𝙎𝙖𝙛𝙚𝙩𝙮 𝙉𝙚𝙩 ❦ 𝙉𝙚𝙬𝙩 ᵐᵃᶻᵉ ʳᵘⁿⁿᵉʳ

𝟷.𝟏 : 𝙱𝐨𝚢𝐬 𝙰𝐫𝚎 𝐂𝚘𝐧𝚏𝐮𝚜𝐢𝚗𝐠

          𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘽𝙇𝙄𝙉𝘿𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏.

           It shone through the metal doors above her as they scraped open with a distant screech, as if it were coming from yards away, adding to the pressure behind her eyes as she squinted and tried to shield them from the sun. Her ears were ringing madly, drowning out any sound she could have been able to hear, but couldn't. With her hands clasped over her face, she pressed her back against the wall of the cold metal cage as hard as she could, only barely able to hear the muffled echoes of her own breathing.

          The metal box shifted suddenly, and she felt two hands place themselves on her thin shoulders. She gasped, and once her eyes finally adjusted she came face to face with a tall, dark-skinned boy who looked not much older than herself.

          Wait... how old am I?

          He was speaking to her, but she couldn't hear a single thing he was saying. The boy's face was twisted with curiosity and utter disbelief—like he'd never seen a female in his entire life. She, on the other hand, was filled to the brim with fear and the closeness of him was making her even more uncomfortable and frightened.

          When he eventually gave up to her lack of response, assuming she was deaf—almost sure of it herself, too—his expression softened and he motioned her to follow him up and out of the box. She hesitantly followed; one slow step at a time. She tried looking up at the people surrounding the opening but the glare from the sun's rays blocked them from her sight.

          Random sets of frantic hands grabbed at her arms and hoisted her up, plopping her down on the soft grass. Her heart raced; breathing ragged and uneven as she shot up to her feet and examined her unfamiliar surroundings: four towering concrete walls enclosed the grassy space, wooden buildings looking about to collapse were scattered here and there... a forest, animals, boys.

          Nothing but boys.

          There had to be at least fifty of them; surrounding her, laughing and pointing, or their faces riddled with confusion and wonder that mirrored the boy from the box. Questions cluttered her brain. Some were scary, some reasonable, then the realization of her not remembering a single thing up until the horrifying ride in the box hit her like a baseball bat to the head. Dizziness numbed her body and her legs started to wobble, she leaned forward and placed her hands on her knees to prevent herself from collapsing.

          Where was she, where did she come from, where was her family—who was her family, what was her name?

          Where, where, where...

          Her name. She didn't even know something as simple but important as her own name. Such a strange, uncomfortable feeling to have a complete empty brain rid of every last memory and bit of knowledge. She was in a strange place with a bunch of boys and not a single trace of memory. That had bad news written all over it.

          The voices slowly became clearer and she was relieved that she was, in fact, not hearing impaired. They were talking about her, wondering why she, specifically a girl, was sent up to the Maze—the Maze? What the hell was the Maze?

          A short-haired boy shook her shoulders and the unexpected contact made her stumble backward and almost fall back inside the dark pit. Her panic-filled eyes snapped to his. "What's your name?" He fired, "Do you know your name?"

          Her mouth bobbed opened and closed like a fish. She couldn't force words to come out to tell them that she had no idea who she was. It felt as though they were just stuck in her throat and part of her felt almost too afraid to say the words out loud; to admit to the fact there was nothing, absolutely nothing, she could find the answers to in her brain.