Chapter 2: Explanations

AN: Hello, darlings and gladers! I'm back with chapter 2 of Newt's Life! I recall I had to put a hiatus on my stories because of a phase of depression I was going through and I absolutely couldn't deal with more than a few things at once. But my phase has passed and now I am determined to give you all a bit more before life gets serious and I won't have time again to write anything fanfic-y on my computer. I hope you like it!

The characters belong to James Dashner, the story to my friend Ritara2083, I'm just a humble translator.

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"My name is Newt!"

With shining eyes, Alby nodded. A broad smile was on his lips. You could see from a mile away that he was just as happy as I was. Finally, I remembered something. My name. And now that I knew what I looked like, I was finally able to reconcile these two new insights. I was Newt, a tall, slender, blond boy from the way it looked. I estimated myself to be about 16-17 years old. So far, so good. My hand trembling with joy, I gave Alby the little mirror back. Then I let myself sink onto a stack of boards lying around in the corner. Still a little confused, I let my chin sink into my hands and closed my eyes for a moment. Alby squatted in front of me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"All's a bit much at the moment, isn't it? I know that. I was exactly the same. But Newt, there's one more thing. And it's really cool."

Suspicious, I raised my head and looked into his dark eyes, looking for a sign to not have to trust in his words. But there was nothing but honesty and a hint of sadness. I raised an eyebrow in question.

"Well, come along, I'll show you. But no keeling over, ok?"

I nodded. He stood up and held out his hand to me. Gratefully I gripped it and got pulled up. With large steps, Alby approached another door and stepped out into the sun. I followed him closely, eager to finally discover where I was. Only now did I realize that a kind of forest was behind the hut. Lots of trees of all kinds stood there and reached their leaves towards the light. Without hesitating for even a second, Alby turned left and already we were standing on a huge glade. On closer inspection, however, my jaw dropped and I had trouble not to run away screaming.

In front of us rose a huge wall made of coarse stone. I estimated its height to be about 20 meters. The wall looked solid and stable. Why hadn't I noticed it before? 'Of course, Newt,' I scolded myself, 'you spent too much time trying not to piss yourself with fear'. I followed the course of the wall with my eyes, amazed at how far it reached. Eventually, I arrived back at the starting point. I blinked several times, it couldn't be. Once again I followed the course of the wall. It was true. The wall had no end! It ran around us once, without beginning or end. We were surrounded!

Panic overcame me and with a helpless gasp I stumbled back. Worried, Alby took a step towards me. I quickly pulled my legs to my body, out of his reach.

"What is that thing? What's the meaning of this? Where am I?", I screamed with a voice shrill with fear.

Alby did nothing to calm me down. He just stood there and looked at me. I turned away from him onto my stomach and buried my head in my arms. Without warning, I started to cry. I couldn't do anything about it, as embarrassing as it was to me. But the tension of the last hour just dissipated to make way for new tension. My body was shaken by sobs. At some point, I felt a warm hand on my back. Slowly I had calmed down again. Ashamed, I slowly sat up and wiped my hands over my face.

"Sorry. You must be thinking whatever about me. Normally I'm not such a crybaby.", I muttered.

Alby smiled sadly. Tears also shone in his eyes. He pulled his hand back and sat down opposite me.

"You don't need to apologize. This is normal. I felt the same way when I first arrived here."

I looked at him with my head cocked.

"What is this, Alby?", I whispered.

In response, I just got a shrug.

"I don't know. The only thing I know is that this is a glade. There's kind of a giant maze out there. But I don't know the whole point of why we are here and what all this is supposed to be. I arrived here first, about 4 months ago..."

So far I had been hanging enthralled on his every word. A maze, then. But now I was taken aback.

"Wait a second... You had to live all alone in this glade?"

I looked at the boy in shock.

He nodded.

"I was the first. I was panicked. Sure, when you see it all for the first time... Luckily, I had supplies from the boxes over there. But I was afraid of having to stay here on my own forever. You don't know how happy I was when one day the box came up again, with new supplies and a new boy. His name was Alec. Like me, he couldn't remember anything except his name. He had a note with him at the time, saying that every month a new one would come up to us. We were so relieved. That meant we were not alone here. The next one who came was Peter."

"Where are they?", I interrupted his story.

Because until now I had only seen and gotten to know Alby. Were they still asleep? It could be possible; the sun was yet not standing so high. A look back at Alby told me it had to be something else.

"One day Alec went into the maze. We had discussed that he should only turn three times before coming back to us. But he didn't come back. From then on, neither Peter nor I ever went near the maze. We knew it was our only way out but the fear was too great. But at some point, we dared nevertheless. We went together. Just like Alec, we turned three times. Behind a ledge, we found Alec's shirt, but that was it. So we went back. We hadn't noticed that it had already become dark. But suddenly we heard a noise behind us. When we turned around, we saw a beast, huge. It pursued us. It wasn't far to the entrance, but it caught Peter after all. We just made it to the glade, but it was still too late. Peter passed away two days later. That was a week ago. Since then, I've been alone again."

Throughout his story, Alby's voice had become increasingly quiet. You could see that the whole thing was affecting him very, very deeply. Now it was my turn to put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at me gratefully.

"Our only chance to ever get out of here is through the maze.", he explained.

One thing I couldn't get out of my mind.

"You said you went into the maze. But how? I mean, I see a closed wall here. How did you get in there?"

"Come with me.", was Alby's only answer.

Once more that day, Alby stood up and I followed him and his example. He led me just a few metres away. Right in front of the wall, he stopped and looked at me seriously.

"I'm not showing you this for you to run in on your own, ok? But for you to know what we're dealing with here, ok?"

I nodded. Alby did the same and then looked at the wall. Just a few minutes later something happened. A deep, dark rumble rolled over the glade, followed by a loud creak. It sounded as if stone was being moved and fiercely resisting. By now I knew where the noise came from.

I felt like the ground was moving under me. And also the wall in front of me. With my mouth open, I watched as the wall suddenly split at one point. First, a small slit was created, which within a few seconds exposed an approximately five-meter-wide corridor. The way into the maze!

END CHAPTER 2

AN: That should conclude Chapter 2 of Newt's Life. If you liked it, please consider leaving a like or a little comment. That would be awesome and very encouraging. To those who celebrate Pride, happy Pride Month, dearies, show your rainbows!

Until then kisses and cake,

Yuna McHill