Newt stared absentmindedly as he saw the maze close. His whole body was petrified, frozen, unable to move.
Thomas was the first to move. He sprinted down the glade, stopping at the dirt mound in front of the dark door. Newt shuffled forward and broke into a run as he began to join the other boys clustered around the door.
"What in the shuck!" Gally shouted, banging his hands on the door. He was tall, and muscular, with black hair and brown eyes.
Alby stepped forward and placed a calming hand on Gally's trembling shoulder.
"It's okay, Gally-" Alby started to say.
"NO! It's NOT okay!" Gally practically screamed at Alby's face. "Four runners were OUT there! FOUR!" His face contorted in anger and red.
"Look, they're all going to make it out alive," Newt added cheerfully. "They're the strongest of us. That's why we chose them to be our runners. They will make it out."
Or that's what Newt hoped so. Deep down, Newt had an unsettling feeling that didn't belong there. A troubled feeling. His body began to shake as Newt wanted to believe Minho and the others would make it out of the maze, but his thoughts told him otherwise. If the doors didn't open until nightfall... Newt didn't want to think about it.
Thomas enveloped Newt in a hug as Newt was on the verge of tears. His friends. The gladers. Their friends. Back here, everyone was like a family, eating together, working together, spending time together, living together.
"It's okay, Newt." Thomas gently said. He pulled back slowly, muttering another "Sorry" before walking back to the Homestead.
Thomas sighed. He had only been in the glade for about two weeks now, and he had just gotten used to the maze and how it worked. He sat down on his hammock in the shelter made out of wood. He was pondering about what was happening inside the maze right this instant. Was Minho still alive? Minho was sassy, yes, he'd give him that, but Minho was still his friend ever since he came up from that box.
Newt entered the room, looking worried, his eyebrows scrunched together. He plopped down next to Thomas and played around with his fingers.
"Do you think they're going to be alright?" Thomas blurted out, unable to keep the thought to himself.
"Oh, don't worry. They will come out alive. If the doors open until night." Newt said sarcastically. Thomas tried to say something to Newt but stopped himself. Newt wasn't being himself today. Newt felt different as if he was a totally different person.
"If they don't come back..." Thomas started but was cut off by Newt.
"Don't worry about it. As Alby said, don't worry about it." Newt's words hung around in the air as silence followed.
Thomas sighed and leaned back in his hammock.
"Newt, you're acting weird today," Thomas admitted, as he closed his eyes.
"I am?" Newt scoffed, rising to look up at Thomas. "Maybe because our friends are out there and who knows what is happening inside those walls right now. And you're just lying down?!"
Thomas bit his lips and turned his head away from Newt. Newt wouldn't say those words. He wouldn't and would never in the future.
Newt sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I'm just worried about Minho, Ben, George, and Winston. I've known them for over five years, and I-" he faltered, looking down at his feet, ashamed of himself for shouting at Thomas when he had done nothing wrong. It wasn't Thomas's fault that the doors to the Maze just closed.
"It's fine," grunted Thomas, still not facing Newt. Newt bit his lip and headed out the door, feeling miserable. If Thomas wanted time to himself, he had it now.
Newt passed Alby on the way out.
"Hey, you okay?" Alby asked, raising a careful eye at Newt. Newt quickly nodded his head and ran away into the woods.
"Newt!" Alby shouted after him, looking at the disappearing blonde.
Alby entered the Homestead and looked over at Thomas.
"What happened here?" He asked, and Thomas shook his head in response.
"Alright, alright," Alby said, before leaving the Homestead, walking towards Gally who was having a whole-blown panic attack.
"FOUR RUNNERS! YOU HEAR ME? FOURRR!" He kept on ranting, grabbing fistfuls of his hair. Gally finally noticed that he was looking insane, and he walked over to the side glass panel on the maze wall that gave a glimpse into the maze.
Seeing nothing except gray walls, Gally pounded on the glass in a vain attempt to break it.
"It won't break," Alby told him from behind. "Why don't you rest until the doors open back again?"
Gally huffed and glared at Alby before making his way to the Homestead, screaming the number "FOUR" along his way.
Alby peeked through the glass, and hunched his shoulders In disappointment, seeing nothing. The crowd of the gladers started to scatter throughout the glade and began to resume their work. The usual sound of working roused up in the glade.
Newt, on the other hand, was wandering around the woods, trying to relax his mind, looking at the green trees and the glinting leaves. Newt breathed in the deep scent of soil and tree bark and exhaled. The smell of the woods had always relaxed Newt. He had always come here to relax his mind, or when he was mad. This was the place where Newt had run off when he first came out of the box.
Newt followed the little stumped grasses, following the path he had always taken over the past few years. He looked up at the sun shining brightly through the canopy of leaves. He smiled as the ray of sunlight hit his face, warming it up. Newt slowly traced his fingers through the tree bark surrounding him and made his way to a small river that snaked through the woods.
The blonde found the rock he always sat on and plopped down. He kicked little pieces of rock on the ground, pondering about his life. Newt always started to think about his past life when he was upset. Was my family alive? Did I even have a family? I wish I had a sister, Newt thought, crossing his legs over each other.
The sound of a twig snapping brought Newt back, and he looked around frantically. His blonde hair swished back and forth as he tried to decipher where the sound came from. Newt slowly got up from his rock and turned around. He saw Chuck behind him and sighed in relief. The chubby boy was looking up at Newt with worry in his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Chuck asked. Newt nodded in response. "Sorry, I followed you when you rushed past Alby." Chuck apologized, eyeing the rock Newt was sitting on a few seconds ago.
Chuck made his way to the rock and sat down, looking at the plants around him. He took in a deep breath.
"This is a good place to escape from the glade," Chuck admitted, looking at the white bubbly river that ran a few feet away.
"Yeah," Newt said. His voice came out cracked and raw, and he didn't know why.
Suddenly Chuck jumped off the rock and started pointing at the gray wall that loomed over the trees.
"Look!" He started to shout, "The maze, it's shifting!"
Newt looked up just in time to see one of the maze walls sink behind other walls. He looked at Chuck in disbelief.
"The maze doesn't re-arrange themselves in daylight!" Newt said, making his way back to the glade. Chuck hurried along, stumbling behind Newt.
Once Newt reached the clearing, he distinguished a low rumble in the maze. The gladers stopped what they were doing and stared at the maze. The rumble got louder and louder, until the ground underneath them began to shake, throwing Newt and Chuck off balance. They crashed into the ground, evoking a few groans from them.
The rumble stopped, and Newt got up, looking at the fallen gladers around the glade.
Thomas! That was the first word that popped into Newt's mind when he recovered.
"Hey, Chuck, help the other gladers." Newt said and with that, he sprinted off towards the Homestead, which surprisingly, wasn't crumbled on the ground.
Newt rushed into the Homestead, looking for Thomas. He reached the hammock Thomas was in, but Thomas wasn't there.
"Thomas!" Newt shouted, walking around the Homestead. He began to climb the rickety wooden stairs leading to the second floor.
"Thomas!" Newt called again, walking past every room. Newt started to panic when he realized Thomas wasn't in the Homestead.
Where was he? Newt squeezed his eyes shut as frustration overwhelmed him. He peered over the cut-out rectangular hole in the wall, and his eyes swept over the entire glade, looking for Thomas.
That's when Newt spotted him, sprawled on the mound of dirt in front of the maze's door.
Author's Note:
Okay, first of all, Gally's descriptions are based on what I remember from the story, not the movie. If I got the features wrong, please tell me.
Second, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING MY STORYYY IT REALLY MADE MY DAY!!
And third, some sentences might feel wrong, well that's because I spotted a cockroach in my room, and I started to panic. Although I tried to go back and fix it....
THANK YALL FOR ALL THE SUPPORT!