The Reason

Two For One

The familiar sound of the rising box filled the glade. All the boys dropped whatever they were doing to come and see what poor soul had just arrived. In the Glade nothing ever changed except for the monthly new arrival, and the hope that this one might remember something useful or at least be entertaining. Greenies is what they called them and Gally wasn't a fan. Maybe he felt bad for them, remembering how terrifying it was to burst out the box like you're being reborn, knowing nothing at all at first, only being lucky to remember your name in a day or two, and learning you were stuck in a giant maze for no discernable reason. Or maybe they were just annoying.

"Where am I?" the new boy blubbered as he squinted into the sunlight at the boys above him. "Who are you?"

The talkative ones were always the most annoying, always asking the same questions they'd heard a hundred times before, suggesting things they already tried, and trying to act like they weren't at the bottom of the pecking order. Gally was there to assure them they were.

He was over six feet tall even at his age, or what he guessed his age to be, no one really knew that either, and was broad and thick from his three years as a builder. He had a permanently displeased expression on his face and almost cartoonishly evil looking eyebrows. Thankfully he looked too mean to be teased and too strong to be threatened. Gally was the kind of boy who could break walls down as well as he could build them up. He towered over the newest Greenie without a hint of compassion.

"Welcome to the Glade, Greenie," he stated plainly as the boy just stared at him with a gaping mouth, not moving an inch. "What, you wanna stay in the box all day? With the pigs?" Gally raised his brows and gently kicked one of the crates in there with them, a high-pitched squeal cutting through the air.

That's when they heard it, a groan. Now, on your average day in the Glade, your average boy could groan up to a hundred times, and if you multiply that by the three years Gally had been stuck in there and the ever-increasing number of citizens, you're talking about thousands of groans. But this one got his attention, something about it was different. At first Gally looked up at the other boys standing around the box as if it would be obvious to tell who did it, and was surprised to see them hush up and look around as well, as if they heard it too.

"Hey!" Someone behind him called out and Gally turned in time to see a slender arm reach over one of the crates.

What the shuck was happening? They'd never gotten two greenies in one month before let alone on the very same day. It didn't sit right with Gally at all, he was never a fan of change, so he was even more perturbed when Newt looked down at the unexpected guest and blurt out "Bloody Hell! It's a girl!"

For years they had only ever gotten boys so Gally was sure he heard wrong, Newt wouldn't be one to joke like that, so maybe the accent came out a little thicker than normal and Gally misunderstood. The rest of the boys had pressed in farther as murmurs of the word 'girl' floated through the group like an echo.

"Gally, come help me move these crates, I think she's stuck," Newt beckoned him, as he hopped down into the box as well.

"She?" Gally repeated, brows still raised questioningly.

"Yes, there's a girl," Newt confirmed, slightly annoyed. "Now stop standing there and help me."

Gally finally snapped out of it as he did as Newt instructed, the boys getting louder and rowdier, all trying to get a better look at her.

"Are you sure it's a girl?" Gally questioned again, grunting as he moved the crates with minimal assistance from the much more slender boy. "Maybe it's a boy with long hair."

But his hopes were dashed when they moved the last crate and lifted the fallen tarp off their newest addition. She squinted at the sudden light and held her small hand up to block the sun shining down on her, flinching as boys cheered and whooped, the sheer volume of it drowning out some of their ruder comments.