Hope for Us (NEWT) [COMPLETED]

Ch 64 - Choices Don't Exist

~Sara~

She woke up with blurred vision, and the shadow of two figures peering over her face.

When her disorientation settled a bit, she scrambled away from whoever was in front of her, until her vision cleared up. Her back pressed against the wall, and the freezing floor cooled off her heated hands. Her head was pounding, and every fiber and cell of her body was at its peak of exhaustion. She couldn't even tell the difference between being alive and being just about dead.

She could see Newt and Thomas talking to her, but she only saw the movement of their lips since her ears hadn't completely popped. Their voices were a distant muffle, echoes trying to penetrate her eardrums but not quite yet. She lowered her head and opened her mouth as widely as she could until she finally felt the relieving pop in one ear, then on the other.

"Sara, can you hear me?" Newt's voice was loud and clear this time. The sight of him was so relieving that she forgot the graveness of their actual situation for a moment.

"Sara!" Thomas yelled.

"What happened?" she groaned with a hoarse voice.

"You blacked out flat," said Minho matter-of-factly. There was a slight hint of annoyance in his voice, and she could almost guess why. After all, the last time they all saw each other was when she deliberately called a berg over to pick them up and take them back to WICKED so she could have her chat with Rat Man.

No more of that 'uncle' or 'Janson' klunk. He'd done sufficient damage to earn the nickname he deserved. She didn't know why she didn't decide that sooner but discovering he didn't even think of her as a niece—as family—hit her hard. Not that she really considered him family either, but that was beside the point. He wanted her all that time for his own selfish purposes. All of WICKED was pretty much selfishness incarnate.

Newt gave Minho a death glare, which saddened her. There was a real strange aura between the two, and she didn't like it. She hoped it was a minor setback and nothing too serious, however, the fact that both had blood on their face wasn't too promising.

Newt turned back to her with concern and asked, "What did they do to you?"

"Nothing—I... I've just been feeling really sick these past few days," she replied. She wasn't lying—at least—not completely.

She didn't want him to know about her last few weeks, because she knew the case hadn't been much different for any of them. She'd done this to herself. She was disgusted that she had to give in to Rat Man's bribery to obtain something in return. Just remembering the way he talked about Newt, and how she wasn't doing anything to help him, it made her sick to even think about it.

She literally got sick to her stomach after that dreadful conversation. Whoever was in charge of janitorial services there must've had quite the fun cleaning that up.

Sara had lost her appetite since then. The few times she did eat, the food seemed so unappetizing that it travelled down her throat with difficulty. Other times, when it was just too much, she would throw it right back up. Her stomach hurt constantly, and the stabbing, painful jolts on her abdomen kept her up at night. A cheery mixture of sleep and food deprivation, and quite a bit of depression—she could say. She'd lost so much weight. Nothing had value in her life anymore.

Rat Man obviously needed her healthy for what he had in store for her, so he wasn't too happy watching her slowly torture herself. But she had no will for anything anymore. No more aspirations. Not unless she could save Newt, but that possibility was fluttering out the window.

"Are you sure?" Newt asked. Forcing her best smile, she nodded. Clearly, he wasn't convinced. "You need help. You can't just tell me you're okay when I can see that you're not."