The only word I can use to describe my time in the Slammer was uncomfortable. I tried to find a good position all night but the dirt and pebbles made it impossible to sleep. It was so dark, I couldn't see and my eyes couldn't adjust. Luckily, it wasn't too cold, so when I finally did fall asleep, I stayed asleep... until he came back.
"Wake up!," he rattled the bars. I groaned and repositioned myself," I said wake up!" I sat up, seeing the outline of a man against the soft light of the morning sun. He unlocked the cage and reached in, pulling my arm to get me out. It was the same guy who had brought me here last name, who is he? Next to him was Ben, Why is-... Oh right.
"Get in," he ordered to Ben, who ducked his head and hopped in to the Slammer. The man shut the bars, locked them and strolled away saying nothing else.
There was a gray mist over the Glade, it looked so beautiful. The shudder of the maze opening signaled the start of the day, the Runners made there way over and disappeared behind the gray walls. I turned back to the slammer and looked down at Ben, he was sitting against the far wall, knees up to his chest, his eyes closed and his head back. He looks like he's sleeping... but he can't be, right?
"Ben?," I bend down to the bars. He opens his eyes, "You okay?"
He let a smirk spread across his face," Yeah, I'll be okay."
"You know, I think this is stupid. You shouldn't be punished for what you did."
"I broke the rules," he shrugged. "It happens."
"Well... thank you. I-I mean, Mihno said you didn't want me to get in trouble."
"No, I didn't." He closed his eyes again.
"I doesn't get any comfier," I tell him.
"I believe that," he arches his back from the wall. "But did it help? Any new realization?"
"If you mean my name, then no. Looks, like I'll be Greenie forever...," I let out a forced chuckle.
"We'll find you a name," Ben replies, his eyes bring me back to the first time I saw him. So true, so real, so green. "I... I'll see you when I get out."
I nodded and stood up, glancing back at the Slammer before I made my way to the Med hut.
"She lives!," Clint said as I walked into the hut.
"Unfortunately," I grin. "I bet it wasn't the same coming in to work without me here."
"It was different," Clint laughed.
"Hey... thanks for what you said yesterday. I-.."
Clint cut me off," Don't mention it. I understand first day jitters. If I had thought you would have done it again, I would've asked for a harsher punishment." Honest. "Oh, and that thing came up in the box yesterday," Clint pointed to a small package, wrapped in thin paper sitting in the center of my bed.
"For me? What is it?"
"I'm not sure, but Alby opened it. Said it didn't have anything serious in it. It just says 'for the girl'. "
I walked to my bed and sat beside the small parcel, it was a light tan. I wasn't very intimidating, but whatever is on the inside, came from them. Them. What did they send me? Is it going to tell me who I am? Will it give me my memories?
"Well open it!," Clint encouraged.
I unwrapped the thin paper slowly, bundled inside were 2 cloth bras and some pads. Oh god! I quickly hid them from Clint. I dug more, but that was all. No note. No clues. No information. I'm still lost, I though sadly.
"What's in it?," Clint asked.
I cleared my throat," Girl stuff," before wrapping it all back up and sliding it under the bed. Looking over my shoulder to Clint, he seemed content with my answer, clearly not wanting to understand what 'girl stuff' was. "Clint, when will I train with you?"
He scratched his head," I dunno. Today if you want."
"Really?"
"Yeah sure, you've done it with basically everyone else."
"Yeah!," I cheered and went to stand beside him. Clint was shorter then me, but not by much, his frizzy black curs nearly made up for the difference. He was squeezing the liquid from a damp rag back into one of his many jars.
"First rule of being a Med-Jack, try to stay clean..." that was the one of many rules Clint had. Being a Med-Jack was way more complicate then what I had seen, and Clint caught me off guard. He always seemed so goofy, cracking jokes with Jeff or whistling silly tunes, but he was so smart. His work bench was organized and tidy, he knew all the curing plants and ways to bandage a cut. He let me practice on him for a while, he said my bandages were a little too tight. Once he had showed me everything and explained it all, my head was spinning. No way I can remember all of this?!
"How do you keep track of it all?," I ask baffled.
Clint shrugs," You just do."
"I don't think I could do this," I admit.
Clint nods," It's not for everyone. Find something you do like?"
"Well... being in the kitchen was nice..."
"If you don't find something, you can always be a Slopper."
Ugh, no. "Yeah, that's true. I just want to be good at least one job."
"So far, you're not so bad here."
"Thanks Clint," I chuckle and sit on the edge of my bed.
"Everything okay?," Clint was asking with a worried expression.
"Yeah...," I give him a small fake smile. "I'm okay...," I look down at my hands.
"You know, you don't have to pretend, Greenie. I get that it can be hard, it took me a few days before I really accepted all of this," he gestured around the room.
"I just don't understand... why did they send me if there's never been a girl before?"
Clint sighed," Yeah, we've all been asking ourselves that."
"And that note. 'A new challenge', what does that mean? Do they think I'm going to cause problem or something?"
Clint shrugged," Girls are known to be more dramatic."
I roll my eyes," Shut up. That's just stupid."
He held up his hands in surrender," I'm just saying."
A thought I had been suppressing perked back into my brain... maybe they sent you here for breeding. I shuddered, what if the boys think that too. I looked back towards Clint, his back was to me as he continued making a new cleaning paste for wounds.
"Why do you think I'm here, Clint?"
"Why are any of us here," he retorted.
"No, but me. Why a girl?"
He pauses in his work," Uhm, probably to add drama like I said. Who knows?"
Just ask. "Have any of the boys said anything?," I blurt.
"Said what?"
"I don't know," I run my hand anxiously across my leg. "Anything..." I try to use the correct tone to convey the meaning of my words.
"Well, Jeff and I like you. In all honesty, the whole Glade was nervous when you came, we were expected a high maintenance princess."
A smile formed on my face," And..."
"And you aren't what we were expecting. You, I don't know, fit in with us? I think this whole thing will blow over by the next Greenie."
"What if the next Greenie is a girl too?"
"That would be interesting...," Clint sits on his bench. "Maybe they are trying to encourage us to make a new civilization. No one really knows why were here or what they want from us."
"New civilization?"
Clint's eyes widen," Oh, no! Not like that!"
I let out a sigh a relief," Thank god," I lay back across my bed. "I was worried. No one knows why I'm here, including myself. I just don't want others to jump to conclusions, you know?"
"Yeah, absolutely. You don't have to worry about us," Clint was hoping to veer to a new topic. "Here on the Glade we are family, a brotherhood. And now we have you, a sister."
Okay... okay, this is good. I can work with sister.
