Clara drifted from half-conscious to unconscious repeatedly. Like she was drowning, trying to resurface back into the real world. She could hear muffled voices, sometimes many, sometimes one. Talking to her, maybe. She finally woke up just when the door creaked open. Minho stepped in and a slight look of alarm crossed his face when he saw she was awake, but it was shortly replaced with relief. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb her too much. Her vison blurred, finally cleared, and her head began to ache.
"Hey." Minho smiled "Glad you're up." His face had a few healing scratches, along with bruises and cuts on his arms. Otherwise, he looked like he recovered well.
"Me too." Clara replied, her voice raspy from its lack of use "How long..."
"A few days... Newt's worried sick. Been wandering around the whole time. Want me to get him for you?"
"Yeah, thanks." before Minho could move, Clara placed a hand on his arm. "I'm glad you're okay."
Minho patted her shoulder, standing up. "Thanks shank." And he left the room.
Clara's heart did cartwheels at the thought of seeing Newt again. She tried to sit up, shifting in the blankets, but an excruciating pain ripped through her side. She gasped and laid back down, tenderly touching where the pain came from. She felt soft bandages wrapped around her waist under a clean T-shirt. She propped herself up on her elbow, gritting her teeth, and reached for the water and medicine on the table beside her. As soon as she downed the pill, Minho opened the door.
"He'll be here in a minute, he had to finish up something." he said
"Oh, okay." Minho closed the door again. Clara took a deep breath and tried to sit up again as slowly as possible. Once she was upright, she leaned against the headboard and looked at the small cuts down her arms. A few minutes later, Clara heard uneven footsteps bound up the stairs. Newt burst through the door a second after.
He shut the door behind him; Clara's heart began to pound. A long moment of silence followed as Newt stood there, one hand on his hip, the other covering his face. His shoulders shook.
"I told you..." he muttered.
"What?" Clara was shocked by his odd words. Newt finally looked up, tears streaming down his face. Clara was unsettled to see that they were not the tears of joy or relief she'd seen on him, but tears of anger.
"I said, I bloody told you this would happen."
"What would happen, Newt?"
"That'd you'd get hurt, or die, or get trapped, everything I told you would happen if you stepped one foot into that Maze." he snapped. "But you never listen. You begged and cried and pleaded with me to say yes, regardless of what I bloody warned you about."
"You have no right to control my decisions. I was just doing what I felt was right for me."
"At what cost, Clara!" Newt exclaimed, his face red. "I thought you were dead! How would you feel? Having the love of your life run into that hellhole and not be able to stop it! Huh? You wanna switch places? You want to hold your world in your arms and watch as the life slowly drains from them?"
"I already have!" Clara yelled, the urge to cry swelling up in the back of her throat. "The day you broke your leg... was the worst day of my entire life. And now you just use it as an excuse to sit around and do nothing! At least I'm trying to help figure this whole thing out while you wander around whining like a lost puppy!" She knew she'd gone too far but it slipped out.
"I was trying to help you!" Newt shouted angrily "Trying to save you from the same bloody thing that's happening right now! And now you've made it worse for yourself and the Glade is in shambles." he looked at her harshly, a fire in his eyes that Clara had never seen before "I hope you're happy." He spat, storming out of the room and slamming the door behind him. Clara flinched at the sound, staring numbly at the spot where Newt had stood. In all her memory, she'd never felt more hurt than that moment. She brought a shaking hand up to her mouth, laid back down, and began to cry.
A few hours later, Clint came in to check Clara's bandages. She quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Hey." Clint said, noticing Clara's red puffy eyes. "... are you alright?"
Clara swallowed "Yeah, I'm fine." Clint nodded, knowing she wanted to stop at that.
"I'm here to check your bandages real quick." He slightly lifted up Clara's shirt and unraveled the dressing, which thankfully was clean. The stitches he had done in her side kept all the blood in, as it was supposed to. He rewrapped it and gave her a thumbs up. "Looks fine. Did you take the pill I left for you?"
"Yeah."
"If you're feeling sore again, just holler for me." Clara nodded.
"Can you fill me in on what happened while I was out?"
"Sure. Alby went through the Changing, but thankfully he's fine now. Gally's missing. We had a Gathering about Thomas and how he should be punished for breaking the rules; he spent the night in the Slammer and is running in the Maze right now."
Thomas is a Runner now? Clara thought. Good for him. Shank deserves it.
"Is that all I missed?"
"Pretty much. Anyway, like I said if you need me just yell. A few more days until you can walk proper again, can't risk it now because of the stitches. I'll be back to get you dinner."
"Thanks."
