-Authors note-
Hey! thanks for sticking around long enough to read this! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Newt eventually went down from the tower. He didn't know what time it was, but it was clear that it was late. He quietly made his way to Minho's room, slumping down in the corner. Newt fell asleep quickly..He was exhausted. His dreams weren't pleasant... His dreams were of a day he rarely thought of. The day he jumped.
Liz's POV
The girl didn't sleep that night, not wanting to hear those voices. She on the bed, her head leaned up against the wall. The tears had long dried up, but her eyes burned. Her body trembled. Her breath shook. She still had hours until everyone was awake. Hours until she had a distraction from whatever lurked in her mind.
She couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed a hoodie and went out of the room. She tried to be as quiet as possible as she made her way to her little bathroom. She scrubbed her face, splashing it with cool water.
She wandered around the glade, and after an hour-ish, she went back to Newt's room. She practically collapsed onto the bed, her body weak from exhaustion. She had skipped lunch and dinner, and that didn't help anything. Her mind slipped away, and she was soon in a black abyss.
The peaceful silence didn't last long.
"I can't believe you're still trying"
"Do you really think they will love you"
Something hit her
"You piece of trash"
She was hit again
"Garbage"
"Worthless"
"Useless"
Newt's POV
Newt had been up for about an hour. He felt awful. His body was stiff, his mind everywhere at once.
He made his way over to his room, knocking on the door.
No answer.
He knocked again.
Still no answer.
He opened the door slowly. "Liz?"
He opened the door more, and his eyes went wide. Liz was curled up on the bed, her whole body shaking. She was gasping for air. He was at the bed in an instant, shaking her shoulder.
"Liz? Liz! Hey, wake up!"
Her eyes flew open. She stopped breathing altogether.
"Hey, hey hey. Easy, easy." He tried his best to make his voice soothing. "Breath, Liz, breath. It was just a dream. It's not real."
He placed his hand on her trembling one, squeezing it. She gasped in a breath. "That's it, breath. It's ok."
It took a moment, but her breathing eventually returned to semi-normal.
Her cheeks turned tomato red.
"I..I'm..S..Sorry." She muttered
"No, Liz, there is nothing to be sorry about. This is a perfectly normal reaction." He gave her a soft smile. "You're only human." She nodded. He released her hand. Her gaze stayed on the bed below her.
"I'm gonna go get some food, ok? I'll be right back." He got up, making his way to the kitchen.
"Hey Fry." Newt walked up to the kitchen. Everyone had already gotten their food, so there was no line.
"Hey Newt, here." Fry handed him a plate.
"Thanks. Can I something for the Greenie? Nothing much, maybe some fruit?"
Fry nodded, though he looked concerned.
"Something wrong?"
Newt shrugged. "Being a Greenie sucks, so I'm just trying to help."
Fry nodded, turning and walked off. He returned a minute later with a bowl. It held fresh blueberrys and a couple strawberrys.
"Thanks Fry."
"No problem."
Newt went back to his room, opening the door slowly. Liz sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the ground. She glanced up after realizing he was there.
Newt went over to the bed, sitting down beside her. He handed her the bowl.
"Thanks." She said quietly. She took one of the blueberrys, placing it in her mouth.
"Yea, no problem." He took a bite of his food, and after swallowing, he looked at the girl, frowning.
"D..Do you wanna talk about it? Sometimes that helps." He cautiously placed his hand on her shoulder. She stiffened at the touch, but after a moment, her body loosened up.
"Not really...'' She muttered after a moment.
He nodded. "That fine, if you ever want to though, I'm all ears." He took his hand of her shoulder, going back to his food.
They ate quietly. When Newt finished his he looked back to the girl, who had also finished the portion of berries.
"You'll work in the kitchen with Fry today, if that's ok." The girl nodded a reply. Newt picked up his plate, then grabbed the bowl. The girl offered him a small smile as thanks, and he returned it.
They walked to the kitchen, neither talking.
"Heya Fry! I brought you some help." Newt called as soon as he opened the kitchen door.
"Ah! Sweet, hey there M'Lady!" Fry grinned at Liz, and she smiled back.
"Hey Frypan." She was looking up at him, not the ground, so maybe a day with Fry would help her.
He cleared his throat. "Ehm, I gotta go, come get me if you need something." Liz nodded, and Newt turned and walked to the gardens.
Liz's POV
Liz looked up at frypan, who was over a head taller than her. "What do I start with?"
"Eager, aren't ya?" Frypan laughed out.
He showed her around the kitchen, pointing things out.
"I'm serving these boys something sweet with lunch, so I need these blueberrys washed and destemmed, can ya handle that?"
Liz nodded and grabbed the large bowl of berrys off the counter, gathering up a towl on her way to the sink.
She spent only a few minutes washing the berrys, but the destemming took longer.
After she had done that, her and Frypan started making sandwiches and portioning our the berries.
The boys started filing in, tired and hungry, and the 2 could barely keep up. They finally got everyone fed and had a small break. They ate quickly. Frypan was serving stew that night, and apparently that took a while.
She spent the remainder of her afternoon chopping and dicing. Soon, it was time to start cooking everything. Frypan brought out two massive pots, and they got to work.
The stew didn't look too bad after a while, but it needed some work.
She wandered to the spice cabinet, not even reading what everything was. She just opened and sniffed. She added a few shakes of this and that into the pots, and added tomatoes and bacon.
Frypan watched cautiously, but let her work. She let all of it simmer together, and finally tasted it.
"Mmm...Frypan, come taste this!'' Liz grinned at him.
The boy hesitantly took a spoonful, but once it was in his mouth his features changed. "What did you put in this? It's amazing!"
Liz shrugged. "I honestly have no clue." Liz laughed at his expression. Being in the kitchen with Frypan, she could forget her nightmares. Frypan was very easy to be with.
The boy shooed her out of the kitchen, insisting that she deserved to relax while the stew finished cooking.
She went to Newt's room, knocking on the door. No answer. She entered the room and grabbed all the necessities, and went to her bathroom. She got in the shower, fingercombing the tangles out of her hair and washing every bit of grime off of her body. her legs had started to get fuzzy, so she handled those aswell. She tried to be quick, not wanting to miss dinner.
She dressed in a forest green tanktop and jeans that were ripped slightly in a few places. She braided her hair to the side, causing it to rest on her right shoulder. She didn't bother putting on makeup, she'd just have to wash it off later.
Liz made her way to the kitchen. It was filled with the fragrance of the stew. She took in a deep breath and stood at the back of the line of boys waiting for their food.
After a few minutes, she held a bowl full of stew. Unlike the other boys, she left the kitchen area, and went to the deadheads. She sat criss-cross at the very edge of the trees and dug into the food. It was delicious. She didn't realize she could cook, but...She could.
Despite going off to be alone, she soon found herself with the compant of Newt. She sighed, seeing him walk up.
He smiled at her, but his eyes were full of concern. "Mind if I sit with ya?"
She shrugged. "Go ahead."
He nodded, taking a seat. He took a bite of the stew, and like Frypan, his face lit up.
"Oh wow! Did you make this?" Newt looked like he had never eaten before. He took another bite. Closing his eyes briefly.
"Uh...Frypan did most of if, I just added a few things."
"Well, whatever you added, it completely changed the stew, in a good way."
She smiled slightly. Maybe she wasn't completely worthless.
They talked while they ate. Well, Newt did most of the talking.
Apparently, Zart and Winston were ready to throw fists. The pigs got out and ruined some of the crops, and Zarr threatened to kill them. Newt and Alby managed to settle things down before things got to crazy.
After they finished their food, they returned the dishes to Frypan and went to the homestead. There, Newt went to Minho's room and she went to Newt's.
She sat on the bed, tired, but scared to go to sleep. She didn't want the girl to come back. Eventually, she laid down and drifted to sleep. Her dreams weren't pleasant.
1 week later
The week seemed to go by slowly. She has tryed out with the builders and medjacks, but neither were a good fit. She ended up being picked as a cook, and she was quite happy with the position.
She barely slept, the nightmares keeping her up, and making sure no minute of sleep was peaceful. They just seemed to be getting worse. The girl hurt her a lot, screaming at her the whole time. She was sure someone had noticed, but no one mentioned it.
She was in the bathroom, sitting in the corner. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She had hurried to the bathroom as soon as she woke up, wanting to be sure no one saw her like this.
She wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but she really needed to get it together.
Eventually, she rose up off the floor and got in the shower. She walked out of the bathroom 10 minutes later, ready for the day.
Ben, one of the runners, greeted herwith a smile and a wave as she neared the kitchen. he was one of her good friends here. He was funny, kind, and pretty cool. Him, Newt, Minho, and Fry were really her only friends here. The others were ok, but they purposefuly annoyed her constantly.
She waved back, attempting to return the smile.
"I'm off to the maze, Liz, I'll catch you later!"
"K, later Ben."
She walked into the kitchen. Newt and Fry stood right inside the door, crossing their arms. They looked at her with seriois expressions.
"D..Sid I do something wrong? I S..Swear I didn't mean to.." She stuttered out.
Fry sighed, and Newt started speaking.
"You need to take care of yourself..Fry found you asleep in the kitchen yesterday!"
"Oh..." She stared at the ground
"C'mon, Liz. You have to sleep. You're gonna make yourself sick. I don't know whats wrong, but something is. Not sleeping isn't a way to fix it." Fry piped in.
Newt spoke up again. "You're taking 2 days off of work, and you are going to sleep."
"Newt..I..I don't need time off, I need to do my part!" She huffed.
"Sleeping on the job won't do! I cleared it with Alby, and I'll lock you in the bloody slammer if I have to." As Newt said that, she turned on her heels and walked out, going to the deadheads. She heard someone behind her, and she knew who it was.
"Newt, go away." She growled out.
"No. You don't need to be alone right now. I don't want you doing something stupid." Newt's voice was calm, patient.
Liz sighed and continued to her destination, sitting down with her back leaned against a tree, her eyes on the grass.
"So what's wrong, hm?"
She lifted her head, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones.
"N.." She was interrupted quickly.
"There is not 'Nothing wrong'. Don't, ok? Just tell me." Newt sighed, a frown forming on his face.
"Fine." She grumbled. "I don't sleep because when I'm alseep I have nightmares." Admiting this made her seem like a wimp. Like she couldn't handle stupid things like dreams on her own.
Newt placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to tense up. The girl hitting her in her dreams made her cautious of any human contact. She relaxed after a moment.
"Liz..I know that sucks, but you can't just rob yourself of sleep. You need to sleep." He paused for a moment. "Can you tell me what they're about? That might help."
She wasn't sure how it would help, but she told him anyways.
"Uhm...It's different sometimes, but uh..Usually I'm in a lab, some sort of room. And they, uh..." She took in a deep breath. "Sometimes it's just weird tests, but most of the time there's this girl...S...She yells at me, tells me bad things about me..And sometimes she hits me..." She had to take a moment, composing herself. "Othertimes I'm trapped in this other room and I'm watching everyone in the maze...or in other rooms, being tied up and almost killed by grievers...And...It's awful, Newt...It's so bad...What if it's real? What if it's memories, not dreams? What if the stuff the girl says is true. I... A tear trickles down her cheek. Newt leaned forward, and she felt his arms wrap around her. She sat there, shocked by the gesture, but momentarily enjoying the comfort of it.
"I'm sorry, Liz...I'm sorry. It's ok, alright? Doesn't matter if it's a memory or a dream. Who we were before the maze doesn't matter. Just who we are now."
They sat there for a moment more, before Newt let go of her and got up, reaching out a hand to help her. She took it, stumbling slightly as she got to her feet. Newt steadied her, then let go.
"Cmon." They went to his room, and when they got there, he gestured to the bed.
"You are going to sleep. I'll sit by the bed, maybe that will help with the nightmares? Not being alone?"
"Newt, I...You don't need to." She sighed.
"Just lay down, Liz. You need it."
"Fine.." She walked over, getting into the bed, snuggling into the blanket. He sat on the floor, leaning his head up against the mattress.
Her eyes fluttered shut, and when she opened them again she was in a lab.
"Elizabeth, are you sure?" The voice came from a young woman in a lab coat.
"Yes, Ms. Paige, I'm doing nothing good here. Layla was right. I need to go down there. Make up for it."
"Liz..." Ava Paige sighed. She had used Elizabeth's nickname. "You listened to me, it's not your fault."
"Just send me down there Ava!"
"But we need you in the labs."
"C'mon, I want to have actual friends! The trials are only going to last another year, just let me go!"
"Fine, ok...I'll have Teresa prep you instead of Chuck."
-Authors note-
Hey! I hope you enjoyed this! And yes, Teresa and Thomas exist, they just were never friends with the other gladers, and won't end up in the maze! And I couldn't leave little Chuck out of this! Anyway, I hope you are enjoying this story. Thank you for being patient with my late chapter uploads!!!
