Mara woke up a few hours later, that was the most sleep she had gotten since she had been in the Glade. At least it was improving, and the memories were clearer too. The memory hadn't been jumbled up or hard to understand, it made her like Thomas and Newt more, but hate her mother much stronger. How could she treat her own daughter like that?

Then it dawned on Mara what she and Newt had created, what had been drawn on that piece of paper.

The Glade.

They had created the Glade.

Mara sat up in bed, stretching her arms out as she looked around the room. One bed was empty. and another held a sleepless body. That was strange, at night Newt was always in bed, just like Alby. Mara turned to look out of one of the poorly made windows, noticing the sunrise in the air. She stood, walking over to the same window and peered through at her real life drawing, noticing two anomalies in the picture.

Newt and Tommy were walking towards the still closed western wall. Where were they going? Of course Mara thought, remembering the visit to look at a griever before her tour.

Without thinking Mara turned on her feet and pulled on her shoes before heading for the door, slipping through it as quietly as possible so she didn't disturb Alby, but that was a lot harder to do once she got downstairs.

The Homestead was filled with bodied blocking the way out of the Homestead. Carefully, Mara tread on the body-less parts of the room, only accidentally stepping on a few body parts on the way with "Ow" and "Watch it." being thrown at her.

Once she got outside she saw Newt and Tom hovering by the peeking glass into the maze, Newt spread the ivy apart fully and staring into it as Tom watched. Mara broke into a run as she hit the concrete ground below her, growing closer to the unaware boys every second she ran. Newt let Tommy peek into the maze, turning to face Mara as he did.

"Mornin'." Newt broke into a smile with a low morning voice escaping it. His voice was loud enough to be heard and quiet enough to not wake the rest of the Gladers up.

Thomas stayed focused on the glass, lifting a hand up in response to say hello to Mara who he didn't even know was there, all he knew was that a Glader was standing behind him.

"Mornin' to you too." Mara replied, slowing down to a jog as she approached the boys.

"What're we looking for?" Thomas whispered, searching for something through the glass, something he didn't seem ready to see. Mara could only imagine how he would feel when he saw the griever, sure, she could say she knew how he would feel but then she'd be lying. No two people could feel the exact same thing.

"Hold your undies, boy. One'll be comin' along soon enough." Newt chuckled. Knowing what Tommy was about to see, how was it Newt was still able to laugh?

Mara stared at the dusty window. The three of them stayed there for a few minutes, watching and waiting for something to happen. She and Thomas both shifted on their feet, it was becoming uncomfortable to stand still, but Newt managed to stay perfectly still. How did he do that? She knew what Tom was going to see and so did Newt, but Mara was so much on edge than him.

The darkness shifted to an eerie glowing light that reflected onto Tommy and Newt's face, it same as last time. Mara didn't want to look but she felt like she had to, she wanted to see the griever again. This time, she had to be strong, she had to ignore the fear and confusion. If  she was ever going to be a runner, she would have to deal with those creatures, this was just the first step to become a runner.

She stared at the bulbous creature as it roared in fury, it could smell blood but couldn't find it's source. The creature was violence and fear encased in one, like a nightmare come true. The griever still send shivers down her spine, but no panic attack came.

"Out there's the maze," Newt began in a whisper. Mara pulled away from the griever to look at Newt. The creature was still something she would have to learn to cope with, she needed to cope with it. What if they had once been another one of her stupid drawings? What if the Gladers were dealing with another fragment of her imagination?

She looked back to Newt. He seemed as if he was in a trance, his eyes were wide and he stood stiller than he had before.

Mara stood back to let Newt handle the explanation. There was no point in Mara doing it, she'd only been there four days, it wasn't like she knew much more than the newbie. Except the things involving her, that is.

"Everything we do - our whole life, greenie - revolves around the maze. Every lovin' second of every lovin' day we spend in honour of the maze, tryin' to solve somethin' that's not shown us it has a bloody solution, ya know? And we want to show ya why it's not to be messed with. Show ya why them buggin' walls close shut every night. Show ya why you should never, never find your butt out there." Newt stepped back, pulling the ivy back to let Tommy get a better look.

Tommy stood forward, pressing his nose against the cool surface of the glass. Mara couldn't see past him, but he sucked in air and jumped back, a loud thud hitting the wall as he did. Had the griever jumped at him? Even so, he leaned back towards the window.

"What is that thing?" He whimpered, his voice was fragile and timid, but there was still a hint of braveness and curiosity. Tommy always seemed to have that when he spoke.

"Grievers, we call 'em. Nasty bugger, eh? Just be glad the grievers only come out at night. Be thankful for these walls." Newt said, tapping the wall beside him with an open palm. Tommy gulped as he continued to stare through the glass. "Now you know what bloody lurks in the maze, my friend. Now you know this isn't joke time. You've been sent to the Glade, greenie, and we'll be expectin' ya to survive and help us do what we've been sent here to do."

"And what's that?"

"To get out of this place." Mara finally spoke up. She patted Thomas on the back but the contact made him jump. "Gotta solve the buggin' maze and find our way home."

"You got that right." Newt replied. The mood of the group had gone down, the grievers made everything darker and fearful. It was at that point in the Glade Mara realised how scared she really was, and how scared the rest of the Gladers must've been too. Some of them were only young, like Chuck, too young to be dealing with the maze.

"Hey, listen kid, you're gettin' your tour later and I'm sure your exhausted. Hows 'bout you go get some more sleep?" Mara said, but before Tom had a chance to answer he was being pushed towards the Homestead by Newt.

"You said Alby was going into the maze today, right Newt?" Mara asked, turning back to Newt as they walked over to the same tree Mara had sat by a lot since she had been in the Glade.

"Yeah, not anymore. Newbie broke those plans, decided to go another time instead so he can do the tour. Minho's gonna lap the bloody thing though." Newt explained. Minho was the best choice to scan the area, he was the keeper, the strongest and quickest of them all.

"I could give Tommy the tour." Mara suggested, lifting her shoulders as she did. Alby was the leader, it was best for him to go as well as Minho.

"I don't think so miss 'I don't wanna do any work other than sleeping'. You're starting your first job today. Postponed it as long as I could for ya." Newt smirked and Mara sighed noisily. The only job she was interested in was being a runner, to explore the maze and, as Newt would say, 'do her part'.

Runners could just disappear into the maze, they could run freely and just keep a clear head. They could get away from the claustrophobia and feel the air whipping past their skin as they ran. Sure, it wasn't safe, but Mara just wanted to get away from the Glade. To get back into the real world, to find her parents and to escape the creators' grasp, somewhere they couldn't effect her life at all.

"What do I get the pleasure of doing?" She finally asked, breaking away from her thoughts. If she kept thinking the desire to be a runner would grow stronger and stronger, making her more depressed the longer she did it.

"Pick a number between one and nine."

"Five." Mara chose, a enormous smile spreading along Newt's gleaming face.

-

"Don't eat anything Mara." Frypan warned as he smacked Mara's hand away from the fruit bowl. She sulked and returned back to her work station which was pilled with bacon butties, or bacon sandwiches as some of the others called them. "Runners'll be down for their food soon, then the rest of the Gladers'll start demanding food. You can have a five minute break to eat your breakfast then you're helping with the shuck clean up."

"Great." She mumbled as she reached for another loaf of bread. Being in the kitchen wasn't that bad, but Mara kept thinking about how sexist it was to be there.

"Kitchen duty is it my little strawberry?"

"Mornin' Minny." Mara smiled, turning at the sound of his voice. Minho was standing in the doorway, walking closer to Mara after she had spoken. He was sweat-free, dressed in his runners clothes and his same backpack swung over his shoulders. "You here for your backpack snack?"

"Oooh you're in a rhythmic mood." Minho smirked. Mara rolled her eyes at his comment, but she couldn't help but laugh as well. Minho held out his hands for Mara to place his two sandwiches and bottles of water in. He took them and removed his rucksack from his shoulders, opening it to slip his items inside it. Minho zipped it shut and looked up at Mara as he threw he bag over his back. "See ya later alligator."

"In a while, crocodile." Mara waved him off as he headed out, a mass of runners entering as he left, all of them looking for their breakfast and lunch.