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Minho grunts as I rub the cotton ball, coated with rubbing alcohol against the wound that cuts through the boy's palm.

"Stop moving," I say, still deeply focused on the injury.

"Is it supposed to hurt this much," He asks and I glare up at him. I can tell that he is struggling to hide the pain he's feeling.

"Oh come on, man up." I grin before returning my attention back to the wound. I begin to gently wrap a bandage around his hand.

"I should've gone to Jeff instead. We all know you can't trust women with these jobs." Minho says jokingly making me give him a hard look as I wrap the bangade harder causing the boy to throw his head back and let out a pained grunt. Minho tends to find humor in the fact that I am the only girl in the Glade even though he knows that I am stronger and scarier than most of the boys and can kick his ass with the right motivation. But that doesn't seem to stop him from joking about it.

"Next time I'll let you bleed to death." I narrow my eyes, staring at him as he tries to yank his hand back from my grip but I am stronger and he is weakened from the injury.

"I'm definitely going to Jeff next time." Minho sends me a playful glance.

"Maybe there is no next time for you." I smile back before finishing wrapping his hand.

"You should've been there," Minho speaks with a smile painted on his face. He's talking about the run he and Ben had been on earlier where the two boys got their injuries. "You should've seen the way Ben fell. I thought he was being attacked by a griever by the way he was screaming. Sounded like a girl, no offense". He winks.

"You know, in two years of being a runner I've never fallen once. But you two seem to be making it a habit." I cock my head to the side with my eyes narrowed at the boy's comment.

I am the only one in the Glade who actually has two jobs. Being both a runner and a med-jack I am constantly occupied except for the few hours that I dedicate to sleeping. But I don't mind. I love my jobs. It's a way to keep my mind occupied and away from the thoughts trapped in my head. When I am in the maze, I get a sense of freedom. Running is a way for me to deal with any stress. It is also a way for me to avoid getting too sloppy and lazy. In my opinion, everyone in the Glade should go out in the maze at times to experience something other than the security and safety within the Glade.

My job as a med jack keeps my mind occupied at all times. When I am on duty, I can put on the doctor role and my only focus is to treat my patients.

My jobs are a way for me to survive. Without them, I would've probably died from boredom by now.

The door to the room that I refer to as my clinic creaks open and Ben's silhouette appears in the doorway.

"Greetings, doctor V." Ben flashes me a smile. "How's your patient doing?"

"The usual. Annoying." I return his grin watching him unravel his arms from his chest before walking inside, chuckling at my words.

"She'll be the death of me one of these days," Minho says with a bit of humor as well as a hint of seriousness. He can't count the times he has been injured in my presence on two hands. 

I open my mouth to send him a sassy comment back but the familiar alarm of the box blaring across the Glade gets before me. I barely react. It was the same thing every month. A new boy, just as confused and scared as the last one who ends up getting laughed at by the boys before they put him in the pit until he's calmed down.
All boys would gather around the box to laugh and point but I never found it amusing to look at the boys that were sent up. I feel bad, remembering how scared I was.

I would have stayed in my hut if it wasn't for the small hope that I keep clining onto, that the new greenie will be a girl. Don't get me wrong, the boys would never hurt me. They are all super sweet and protective but after living with 50 boys for two years it makes you miss some female company.

Plus, I don't really have a choice as Minho forces me from my seat and basically drags me over to the box with his arm draped around me. Now the two of us stand next to the youngest glader who excitingly tries to peak into the box.

"Hey, curls," I say and use my hand to ruffle his hair.

"Hi, V," He smiles up at me.

"New glader, huh?"

"Yeah! Hopefully, it's someone my age." The boy says with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Chuck is relatively new and the youngest out of everyone. It wasn't a shocker that he quickly was slightly left out of everything. The older boys would always tell him that they were doing big-boy stuff. That way, he was kind of stuck with me. Which I'm grateful for since the boy is one of the closest people to me in here.

"Hey, you don't need anyone your age. You have me." I look down on him with a bright smile earning one back.

Just as I turn my attention back to the box, I hear the creaky sound as the box is brought to a stop just before the two doors slide slowly to the side. All the boys lean over to get a glimpse of the greenie inside. Gally jumps down on the little platform before pushing the two iron doors to the side, revealing the brunette boy. His eyes flicker around frighteningly as he covers them with his hand.

The boys around me push their way through the crowd to get a better view of him, the pressure forcing me back, releasing my grip on Minho's arm. I sigh with annoyance as I am being pressed to the back, my sight blocked by the excited boys laughing as Gally shoves the greenie out from the box.

"He looks like a slopper to me." I hear one of them taunt.

"I could use some help in the kitchen." Frypan chimes in making all the boys snicker.

I am just about to walk back to the infirmary, completely unbothered by the commotion by the box when my head spins around at the sound of the boys gasping and cheering, louder than they did before. I watch the blue-shirt boy sprint aimlessly away from the crowd at an impressive pace before falling to the ground with a thud, rolling several feet before stopping. The boy's fall is followed by a deafening mixture of laughter and hollering.

I glare at the group of boys meeting Minho's eyes and he shrugs with a smile on his face. I roll my eyes before walking back to my hut knowing that I am probably going to be the one who has to treat the boy if he got hurt during his fall.

I slide into my chair in my hut, mindlessly fiddling with my necklace. Two years have passed since I arrived at the Glade and I still have no recollection of how I got the jewelry that has turned into my signature clothing. The neckless doesn't make any sense either. On it hangs a long pointy piece with two snakes spiraling around it. On top of the piece, two angel wings sticks out on each side creating a powerful, yet useless jewelry.

My gaze travels over the wall in front of me and my hand slides the curtain that hangs over it aside revealing the many lines that mark every day that I have been there.

730 days.

Two years.

Two years have passed since I first arrived at the Glade. Adapting to the life of the gladers wasn't easy, but I managed. Being the only girl there might sound like every female's worst nightmare but all boys are nice, except for Gally if you can even refer to him as a boy. I refer to him as the escaper of hell. He finds humor in female oppression and will constantly complain about me gaining the role of the leader of the runners since he sees the occupation as a man's job.

But I can't get bothered. He's just a brainless boy who uses his small head instead of his big one.

Other than him I respect the rest of the boys. They have been nothing but sweet except for the few heated glances I would get occasionally but I quickly shut them down.

I like the boys at the Glade and i am grateful for them but I can't help but feel a hint of exclusion, like something or someone was missing.

𝟏𝟓𝟑𝟗 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬
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𝐚𝐯𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬!!
first chapter!

guys Vanya is about to be the biggest icon I cannot.
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