"This is even more difficult than the maze." Thomas said as he crawled through the vents. "At least we could freely move there."
"Don't worry." The guy said as he stopped moving. "We reached your dorm."
"Why did you show me this?" Thomas asked before going back to his dorm.
"Because maybe the others will listen to you." The boy replied. "There's something weird going on here. And I know you think so too."
'I do think so.'Thomas didn't say that out loud.
"Hey, wait." Thomas said, as he saw that the boy was already leaving. "What's your name?"
"Aris." And the boy disappeared.
For a moment, Thomas just stayed where he was, staring far away at the empty vent, and then it clicked in his brain.
"Aris!" There was no reply, of course. Aris was already gone, but...
'Aris. Was he 'that' Aris? He looked like 'that' Aris! That's why I thought he looked familiar.'Thomas thought while crawled out of the vent.
It was dark inside the room, he noticed, when he crawled out and sat on his knees, resting his back on the bed behind him. He felt something on either side of his body.
"Where were you?" The voice came from behind him and made a shiver run down his spine.
He turned around, still kneeling on the ground, and found himself in between Newt's legs, who was sitting on his bed.
'Oh no! Was he waiting for me?'
"Well." Newt sounded angry. "Where were you?"
"Newt," Thomas put his hands on both of Newt's thighs and raised to the level of his eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Wh- What are you-ahem, apologizin' for?" Newt tried to maintain the firmness in his voice.
Thomas lowered his eyes, "For leaving without telling you and making you wait."
Maybe what Thomas said were the right words because it looked like Newt wasn't angry anymore. Thomas sheepishly grinned at him, which made Newt roll his eyes and sigh.
"Where did you go?"
"Oh my god! You won't believe me." Thomas got up and sat down beside Newt, folding one leg underneath him and facing Newt. "You remember that guy, Aris?"
"From the video? Yeah."
"I think I just saw him."
"What? Are you sure? I thought he was…"'dead.'Newt didn't complete the sentence.
"Yes! I thought so, too. Just now, he came through the vent under my bed. You remember the guy we saw in the canteen, whose maze was filled with girls."
"That guy! I thought he looked familiar."
Thomas nodded. "I think he's been spying on these people through vents. He knew his way around there." Thomas missed the frown that appeared on Newt's forehead and continued. "And then he showed me some guards taking bodies of people they took from the canteen into a room."
"What do you mean bodies?" Newt asked, looking frightened.
"Bodies!" Thomas didn't know how to explain it further. "They were moving all of them to this room, but we couldn't see more. The vents didn't go inside that room."
"Tommy. Listen to me." Newt tightly clutched Thomas's shoulder and reframed his question. "Was it dead bodies?"
"No... I don't know... There was this monitor attached to them which showed their heartbeats, but they seemed paralyzed."
"Were their bodies hurt?"
"I don't know. They were covered from head to toe."
"Tommy." Newt sighed and massaged his forehead as if it was hurting. "Do you realise what are you sayin'? You just made all those assumptions without any evidence."
Thomas was a little taken aback by Newt's word. He couldn't believe that Newt didn't agree with him. "I just told you I saw-"
"You didn't see anythin'." Newt cut him off. "You just said their whole body was covered. How do you know they were the people that got picked today?"
"I-"
"Our friends were among those who got picked. Don't just assume stuff like that. We need hard evidence before jumping to any conclusion."
Thomas thought for a minute and understood what Newt was thinking. "You're right. We have to find out what's inside that room. I'll talk to Aris."
Newt frowned. "How can you trust somebody you just met?"
"Newt, he's Aris." Thomas just keeps getting surprised today. He didn't know what to say to Newt. "He is our friend."
"That's even more suspicious. We thought WCKD killed him and now out of nowhere he comes to meet you among all the hundreds of people here, at night, to take you to see the things which you wanted to see." It looked like Newt would have gone and continued the list of 'why you shouldn't trust Aris' all night.
So, Thomas quickly told him the actual reason. "He also thinks something weird is happening here. That's why he told me."
That didn't make his frown disappear.'Is he jealous?'The thought made Thomas's heart giddy.
Newt was about to say something, but Thomas was fast. "Forget it," He pushed Newt's shoulder so that he lay flat on the bed and Thomas hovered above him with both his hands on either side of Newt's face.
Newt's eyes widened, and his mouth fell open to let out a silent gasp.
No matter how tempting it was to just capture those lips, Thomas knew his limits. "We'll talk about it tomorrow." Thomas whispered in his ears with a smirk before turning and laying next to him sideways. "Goodnight." He said as he threw one arm over Newt's waist, pulling him close and shut his eyes.
Newt, who was very much awake, stared at the back of his own bed above him for a long time, then at Thomas. He didn't want to see Thomas's face but also didn't want to leave the position he was in. He groaned and turned with his back facing Thomas before closing his own eyes.
The next day, when Newt woke up, the first thing that he saw was Thomas's face, peacefully breathing close to his own.
He remembered how angry he felt last night on this very face. He didn't want to, he didn't like the feeling at all.
'Why was I angry?'He tried to remember. And when he did, he got up, threw the blanket.'Huh? Where did this blanket come from?'He didn't care enough to think about it more and moved it along with Thomas's arm to the side and stood up.
There was a list of things that made him angry last night. First of all, Thomas disappeared, without telling him for hours. Second, he just went with a random guy who happened to be underneath his bed at the moment. He didn't even wait to tell Newt about this.
'And that guy happens to be Aris.'Newt doesn't care if he is Aris. Who is Aris? They have no idea about it except for a video they saw for a few minutes.
And what is with 'Aris feels something weird is happening in this place.' He's not the first one. Everybody feels the same. This place is weird. But that doesn't mean it's also wrong.'Right?'
Things have been peaceful since they reached this place. Everything is fine. He is happy. His friends are happy. They get proper food and shelter every day.
Newt looked at Thomas's face, who was still sleeping on his stomach with his half face being squished on a pillow.
'Look at him, sleeping without any care. Why should all this change?'
Soon they will be at an even better place. A place where some of his friends are right now.
'They must be laying on a grass field, enjoyin' the sun.'Newt would like to think.
There's no way what Thomas 'assumed' last night was correct. Their friends can't be dead.'They just can't be... Tommy's wrong!'
Newt humphed and went to the bathroom, not wanting to think about anything.
"Wait for me. I'll be there in a second." Thomas said.
"Where're you going?" Minho asked, but Thomas was already gone.
"Let him be." Newt said and made his way towards a table, and the Gladers followed behind him.
"He likes doing whatever he wants, think whatever he wants." Newt muttered, which was only heard by Minho. But the sound he made by putting his plate on the table was heard by everyone.
Winston, Jake and Frypan, all looked at Minho. He frowned back at the three of them, but still complied to their silent request.
"Uh... Newt?" Minho started. "You alright."
"Yes." Newt stated. Minho looked at everyone and shrugged, signaling them that everything is fine. He knew it wasn't, but he didn't want to pry more. If it was important, Newt will tell him sooner or later.
Minho started eating and looked at where Thomas went. He found him sitting next to the guy who usually sat alone. They talked for a short while, after which Thomas came back and sat down next to Newt, who silently focused on his own plate.
"What were you doing with that guy?" Minho asked when he realized Newt won't.
"I was talking to him about..." Thomas trailed off for a second when Newt gave him a look, and then continued. "...nothing. I thought he looked familiar." He then started eating his food.
"You thought?"
"Yeah." Thomas didn't explain any further, so, Minho also didn't question it.
Everything seemed fine after that for a while. Minho, Jake, Winston and Frypan decided to hit the gym while Newt still intended to go to the library. So, nobody was surprised when Thomas also went to the library.
The Gladers thought they could cry out of happiness for choosing to go to the gym, cause it looked like these people liked to under-name all the things. The gym was only one fourth of the total area. The rest was equipped with all the stuff required for games like basketball, tennis, badminton and many more. Needless to say, their day went by really fast.
On the other hand, Newt didn't question Thomas when he silently followed him through the library, sat down on the chair in front of him when he started reading.
Newt did notice that Thomas looked really nervous about something. But when he asked him about it, Thomas just smiled and said it was nothing.
'So, now he is hidin' things from me, too.'Newt thought and went back to his reading, which he couldn't concentrate on.
Newt closed the book and, slammed it on the table. "Why aren't you tellin' me what's wrong?"
Thomas looked at him in shock. "I... I just don't want to worry you."
"Well, I am worried!"
"Newt, um, sorry. I don't know what to say. I don't know what's happening. I just don't feel good. I... I..."
Newt quickly got up and hugged Thomas, rubbing his back. "It's okay. It's okay." Newt cursed himself inside for not paying attention to Thomas.'How long has he been feelin' like this?'
"Newt, something's not right." Thomas muffled, hugging Newt's waist. "Please believe me."
"Okay, I believe you." Newt gently caressed him. "Calm down."
Thomas turned his face a little, still hugging Newt, and took deep breaths. After a while, when he calmed down, Newt sat down on the chair beside him but still kept one hand behind Thomas's back.
"I asked Aris again why he told me what he saw." Newt was not in favor of having a conversation about Aris, but right now he will listen to anything Thomas wanted to say. "I thought maybe he remembered me from our past, but I don't think that's the case. He doesn't remember anything before he was put in the maze, too. He said that I was the first person he saw who questioned these people. That's why he thought I would understand him."
"So, that's what you were talkin' about in the mornin'?"
Thomas nodded.
'That's it? Then what made his mood like this?'Newt wanted to know, but he didn't want to force it out of him.
Thomas bent towards Newt, rested his head on his shoulder and looped his arms around his waist. And according to Newt, there can never come a day when he will ever deny Thomas of comfort.
So, Newt let Thomas stay where he was for however long he wanted and went back to reading his book.
During lunchtime, when they met the other Gladers Newt asked them, "Why the hell are you all drenched in sweat?" And that was a mistake.
For the whole time, they were in the canteen for lunch, was spent by the Gladers in convincing Newt and Thomas to join them in the gym.
At some point, it became hard for Newt and Thomas to understand what they were trying to say. All of them started describing what they did in the gym at the same time, overlapping each other's sentences and stories.
And for a small moment everything felt like it was okay.