Bad Dreams | Newt x Reader

Chapter 12-Tragedy

I stretched and forced my eyes open. Newt shifted and held me tighter, he mumbled something. I took a moment to study how his golden hair fell down in his eyes, I gently brushed them out of his face. He moved suddenly and managed to land a kiss near my ear. He muttered something and tried again, this time near my eye. I laughed at him and he opened his eyes. He leaned forward and finally managed to do it correctly. He kissed me lovingly and propped himself on his elbows, half on top of me. My hands went up to play with his hair.

Alby banged on the door and yelled at us to get up. Newt quickly rolled off me just as he opened the door. I stared at him for a moment, I suspected I probably looked flustered and Newt's hair was a mess. Newt cleared his throat and got up. Alby narrowed his eyes and slowly closed the door. I sank back into the bed with a sigh. Newt dragged me out of bed and we began work in the gardens. Thomas worked with us but spent more time asking questions and brainstorming ways to get out of the maze.

"Have you tried climbing the walls?" Thomas asked. I winced and glanced at Newt who at first seemed to have had no reaction but I quickly noticed the slight shake of his hand.

"Tried that, the ivy doesn't go all the way to the top. Besides, where are you going to go from there?"

"What about the box?" Thomas tried again.

"We tried that, the box won't go down with someone in it."

"What about if—"

"No, we tried it. Twice. All right? Trust me, anything you can think of, we've tried it." Newt said. "Look, you wanna be useful? Go get us some fertiliser."

He threw the basket at Thomas and Thomas caught it. He picked up the shovel and began walking away, only to trip on one of the wooden poles holding up the vines. I muffled my laugh and walked over to Newt. I grabbed his hand and threaded my fingers through his. He pulled me closer and nuzzled into my hair.

"You okay?" I asked him.

"Love, you know me so well. I'm fine."

I moved my head to look into his gorgeous brown eyes. A playful look gleamed in his eyes and he quickly leaned forward and kissed me.

"Oi, lovebirds! Get back to work!" Zart yelled. I sighed and rested my forehead against Newts for a couple more seconds and then got back to pulling out weeds. Several minutes later my head snapped up at a faint sound. Newt looked at me confused, I gestured for him to be quiet. The sound came again, someone was yelling. I stood up and Newt looked around. Thomas burst from the trees calling for help. Ben came running behind him and tackled him to the ground. Newt grabbed his shovel and we ran over. Ben pinned Thomas down, trying to strangle him. Newt hit him in the head hard and he fell back. Several people including me and Newt pin Ben down.

"Calm down Ben! What's wrong with you?" Newt struggled. Ben thrashed but we held him down.

Alby came running over. "What's going on?" he demanded. Ben started to calm down and became easier to hold down.

"No please, I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it," Ben begged.

"Lift his shirt," Alby ordered and we pulled it up. There on his stomach was a bruised black wound with black lines trailing away from it. A collective gasp rose from the group of Gladers that had gathered. I looked across at Newt who had a look of disbelief written across his face. Minho stood nearby looking stricken.

"He's been stung," Alby said, stunned.

"In the middle of the day?" I heard someone say.

"Help me, please. Please," Ben begged.

"Everybody, help. Let's take him to the pit," Alby ordered. Newt called for a Med-jack and together we lifted Ben and carried him across the Glade and locked him in the pit. Ben grabbed at the bars and I jumped back.

"Minho, please. Don't let them do this," Ben pleaded. Newt wrapped an arm around me and I glanced at Minho. I grabbed Newt's hand and reached over to pull Minho away. Together, me and Newt guided him back to his room in the Homestead. He sat down on the edge of the bed. His face was blank. I sat down next to him and wrapped my arms around him, he buried his face in my hair and his body started to shake with sobs. Newt sat down on his other side and rubbed his back. After a while he took long gasps of air and sat up, wiping away the tears.

"I want to be alone," he said.

"Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah."

"We'll be in the garden, okay? Come find us if you want to," I stood up and Newt followed me out. We walked in silence back to the gardens, somewhere along the way his hand found mine and he squeezed it. Zart was already working in the gardens with some other boys. He looked up as we walked over and got up to join us.

"How's Minho?" He asked.

"Not good," I replied. "It's just so strange, how did Ben end up stung?"

"It is strange," Zart agreed and got back to work.

I took a deep breath to try and settle the panicky feeling in my stomach. Newt touched my arm and I looked at him. He gently tugged me into his arms and I rested my head against his chest. We stood there for so long that my legs started to ache from lack of movement. I straightened and removed myself from his arms. We got back to work, occasionally taking breaks to hug. A bleak mood blanketed across the Glade as it got closer to the time that the doors would close and Ben would be banished. The boys and I gathered at the maze entrance, Minho brought Ben over from the pit and cut the rope binding his wrists. I stood next to Chuck as we watched Ben fall to his knees.

"Please, Minho!" Ben begged. "Alby!"

 He started coughing, black blood dribbled down his chin and onto the ground. Déjà vu hit me and flashes of something similar raced through my mind. Blurry and unrecognisable. "No, please. Please, don't," Ben begged.

"Poles!" Alby ordered as the door started to creak shut and the boys aimed the poles and began moving forward. Ben was forced into the maze.

"No, no, no! Please! I can get better! Please, just listen to me!" Ben begged and pleaded until the doors of the maze closed with a loud thud. I blinked and reached up to brush away the tears that slipped down my face. I noticed Thomas standing next to me, Chuck had walked off somewhere.

"Do you think he might make it?" Thomas asked me.

"No one survives a night in the maze," I told him and ran to catch up with Minho and Newt who were walking towards the Homestead. Newt and I stayed with Minho as he cried himself to sleep. Once we were sure he was asleep we headed back to our room.

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