A low rumble reverberated around the boy as he laid on the ground, his right shoulder being crushed by his own weight, causing him to stir. A metallic taste in his mouth and his green tinted glasses scattered a few feet away from him, the right lens cracked. His eyes finally opened, and he lifted a weak hand to wipe the sweat from his brow, brushing the hot pink fringe that stuck to his forehead to the side of his face.
He looked around. Nothing was familiar. He himself didn't even feel familiar. It was dark, and the sounds of nuts, and bolts, and cranks filled his ears as he realized that the iron platform he was on was indeed lifting him up. He was in an elevator.
It shook violently and now suddenly, the boy was fully awake, though his vision was still spinning, his breathing became frantic. He lifted himself to all fours and crawled over to the end of the elevator, where a few boxes were placed. He tripped over them, yelping out as he did so, feeling the boxes crush underneath him.
'Where am I?!'
He lifted himself back up, putting a hand on the railing behind him. As he turned his head and looked up, he realized he was caged in.
'Where am I going?!'
The elevator started to increase in speed and he got onto the floor again– instinctively into a fetal position– but not before grabbing the green tinted glasses and putting them on, hoping to find some sort of familiarity and comfort with them, but to no avail. All there was left for him to do was close his eyes and pray. Pray that the noise stops, pray that the elevator reaches a safe destination– wherever it's going, and pray that whoever he meets at the top won't tear him to shreds.
With a deafening screech, the elevator stops and a prominent clicking noise at the top is heard. That's when he started to hear the voices. The voices of what sounded like boys around his age– and there were quite a few. The pink haired boy couldn't make out everything these boys were saying but he caught a good amount of them.
'I'm hungry...'
'I hope it's a girl this time...'
'When's nap time?'
Normally, when you hear this many voices at such a volume, you're able to pin out where these voices are coming from, but the boy couldn't tell. It sounded as though all of these voices flooded his head at the same time, and when he put his hands over his ears, he still heard the same thing, at the same volume.
Then suddenly, he saw a light. A bright light and the silhouettes of about five or six people.
"EVERYONE GET BACK!!" A big, booming voice echoed into the elevator and in jumped a boy with fiery red, spiky hair. He was well built, and he stood with confidence and a big smile as he looked at the pink haired boy in front of him. Fiery-red headed boy reached an arm out for him to take... and when he did, he grunted when he was pulled up with such strength– it almost took the wind out of him. "Hey, there! Do you remember your name?" Was the first thing he was asked. The pink haired boy didn't answer, he looked up at the other boys who were curiously watching the interaction. The voices still faded in and out– but it was clear no one was talking. "Not a talker? That's alright. I'm Hairo Kineshi. Nice to meet you." He had an heir of leadership to him, and the pink haired boy easily pinned him as the one in charge. But in charge of what?
Another boy with a blonde mohawk that was even more built than Hairo, held a hand out for the two to be lifted out. Hairo got out first, then the pink haired boy. "Hey there, buddy! I'm Nendou Riki! Take my hand and I'll help ya outta there!" He smiled brightly. The pink haired boy said nothing and he took his hand. He was finally able to see where he was.
Walls.
Walls.
Nothing but trees and walls around them. Four walls to be exact. Each one with a large door that split down the middle of each of them. They were surrounded by them
The boy's heart stopped for a brief moment. And then the voices came back to him, though when he looked back at the group of boys waiting for him to introduce himself, he saw that none of their mouths were moving. Taking a few steps behind him, he turned on his heel and bolted.
"Huh?! Hey! Come back!" Nendou called out to him, reaching a hand out, but he didn't look back as he ran. He wanted to get out of there. Now. And when the group noticed he was running towards the exit, they panicked.
"Stop!" Hairo called out to him. "He's bolting towards the exit! We gotta cut him off!" He yelled to the others. They all ran after him.
Just when the pink haired boy was about to leave, Hairo ran in front of him and got in his way. The pink haired boy was shocked by his athleticism. He had to have gotten a twenty feet head start, how did Hairo catch up to him that easily? He was going to barrel through him when Hairo put a hand up to warn him.
"Please don't. I wouldn't do that if I were you, you don't know what's in there." He pleaded. "Don't go. You'll die in there!" The pink haired boy slowly started to drop his stance as he looked into the exit. There was nothing but shadow, vines, and stone. It was a wide hallway to look bare but narrow enough that the sun didn't hit the ground. The hall split into two ways at about thirty feet God-knows-where– well, ignoring the other openings along the way.
'What is this place?' The pink haired boy thought to himself.
"The glade." Hairo answered, making the pink haired boy jump. How could he have known he thought that? "And that in there is the maze." he pointed out the exit of what he had just called "the glade".
"The maze?" The pink haired boy questioned.
"Exactly right. It's dangerous out there. We haven't quite explored all of it... at least not yet... but you see, the doors here close when night time comes and the sun is gonna go down soon... I'd advise you to stay away from the doors when that happens."
The pink haired boy stared at Hairo, scrutinizing him. Was he trustworthy? What exactly was this place? Why were they here? How do they escape? Is there an escape?
Nendou ran over. "Everything good over here?" he looked at the pink haired boy. "Hey! Glad to see you're still with us, buddy!" He gave a big goofy smile and a thumbs up... Nendou... What's there to think of him? Is he trustworthy? He just seems like a big goof. "Oh, by the way, Hairo!" He pointed a thumb backwards. "They're back."
Hairo, the boy, and Nendou all watched the other boys crowd around the door across from them. They were all watching a purple haired boy with glasses, and a light-blue haired boy with red bandages enter the glade. Though... the one with red bandages was being carried on the purple haired boys back. Was he hurt? Hairo sighed and nudged the pink haired boy's shoulder. "We'll catch up later, ok? Let's go." And they all ran off together.
"Kuboyasu, what happened out there?!" Hairo referred to the purple haired boy.
Kuboyasu, out of breath and sweating, put the boy he was carrying down on the ground. "Kaidou stubbed his toe on a rock." He said between breaths.
"..."
Everyone silenced and looked at the light-blue haired boy who was known as Kaidou.
"W–What?!" He said. "It really hurt! You expect me to run with a broken toe?!"
"Whatever. Kaidou, we'll have the med jacks take a look, ok? You'll be fine, just get some rest! Kuboyasu, let's meet in my room to discuss what you guys mapped out while you were in the maze. Everyone else get back to what you were doing!" Everyone had to admit, Hairo was a damn good leader.
As Kaidou was lifted by a few other boys, he shouted things such as "The Jet Black Wings is stronger than this!" and "this is all Dark Reunions doing!" Everyone questioned it, but were also pretty sure that Kaidou didn't know what he was talking about either. It just felt right to him.
Before Kuboyasu could run off, he locked eyes with the pink haired boy. "Newbie?" He asked.
'Oh, great, he noticed me.'
Hairo perked up. "Oh! This is... uh..."
The pink haired boy shrugged.
"He doesn't remember his name yet!"
Kuboyasu nodded. "I see. Don't worry, it'll come to you soon. Just give it time." It was oddly refreshing knowing that everyone else went through the same crisis. "I'm Aren Kuboyasu, by the way... for now, I'll call you pinkie."
'... Pinkie?'
And with a hard pat on the back, Kuboyasu and Hairo ran off to do their own duties. The boy was now left to fend for himself. Perhaps, it wouldn't hurt to explore a bit.
In the middle of the glade, there were a good amount of shelters that were built. They were made out of various materials; hay, wood, rocks– you name it, the boys probably plastered it onto a house. It was actually quite impressive, but it also left the pink haired boy with a sense of doom. Just how long have they been in this place for?
He looked around and decided to go into one of the huts to see what the interior looked like. He ended up going into the place where they store and organize food.
"Ahem." He looked up to see a boy with silver hair and a singular gold earring. "Can I help you?" He lifted a brow.
"Just looking around." Replied the pink haired boy.
"Aren't you that newbie?" Silver haired boy questioned, putting a hand on his chin. "Whatever. I don't care. The name is Metori Saiko. Yours?" He only got a blank stare in return. He chuckled. "Still don't remember, huh? That must be fun. I remember that feeling."
"How did you end up remembering?"
"Eh, it came naturally." He shrugged. "It clicks and then– boom. You remember. Most gladers here usually remember it from dreams."
'Dreams, huh?'
Saiko sighed. "But anyways, since I just helped you out– that information will cost you." He held his hand out, expecting some kind of payment.
"Huh?" the pink haired deadpanned.
"What? You think I'm just giving out free info? Nope! No way! You see, newbie, I plan to be the richest, most powerful boy in this glade to surpass Hairo and all these other peasants in the glade hierarchy. So I'm not letting you off the hook. Pay up."
The pink haired boy sighed. "I don't have anything to give you though. I'm new, remember?"
Blink blink
"Damn it!" Saiko cursed. "Well, when you get settled in, I'll come looking for you asking for payment!" The pink haired boy rolled his eyes. What payment could he possibly give him later on? There's no money here.
The pink haired boy left Saiko to take care of his... business, while he explored the rest of the shelters. He came across a boy with purple hair and a white headband that looked honestly quite bored. He stood against the wall with his arms crossed.
"...?"
"Huh? Oh, it's the newbie. I'm Reita Toritsuka." They shook hands. "Man, this place sucks, huh? No pretty girls here, only dudes." He shook his head and sighed. "At least I'm not the newbie anymore."
"What do you mean?"
Toritsuka tilted his head. "Did Hairo not give you the rundown? Every month on the dot we get a new newbie. This month you came in, I came last month. It's like clockwork. Some people are making bets when they'll stop sending people."
"They? Who's they?"
"The people that put us here, duh. It's weird. No one has ever seen them but it seems they communicate with us through the elevator. We write notes and ask them for stuff. We put it in the elevator and they mostly give us what we want– well, besides a way out... and a pretty girl."
This changes a lot. The people that are responsible for this whole thing aren't afraid to communicate with the gladers...
'So that explains what those boxes in the elevator were...'
"Yeah, you kinda crushed those boxes."
"...!" There it goes again. That strange phenomenon.
"What? You look like you saw a ghost."
"... it's nothing." He took a deep breath. "Toritsuka... has anything strange happened to you since you got here?"
"Dude, this whole situation is weird." He chuckled. "But now that you mention it, there's something about that maze that irks me. Especially at night." The maze. That's right... Hairo said it closes at night. "I don't know why, but I tend to face away from the doors at night when I sleep... it's like... there's this aura to it... but everyone says I'm crazy."
"What kind of aura?"
Toritsuka sighed. "I don't know. Maybe I really am going crazy even though I've only been here for a month. But then again, there's the noises I hear." He gulped. "The screams. Screeches even. Not human."
"Have you ever been in the maze?"
"Nope! Not at all! That's for the fools that wanna get killed! I intend to get outta here unscathed, you can't pick up chicks with a screwed up face. I'll let the others do the work for me." Toritsuka smirked to himself while the pink haired boy shook his head.
"I see. Thanks for the chat. We'll talk more later, there's some things I need to do." He was about to leave before Toritsuka put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, wait a minute! What's your name? We should be buddies! Can't have too many of those in a place like this, amirite?"
"..." That same question again. What is it? "I don't know my name."
Toritsuka's lips pursed into a thin line. He seemed to be the only one that had some kinda compassion for not knowing who you are. Maybe it was because the feeling of it was too fresh in his own mind... "When you remember it. Let me know. Alright?" He gave a sympathetic smile and a wave.
"... Alright. See you soon."
There was one thing that was now on the nameless boy's mind. It was to find out more about the maze. Thanks to Toritsuka's knowledge, he was able to connect some pieces of the puzzle, at least about why Hairo was so adamant about keeping him inside, especially before he knew nothing about it.
He entered the medical hut– as it was named from a dilapidated sign right outside, and he looked for Kaidou. It didn't take long to find the boy, he seemed to be the only one in the place, still resting his stubbed toe.
"Kaidou?"
Said boy perked up and turned to the unfamiliar voice that came from the doorway. He sat up from the bed and looked over to the nameless boy. "I don't believe I know you, which means you're the new newbie, yeah? I'm Shun Kaidou or the Jet Black Wings." He chuckled, racking a hand through his hair.
"The Jet Black Wings?"
Kaidou smirked and hung his legs off the edge of the bed. "That's right. The name came to me in a dream once. Maybe it was who I was in my life before the maze!" The nameless boy seriously doubted that. "But anyways, I heard that you still don't remember your name, what's up with that? I remembered mine a lot earlier than you."
"You did?"
"Yeah, I think it's random. Though I will admit, I remember more things than others. It's like I'm the main character of a manga or something!" His eyes lit up like a little kid. He really wanted to be cool.
"Anyways, that's not why I came to see you. I came to ask you about the maze, since you and Kuboyasu have explored it." Kaidou winced a bit at the mention of the maze.
"Um, yeah, I've explored it. Me and Kuboyasu go all the time..."
"So you must know something about it then, right?"
"A bit. Me and Kuboyasu are in charge of mapping it out to find a possible escape, but it's a bit difficult. The structures are really weird– like there's platforms that go up and down and tunnels carved out in random places, it's a bit difficult to put on a piece of paper..."
'So it's not just walls...' "Have you encountered any other people?"
Kaidou shifted uncomfortably. "Uh– listen, if you wanna know more about the maze, then ask Hairo and Kuboyasu. I don't know how much I can share with a newbie..."
The nameless boy sighed. "Where are they now?"
"You can't bother them, they're mapping out what we did today... though we didn't get a lot..." he blushed in embarrassment.
"Right... cus' of your injury..." he rolled his eyes.
"H-hey! Don't look at me like that!"
"Anyways, if I can't ask them, then why can't you tell me?"
"We haven't had a meeting about you yet." Meeting? What is this, a government facility? "We don't know if you're trustworthy yet. Who knows what type of people they send up nowadays. I mean, the last guy doesn't do anything except lounge around and complain that there are too many guys! I don't really like it either, but he tried to sacrifice a guy in exchange for a girl once!"
The nameless boy cringed. "... I'm guessing it didn't work?"
"No! I was the one he tried to sacrifice!"
'Toritsuka never told me about that... what a weirdo.'
"Yeah, so now you get it, right? You'll know more later on, I'm sure, but for now, my lips are sealed."
Just then, Hairo entered the medical hut. "Oh, Pinkie! Good to see you! I just came to check on Kaidou, but this is perfect! Since it's getting late out, I wanted to let you know that your bed is set up in Kaidou and Nendou's room."
'... seriously?'
"Anyways, you good Kaidou? How's your injury?"
"... better. Thanks." Kaidou stayed silent about the little conversation he just had. He fears he's already said too much.
Later that night, the nameless boy laid in the bottom bunk of the bed he was assigned. Kaidou was above him while Nendou was in the bed to the right.
"It's nice to have a new buddy here!" Nendou said happily as he fluffed his pillow. "Not many people like staying in here with us! I think it's cus' we're closest to one of the maze doors!"
"Yeah, that bottom bunk has been empty since the dawn of time." Kaidou chuckled. "Glad to see it's in use, finally."
"I'm glad some people are enjoying it..." The nameless boy huffed.
"Hey, cheer up! You'll remember your name soon! Just give it time! I didn't remember mine for a week." Nendou shook his head.
"I remembered mine an hour after showing up." Kaidou said with pride. "Must be because I'm so powerful, heh."
"Hey, newbie, by the way..." Nendou sat up excitedly. The two were treating this like some sort of sleepover. "Why do you think we're all here?"
"This question again, Nendou?" Kaidou groaned.
"What do you mean?" questioned the nameless boy.
"Like why do you think those bad guys put us here?" Bad guys? This wasn't some superhero movie... but then again, the question did stick with the boy.
"..." He sighed. "Maybe this is all just a simulation or something..." He rolled over to face the wall.
"Nahhhhh." Nendou chuckled, waving off his thoughts. "Maybe we're all criminals? And this is our punishment or something, heheheh."
"Heh, maybe you all are. But I know I'm not." Kaidou smirked, folding his arms behind his head. "The Jet Black Wings could never be a criminal."
Nendou chuckled. "Yeah, you're right, you can't be a criminal. You're too much of a nerd to be one."
"W-WHAT?! I'm not a nerd! How could you say something like that?!" Nendou only laughed in response to Kaidou's offense. "You know, maybe you're a criminal! I mean– look at how you sleep! Who else sleeps with their eyes rolled to the back of their head?!"
Nendou stopped laughing and frowned. "Hey! Why're you making fun of the way I sleep?! You're the one that sleeps with a blanket over your face like a total freak!"
Kaidou chucked a pillow across the room and it hit Nendou's face. "I can't fall asleep without the blankets being pulled over me, you heathen!"
As they continued bickering, the nameless boy sighed in annoyance. 'This is giving me an odd sense of deja vu...' He then rolled over on his shoulder and winced, rolling back. That was the shoulder he had woken up on in the elevator, and it was still sore as hell. He opted to sleep on his back, fluttering his eyes before closing them for the night. When the other two tired themselves out from arguing, they all finally fell asleep...
A glimpse of deep blue hair.
"Saiki, don't forget me, ok?" A sweet voice spoke.
Dizzy. Everything's spinning. People surrounding him.
A laboratory. Bright lights in his face. Needles.
"Test subject number 816: Kusuo Saiki." A man in a hazmat suit says.
Deep blue hair again. And the silhouette of a girl. "I'll see you again soon, Saiki..." She reaches out to him...
He woke up with a jolt. Sweating, his mouth dry. 'That dream...' His mouth fell slightly agape at the realization of something quite important. What that dream revealed to him... Nendou and Kaidou both looked at him, slightly curious as to why he had woken up so abruptly. They were getting ready for the day ahead and were planning on letting their new friend sleep in a little later.
"Something wrong, buddy?" Nendou asked, tilting his head.
"Kusuo Saiki," he replied.
"Huh?" Kaidou questioned.
"My name is Kusuo Saiki."
~~~~~~
Hello!
I hope everyone liked the first chapter! The second chapter is in the works!
Thanks so much for the support! <3
- Author Jen Jen <3