Live ➳ Newt

1 | rise and shine

Greenie

➳

Water.
Drowning.
Swim up.
Quickly.

I gasped aloud as I woke up. The pressure on my throat held it's place as I gagged and clawed at my neck.
The oxygen that was once entering and exiting my lungs with ease, was now no where to be found. I paused for a moment, trying to calm myself down and remember how to be a normal human being. I finally gulped and took a deep breath in. Rushing relief sprung itself onto me as I inhaled and exhaled slowly.

I was breathing.
Thank god.

I quickly diverted my eyes to my surroundings as the scraping sound, of metal against metal, filled my ears. The rumble of a loud engine and the shaking of the cage I sat in allowed me to investigate a little further. My environment at the moment was bland. The metallic box was shot with rusty holes, easy to fit my fingers in-between.
As I held myself up against on of the walls, I felt uneasy.
Not like a sickening uneasy but, I felt as if I shouldn't shout. Like, I was meant to be here.
The small wooden crates that littered around me where vibrating to the beat of the rickety chains, which hit the outside rust with a thundering BANG.
I was moving upward at a rapid pace while, my body was being pulled toward my feet. I couldn't stand up yet.

Shit.

I could then suddenly feel it slowing down. Carefully, which each slight jump, I stood up completely. I quickly noticed some small chatter above me, although it was unreadable at first.
I looked around for a place to hide, before I slowly realized that there was no where else to go.
With one last jump of the box, the roof above me opened. Sun light from above shined in and soaked everything inside, including myself. I blinked a couple of times to get used to the rough glow overhead.
I could hear the voices a lot clearer now, but I couldn't stick to one conversation. Everyone was talking too quickly or maybe all at once.

"It's been a month already?"
"She's hot."
"Wait! The Greenie's a girl?"

Greenie? What the hell is that?

I looked around at all the new faces, some looked a lot tougher then others. Some were covered in dirt while others were clean, and some held weapons behind their backs. They looked to be all boys, maybe between the ages 15 and 18. It was hard to tell.
I was calm for a moment before one boy jumped inside the box with me. The metal shook as he landed forcefully on his feet.

I stared at him. He was skinny with a light tan complexion. He was also tall, maybe 6'1 or 6'2. Freckles covered his roughly toned face and his short hair looked almost yellow in the sharp sunlight.

"Day one, Greenie," he announced, putting his hands on his hips, "Rise and shine."

I gulped, gathering all my courage for a second. It took everything I had to not yell at him.
He lent a hand out to me but I took a step back. He must have noticed how frightened I was because he smiled gently, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt ya."

His words seemed genuine so I took his hand cautiously. He led me over to the right wall and hoisted me up. My toes dung into the metal ports as I pulled my weight out of the rusty elevator.
I sat on the grass, running my hands through its blades while smiling to myself. It looked so beautiful, the way the dark and light strands waved slightly in the wind. It was like I had never seen or touched it before, although I knew it's name. Everything felt so different, I was a newborn baby at this point.
The boy who let me out was now standing in front of me, a cocky grin spread across his face. "A girl, huh?" he snickered a little under his breath, "took awhile."

I looked up at him and frowned.

What was that supposed to mean?

He lent me his hand once more but, I ignored it and stood up by myself. He scoffed quietly and pulled his hand back, obviously a little offended. I took a minute to look around. Everything was so neat and orderly besides the hormonal boys that crowded around us.
There was a small forest off to the right and what looked to be a farm on my left. Large straw and wood houses stood calmly behind the farm, almost framing it so it'd pop out.
A much larger stone wall surrounded the entire meadow. It seemed so dark and secretive, like there was something out there that was being locked away. Hidden from my searching eyes.

My attention was suddenly drawn to a much larger African man. He had broad shoulders and a thin torso. He didn't have a ton of hair on his head but, the little studs I could see looked black. His dark brown eyes gave me a quick look over as he stepped through the huddled teenagers. He walked up behind the freckled boy and with a small cough the boy whipped around; immediately apologizing for being in the way. The man smiled as he moved.

"Welcome to the Glade, Green-bean. I'm Alby."

His voice was almost like music. It was so calm and put together, I could instantly tell he was in charge. I proceeded to nod in reply.

The Glade, huh?
What an interesting name for such a pretty place.

"Now, this place must seem very unsettling at first but, I promise that you'll fit in just fine after a bit."