The Maze Girl

The Map Room

Minho was waiting at the doors just a Gally had said.

"Gally," I mumbled to myself as I walked slowly toward the doors. The nerve of that guy was incredible.

I pulled my attention back to the short, muscular boy before me. Minho stood looking at the ground as his black hair shone in the sun. His eyes were red, bloodshot, and swollen. I bit my inner cheek in attempt not to look so sad. I highly doubted he wanted my pity right now.

I jogged the rest of the way and stood facing Minho. I put on the most convincing smile I could, I looked at him and said, "So I hear from Gally that you need me for something?"

Minho looked at me curiously as if just noticing my presence. He blinked rapidly a few times and then nodded.

"Yes Marie I need your help with something I've been working on, but I need you to promise that you won't tell any of the other Gladers." He said looking at me sheepishly.

I could tell he was a bit uncomfortable with the whole arrangement. The other Gladers would not be so understanding if one of their own was keeping secrets. It didn't help that the one he'd be sharing this secret with was me. I wasn't the most trusted person in the Glade. Gally and his friends were definitely not so fond of me.

"Yeah no problem," I said trying to be reassuring, "I barely talk to any of them anyway, so it won't even be like I'm keeping something from them."

Minho's eyes lit up a bit and he flashed a smile. "That's true, and I could always just kill you if you felt like telling anyone."

My eyes went wide with surprise. I wasn't expecting this from him. I expected him to be more sad and weary.

"Relax Greenie, it was an attempt at a joke. I'm trying to lighten the mood here." He said leaning against the stone wall.

"Oh I see," I said laughing lightly. A couple moments passed before I spoke up. I raised an eyebrow at him and said, "So are we just going to stand here or are you going to tell me what this big secret is?"

"Ah well of course. It'll be easier if I show you," he said before cautiously scanning the Glade, "Follow me."

I followed behind him as we walked into a wooded area of the Glade I hadn't been in before. We approached a small hut, hidden behind trees and draped in vines.

"I found this place on my second day here and ever since it's been a place for me to gather my thoughts. You are welcome to use it as well but please do not bring anyone else back here." He said turning around to look at me. He shot me a knowing look and a smirk.

"Alright I understand," I said seriously. He did not respond but simply stood looking at me and giving me a look.

"What?" I said uncomfortably docking back and forth on my feet.

"Oh nothing," he said, "just don't even think about bringing any boys back here. I've got eyes everywhere missy."

My mouth fell open. "I would never!" I said abruptly.

Minho looked at me seriously for a couple more seconds before bursting out in laughter.

"You've really got to get used to this whole joke thing Greenie. I know you've only been here a couple days but you need to work on your sense of humor."

"Ok I'll try," I said laughing, "but no promises."

Minho turned back around and opened the door to the small cabin. "Ladies first," he said gesturing for me to walk in.

I walked into the small room surprised by what I saw.

"W-What? How did you do all this? It's amazing." I exclaimed as I looked at what was before me.

"I knew you'd like it." He said from behind me. He gently shut the door and walked to where he was next to me.

"It's a map of the maze," he said looking upon it proudly, "but it's basically just an outline. I've only been working on it for a couple weeks now."

I looked on the wooden table, comparing the maze before me with the one in my head. The map before me was extensive and very detailed. It still needed a lot of work but it was still very impressive.

"When I heard that you knew about how the maze worked, I figured this might be a project that interested you." He said looking at me. "We aren't going to be running for awhile..." He said trailing off as he spoke. He cleared his throat and said, "I've got to find new runners and determine what happened last time. It'll be awhile before we can run again."

"I would love to help you with the map." I said gratefully. This was definitely something I could do that would help. I could already fill in some of the blank areas of the map.

"Alright then, let's get to work," he said picking up some tools, "You can use whatever I've got here to help you map."

"What do you say we find a way out of this awful place Greenie?"

"I say we do it."And with that we began unraveling the complexities of the maze.