I wake up in a room on a bed. Sitting up I look around taking in my surroundings fast. Newt is sitting in a chair besides me, sleeping. It's light outside. The sunlight shines through a makeshift window. I look down at myself. I'm wearing ragged jeans and a black tank top. My feet are bare and I'm filthy. I quickly braid my hair and stand up. As soon as I stand up I have to sit back down.
"Newt." I say softly, feeling a little guilty of waking him up. He jerks his head and opens his eyes.
"Anna. You're awake. Good." He says reaching out but then pulls his hand back remembering my touch me you die rule.
"W-What happened?" I ask faintly.
"You collapsed after the sound thing. You've been out for one night. It's almost dinner here now." He says frowning slightly. Scrunching my eyes together I ask,
"Then why are you here?" He manages a smile.
"I caught you when you fell. And you wouldn't let go of my hand until like three hours ago." I stare at him. I usually never need anyone. I'm a loner. I remember that.
"Oh. Sorry about that. Also, sorry for almost killing you." I mumble.
"Eh. I get it. You were scared and I was right there. Anyways, you feel up to meeting some others?" He asks as I almost stumble standing up.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go." I take a few steps and trip. He grabs my arm steadying me. "Sorry. I'm not usually this weak." I look Newt in the eye.
"Hey, it's okay. We've all been through this. Well not the sound, but the shock of being here. You deserve to be freaked out. I mean honestly most of the boys who come up here just sit there in shock, vomit a few times, some even pee their pants." He says. I laugh. With a satisfied smile he looks at me. I look away and move forward. He follows. By the time we reach outside I can walk on my own, with very few stumbles.
"We just started our party. It's for the newcomer. You." Newt says leading me to the party.
"That's Gally. He's not that nice." Newt says showing me the place where the boys are wrestling with one another. As we continue walking, the talking stops completely. "Sorry about them. We've haven't seen a girl in a long time." Newt leads me away as they continue to stare.
"Jeez! Go back to your party. I'm a girl. Now you see and you can stop staring." I snap at the silence of the boys. They suddenly go back to what they were doing.
"I was getting the impression that you didn't talk much, but maybe that's wrong?" Newt laughs. I summon a little smile. For some reason I know I haven't smiled in a while.
"I-I need to sit down." I stutter. Newt looks at me with concern. Leading me over to a log we sit down side by side leaning up against it.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" He asks. I take steadying breaths trying to separate my thoughts.
"Before this I remember I didn't smile. I remember all I did was train and work and fight." I clutch my head as the sound starts again. I can slightly hear Newt talking calmly to me. I calm down again and let myself focus on the moment. "Why does this keep happening to me?" I ask slightly.
"I think you're trying to remember your past but you can't." Newt says handing me a drink. It's an amber liquid.
"What is this?" I ask handing it back to him. Newt takes a swig from it.
"Try it." He smirks. I take a sip. It burns my throat.
"Wonderful." I say sarcastically, pushing it back. He smiles but only slightly. He's looking at me funnily. He's studying me, I realize. "What?" I ask after the silence.
"Nothing." He says continuing to look at me.
"How long has is been exactly since you've seen a girl?" I ask laughing. He shrugs. Suddenly loud shouts come from the wrestling area.
"Who's next? Who wants to take down me? I bet you can't!" Gally taunts. I stand up.
"I'd like to beat him." I mutter. Newt hears me.
"He never loses." Newt points out, standing. Before he can stop me I yell out.
"I'll give it a go." Walking towards Gally he laughs.
"What? You? I can't fight a girl." He laughs again, louder. No one else laughs. They see my look. I can be pretty scary, trust me. Glancing at Newt I see him looking at me, humor in his eyes.
"Are you afraid to lose to a girl, Gally?" I ask innocently. Gally tightens his hands into fists and charges at me. I leap out of the way, dodging right underneath his outstretched hands. He stops before going out of the circle and comes running at me again. He's titled forward. I jump up, push myself off of his back, and do a flip in mid-air, and land on my feet behind Gally. There are awed gasps all around. But Gally falls to the ground, inside the circle. He comes running at me again. This time I don't move. I grab his outstretched arms and twist them pushing him out of the circle. He gets up looking at me in awe.
"Anyone else want to go?" I ask flashing them all a smile. I look at Newt. He's silently laughing. All the other boys cheer as Gally storms off. I walk away from the others and join Newt again.
"Don't know where you learned it all but that was pretty awesome." Newt says offering me some of the liquid.
"I'll pass thanks." He nods taking a sip.
"We should get you a place to sleep. Come on." He says. We're walking back to the room I was in, I can tell. The party is still going on. As we're walking I hear sounds coming from outside of this place.
"What's out there?" I ask. Newt looks away.
"The maze. It's a terrible, horrifying place. Trust me." He says leading me away from it. "Wicked, is an organization that put us here. We're there little lab rats. We have to find a way out of the maze." Newt goes on bitterly. I stop walking.
"What was that first word?" I ask really carefully. Newt looks back at me curiously and a bit concerned.
"Anna?" He asks.
"The first word." I whisper. Newt comes to my side.
"Wicked?" He says. The sound comes back, way more intensely. As I start to register the sound Newt swings me up into his arms and carries me back to the room. The sound goes through my brain as quickly as ever. My head starts spinning and the sound gets louder. As Newt puts me down I collapse to the ground letting out a strangled scream as I hold my ears. All I hear, feel is the pain. Tears start streaming down my cheeks as I sob; the pain is too intense. I can't take it. I can feel Newt pulling me into his chest. He's built strongly, with a lot of muscle. He holds me making shushing sounds. Resting his chin on my head he traces circles onto my arm. I know he's trying to calm me down. But my brain has stopped working. All I can do is process the pain and weep because of it. The sound keeps on coming, I don't know how to stop it or what to do. Trying not to scream again, because of the pain, I bite my lip hard, drawing blood. I'm vaguely aware of Minho and Alby walking into the room, concerned.
"What's wrong with her?" Minho asks crouching by Newt.
"I don't know. She said it's the 'sound' again." Newt says softly.
"Oh. Come find us when she's okay again, all right?" Alby says pulling Minho out of the room. I can feel Newt looking down at me.
"I know it hurts. It's okay to let go and be weak around me. I won't judge you. Just remember that." He whispers into my ear. We sit there for a while as my sobs stop but the sound keeps going. Finally the sound stops leaving my head hurting, but not as much. Newt lets me go as I sit up.
"Are you okay?" He asks helping me up and walking me over to the bed. He sits beside me on the bed. He pushes a stray piece of his windswept blonde hair out of his eyes.
"Yeah. The pain is just so intense." I say not breaking eye contact.
"How so?" He asks in his adorable British accent.
"It feels like a thousand knives are being thrown into my brain. Then it feels like a metal ball is hitting the sides of my skull every second, inside my head. But all that times fifty." I say rubbing the tears off of my face.
"Ouch." Newt winces.
"You should get some rest. I'll come and check on you in the morning. Then we can start your training." He winks at me then leaves the room. Standing up I use the wall to help me get to the window. I can see Newt walking towards the on-going party. I hold onto the window opening as I watch the party from afar. After a while people start walking away and the fire is put out. I try to walk back to my bed. I forget all about my head and how disoriented I am. Taking two steps I fall to the ground. With no energy left to get up I fall asleep on the floor, cold and alone.