Chapter 2
I run through the dim grey hall and turn left; I stop at a dead end, panting for breath.
"If you surrender now, your punishment will be less painful." I heard a voice croon over the intercom.
"I'll never surrender. You know what you did and you're not trying to help! You're just hurting people! My friends are dying because of you!" I shout to thin air.
"What if we told you we have your brother?" The voice spoke again, harsher this time.
"You can't possibly. I told him to run." I say, doubt lacing my voice.
"Did you really think he wouldn't come back for you? You're twins Skylar." the voice said, eating up my worries.
"No duh! But I can tell when he's here, or when he's in danger. You don't have my brother, if you did you'd be able to prove it!" I yelled at the hallway, tears in my eyes.
"Oh but we can and we will"
A new voice spoke over the intercom, "Skylar run!"
•••
I open my eyes and stare up at the ceiling above me. It was weird. My name isn't Skylar, I wouldn't ever be so nervous or scared, I'm a much slower runner than that. At this thought, I smiled. I am a slow runner. But then I tried to remember what the ceiling above my head belonged to; it is brown and consisted of wooden planks. Like the homely building. Then I remembered. Poo, the place that only has one other girl out of tens of guys. Just great. I sit up and groan, I'm really hungry and as I look through the tiny window, I see the sun hasn't risen yet. I turn over on to my stomach. Instead of climbing down the ladder to get to the floor, I pull myself over the wooden handlebars and gently lower myself onto the ground. When I reach the ground, I look at the figure in the bottom bunk. Louisa. She is really pretty and her tan skin complements her pale hair, as she sleeps I sneak out the creaky door quietly and walk down the stairs. As I open the door I immediately smell fresh air. I smile, it smells like roses. I walk over to the tables and see that the counter has curtains pulled over it, but I can smell the food so the boy must be making it. As I look opposite of the window, I study my surroundings, I'm in a huge square surrounded by monumental concrete walls, there is what looks to be a forest opposite this building and a garden to my right, as I look around I see two boys walking towards me. As they get closer, I realize I don't recognize either of them, I also realize that I sub-consciously brought my bottle sword, and I mentally pat myself on the back. I reach for my bottle sword and stand. Once the boys reach me I make out their features. One has black spiky hair and a tall lean figure; the other is built the same but has light brown hair. They walk over to counter, either not noticing me or not caring. The black haired one taps on the counter and the curtains slide open slightly. An arm reaches out and places two plates and two brown paper bags on the counter. I watch as the black haired boy takes them and moves over to a table with the light haired boy following him. Once they sit, I decide I could go try to talk to them. I walk up and see shock register on both faces.
"Don't tell me you didn't know about the second girl?" I say wearily.
"W-we, we did. It's just, we didn't expect you to be so pretty." The light haired boy stammers.
"What my ignorant friend here is trying to say is, we didn't expect you to be up so early." the dark haired boy shoots an irritated look at the other boy.
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but-"
"We're not disappointed." The light haired boy cuts in.
"Would you shut it!" the black haired boy whisper yelled at the other boy.
"Fine, fine I'm done talking." the boy said smiling smugly at the black haired boy.
"Your name starts with M." I stated blandly, pointing at the black haired boy.
"How did you-" the black haired boy looked at me quizzically.
"People whose names begin with M tend to openly demonstrate aggressiveness." I say, cutting him off.
"Okay then. Well since you already know part of my name, I'll tell you the rest. I'm Minho, keeper of the runners. Those are the guys who-"
"I don't even want to know." I say, before he can finish another word.
"Okay... Well, why are you up so early?" Minho asks.
"Nightmare." I say shortly.
"Right. Have you met Louisa?" he asks.
"Kind of, we now share a room, so..." I reply.
"Right..."
"Man, you guys are so awkward. Ask her name you idiot!" the light haired boy says, holding back a laugh.
"Right, sorry, and you're name is?" Minho asks, his face reddening.
I laugh. Both boys look at me shocked.
"I'm… So… Sorry… It's… Just… Haha…" I say between laughs.
"What's so funny?" Minho asks, puzzled.
"I acted awkward on purpose, I like to think of myself as a very friendly person actually. And the name's Mare." I say, finally pulling myself together.
"Right." Minho says, "Nice to meet you Mare."
He reaches out his hand and I shake it smiling.
He laughs, "You're very strange Mare."
"I get that a lot. At least, I think I do." I say, the smile slipping from my face.
"Hey it's alright, none of us remembered anything when we first got here." Minho says, attempting to console me.
"Uh guys, hate to interrupt and all, but the doors opened. We gotta go." the light haired boy says.
As they get up to leave, he says, "forgot to tell you, my name's Ben." and they run out into the open walls.
•••
Once the kitchen counter opened for business I got food, then I snuck back for seconds.
Now I'm walking back to my/Louisa's room, I want to get to know the girl, or at least as much as she remembers.
I walk into the door of the homely building, and up the stairs, I turn to the right and open the door. When I come in, Louisa is still sleeping. I slam the door behind me and she shoots up, looking around wildly for the source of the noise and her eyes fell upon little humble me.
"Yeah, I'm real sorry, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't cut it to wake you up gently, and I didn't want to hurt you, so that was my solution." I say quickly, not giving her the opportunity to be angry.
"Ok then..." Louisa looks at me quizzically.
"I know I already told you my name, but we really haven't been formally introduced. I'm Mare, pleasure to meet you, but I must warn you, I believe myself to be a little bit of a weirdo." I smile, and hold my hand out for her to shake.
"I'm Louisa, the pleasure is all mine, and don't worry, there are plenty of weirdoes around this place." She says, and takes my hand, shaking it.
We both draw back our hands quickly to cover our laughing mouths and pull ourselves together.
"So, I see you're quite the comedian." I say, taking a breath, I'm really glad she has a sense of humor, cause I tend to resort to comedy if I feel out of place.
"Yeah, I can have a good laugh. But, I was also wondering a little about you, Newt told me you didn't ask any questions. I was surprised, most newbies are just pouring with questions." Louisa looks at me like I'm covered in paint or something.
"I do have questions, I just hate to overload my brain with confusion, so I'm trying to slowly leak it out." I tell her.
"Okay... Well, I can answer most of your questions." She said, smiling.
"Okay good. First off, do you know why I can't remember anything?" I ask.
"Well, we were all sent here somehow, and we think that whoever sent us here, removed our memories." She answers.
"Oh, then where exactly is the here they sent us to?"
"Well, this is the glade, and the walls that surround it, those protect us from the maze and what lives in it. They close every afternoon and open in the morning, we have people who run in the maze trying to find a way out."
"Like Minho and Ben?" I ask.
"Yeah. How do you know them?"
"When I woke up I met them before they left."
"Oh. Well, do you have anymore questions?" Louisa asks.
"Not at the moment." I say.
"Okay good, cause I want to take a shower and pee, now that there's another girl, I can do that without having to take precautions." she says quickly.
I laugh, "At least they have showers."
"True." she says, tapping her chin to show mock thinking.
I smile, "Well, I wanna take a shower too, I feel like I'm collecting all of the sweat of the guys here."
Now it's Louisa's turn to laugh.
We stood and left the room, walking down the stairs and out of the homely building.