Born Again

Chapter twenty one

"What do you mean he's going to die?" Newt asked Thomas the day before they were supposed to leave on their camping trip.

   Thomas ran a hand through his hair, sitting on the edge of his bed as Newt paced in front of him. "I can just tell," he answered. "The dreams are showing me his death every night. It has to be close."

   Newt let out an exasperated sigh, sitting down. "Fine. What was the dream?"

   "Well, there's two actually," Thomas explained.

   "Then tell me both."

   Thomas told him, leaving out the fact that Newt nearly died in one version.

   Newt put his head in his hands, shaking his head. "But things were different. It'll be different this time. Right?"

   "I wish," Thomas sighed.

   "I wish I didn't believe you," Newt whined. "That would make this easier."

   Thomas flinched as if he'd been hit. "You're right. I'm sorry, Newt. I shouldn't have—"

   "No," Newt said, looking up at Thomas. "No no no, I'm glad you told me. Don't feel bad, okay? I just . . . don't know how to help."

   Thomas flopped onto his back, his legs dangling off the side of his bed. "This sucks." He didn't mean to get emotional but his voice cracked on the end.

   Newt laid next to him. "We'll figure this out, Tommy."

   "But how?" Thomas asked. "I've tried so many times. If it's going to happen, there's no way I can't stop it."

   "But maybe I can," Newt said, leaning up and resting his head on his fist. "You said one of the main differences about Minho making it to his race was that I was there. I was able to help so we got him in, right?"

   "Well, yeah," Thomas admitted.

   "So let's work off of that," Newt offered. "Other people can help. So from now on somebody watches him around the clock."

   Thomas sighed again. "You said that in the dreams."

   Newt gave him a soft smile. "I didn't say that because your dreams wanted me to. I said it because I wanted to. Nobody controls me. Okay?"

   Thomas didn't really believe him but he nodded anyway.

   Newt gave a satisfied hum and laid back down.

   Thomas closed his eyes, thinking. How was he supposed to prevent two different dreams from coming true. They were so different as well. Except that Alby was stung in both, which led to—

   "I've got it!" Thomas said, sitting up.

   "Got what?" Newt asked, looking up at him.

   "Both times Alby was stung," Thomas started. "That's why he acted weird which led to him dying. If we can keep him from being stung—"

   "—we can keep him from being killed!" Newt finished, sitting up with a grin. "Tommy, you're a genius!"

   Thomas smiled, feeling hopeful. "Do you know if Alby is allergic like Minho?"

   "I dunno," Newt admitted. "But, considering your dreams, probably."

   "Yeah," Thomas agreed. "We should tell Minho too, he can help."

   "I'll call him," Newt offered, pulling out his phone. After a short conversation, he handed the phone to Thomas.

   He explained the situation to Minho.

   "Why don't we just not go?" His friend asked over the phone.

   "Because that didn't work with Chuck," Thomas answered. "Plus, how would we convince his parents to cancel the trip?"

   Despite not being able to see Minho, Thomas could swear he was grinning.

"Who said we had to convince them?"

~~~

"Why are we trying to convince them?" Minho complained as they walked to Alby's house. After ruling out all of Minho's ideas, they decided talking was their best bet.

"Because it'll be more helpful," Newt answered.

"You know what would be helpful," Minho grumbled. "Is if you would go dig me up some more fertilizer and go with my plan."

"Why don't you just call it klunk?" Thomas asked, wondering what the excuse for the similarity was.

"Griever's poop is too nasty for such a nice word."

"But fertilizer sounds—"

"Will you two slim it?" Newt said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm just going to talk to them, say Tommy is feeling sick or something so we can't go."

Minho rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure. Whatever you say, Mama Noot."

"Minho, I swear—"

"Guys," Thomas interrupted. "We're here." He pointed to Alby's house.

"Alright," Newt said, his argument temporarily forgotten. "Here it goes then. Wish me luck." He started to walk up but Thomas grabbed his hand, stopping him.

"What if this doesn't work?" He asked.

Newt turned around. "Then we go back to plan one," he answered. "Look, Tommy, we'll stick together, we'll get through this. We'll figure this out now."

Or Alby dies trying, Thomas finished in his head but he just nodded.

Newt gave one last smile before turning around and walking up the steps. Before he rang the doorbell, Thomas and Minho walked a few houses down and sat on the sidewalk where they wouldn't be seen.

After a few minutes of silence, Thomas spoke up. "Why are you helping?"

Minho gave him a curious look, yanking a handful of grass from somebody's yard. "What do you mean?"

"I thought you didn't believe me about the dreams," he explained. "And you really wanted to go on this trip. So why are you helping stop it?"

Minho started shredding the grass in his hands, not meeting Thomas' eye. "Maybe I don't completely not believe you," he muttered.

Thomas grinned. "So you're saying—"

"I'm not willing to take any chances," Minho said with a glare. "I've known Alby for a long time. I don't want to risk losing him."

"How'd you two become friends?" He asked, deciding to drop the conversation.

"We lived really close to each other," Minho started. "I was sitting outside and he was taking Griever for a walk. Now, this might come as a surprise to you, but I was a shy kid. I was forced to talk to Alby when Griever bounded over. As the dog attacked me with slobbery kisses, we struck up a conversation, exchanged numbers. That mess of a dog ended up getting me out of my shell. Alby and I have been friends ever since."

Thomas nodded, recalling his dream. Minho went into his shell after the Griever "attack" because he was so traumatized. He guessed the dreams flipped things sometimes and, in this case, that was okay.

"Hey, look. Newt's back." Minho stood up as their friend jogged over.

"How'd it go?" Thomas asked, standing up as well. "Did they cancel the trip?"

Newt sighed. "Let's just say we might need that fertilizer after all."