Chapter 22
Bottom of Form
Time stood still as I lay beneath Newt, eyes wide open as my brain tried to process what he had actually just said.
I love you
I love you
I
Love
You
Newt seemed equally as shocked by his own words while I lay beneath him, gawking at him and staring like a fish out of water as my mouth opened and closed.
"I mean, I-um well uh," Newt tried but failed to say a full sentence as he rolled off of me and sat up as he ran his hands through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I shouldn't have said that. Sorry Sky I just got caught up in the moment and - ugh - bloody hell I've screwed this up." He put his head in his hands and refused to look at me so I took matters into my own hands, my shocked reaction to his words fading away as I looked at how nervous and distressed he seemed.
"Newt, look at me." I said softly but when he refused to I kneeled in front of him and asked again and the second time he did look up to me, slowly raising his head but not meeting my eyes.
"Did you mean that?" I asked
He slowly nodded his head and a smile graced my lips as I looked at how embarrassed he seemed.
"Then don't be sorry." I mumbled softly as I pushed my lips against his and kissed him softly. He didn't react immediately but once he got over the initial shock of what I was doing he moved his lips with mine in sync in a slow and passionate kiss.
We broke away slowly and rested our foreheads together. "You just shocked me." I whispered after a short period of time. He nodded his head against mine and pulled me onto his lap so that we were impossibly closer.
"You're amazing." He mumbled into my hair and I had to stifle a giggle as I relaxed against him. I don't know how long we sat there together but I know that I was happy in the strong arms of the boy who had shown nothing but kindness to me since I got here.
I spent at least three hours with Newt in the deadheads just talking and messing around and kissing. I felt like I was back to normality and it was something that I had missed. I didn't tell him I loved him, I didn't know how I felt and since he had over a week to come accustomed to his feelings for me, I had literally just woken up from my second coma yesterday.
"Please?" I whined as I stared up at him while he stood over me.
"Come on Sky you know we have to go." He said as he made a move to grab hold of my hands to hoist me up with him but I wasn't having it as I rolled the opposite way.
"Just once? Pretty please?" I begged but he wasn't having any of it.
"Skylar would you please just come with me?" I could tell he was getting frustrated now
"You'll have to catch me first." I giggled as I shot up and grabbed the nearest tree branch.
I hoisted myself up and quickly grabbed onto the next as his outstretched hands tried grabbing onto my ankle again. I got three branches higher before his shouts became more desperate.
"Sky, please you're gonna hurt yourself!"
Ha! That's what he thought.
I giggled and jumped from one branch onto a close branch from a neighbouring tree. I repeated this action a few more times until I was halfway through the deadheads and nearing the tree lining. Newt was running underneath me and still begging me to get down.
Once I got to the edge of the trees and when I was facing the Glade, I did jump down but not at a distance Newt would be happy about. As I jumped I flipped before landing on my feet perfectly while Newt stood in front of me, looking ready to have a heart attack.
Seeing his shocked face, I ran to him and pounced. Wrapping my legs around his waist and my hands in his hair I smirked at him while he rolled his eyes. "Told you I could do it." I whispered as I pecked his cheek and jumped off of him but before I could walk away he pulled me closer to him so our noses were almost touching and whispered against my lips,
"You missed." And my breath caught in my throat as he closed the distance between us and kissed me passionately. I forgot to breath as we kissed and I wrapped my arms around his neck as Newt pulled me closer to him and I moaned as he stared trailing kisses down my neck and onto my collar bone.
Shivers ran up my spine as I brought his lips back to my own and I smiled when I heard his groan as I fought for dominance over the kiss, though eventually surrendering.
It was Minho who interrupted us from our blissful moment and I had to hold back a groan of annoyance as he started shrieking just as Chuck had done.
"My pure beautiful, innocent eyes! I need some holy water! I need a shucking church! Builders, make a church and re-pureify me quick!"
I rolled my eyes at his behaviour and hid my face in Newts chest while a few of the boys around us chuckled. After about thirty seconds Newt used two fingers to push my chin up so I was looking directly into his eyes. "Don't hide yourself from me love, you have no idea how much I've missed you." He whispered in a voice so soft and so quiet I was almost second guessing the words had actually left his lips.
I leaned on my tiptoes and pecked Newt's lips again before dodging out of his grasp before he could pull me back to him.
"I've got work to do mister." I shouted over my shoulder as I skipped to the homestead.
I could hear Newt's shouting of protests once again but they had died down almost completely by the time I got to the staircase of the homestead's first level. I took the stairs two at a time until I reached the door which I already knew Alby was being held in.
Before I could even think of opening the door a hand clamped onto my wrist and pushed me backwards in the process. I turned to look at who had pushed me and looked into the eyes of Clint who was now standing defensively in front of the door that held Alby behind it.
"I was just going to see Alby Clinty, you can trust me." I said as I tried to move past him towards the door.
"He's extremely unstable at the moment S, cant let you be getting hurt again now can we?" He said but before I could come up with a retort another voice broke into our conversation.
"Let her in Clint." The gruff voice said from behind the door.
Clint sighed and shook his head as he opened the door and let me step inside before he did the same and closed the door behind him.
"Hello Soldier." Alby spoke from the make-shift hospital bed he was lying on. He looked better than I had last seen him, the sting on his head only a small red bump and the green of his veins now completely gone. His voice sounded rough from all the screaming he had done while he went through the Changing but other than all of that, he was the same old Alby.
"Hey Alby." I gave him a small smile as I walked over to his bed slowly, slightly cautious with the warning Clint had given me ringing inside my head.
Extremely unstable
"How've you been girlie?" He asked me as I sat in the chair next to his bed. "I'm good. How're you holding up?" I asked
"I'll live."
Clint stood silent in the corner of the room as he watched the both of us having a conversation with a confused look on his face as he did so.
"Heard you were the saviour that got me out of the Maze that night, should probably thank ya for saving my life and all." Alby said suddenly
"You would've done the same for me." I said quietly but deep down I knew he wouldn't have. The Glade had rules which Alby had made. If a glader gets locked out in the maze there's nothing nobody could do to stop it. Nobody could risk losing more gladers than the amount they already would.
"Also heard the beasts got to you too that night. Stung you right in your heart I was told." He said
I nodded my head slowly and watched as Alby's almost blank expression transformed into something else completely. Almost like understanding with a hint of pity. I didn't like the look he had on his face and didn't think I would like the reasoning he had for wearing it.
"I saw things. Bad things. Can't say 'um though," He said quietly "you're a brave girlie you are Skylar. Stronger than most of the klunk heads in here that's for sure."
His gaze landed on my hip where I knew a bullet scar from before the maze was resting and as if realizing this he looked into my eyes and back to my hip.
"You saw things during the changing that you know weren't your own memories." I stated as I
made Alby look me in the eye. He only nodded and once again stared at my hip.
I lifted my top up slightly so it would reveal the scar that was resting on my hip and saw Clint edge closer towards us from the corner of my eye. Alby leaned forwards to get a better look.
"They shot me when I refused to cooperate and work with them." I explained to Clint as I faced him, already certain that Alby knew what had happened.
"So brave." He muttered under his breath.
"My memories are slipping but I know that we shouldn't leave here Skylar. The world we think we know isn't the same anymore."
I looked down at my hands which where folded in my lap and silently stood from where I sat. Both Clint and Alby gave me quizzical looks as I walked towards the door as a new wave of emotions took over my almost happy ones.
"I'll see you later Alby." I said over my shoulder as I walked through the doors and closed it behind myself.
I decided to go to the roof of the homestead after visiting Alby as it was a quiet place for me to think. Sitting on the edge of one side of the roof was Newt with his legs swung over the side and his arms spaced out behind him.
I walked over to where he sat and slumped down next to him without saying a word although he did turn his head slightly to look at me before looking back out at the Glade.
"I'm guessing Alby got you in a bad mood too." Newt broke the silence.
"Nah, he was actually alright with me and didn't wig out like Clint thought he would. He was pretty calm really." I said
"Then what's got you so down?" He asked me
"I just remembered something I had remembered before I ran into the maze." I said quietly
"What is it?" Newt asked eagerly
"It won't help us get out of here but it was just another memory." I said but he shook his head and urged me to tell him.
"I remember the day when the creators took me away. I had thought we were all taken against our will but it wasn't the case since I had seen my parents give me to them.
You had already been taken away and I was really angry because they had done the same thing to Caleb. My mother had tried to act motherly in front of the scientists but I wouldn't let her do any of that crap and made them feel bad about selling me. They sold me out for a make shift cure that wouldn't actually cure them but delay their reactions so that they wouldn't act as diseased as they actually were. They sold their children out for something temporary and not even life saving." I ended in near whisper
Newt put an arm over my shoulders and pulled me to him so I could rest my head in the crook of his neck. I didn't cry but we sat in silence as we watched the rest of the gladers pack up working for the day.
"You've lived through so much and we probably won't ever remember most of it." He whispered after a while.
I couldn't think of anything to reply to that so I just sat there, in silence, with Newt. Words weren't needed as we sat and watched the Glade around us, both of us were already mixed up in our own thoughts.
We must have spent an hour on the roof but by the time we went down, some of the boys where already queuing up for dinner. I joined the line and waiting for Frypan to hand me a plate of his delicious food and was rewarded with a pile of mashed potatoes and some sausages to go with it.
I sat at a long picnic bench with Newt, Minho, Chuck, Jeff and Zart who had decided to try to make constant conversation attempts with ms but my mind was still reeling with other thoughts so they didn't last long.
As we ate I noticed a very tired looking Thomas walking out of the kitchen carrying a plate of food and remembered he had started his runner training that day.
"How was the greenie today then Minho?" I asked the boy sitting opposite me.
"For a greenie he was alright but he ended up leading us to this weird corridor when I let him try taking the lead. Saw a Griever crushed between two walls." Minho said
"Had something in it as well," he pulled something out from the backpack he still wore on his back since he hadn't changed clothes yet.
It was a small silver cylinder with the number 7 printed on a small screen in the centre of it. A red light flashed on one end of the cylinder and it looked over all creepy and futuristic as I stared at it.
"Got any ideas what it does?" Newt asked
"Not a clue but greenie had a good ol' interest in it." Minho said
After eating everybody gathered around a bonfire to celebrate mine and Alby's waking but nobody mentioned the girl who had saved us. Some boys created some fast paced music using sticks and crates for drums and using battle cries for lyrics. Other boys stood in groups and watched boys try pining each other to the floor.
I sat with Newt on a log facing away from the doors to the maze and while we sat we threw sticks in to the fire.
"Greenie's disappeared again." I mused out loud as I noticed Thomas' absence.
"Goes to her every night. Says he can hear her voice in his head or some klunk." Newt said as he nodded his head
"He sounds mental." I chuckled
Newt nodded his head again in agreement.
I laughed and joked around with the entire Glade for hours until the sky became pitch black and the fire died down. Just as we were all packing away our things and heading off to bed. A boy's running silhouette started making his way towards us.
He was shouting something but I couldn't hear it until he was closer to us but when I did and everybody else caught on it was like the Glade broke into chaos.
"The girls awake!"
