EVIE WALKED INTO THE MEDICAL HUT because that was the place, she thought Jeff was. She urgently had to talk to him about what happened in the assembly and opened the heavy door.

"Jeff?" She stepped inside. The boy she was searching was standing in the corner, sorting and wrapping up bandages.

"Hm?" he hummed and looked up.
Evie sat down on one of the medical beds. There was silence between them for a while until she broke it.

"Newt says I should stay away from you." Jeff now looked up to her. He looked at the girl for a while, the expression on his face not really definable, then he turned back to the bandages.

"How am I to understand this?" he asked.

"He thinks.. you know.." said Evie, running her hand over her arm. Jeff didn't look up.

"The guys here are disgusting, but you don't have to worry about me."
He then said. She nodded.

"You're the only nice person in this place. Next to Minho of course, but uh.. you know he's sometimes.. being Minho." she then said. He smiled slightly.

"Yeah.. but I have to say I take Alby's threat seriously. I'm just more committed to looking after you myself." He paused for a moment, put down the bandage he had just wrapped, then approached Evie.

"Sorry if I.. interrupted something. Earlier." he said and her head jerked towards him.

"What- no no, Newt was just trying to get on my nerves, I think." She cleared her throat nervously, thinking about Newt's strange behavior.

"Newt is the nicest person I know. When he's stressed.. he gets rude sometimes, but he's actually the one who cheers everyone up." She shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess he makes an exception for me."

—

That evening, the party that should have taken place the day before, finally took place. Evie sat on a tree trunk and watched the people fighting. Someone sat down next to her and caught her attention. It was Minho.

"Are you having fun?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm good." she replied shortly.

"Heard you saw a Griewer?" The boy asked, scanning the girl with his eyes. There was something mysterious about Minho. Something that he always kept to himself, or so Evie thought.
She slid down from the tree trunk and sat in front of it so that she was sitting next to the black-haired.

"Mhm." she confirmed.

"Those things are creepy as shit! They get your head jacked. Just don't wanna know how the banished are doing." Minho said and took a sip of the brown broth in his glass.

"I thought being an exile meant you were dead?" Evie asked irritably, scanning every feature on Minho's face.

"They are. But I think the poor shanks were running their asses off before that." Minho said these words so unsympathetically and unfeelingly that it almost sounded like a sarcastic joke. Evie decided to change the topic.

"What are 'the creators'?" she asked. The question had been stuck in her head since the meeting when Dylan mentioned it.

"The assholes who put us in here! The ones who somehow control everything, for example the gate and send us up a newbie with resources every month." The girl nodded as a sign that she understood.
The thought that someone was controlling all this.

Wasn't that crazy? People who put teenagers and, if you looked at Chuck, even children in a maze and watched them. To people like that, the word 'creator' sounded more worshipful than abhorrent.

"Do you think we're like prisoners? Maybe this is a prison and we're felons." Evie shrugged and Minho laughed.

"Yeah! Like you totally look like a murderer and little Chucky is a drug dealer." He grunted and took a sip of his drink. He looked at his glass, then looked at Evie.

"Drink!" he commanded and held the glass out to her. She took it hesitantly and drank from it. She gulped it down and felt her throat burn the next moment. A disgusting taste spread through her mouth. She coughed.

"What's that?!" Minho was laughing uncontrollably and rolled on the floor. Evie, on the other hand, shook her head in disgust and grimaced.

She asked him endless questions about the jobs, his assumptions about the creators and the maze and the runners.
She suspected that Newt had a hand in Minho's behavior because the boy didn't really want to say much about the runners and kept deflecting.

"Eyo Minho! Wanna fight? One round against me?" Gally called out from the circle where a few of the gladers had gathered. Minho smiled apologetically at Evie, stood up and went to the boys. She then stood up too, wanting to stretch her legs.
She walked along a little way off and sat down on a tree trunk. She thought for a while. There was so much information to process in her head and yet her brain felt so empty, it was horrible.

"How's it going Greenbean?" said the one voice that set all the girl's sirens ringing. She jumped up and whirled around. Dylan.
She was so stupid, she was away from the other gladers. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Evie could only slap herself in the face at that moment and hoped it was just a dream.

"I thought you were in the pit?" she hissed. He took a step closer.

"YOU should be in this pit from tomorrow! Not me." he said, anger etched on his face.

"Did they blow your brains out? Dylan. I know as little as you do. I have no memories." she tried to reason with him.

"You're lying." He said.

"I thought you only said all that to avoid being judged at the meeting," said Evie.

"You don't seriously think I'm going to send some Griever on you, do you?"

"All I know is that a girl wouldn't suddenly appear here for no reason." He answered and Evie was about to reply when Alby's voice rang out.

"Dylan! I told you to stay with me! What are you doing here?" Alby asked angrily, looking between the two of them.

"It's all right, Alby, we were just having a little chat." Dylan replied quietly, almost mumbling.
He looked at the girl with an intense gaze and took another step towards her.

Evie took a step back, completely forgetting about the tree trunk behind her and tripped over it. She fell backwards, already expecting her head to hit the ground.
She braced herself for the pain, but instead she felt someone reach under her arms. She was caught by someone who helped her up again.

"Greenie did he do something?" Alby asked, turning to Evie. She shook her head. Alby turned back to Dylan.

"You're coming with me!" he ordered, nodding to the one behind Evie before walking off with Dylan. The blonde girl looked after them angrily.
Only then did she turn around to thank the person for catching her.
But when she turned around, there was none other than Newt standing in front of her.

"Are you okay?" The blonde boy asked. He almost sounded worried.
Almost.
Evie swallowed her ‚thank you' as soon as she saw him.

"I'm fine." She said.

"I've been looking for you." Said Newt.
As if he could read her mind, he replied.

"I wanted to talk to you again."
Luckily Evie didn't care what he wanted.

"Great! Yet, I don't wanna talk with you." she replied simply and turned to leave. But of course he didn't let it get that far. She felt his hand grab her wrist.

"Just a moment." He said.

"Fine." She was annoyed, which he would have to live with for now. She wouldn't soon forget his unfriendliness, that she shouldn't even try to become a runner and the accusations he had made against Jeff.

They walked past the others, slightly away from the large, light-giving fire, until Newt stopped abruptly. He looked around to make sure no one was watching or listening to them and then looked at Evie.
Half of his face was slightly recognizable, but the orange, constantly moving light from the fire still didn't really show his features.

"So?" She asked, crossing her arms when he didn't say anything.

"About yesterday." He began.

"I mean the thing about becoming a runner." He explained. Evie was surprised, but didn't even think about holding back her words.

"I want to be a runner. Not for the reason that 'the creators' sent me here." She waved her hand in the air.

"I wanna know what's out there. I wanna get out of here. I want to help in there!" Evie pointed at the walls.

"But of course how could you understand that? You're not a runner." she pointed her finger at him.

„You're hiding here, pretending to be the second-in-lead. What would you know Blondie?"
She knew she had taken it too far, but she couldn't take it back either way. Newt looked at her indignantly.

"Is that what you think? Let me tell you something, Greenie!" His tone became sharp. He took a step closer and put his finger to her collarbone.

"I HAVE been in the maze before. I KNOW what's out there. Don't tell me I have no idea YOU are the one who has no idea about anything SHANK." Evie swallowed at his harsh tone eventhough she knew that she kinda deserved it.

„I'm not hiding! And being second-in-lead is more of a burden. I didn't choose this!"
Actually, Evie should have apologized. She should have said that she didn't mean it, that she believed him. But she didn't.

"I take responsibility, you should think about that too!" Newt said when she interrupted him.

"Don't YOU tell me what to do and what not to do! Being a runner is the only thing that makes sense here. You can't tell me not to do it!" She yelled at him.

"All right. Then go. Have fun with the ass grievers." His finger traveled from her toward the maze.
The Grievers.
She hadn't thought of that.

"I'll do that! First thing tomorrow morning!" She hissed, wanting to leave in a huff, like the last time they'd argued, but Newt held her back.

"If you're really going to do that." He stopped and looked at her for a moment without saying anything. Then he put his finger on her chest under her neck again.

"Then I'll have to lock you in the pit."

"If you think that'll do any good, go ahead." She glared angrily at him, which he might have been able to tell, as close as he was to her face. It was a silent eye duel that was fought.

"You're unbelievable. You know that Greenie?" She swatted his finger away.

"I said don't call me a Greenie!" She hissed. Then she stopped and stared at him.

"Evie." she whispered softly and looked up. Newt was standing in front of her with his arms crossed.

"My name is Evie!" she said, beaming all over her face that she finally knew her name. The only thing she knew about herself, the only thing that belonged to her.

"Nice name." Newt said and she looked at him, confused.
That was a compliment. From his mouth? Impossible.

"Don't distract me now!" She couldn't hold back her grin. At least she finally knew something about who she was. Newt thought she looked silly standing there in front of him, just smiling like a mug.

"I want you to take that back about Jeff, by the way. I talked to him and it's not true, he doesn't think that way about me!" Newt looked at Evie in amazement.

"Okay. Evie. Listen."
Evie. How great that sounded.

"Being a runner isn't a one-day trial job like the other jobs. You're chosen. You have to be introduced to the guardians. If that's what you really want." He looked at her again intensely, probably waiting for her to change her mind. Which of course didn't happen.

"Then I'll talk to Minho. You behave yourself and he'll put you on the list. The guardians will decide, until then you'll work another job." Evie nodded.

"Okay." she said.

"Okay? You're not causing trouble?" He asked. She nodded.

"I'll work with the medics." she said, looking back at Newt.

"All right." he looked off into the distance. Evie turned and walked back to the fire. The blond didn't seem to have expected that and she heard his footsteps behind her.

"Ey Greenie wait!"
He knew what her name was. Why was he calling her Greenie again?

She felt Newt's hand on her shoulder as he pulled her back. She got slammed against his body and looked at him when it happened.
As if her head had been electrocuted, she saw Newt in front of her. But not the Newt she knew now.

"Thats more like you." she heard his voice, it was much higher, more childlike. His features softer, younger. A broad smile graced his lips. His hair was well-groomed and styled.

"Evie." She stared at Newt, who was talking at her. He returned her gaze with confusion in his eyes. She pushed away from him and walked quickly back to the campfire.

This wasn't a dream, this was a memory. Gally was right. Dylan was right.
She was different.
And that was her death sentence.

—

"Ey Newbie are you even listening?"
Jeff asked, snapping Evie out of her thoughts.

"My name is Evie." she said. Now Jeff was staring stupidly at the girl.

"W-what?" he asked again.

"I remember my name! My name is
Evie." she said again and had to smile at the look on his face.
He stood up with a jerk.

"HEY, listen up everyone! Her name is Evie!" he shouted and everything went quiet around them. Evie's eyes met Gally's, who just shook his head. Newt smirked slightly and looked at the girl who was now the center of attention.

"EVIE!" Alby shouted so suddenly that she flinched. He pointed at her and approached the girl, smiling broadly. She had never seen Alby as friendly as he was at that evening.
He took her in his arms, gave her the brown brew she had been drinking from Minho and waited for her to drink.
She lifted the glass to her lips, not even wanting to smell it, but took a few big gulps and downed the stuff. She coughed and felt like she had to spit it all out again. The others around her cheered loudly and congratulated her.

"Welcome to the glade!" Gally said, shaking her hand. Evie took it warily, far too intoxicated by the cheering around her at that moment to give it much thought.

Now she was a glader. She belonged.

For the first time, this place didn't feel strange, as if she actually belonged to these people. She looked around and looked straight into Newt's brown eyes. He looked at her again, turned and walked away. She stopped for a moment and stared at him.
Then Evie weaved her way through the dense crowd of boys, trying not to lose sight of Newt. As fate would have it, Minho moved into her field of vision.

"Hey where are you going?" Evie took a step to the side and looked past Minho, but it was too late. She could no longer see Newt.

"Damn it!" she cursed, forgetting about Minho again.

"What's wrong with you?" The boy asked. Evie strained to look into the black darkness again, but Newt was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, she looked into Minho's confused eyes.

"I wanted to see Newt." Minho raised an eyebrow.

"No way, this is your party, come on!" Minho pushed the girl back to the crowd and they celebrated some more. She even stood in the circle a few times and competed against a few boys, some she lost against, some she won against, either way she wasn't completely miserable. She also drank some more of Gally's stuff, but that didn't give her back the desire to party.

"I need to talk to Newt!" She turned to Minho again a little later and he grinned.

"Oh yeah? What about?"

"About Dylan," she said.
His grin disappeared and he glanced backwards.

"All right, come with me. I think I know where he is." Evie ran after Minho without saying a word until they arrived at the crumbling centered house.

"What are we doing here?" She didn't dare speak out loud as it was pitch black and incredibly quiet. The shouting of the other boys was so far behind that it was barely audible.

"I think Newt's in his room." Minho was now just a shadow, running ahead of Evie. Without hesitation, he ran purposefully into the house and the girl followed after him. They were now in a room, but she didn't recognize anything. Minho walked towards the end of the room. From there, they entered an even darker room and Evie tried to feel her way along the wall.

Minho flicked a light switch and the girl could finally see something. The room turned out to be a hallway, there was no wallpaper on the walls, just cold stone with lots of cracks.
As from the outside, it also looked extremely unstable from the inside.

"Is the electricity coming from the creators too?" she asked.

"I think so. Where else would it come from?" Minho stated.
They walked up some creaky stairs where the light from the corridor below was no longer of any use. Evie missed the last step and fell to the floor with a thud. Her hands ached as she had caught herself with them. She hissed and cursed, annoyed by the pain, as the light came on.
Minho started to laugh when he saw the girl lying like that and could hardly get himself together.

"Oh stop it you idiot!" She hissed, but Minho only laughed even harder.

"What's going on here?!" Both of them jumped in shock and Evie's head shot up with a jerk. Newt was standing in the corridor in front of them. Minho had turned to face him.

"Hey man. Greenbean here was looking for you."
Newt's eyes wandered to Evie and looked at her critically. She quickly stood up and wiped her hair out of her face.

"So. Now you've found him." Minho walked past her, whistling, and disappeared down the stairs. Evie stood there a little awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

Why did she even want to go to him again?

Newt stood there for a few seconds with his arms crossed, probably waiting for her to say something. But when she didn't, he raised an eyebrow and disappeared into the room behind him. Evie looked after him, confused.

Surely he wouldn't just leave her here, would he?

"Come on!" She heard his voice and hurried along the corridor. When she came into his room, the first thing she noticed was the window opposite the door. She walked towards it and stopped in front of it. Outside, everything was black night. At first she didn't recognize much except the fire slightly out of the corner and her reflection, which looked at her intriguingly.

She had never seen herself before.
At least she couldn't remember.

She stared into her own eyes, looking at the shape of her face. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair, which she knew already what color it was.

"It's strange to see yourself in the mirror for the first time huh?"
Evie nodded, then she spotted the sleeping area outside with a good view. Especially a good view on her own hammock.

Evie turned around and watched Newt. He now had his back turned to her and was looking at something on a desk in front of him. She walked towards the boy and stood next to him. She looked at the hundreds of little cards lying on the table.

"These are the names of all the gladers." Said the blonde as if he had read her mind. He pointed to the left-hand column.

"And this is the day they arrived." He pointed to the right-hand column. Her name was at the bottom.

Evie / 1134.

"1134 days. You've been here that long?" the girl asked, pointing to the number next to her name.

"What is that, three years?" She was shocked. Newt nodded briefly and then turned to her.

"Why are you here?" He asked. Evie didn't avert her eyes from the names. It must be just one sheet out of several. At the top it said.

'Patrick / 470.'

Yeah, what was she doing here anyway?

"You owe me some answers and I don't want to ask Alby."
She then said, but actually she had no idea.

"What?" Now she turned her gaze away from the paper. She looked Newt straight in the eye and was unable to answer for a moment.

His eyes seemed as hard as his features. And yet, at the same time, they seemed very soft and compassionate.
Evie hadn't expected what came out of her mouth next. Without even thinking about it, it just burst out of her.

"Why are you like this?" Newt narrowed his eyes as if he was blinded by the sun.

"What?" Newt got even more confused, which Evie didn't blame him for. She didn't even know why she was saying these things.

"Why do you hate me?" she then asked.

"Hate you? Why would I hate you?"

Yes, why should he hate her? She had only almost broken his nose.

"Any Shank can tell." She answered, feeling stupid to use their language.
Newt shook his head and sat down on the bed, which was next to his desk. He propped his head in his hands so Evie couldn't see his face.

Then he suddenly laughed.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at him in confusion. When he turned his gaze back to her, his laughter had disappeared. Only a smirk graced his lips.

"Sounds funny when you use our words." Evie sighed loudly, turned and headed out.

Why had she started this conversation? Why was she even here?

There was no point in talking to him. She didn't get an answer or explanation from him and she desperately needed one. She'd rather be back with Jeff, Minho and the other gladers around the big fire.
Evie put her hand on the door handle, hoping Newt would say something else. But he didn't.
As she pushed the handle down, she felt his hand on her shoulder and winced.
She hadn't heard him get up, nor had she heard him walk over to her.

"You're quite jumpy." His voice was calm and soft.
His breath tickled the back of her neck a little as he stood so close to her. She let go of the door handle and turned to face him.

"I don't hate you." He then said.
She no longer looked him in the eye.

Why had she even asked him that question? It was stupid.

"What reason would I have to hate you?" He took a step back, realizing that she was uncomfortable.

"Because I'm different? Because I punched you in the face the first time we met?" Newt said nothing and she could almost feel him agreeing with her.

"What do you mean by that? You're different." He repeated her words with a wary look, as if he was watching every fiber of her body as she moved. She just shook her head and looked down at the floor.

"You're the only and first girl yes. And you're different -.."

"-and different is never good?" She interrupted him. Evie looked up from the floor. Her eyes traveled slowly over his body up to his eyes. Now the blond boy was silent. He looked at her thoughtfully, as if he was organizing his thoughts.

"I need you to answer a few questions." She now deflected, as this conversation made no sense from start to finish.

"If you answer a few questions for me, too."
She was confused.

What kind of questions could he want to ask her?

"Fine. But I'll start." She said. Newt went back to his bed. He slid a little to the side and leaned back against the wall.
He looked at Evie promptedly and pointed to the empty seat next to him, she took off her shoes and sat down exactly the same as him.
She thought about what she wanted to ask..
Actually, she should have asked him about the glade and the maze. But she decided to ask him something completely different first.

"Why did you behave like that? Towards me at the beginning, if you don't hate me? That ignoring commanding tone and these accusations?"
Newt swallowed briefly and closed his eyes.

"Commanding tone?" he looked at her and a small, barely visible smirk crept onto his face. But then he quickly became serious again and looked down at his lap.

"I was one of the first in the glade. Maybe the tenth," he said and closed his eyes.

"I welcomed every single one of them when they came up with the box. Some I just explained the rules and showed them around. Others I comforted."
He opened his eyes again and looked at her.

"Everyone is scared the first few days and cries because they're confused. Those questions in your head. Why am I here? What is the point? Who was I. Who am I?" He paused for a moment and looked at the wall, lost in thought.

"Me too." he added quietly, so that Evie could barely hear.

"And then you came. You were lying there. Unconscious, well at least that's what I thought." He grunted and she looked at him in amazement. She would never forget the sound of that laugh, because it was the first time that all that seriousness had fallen from his face.

"Even before the sirens went off, I had the feeling that something was different. I think everyone did. Even Gally." He searched Evie's eyes for a reaction as he let the name slowly pass his lips.

"When I saw you lying there on the floor, the first thought I had was. Why would you do something like that to a girl and send her to the labyrinth." he continued. She was hanging on his lips.

"I always have that feeling around you. We all have it. Gally and Dylan, they deal with it differently. No one knows what it is. It's confusing. I wanted to put distance between us. I thought it would stop but.." he paused.

„It didn't." He looked at the wall again. Evie watched him from the side. How he licked his lips, kneaded his hands. This went on for quite a while until he snapped himself out of his trance.

"My turn." He said and turned to the girl next to him. She looked at him questioningly.

"Why were you staring at me like I was a ghost earlier?"
Evie groaned and put her head back. He would have her locked up if she told him. Gally would banish her.

"Well.." she started. Now she was the one staring at the ceiling.

"I've been here two days and it feels like thirty, a lot of building up inside me."
When she looked at him, he didn't look very convinced.

Shit.

„I mean you can't expect me to be okay with all of this. And I didn't stare at you." she crossed her arms before her chest.

„Ya you did! You looked at me like I was a bloody goat!" Newt laughed. Evie shook her head.
Then she yawned.

"Well maybe you are just a goat. I'm going to bed. Thanks for the talk."
She stood up and as she walked to the door, she felt his eyes on her. He didn't believe her. She was far too suspicious.

Evie got to her hammock as quickly as possible and lay down. She heard movement in the corner of her eye and looked towards Newt's window. But there was no one there.

That little stalker.

—
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