw her in a pit they called "the slammer" and locked the door.

a boy she didn't recognise came over, he looked older than the others. he knelt down to talk to her and she backed away as far as she could until her back hit the wall.

"hey, new girl." he softly muttered and wrapped a hand around the wooden bar of the slammer. "i'm nick. can you tell me your name?"

"my..." she began before pausing and shaking her head. "i don't remember, why don't i remember anything?" she panicked and he hushed her to calm her down.

"s'okay, that's normal, that happened to every single one of us. now listen, newbie, i can let you out if you promise not to make a run for it again, okay?" she nodded in return and he slowly opened the wooden bars and extended a hand, waiting for her to take it. she accepted and climbed out of the slammer.

nick's eyes darted to her shin which was covered in blood.

"your leg..." he trailed on and pointed to the deep cut and she looked in horror. "let's get a medjack, come on."

she limped to the medhut and nick put an arm around her, helping her walk. once they arrived there was another boy who's jaw dropped when he saw her.

"we've got a girl?" he gasped and walked over to her, not noticing her leg.

"yeah, she gave herself a nasty cut." he motioned to her leg and the medjack widened his eyes at it. "what? are you completely useless?"

"hey, man, i got my role like everyone else." he defended himself and told the girl to sit on the bed and she did what he asked. "i'm jeff." he smiled and she gave him a slight grin in return.

"i don't know who i am." she said and jeff shrugged.

"none of us really do, we've only been here six months." he began tying her bandage and grinned. she awkwardly sat there as the boy rambled on about his time in the maze.

"you're all good to go." he smiled as he finished tying the bandage.

the girl simply just nodded and jumped off the bed, walking out and into the sunlight. she looked around to see the calming atmosphere. there were gladers hard at work, animals peacefully trotting around in there pens. everything seemed so perfect and in place. but she felt as if she didn't belong.

nick approached her again and dragged her over to meet alby.

"newbie, meet alby. when i'm not around he's in charge." he pointed to a dark skinned boy who looked around 16-17. he shook her hand and slightly smiled as he was skeptical of the girl.

"hey," she mumbled and continued to look at her surroundings, admiring every part of it. she had no idea why she wanted to run earlier. this place truly was mesmerising.

"let's find you a job." nick smiled and walked over to a boy named winston, keeper of the slicers. being a slicer wasn't the peak of her interests but she wanted to at least try it out. but when she heard the cries of a pig's life coming to an end she shook her head and said it 'wasn't for her'.

next was the builders, a boy named gally was the keeper here. she recognised him from earlier, he seemed like a dickhead. he snickered when the girl asked to be a builder.

"yeah, not gonna happen." he leant against a stone wall with his arms folded.

"why not?" she scoffed and this only made him laugh more.

"because you're a girl." he truthfully said and the girl just simply kicked him in the leg and walked away, giving him 'the finger' whilst doing so.

after that encounter, she tried the kitchen even though she was a horrible cook. she knew this somehow but didn't want to get rejected at another job. the keeper of the cooks was the only cook, frypan. he seemed nice enough and he asked her to help with preparing for the bonfire tonight.

"bonfire?" she questioned and he nodded. "why, is it a special occasion?"

"yeah, a new greenie." he smiled at her and passed her something to place in the oven and she did so.

"so what do you do at this 'bonfire', is it fun?" she wondered and frypan shrugged.

"dunno. we just drink and sulk." he half joked and the girl smirked.

"sounds good to me."