- # -

Chapter I

Welcome To Hell

At first, I wasn't even sure if I had actually woken up. I had opened my eyes - or thought I had. Then why was everything still pitch black? I shakily put my fingers to my cheeks, letting them slowly travel upwards to my eyes. I had a hard time keeping them open - my lashes stuck together like cages in front of my sight. I plucked at my lashes, which only caused some of them to be pulled right out of my eyelid. I quickly put my hand back into my lap - a safe place.

My curiosity soon had gotten the better of me as I let my hands wander to the space beside me. I cautiously poked my fingers inside the holes between the metal grid, tapping and gliding them across the cold surface. A short shock caused me to quickly pull back my hands, only seconds before a jolt of the room caused me to fall over.

A confused frown formed itself on my face. "Hello?" I whispered, trying to hear the slightest sound in the silence surrounding me - to no success. It felt like the room had become even more silent after I had spoken.

A wave of nausea came over me as I tried to stand up, causing me to throw up the content of my stomach all over the floor. The smell made me gag, but fortunately I was able to keep it in this time. My eyes began to water, tears I immediately wiped away with the sleeve of my shirt. I probably looked like some kind of baby animal, my legs trembling underneath my bony body. Now that the floor was covered in vomit, I wasn't planning on sitting back down anytime soon.

Now that I was standing up, I suddenly noticed the faint red light. It flickered off and on every couple of seconds, still making it hard to see. It was better than nothing though, and enough to help me explore the room. I held onto the wall - which was made of the same metal raster as the floor - as I moved around, slowly and carefully.

After a bit of shuffling my feet bumped into what seemed to be a crate. Curiously, I knelt down by the wooden box to inspect it. I ran my hand across the rough, wooden material, trying to detect something odd about the object. I lost interest in it after a couple of seconds already, almost moving on to the next crate. My eyes fell onto a couple of bold letters, making me squint my eyes to read them.

At that exact moment a bright light flooded the room, making me squeeze my eyes shut immediately. I put my arms in front of my head - as if that would protect me from what was outside. The faint sound of laughter came from above me, making me want to crawl into a corner and make myself as small as possible.

A deep voice made the chatter die down. "Get the poor green-bean out of there, see what he's made of." He? Why were they talking about me as if I was a boy? I slowly lowered my arms, my eyes still squinting against the bright sun.

"Who are you?" I asked confusedly, not even sure to who I was addressing my question. They didn't seem to have heard me - there wasn't a reply. I looked up, realizing I was in a very unfortunate position. Me being stuck in a box was worse enough - that box being surrounded by a crowd of people didn't make it any better. A couple of them looked down at me with hungry eyes, their mouths kept shut and formed into a slight smile. I locked eyes with a boy, his face dotted with many coppery freckles. Though I wasn't even moving, he slowly backed away from his spot above me.

Someone decided to break the silence. "Holy shit."

My eyes moved to the boy who had spoken. "Holy shit indeed," I said, not sure of what to do. "Where am I?"

A smirk appeared on the boy's face. "Hell, greenie."

"Is no one going to acknowledge the fact that she's a girl?" Someone said, which immediately caused an uproar. Suddenly, a lot more people appeared around the box, curiously looking down at me and shouting obscenities.

"A girl? Got dibs!"

"She hot? I bet she is."

My cheeks reddened at the comments, but there was nowhere to hide in the box. I put my hands to my face to hide it from them, but that only caused the roaring to become louder.

The same voice as before spoke, causing most of the boys to back off. "Give the greenie some space, shuckfaces. Your ugly faces're scaring her shitless."

The boy to who the voice belonged to - a dark-skinned boy with cropped hair - suddenly hovered over the box. His eyebrows scrunched together upon seeing me - he was probably wondering about what to do with me.

I needed some clarity. "Who are you?"

"I'm Alby - the leader of this place. Do you know your name?"

The question kind of surprised me. He didn't ask for my name - he asked me if I knew it or not. Which I realized I didn't, actually.

I shook my head. "I don't."

Alby nodded, as if he understood. What was going on here?

The boy turned around, facing the crowd of boys. "Keepers - stay here. Everyone else, back to work! Nothing to see here!" Though there were various exclaims of protest, the crowd thinned out until only a couple of boys were left.

Alby turned back to me, before kneeling down and reaching out his hand to me. "C'mon, I'll haul you up."

I slowly reached out my own hand to grab his, but quickly pulled back after our fingers almost touched. I had no idea what was out there, or what they would do with me once I got out. He frowned, but kept his hand in place for me to grab.

"Keep your distance, please. I'll come out by myself."

Though he seemed surprised by my request, he pulled back his arm and stood up. As he quietly discussed with the other boys - or Keepers, I guessed - I shuffled towards one of the walls. To my frustration, my fingers couldn't reach the edge - not even when standing on my toes. I heard someone chuckle from above me, causing me to shoot the boy a pissed-off glare. A wide grin appeared on his face, and he gave me a quick wink - probably to piss me off even more.

Determined to show him I wasn't some joke, I jumped up and grasped the edge of the box. The muscles in my arms burned as I pulled myself up. After a couple of seconds I rolled onto the soft grass of .. Hell? Was there grass in Hell?

An amused smirk appeared on Mister Charmer's face. "Impressive, girly."

"Yeah, sure," I replied, groaning as I stretched my arms. "And you are..?"

"The coolest guy you'll ever meet."

I shook my head, a small smile creeping onto my face. "I highly doubt that."

He brought his hand to his heart, as if been shot by my words. "Rude! My name's Minho, greenie, Keeper of the Runners."

I pulled up an eyebrow. "Yeah, that doesn't really make sense to me. I'm kind of curious though: what's a greenie?"

"You'' - he pointed both index fingers towards me - ''are a greenie," he said, his expression dead serious. "Someone will explain it to you later."

''Right, but-,'' I began, but I quickly got interrupted by Alby.

"I see you met Minho, greenbean. Don't let him get into your mind, he talks a lot of klunk," he said, eyeing the Asian boy, who pulled up an eyebrow as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'd like to introduce you to my second-in-command."

A blonde boy stuck out his hand, which I unsurely shook. "Name's Newt, 'm in charge of this place whenever this bloke's off," he said, shortly pointing back at Alby when he finished his sentence.

"What's that with your voice?" I asked, curiously pulling up an eyebrow.

"My what- you mean my accent?" He asked, a hint of a chuckle in his voice. "Should I be offended?"

I shook my head. "No, 's just strange. Never heard anyone talk like that."

"Well yeah, you only spoke with a handful of boys. Though now that you say it, I don't think there's anyone else in the Glade with an accent-"

"The Glade?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows together in a frown. What's up with all these strange words?

"That's what we call this place. But enough of that, we'll save that for the tour."

Alby approvingly hummed. "It's not that late yet. You can give her the tour now, finish off right before dinner."

"Sure then. C'mon greenie-girl, time to show you the real business."

- # -

Hello to everyone who has made it all the way to the end of this very first chapter. So since it's the first chapter, I'd love to know your opinions on all this. And please, if you decide to be critical about my writing, give me some actual feedback. I can't improve much with only a "this and that sucks". The chapters will probably be between 1000-2000 words each. Now then, if you're still interested, please follow/favourite/review/do whatever you feel like doing! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to PM me. I'd love to get in contact with writers/readers around here. Until next time.

- paperkite