° Break ° [ First in the Heal Series]

[4] thoughts

"Don't go in there." Alby's voiced pulled Grey's attention away from the wooden door. Artemis had spent all of her time in her room or in the Med Hut. She barely slept and hardly ate anything. Newt was in and out of consciousness while his gashes and bruises had healed, his leg was still in horrifying condition, and his head still banged up. Scars littered his legs and a long scar ran at the edge of his hair line. It would eventually fade and wouldn't be noticeable.

  Many gladers had started to wonder what happened to the pair. Suspicion was starting to rise. None of the boys, other than the Med Jacks and Alby, were allowed into Newts room, so most gladers were left in the dark. 

"Can you go get her a plate of food from Frypan?" Alby asked. Grey nodded and ran down to the kitchen for food. He returned with a sandwich, apple and glass of water. 

"Tonight is soup, she might eat some of that?" Grey suggested. He was one of the few who knew of the situation, as he was a close friend of Artemis and Newt, and had helped in trying to persuade the girl into eating and sleeping.  Alby knocked on the door, entering after a weak 'come in' was heard from the girl. He sat the food down on the small desk in her room.

"I'm not hungry." Artemis had dark circles under her eyes and wild and messy hair. She looked fatigued but tried covering it up with a fake smile. "Really, I'm fine." She flipped through the pages of a small medical book. 

  Alby sighed. "Newt would want you to eat and get some sleep." 

A sad but irritated look flashed on her face. "Newt doesn't get to make those decisions right now." 

"Just eat something, and try to get some shut eye." Alby left the room, the door closing with a final creak.

Artemis was left with her thoughts once again. She hated the silence that filled the air, it felt so, so deafening. Her thoughts consumed her, she hated it. Reasons of why, questions of the future, regrets of the past and thoughts of the present filled her mind, overflowing with overthinking. A deep, unsteady sigh filled the room, her fingers massaged her temples. Artemis took a long drink of water before leaving her room, making her way into the Med Hut after slipping past the gladers hanging around the homestead. Hopefully work would distract her. 

  She began to check over Newt, making sure everything was healing properly and without issue. He was bound to fully wake up any time at that point, any day now. Artemis started inventory while Clint patched up a Builder in another room and Jeff was down at the barn, helping with a Slicer. 

  A groan slipped through the blond boys lips as his eyes peeled open slightly. His faced twisted in pain and confusion. Newt tried to sit up but fell back onto the pillow after many attempts. Artemis's eyes widened as she heard the boy come to consciousness. She rushed into the room and saw him examine his broken leg. Tears fell from the corner of her eyes but she brushed them aside. Newt looked up and locked eyes with his best friend. 

"Artemis." He whispered. Artemis shook her head as if it would get rid of the flood of thoughts. 

  "Don't move your leg or head. Your arms should be fine. Be gentle when you move your other leg." The girl tried to push back the swirl of emotions by focusing on the injuries. Newt obeyed, still dazed and in pain. Artemis swapped out the few bandages, helped Newt drink some water and take painkillers, and made sure his leg was propped and splinted correctly. 

The day quickly turned into night as the runners returned and the doors closed. Alby and the other Med Jacks were quickly informed of the fact the Newt was conscious and doing somewhat better. Clint helped the girl finish inventory while Jeff helped clean up the few small cuts scattered on Newts working leg and arms. The Glade fell asleep that night, Artemis sat in a chair beside the boys bedside. 

  "Artemis...I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. I can't believe I put you through that." Newt said. He saw the circles under her eyes, he saw the miserable and apologetic look on her face, he saw her expression, the expression she had when she overthought things or she was worried. He realized his actions affected her, he saw how much she cared.

"I'm sorry too, Newt. You could've talked to me, I'll always be here for you. I don't know what I would've done if you succeeded." She answered. And she meant it. Newt had been her best friend ever since they got of of that box. But best friends didn't cover it, it was something beyond that, neither of them knew what it wad exactly. But they did know that they would do anything for each other. They knew they would always stick together. 

That night was the first night Artemis slept peacefully, knowing Newt was well and sleeping just a few rooms over.

@uthors note,

Hey guys, this was unplanned but I got inspiration and decided to write it. There may be mistakes as I wrote this at 2 in the morning and so I will edit tomorrow. I feel like the song describes Artemis really well. Also, no the way Artemis handles the situation isn't healthy but i wanted to make her a 3-D character with flaws and worries and human traits, not perfect. She overthinks alot, and that will most likely be a trait that is explored more later. I really hope it doesn't feel like she's overreacting, because their friendship and bond will be shown and explained more soon. Please comment feedback and thoughts. Hope you enjoyed it.

-a tired writer, ombre 

p.s. what should their future ship name be?

[The amazing cover for this book was done by @AwesomeA4life and it's absolutely beautiful. Go check out her account and stories, like her book Prepossessing or her cover shop. I love the cover so much, it's wonderful so a big thank you to her :)]