A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt) UNDER EDITING/REWRITE

Chapter 5

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Cally

That was way too fucking close. I thought, happy that I managed to think of am excuse to brush it off quickly before revealing my random knowledge of Harry Potter I definitely should not be having. Newt seemed very uncomfortable after I played it off onto the collective amnesia that everyone had in here, which did make me feel guilty... The guy had just tried to make conversation... I Risked glancing back at the guys around me, but they had already moved on to the next subject I understood absolutely nothing about.
     I wasn't even sure why I was lying to all of them. The worst that could happen was that I would wake up from a nightmare... But the longer the dream went on, the more I started to believe I wasn't dreaming at all and had to remind myself that this, in fact, could not be anything else.
     "Newt, will you show our Newbie her room?" Alby interrupted my thoughts, apparently having noticed my empty plate and absent mind. "She needs to get her rest for tomorrow."
     I tried my best not to roll my eyes at his use of she instead of just addressing me directly. I'm sitting right in front of him after all. It shouldn't be that hard. 
     "Sure, which one?" Newt just responded, oblivious to his friend's use of words and my growing annoyance.
     "Well," Alby started, "there aren't really any rooms left. So I thought you guys," The leader of the Glade gestured to Newt and Minho with his head,  "could share your room with her."
     I choked on my water and started coughing.
     "What?" Newt's face held the same shock that I felt.
     "No, way, Shuckface." Minho protested, then looking over at me, "No offence," and back at Alby, "Not happening."
      The seriousness in Alby's face completely disappeared as he cracked up, laughing at all of our reactions. "I'm just messing with you." He said after getting a hold of himself again, "the small room we used to use for storage. I had some Sloppers clean it up. It's a small room, but it'll be yours if you want to."
     "Yeah, I'll take it." I said quickly, not wanting to share my room with a couple of strange boys I just met. "I think... Wait, how small is small?"
     "See for yourself." Alby's voice still held amusement from his own joke.
     Newt got up, shaking his head while sending an eye roll towards his friend. I didn't say anything as I followed Newt, a little surprised yet also glad when bark did the same. The sound of her little nails softly scraping over the wooden floor filled my chest with a kind of joy I find hard to describe.
     I followed Newt as he lead us up to the building's second floor. The stairs themselves seemed about ready to fall apart at any moment. But then again so did the whole building, so I shook it off and made a mental note not to walk on them with bare feet. Reaching the top of the stairs we turned to the left and walked all the way to the very last door at the end of the hallway. It creaked a little when Newt pushed it open and stepped back to let me walk past.
     "Here it is."
     Alby had not been kidding when he said the space was small, but there was a window, a sleeping bag, and a pillow. So I would survive.
     "I'll ask Gally to make sure you've got a proper bed tomorrow night."
     I smiled at Newt, "That's nice of you." I'd expected the guy to walk off the moment he had brought me to my room, but he just stood in the doorway, scratching the back of his neck, seeming like he wanted to say something else before leaving, but had trouble getting it out. "Got something on your chest?"
     "Yeah..." Newt started, sliding his hand off his neck and letting it hang by his side again. "I'm sorry about the whole salamander thing."
     "Its fine," I answered quickly, feeling embarrassment taking over again. "Let's just forget about it." 
     "Good that." Newt sounded relieved, but he still didn't make a move to leave. "And, you know Alby was just joking before..."
     Newt trailed off, but I understood what he's meant. "I know. I can take a joke. I just have a hard time placing Alby. One moment, he's really harsh and just straight up rude, but the next he's friendly and joking around as if we've always been friends."
     Newt just shrugged, not seeming to think Alby's behavior to be strange at all. "That's just Alby. He has to be stern. He's the leader, but when he doesn't have to be, he's just like the other Gladers."
     I nodded, "yeah, I think I get what you mean."
     "Ya gonna be 'kay in here? Need something else?" Newt asked, apparently deciding the subject of Alby was done.
     I thought about it for a moment, but then shook my head, "Nope, I'll be fine." With one last smile, Newt left.
     Once he was out of my sight I closed the door behind him, happy to find a slide on lock on the inside of the door and locked it. Without thinking too much about anything, I crept inside the sleeping bag and placed my head on the pillow. Ready for sleep to take me. Or well, to wake up, but nothing happened. I tried to sleep, and I think I'd managed to do so for a short while. But the next thing I knew I was sitting up in the sleeping back, staring at the darkness outside of my window. Outside I could see some human like figures laying spread around outside. 
     Going outside may not have been the best idea, but I couldn't seem to shake the restlessness inside of me and I just had to go walk around a bit more. So I got up, put my shoos back on and went to open the door, momentarily forgetting the noise it had made when Newt had opened it before. A high pitched squeak filled the room, followed by bark's head snapping up. It took her a moment before she found me standing in the open door and seemed to realize I was about to leave, because she barked one time before jumping up and joined my side again.
     "Okay, you can come. Just be quiet." I whispered at her.
     We made our way down the stairs and passed  a bunch of Gladers who slept scattered through the rooms of the Homestead. Outside, I started heading for the Deadheads, the only place that had given me any kind of calm feeling since arriving at this place. I walked a little further in than the edge, to where the trees held more leaves ans sat down with my back against a big fallen tree trunk. I took one deep breath of the slightly fresher air and already felt part of me relax. Looking up at the sky through the thin layer of leaved branches, I could see the stars silently twinkling in the dark sky. With Bark's head on my lap, I felt my body slowly slipping back into sleep, silently hoping that, when I woke up, I would be back home in my own bed.

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