I'd been in the Glade for as long as I could remember, but that wasn't any different to anyone else here since no one remembers anything of their life before now. I'm different though, I was one of the first to arrive in the Glade, first Alby, then a young boy named George, then me. Alby and I were very close once, we were both roughly the same age, I was perhaps a little younger and though we fought occasionally in the end we were the best of friends. It was different with George though, he was my friend of course but I felt more of a mother to him too and Alby a father. George was young, too young. We'd been together for about three months when someone else showed up, same way we had, in the box with no memories of where he came from and only the clothes on his back to his name, which we found out a day or two later was Billy.

From there it just kept happening, once a month a new boy would arrive and know only his name, fights began to break out about how things should be done and it came time for us to elect a leader. George and I pressed Alby to ask for the position since he'd been here the longest but he wouldn't ask for it, in the end a boy named Nick assumed the role, with Alby as his second in command.

Things in the Glade were good for a while and Alby, George and I were happy, till one day George went missing. He'd wandered off many times but it had never been for long and had never been very far, the Glade wasn't that big and no one except the nominated Runners ever ventured out of it, except that day. George had only gone a few feet outside the door before he'd seen the vines and plants growing on the side of the wall. He'd climbed them without much effort.

I had been tending a plot of vegetables when Id heard him call out for me, "Am-ee-lia!" He'd sounded out each syllable and it had echoed across the glade. I ran a dirty hand through my copper coloured hair and looked around me to see where his voice had come from, "Georgie?" I called back when I was unable to locate him,

"Amelia, up here!" He replied and sure enough when I looked up, there he was stood on top of the wall that surrounded our home, my stomach flipped with dread and a horrified look crossed my face.

"Georgie you get down from there!" I yelled and then looked over my shoulder and called for Alby, he didn't take long to appear, he never did when I called.

"What is it, Amelia?" Alby asked and I pointed up to where George stood on top of the wall, waving down at us. Alby's horrified expression mimicked my own as he insisted that George get down.

A crowd had gathered around us now - at least what was considered a crowd in the Glade - other Gladers coming to see what all the commotion was about. George noticed how visibly upset we were and he called down to us to let us know he was coming down, I practically screamed at him to be careful and I told Alby to go wait outside for him at the bottom of the wall, Alby hesitated for a moment but then nodded and began to walk to the wall. George turned to make his way to the vine covered outside of the wall but as he twisted, he slipped. It all happened so fast that I barely had time to register that it was happening, my little blonde haired boy fell from the wall with a scream and hurtled to the ground below, Alby looked up as he screamed and started running to the wall, I followed suit but of course neither of us would catch him. His body hit the ground with an empty thud, he was dead before we reached him.

I sobbed as I held my Georgie's lifeless body and Alby held me close as we buried him in the woods, marking his grave with his name. He was the first boy to die but not the last and as the boys died new ones would take their place, a never ending cycle of life and death. A never ending line of boys and yet I remained the only girl.

Ugh, I really hate first chapters, hopefully this was enough to get you interested. Not exactly a happy chapter at all but it does help to build up the rest of the story so it was needed. Anyways, please leave me a Review, I'd love to know what you think. ~RainbowVeins