Sanction -Minho-

Chapter 12

The bonfire was in full swing when Minho and Grace arrived. They divided rather quickly. Minho went to join his Runner friends by the fire while Grace stayed by Jeff's side. They always stayed close together during bonfires. 

The banging of drums echoed off the walls. It was nearly impossible to hear the conversations going on around her. She silently sipped from her cup. It was Gally's secret recipe. She hated it beyond words, but it seemed to be a bit of a tradition. Nearly everyone had a glass in their hand. That meant Grace had a glass in her hand as well.

Her eyes studied the Glader's around her. The new Glader, Chuck, wasn't there. She told him it was okay if he didn't make an appearance. The first day was always overwhelming. There would always be more bonfires in the future, and maybe those wouldn't be as overwhelming. Because right now, all they had was time.

Grace's attention shifted to the Maze doors. She often wondered what it would be like to be a Runner. It seemed freeing in a sense. They could leave the Glade and explore, but the Maze was a dangerous place. Grace had heard stories of former Glader's attacked and killed by Grievers. She hadn't been around for any of that, fortunately. Many of the deaths occurred at the start of everything. Some of the Glader's had been stuck in the Glade for three years. Grace couldn't imagine spending years inside the wall. It felt hopeless, but she had been there for months already. After three years, she assumed Minho, Ben, or one of the other Runners would have found an exit by now. Although the Maze changed every night, it seemed unlikely an exit would be found after all this time.

Maybe there wasn't an exit. Maybe the Runner's simply ran for the purpose of giving hope to the rest of the Glade. Grace had no idea how everything worked. She was still relatively new, and the Runner's weren't very talkative about what happened in the Maze.

Besides the questions about the Maze, she often thought about what was at the end. She thought about the people who put her there and about who could be waiting for her. Grace liked to imagine she had a family waiting for her. That made every day easier. At night she thought about having parents, but it was hard to imagine their faces.

"Hey," Minho sat on the log beside her.

"Hey, Minho," she greeted him. "Funny seeing you here." Grace lifted her cup, "want some?"

"Absolutely not," he waved his hand.

"Why not," Grace asked as she raised the glass to her lips. "Too good for Gally's secret recipe?" Her eyes stared at him over the top of the glass.

Minho cleared his throat, looking away from her. "Something like that." Grace shrugged, setting the glass down on the ground. The crackling of the fire caught her attention. Alby and Henry were adding more wood, causing the flames to grow. "What are you thinking about?"

"Everything," she said.

Minho chuckled, "that's a lot to think about."

"Do you ever wonder about your life before you came here?" The question took him by complete surprise. "Like if you had a family or friends."

He thinks for a minute. Minho wasn't one to consider the unknowns of life. All he wanted to do was focus on what was here now. That included finding a way out of the Glade they were trapped in. "I don't know. I'm sure I did. I haven't really thought about it."

"You're lucky then. Sometimes, it's all I can think about." Grace was someone who thought about unknowns. They often kept her awake at night. Newt told her that things got easier over time, but they never truly got better. He was right. Learning to live with the unknowns was easier. Many relied on the hope of escaping, but Grace had her doubts. She was incredibly observant and remembered Ben and Minho's sly comments. Their hopeless when returning from a stressful day in the Maze. Even on good days, they never found anything new. "Can I ask you a question?"