The Boy In The Box (Newtmas au)

Chapter 4

Thomas's POV

"Thomas, I... I need your help", I hear Newt stutter through the phone. I accidentally drop the damn thing. In complete shock, I try to pick up the phone.

"Newt. Newt! Where are you?" I ask him, panic clear in my voice. But the blond boy doesn't answer. Instead, I hear an all too familiar voice answer: "Thomas Greene. I think you know where we are." Fuck. I know who this is, and I know exactly where they are. "If you are not here within twenty minutes, your friend dies."

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." How could I have been so stupid? He should have just left me there, but no, of course I had to give in and go with him. Now the guy who pretty much saved me yesterday is in danger, all because of me. I see two pairs of eyes stare at me. The two girls give me a questioning look. Teresa asks: "What is wrong?"

"It's Newt", I tell them. Brenda asks Teresa: "That guy we saw in the supermarket?" Teresa nods. Bren continues: "What is it with him?" I look her in the eyes and say: "Boyd has him."

The girls gasp but I tell them: "I have to leave now, otherwise they kill him. He doesn't deserve this, this is all my fault." I grab my motorcycle and start the engine. Driving this thing still hurts a bit because of my new injuries. Boyd hit me pretty hard. If it wasn't for Newt, I would've probably laid there the whole night.

I drive through the dark streets to the abandoned warehouse. I see lights burning through some broken windows. That's the place where I need to be. I have to admit, I'm a bit scared, but I have to go through with this. I can't let anything happen to Newt.

Hesitantly, I walk through the door. I see three men, Boyd being one of them, but then I see Newt. The man who cleaned up my cuts yesterday, is now in need of someone to clean up his cuts. Purple bruises are already forming on his face, blood is running down his nose and I don't want to know what else they did to him. He didn't deserve this.

Boyd and his men look at me. He says calmly: "Give it to me." I answer just as calm: "I don't have it", but Boyd keeps going: "Give it to me, or he dies." He points a gun towards Newt's head, who looks at me with pleading eyes. I look at the bald man: "Please, leave him out of this. He has nothing to do with it." Boyd laughs, a sinister laugh that literally gives me the willies.

Boyd raises his eyebrows: "Well, if you can't give me what you promised, I want my money back. Double." What? "I really can't do that, Boyd", I say. 

"The thing is, Thomas, you don't have a choice. You give me the money, or I shoot a bullet through your friend's head." I need to come up with a plan, and fast. I can't call the police, because they'll start investigating this whole thing, and since they don't really like me, I'll end up in jail. Again. I need to give him the money. The thing is, I don't have it. I don't even have the money he gave me anymore. But that is going to be the only solution.

"Fine. Give me a week. I'll give you the money", I tell the men. But one of the others answers: "You get three days. And keep this dude. If you don't give us the money in three days, we'll come after him again." I huff as they walk away, leaving Newt injured and tied up in the chair.

I run up to him. Tears are now flowing from his eyes. I untie the ropes from his body and the chair. He hasn't said a word yet, but I can hear his silent sobs. I'm usually not very good with these kinds of situations, but something in the back of my mind tells me the only thing I should do now is hold him. So that's what I do. I put my arms around the boy's shoulders and hold him tight, his hitched and my calm breathing the only sounds in the big warehouse. For a second I feel something course through my body. A feeling that I don't quite recognize and can't really place. It's weird, but when I drop my arms, it's gone again.

"I'm so incredibly sorry," I start, "this is all my fault. If I hadn't come with you yesterday, this wouldn't have happened." Newt looks down and answers: "No, it's okay. I'm okay. Well, I will be okay. Thanks for saving me."

I look in his eyes, and I swear, I can't help it, but I hug him again.

I feel somehow better with my arms wrapped around him. 

It's quite difficult, riding on a motorcycle with an injured person who has never sat on one before. But we work it out and after a while, we arrive at Newt's apartment. I help him walk to the front door. He opens it and we walk inside. I place him on the exact same spot where he put me yesterday, and start searching his house for the ice packs and band-aids. 

Never in my life have I done this for anyone else. Sure, I put band-aids on my own face, but on someone else's? No. So I just do what Newt did to me the day before. I dab the ice pack on his cheek, looking intently at it. I can feel Newt's eyes bore into mine. I stare back at him. He looks confused for a moment, before looking away.

I have to say, he's a special human being. He seems so happy and open to the world, but at the same time I feel like there are secrets, hidden very deep in him. He's an easy person to read. I can practically see his soul when I look in his eyes. So I try to look in them as much as I can without him noticing. 

When I finish my work on his injuries, Newt says: "You can stay here another night if you want." I look at him, trying to hide my relief. I don't want him to stay here alone, who knows what happens during the night. I couldn't bear it if he had head injuries and didn't wake up anymore with nobody here to help him. So I nod, and he smiles.

After a few minutes of silence, Newt quietly says: "I do believe you owe me an explanation." I look down. I can't deny it, I do owe him an explanation, but I'm scared. A shiver runs down my spine, thinking about all the reactions the boy in front of me could have. He could run away, faint, have a heart attack... or he could throw me out of his house, wishing to never see me again. And honestly I really don't want that to happen. I want to learn more about this stranger who just so happened to save me for a while.

I think Newt understands my facial expression, because he says: "I understand if you don't want to say it now, so you don't have to say it immediately. I do expect to hear it some day though. Let's just go to sleep." I nod and start getting the couch ready to sleep on, but Newt stops me.

"This might sound weird, and all, and I totally understand if you don't want to do this, but do you want to sleep in my bed with me?" What? Sleep in his bed with him? "I mean, it's a large bed, you don't have to be close to me, but I just feel safer when I'm not alone, you see..." he keeps talking, but I stop him. Surprisingly, it sounds really good to sleep in his bed. I think it'll even make me feel safer. I nod happily. I follow him to his room and we get ready to go to bed.

He crawls in and I turn the light off and climb in beside him. After a while I admit: "Newt, I'm scared." After a long pause Newt says: "Me too. But I remember what my best friend Alby used to say before he went missing: 'If you ain't scared, you ain't human.' We're just humans, Thomas. It's okay to be scared."

"You're right", I tell him. 

"Goodnight, Newt", I say as I'm about to close my eyes. The blond haired boy answers: "Goodnight, Tommy." I hear him clap his hands against his mouth.

"Oh my god, I don't know why I said that!" he exclaims. "I'm so sorry." I laugh and answer: "No, it's okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I actually kinda like it."

"You do?"

"Yeah." I smile. Newt says: "Well then, goodnight Tommy."

"Goodnight, Newt", I smile. It doesn't take long before sleep comes and darkness surrounds me.

***

Oh my god, I AM SEEING THE SCORCH TRIALS TOMORROW I CAN'T WAIT HOLY BALLS!!

Anyways, I hope you like this story so far, and if you do, please