A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 24

Cally's pov

When I opened my eyes the bright light of the sun blinded me. A wave of nausea hit me without warning. I shot up and gagged, nothing came out, but I immediately regretted the movement. Pain shot through my head an muscles.
     "Wow! Cally, in the bucket, please." Clint came to me carrying an iron bucket and placed it beside my bed. I didn't know where he had come from, if he had been in here with me all along, but I was glad he was.
     "How're you feeling?"
     "My head feels like it's going to explode..." I groaned, moving backward to lean against the wall, hoping that sitting up straight would help with the nausea. It didn't.
     Clint sat down on a chair beside my bed. A serious and worried look on his face. "Can you tell me where we are?"
     My eyes shot through the room, scanning over the wooden walls and empty beds that were lined up against the walls, I didn't need to do so to know where I was, but I couldn't help it. "In the Med-room." I said eventually, a little hesitant to answer. I knew something was wrong, and not just because Clint was acting weird and my body hurt more than it had before.
     "What's your name?"
     "Callidora.... Really, man, you just called me Cally. That's not a very hard question."
     Clint chuckled, "You've got a point there. What's my name?"
     "J-" I stopped, catching myself before I could make the mistake. "Clint. your name is Clint. Keeper of the Med-Jacks."
     Clint looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Did you just almost call me Jeff?"
     I forced a smile, feeling like it came off more awkward than I intended. "Maaaaybe."
     The boy didn't say anything else about it as he took a small flashlight and started to shine it in my eyes, I knew what he was about to do and let him. Only when the bright light hit my eye I reflectively turned my head away, the movement creating a new wave of pain and nausea.
     "That's fucking bright man!"
     Clint moved my head back up and tried to shine the light in my eyes again. He moved it fast in and out my eyes. I knew he was looking at my pupil reflexes and I knew it must be important, but I struggled to keep my eyes open.
     "Does the light hurt?" He asked me while putting the flashlight away.
     I blinked a few times to get the spots out of my vision, reluctantly rubbing them with my thumps. "Yeah, it does. It's making me dizzy."
     "Sounds like a concussion." Clint said as he walked to one of the drawers and took out a bottle of water and a towel.
     "A what?" I questioned, trying to get my eyes to focus on the young man's face. "How the hell did I get a concussion while lying in a bed? Shouldn't it be over after all that Changing shit?"
     Clint fell silent, staring at me with a frown. "You... don't remember?"
     Now it was my turn to fall silent for a short while. "Remember what? Getting stung? Yeah I remember that. I just don't remember crashing my head into something."
     The Keeper of the Med-Jacks handed me the towel and the bottle of water, which I gladly opened and drank the whole thing within a minute.
     "Memory loss can be a side effect from a concussion, but..." The boy mumbled, rubbing his chin seemingly deep in thought.
     "But? But what? No wait, what did I forget?" I started to panic, memory loss? What can't I remember? Is it important?
     Clint opened his mouth to answer me, but the opening of the door interrupted him.
     "Hey Cally! How're you doing?" It was Minho.
     I shrunk in by the sound of the door slamming to the wall behind it and Minho's voice. "God, Minho, don't be so loud. It hurts."
     "Sorry, Shank." Minho sounded sincere as he sat down on the edge of my bed. "So you're not doing so good, are you?"
     "My head hurts like hell and I think I'm going to lose everything I've got in my stomach... Ow yeah, and apparently I've got a concussion and memory loss."
     This seemed to worry Minho. He looked at me with those big, brown eyes, placing a hand on my leg and softly squeezing it. But even though it was a soft squeeze, it hurt, making me wince and pull away. A mixture of guilt and hurt flashed across Minho's face, which he quickly covered up. "Memory loss? What did you forget?"
     I raised my eyebrows at him, supressing the urge to roll my eyes. "Seriously? What did you forget? If I knew that I wouldn't have memory loss now, would I?"
    Minho ignored me and turned to Clint. "What did she forget?"
     "What happened." He answered.
     Minho looked at me again, "you mean you forgot what happened during the Changing or getting stung?"
     "I wished I had forgotten about that..." I said, immediately remembering the burning pain of the needle in my skin and the weird sensation of the Changing.
     Clint started talking again, "she forgot what happened yesterday."
     "Oh." Minho glanced at me for a split second, an unreadable expression crossing his face. "That."
     "Oh, that? Oh, what? I'm sitting right here guys and if you're not going to tell me what's going on I will start screaming."
     Minho and Clint exchanged a look, still not looking me in the eye. "Maybe it's a good idea if you go get Newt and Jeff. They're in the kitchen." Minho told Clint, who nodded and walked away.
     "I can see why Jeff, but Newton? What does Newt got to do with this?" I was getting nervous, not remembering is weird. Now I get why the other Gladers want to remember so badly...
     "It's okay, Cally." Minho tried to reassure me. "Newt was just there when it happened. So he can explain it the best."
     Even though Minho was trying, he didn't calm me down. "What happened? I don't get it."
     He smiled at me, hoping that would work. It didn't. "You freaked out yesterday, Newt and Jeff were with you- Well, Jeff was. You ran into Newt later."
     Now I really didn't understand anymore. Ran into Newt? But... I couldn't even get out of bed, how the hell could I run into somebody? And what does he mean with freaked out?
     The door opened again and there were Clint and Jeff, but no Newt.
     "Where's Newt?" Minho and I asked at the same time.
     But Clint shrugged, "he's not coming."
     Minho looked as confused as I felt. "Not coming? Why the hell not?"
     "Beats me," Jeff said. "First he refuses to leave her and now he refuses to come."
     He refused to leave me? That's so sweet...
     "I'll go get the Shuckface." Minho growled, pushing himself up from the bed but I grabbed his arm before he could go far.
     "If he doesn't want to come, let him." I didn't care about my slightly trembling voice. "I just want to know right now. I don't care who explains it to me." Minho looked at me and sat down again, placing a hand on mine that still hold his arm.
     "Okay, then I guess I'll start." Jeff said as he sat down on the bed in front of me. "So, yesterday you had passed out again, nothing weird. You were just laying there as if you were sleeping. But then, out of nowhere, you opened your eyes and stood up. I told you to lay back down, but you didn't listen and started walking towards the door."
     "What? Walking? But I couldn't even get myself up last morning, how was I able to walk?"
     "We don't know," Clint said before Jeff continued. "I asked where you were going but you completely ignored me. So I grabbed your wrist, then you noticed me. You looked at me, jerked your wrist away and walked out of the door. I ran in front of you, to block your way and told you, you had to go back. As reaction you pushed me down the stairs."
    "What?" I shot up, flinching at my own movelent before staring at Jeff with a bewildered look in my eyes. "I wouldn't do that."
     "But you did," Minho said, "we've got a dossen Gladers who saw it happen."
     I didn't know it was possible, but I got even more confused and worried. If I did that, then what else did I do?
     "I am so sorry, Jeff. Are you okay?"
     Jeff didn't look angry, instead he actually smiled at me. "it's okay, Cally. I'm fine. Anyway, after that you went down the stairs yourself and walked towards the exit. But the guys who were in the Homestead tried to stop you, so instead of cooperating with them you started running. I jumped up and tried to follow you, but then you ran into the Maze. And since I'm not a Runner and I'm not aloud to go in there I couldn't follow you."
     "Okay, so Newt followed me?"
     "No, he was already in the Maze." Minho started, "all the Runners were. You're lucky he started later then normal and found you, or you would most definitely be dead right now."
     I was too confused to give a remark  on the 'you'd most definitely dead right now' part, shaking my head instead. "I still don't get it. How could I run? And into the Maze of all places! Better question, how did I get a freaking concussion from it?"
     "That's the part Newt should explain. But since the Shank is being a baby I'll tell you what he told me." Minho answered.  "He told me that he heard something so he stopped, then you ran into him. He said you was jacked and had no idea you were there or what was going on. Then you ran away, towards the Cliff. Newt said you where running straight at it and when he stopped you, you started screaming and struggling to get there."
     "I... what? I tried to throw myself off the Cliff? Why?"
     "We don't know," Minho continued, "you tell us."
     "Yeah, you know what?" I leaned back against the headboard. "Even if I wanted to commit suicide I won't tell anyone. Come on guys, what happened next?"
     Minho took a deep breath before continuing, "well, then Newt pinned you to the ground in the hope you would stop, but you started bashing your head against the ground and screaming at him to shut up."
     Subconscious, I reached for the back of my head. The skin beneath my hair was indeed bruised, and at the parts that weren't, I could feel the crust of dried blood. "I see how I could get a concussion from that..."
     "No kidding," Minho continued, "he tried to stop you from doing that, but you got away. Then you tried to slice your throat with his knife-"
     I grabbed my throat as if that would prevent it from being sliced. I really did that?
     "-Newt slammed the knife out of your hand, tried to hold you back, but you got away again. Stumbling to the Cliff, but instead, you fell against the wall and started to smash your head against it." 
     I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes, "what the hell was I thinking?"
     "I don't think you were thinking at all," Clint said.
     "Clint and I think it was some weird side effect from the Griever sting or the Grieve serum." Jeff explained to me.
     "Did it happen before then? Something like that?" I asked them, hoping the answer was yes, but deep down, I already knew it was no.
     Clint and Jeff both shook their heads. "No, nothing like that happened before."
     "But then again, we've never had a girl in here before, so..." Minho tried to give a positive spin to the situation, but got completely ignored.
     I pressed my hands against my eyes, "I'm so done with this shit..." I pulled my hands away when I felt a hand on my leg, Minho trying to comfort me again, this time without squeezing. I shot him a sad smile and placed my hand on his arm. "Anyway, what next? Did I try to stab my eyeballs out with a pencil?"
     Minho and Jeff led out a hesitant chuckle. "No, you didn't. Slinthead." Minho said. "Newt stopped you from bashing your head into the wall, and then you let yourself fell to the ground crying."
     "Ow, God." I started, feeling more embarrassed than ever. "I would've preferred to stab my eyeball out above crying in front of somebody."
     Minho smiled at me, I don't know if he thought I was kidding, but it didn't really matter that much. "Anyway, that's when I found you guys. I was running and heard screams, so I followed them. You were unconscious, so Newt and I carried you back to the Glade."
     Clint let out a small laugh, "and then Newt started screaming at him." He said as he gestured to Jeff, who glared back at him.
     "Yeah, the Shank was angry that I led you run into the Maze." Jeff said, "I think he still is. I sat with him just before I got here, and he barely said a word to me."
     "Don't worry about that," Minho got up from the bed. "I'm gonna talk to him. I wanne know why he refuses to come explain it himself."

~.~.~

Minho's pov

When I walked down the stairs, I spotted Newt sitting on a table by himself. He looked more tired than normal. He was even biting his nails, his head resting on his hand. He looks awful.
     After a short pause, I made my way to him. "Hey."
     He glared at me as I sat down in front of him. "And here it comes again." He mumbled.
     "Why are you still here and not up there with Cally? Explaining what happened in the Maze."
     "What do ya want me to explain? She freaked, tried to kill herself, and blacked out. Not much to explain now, is there? Maybe she should explain why she tried to jump off the bloody Cliff."
     "I asked, and she said she doesn't even remember doing it." Seeing Newt refused to look at me, I tried to get some sympathy from the guy. It shouldn't be hard seeing how much he cared about her. "It's freaking her out, man." I said in a softer voice. "It could help her if you tell her what happened."
     "We all forgot things we want to remember, she'll have to deal with it."
     I fell silent, the shock definitely visible on my face. Did he just really say that?
     "I can't believe you just said that."
     Newt sniffed, looking through the closest window. "Well, you should believe it, 'cause I did."
     "What is going on with you, man?" The softness in my voice was gone. He had crossed a line. How could he say that? How could he even think that?
     "There's nothing goin' on with me."
     I scoffed, rolling my eyes at him. "Sure there isn't. First you refuse to do your job so you can stay by sleeping beauty's side and now you don't care anymore. But no, there's nothing going on. That's a pile of klunk and you know it."
     Now Newt rolled his eyes at me. "I'm so done with this conversation."
     "Well, I'm not." It took me a lot of effort not to yell some sense into the Shank, but Cally wasn't the only one who seemed vulnerable right now and even though I hated this kind of conversation I would suck it up. For Newt. "What's bothering you so much?"
     "Is it really so hard to believe for ya that I just don't bloody care anymore?"
     "Yes, it is. You always care, especially about Cally. Since the day she got here you cared. Now tell me what changed."
     Newt got up, still avoiding eye contact. "Nothin' changed." He said with a clenched jaw as he walked out of the Homestead.
     "You're wasting your time." I looked behind me to see Alby standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. "I've tried talking to him. He's not going to admit there's something wrong."
     "What do you think is wrong with the Shank?" I asked Alby, who shrugged.
     "I think there happened something in the Maze yesterday. Something he isn't telling us."
     "Ya think we should make him tell us?" I asked, but Alby shook his head.
     "I think we should be patient. It just happened. Let the guy process it. If he wants to tell us, he will."
     I stared at the door as if I could still see Newt standing there. He had looked so shaken up. It was hard not to do anything to help cheer him up. But again, Alby is our leader for a reason. So I decided to trust him on this one. "Okay. Well, I hope you're right."

~.~.~

Edited: 01/09/20