Dani's P.O.V
I run the whole way to the monitor room and when I get into the room itself and slump down in my chair, my whole chest was heaving with some sense of freedom. Whether it was from getting everything off my chest, or from actually getting to run without a solid purpose, I don't know, but the feeling was liberating.
Aimee giggles at my mind-controlling smile and rests her chin on the palm of her hand, watching me as I leant my head back and took long, staggered breaths. I chuckle a little myself once I've caught my breath back, and lean forward to take the bag off my shoulder and place my dinner on the desk to the side of me.
"Guessing you got everything then." Aimee smiles, gesturing to the bag that was now underneath the desk alongside the other couple of bags Aimee and I had smuggled earlier this morning. I smile back and nod my head eagerly, cracking open the tub of what seemed to be either butter chicken or chicken korma and stabbing my fork into one of the pieces of chicken. I place the fork into my mouth and melt at the taste, letting out a gracious hum of enjoyment as I mentally thank Melissa for making me take the meal with me.
I catch Aimee watching me from the corner of my eye and wink to her, turning around again to face her. "What's the fascination?" I ask her smugly, feeling so much lighter without all that emotion weighing me down. "I'm just wondering what took you so long. And I'm also still enjoying you migrate back into the society again." She answers, making me raise an eyebrow at her while I stab a chip and eat it.
"Every meal time or time we are around a piece of equipment you stare at it in awe and admire it while you remember how to use it properly or what it tasted like before. It just makes me feel fuzzy seeing you happy again, and not being deprived of things. Especially now that you know Newt, Elijah and all the others are getting out too." Aimee answers, a sheepish smile lighting up her face as a blush dances over her cheeks.
"Awh, Aimee. This is why you are my best friend and unrelated little sister." I coo at her, opening my arms to her for a hug.
Wow. I really did feel much happier then before.
Aimee takes it gratefully and stands up afterwards. "Right, all soft moments over. I'm hanging, so can I please go and get some sleep before we run for our lives tomorrow?" She asks, a small chuckle slipping from her throat in the middle of her sentence. I laugh a little too, and nod my head. "Yeah, sure. See you at breakfast." I tell her.
Aimee waits for a second, a smirk growing on her cheeks as she stayed in her place, an idea running through her head. Suddenly, she grabs my loaded fork from my hand pops it into her mouth, clearing it before pulling it back out and wiping the small amount of lipgloss she had left on it.
My jaw drops as she holds the fork out for me to take again, a smug smile fitting perfectly on her mischievious squint. "You bitch..." I murmur, only earning a giggle from her as she swallowed the mouthful. "Love ya!" She calls out as she skips towards the door and lets herself out, leaving me to stare at the spot she was just in in amusement.
~~~~~
The hour while I finished my dinner, I repacked each of the 3 bags with the essential items we would need. I divided all the food and water even amongst the three bags so if we were to get lost while we were out there then we would still be able to survive while we tried to find the others. I made sure to label my own bag before putting my newfound tablets and pills into the side pockets so that I would always have my own essentials on me too.
After I had finished all that, I placed the bags right against the wall underneath the desk and moved towards the door, deciding against leaving the room tonight and instead dimming the lights.
I wasn't going to leave these monitors until I physically had to because I couldn't bare the thought that something could happen without me being there to watch it.
So, I move back to my seat and slide it into the middle of all the monitors, my eyes flickering over them all a couple times to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
~~~~~
Just as my eyes were beginning to flutter shut, I started to hear a shuffle on one of the monitors; and because I had turned the volume up to the max on all of them (just so that I knew I would for sure wake up when the Gladers woke up), it made me jump.
I sit bolt upright and stare at the monitors, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. At first I didn't see it, but then I did. A shadowy figure was slowly moving across the open field of the Glade and climbing up the hill I usually climbed, sitting on my branch of the tree.
My heart skips a beat as I realise that it could only be Newt who would be up at this hour, and the horrible feeling of impending fear creeps over my body. My breath hitches at the back of my throat and I grip onto the arms of the chair, afraid of what I was about to watch.
"So, you gave me a sign. I know you're alive now Dani, and I'll admit, I didn't believe it at first. But when you said all those things about me, I knew that none of the slintheads up there would have paid that much attention to little old me." Newt starts off, somehow calming my nerves a little bit. But not by much. Because still, deep down I know Newt can be unpredictable at times. and right now could be one of them...
"I have no clue whether it was just pure luck that you sent Thomas in here today or whether you can actually hear me, though I'm starting to think it is only the former. But I just thought I'd come out here to say something to you just in case you can actually hear me, though I'm pretty sure I'm just speaking to the wind right now and I'm not going to lie, I feel pretty stupid doing it. Either way though, it felt good the other night to come out here and say everything that was on my mind. So I'm going to do so..."
"I only have little faith in this plan of yours. I know, horrible me for not believing in your level of intelligence. I believe you're smart Dani, better yet I know you are, but I'm just scared that the people who have sent us in here might be a little smarter and may have made it impossible for us to get out... Regardless, I'm going to try everything I can to get out and back to you love, because if I don't it will only hurt me more... The thing that scares me the most though is what if it doesn't work? 24 hours ago I was so close to ending it, and without you here with me I'm still not ok. But if we try this plan and get far enough, only to fail again, all of my hope is going to be gone... I don't know how much longer I will be able to cope in here..."
I bite my lip as the lump in my throat arises again, a little bit of doubt coming over my body too. Nevertheless, I continue listening to him, thankful I did after a few seconds.
"So, I think I need to get the one thing off my chest that I've been thinking about for the past 2 years of knowing you, love. I think- No. I'm sure, that I love you..." My heart flutters an intredous amount as I clap my hand to my mouth, feeling the sweet release of the tears slipping down my cheeks. But they weren't ones of sadness, they were of happiness. Newt loved me, and because of that love he was trying. Just for me. Despite his own pain.
"I highly doubt you can actually hear me right now but either way it feels good to form it into actual words. And now I'm not sure what else to say." He chuckles, looking to his hands in embarrassment. "I guess that's it. So, I love you Dani. And I pray to some form of shucking god that the plan works, because I miss you so damn much."
I smile at his words as he stands up again as makes his way back to my hut slowly, completely unaware of the fact that I was here. And I was listening.
Better yet, I was thinking too.
Once I am sure Newt is back inside my hut, I let my head fall back against the chair and my eyes flutter shut, Newt's words circling my head like a lullaby.
~~~~~
A few hours later
I wake up to something warm covering my body, which startles me a little bit. I peel my eyes open wearily and push my arms to sit myself up, my eyes fluttering open and closed with sleep. My eyes open as wide as they can though when I see some of The Gladers up and eating breakfast inside the dining hall, which immediately sets fear into my body.
I made sure the volume was up at max, so that I would wake up when they did. Why didn't that work?
What startled me somehow more was the fact that after I noticed the monitors, I noticed the blanket that was covering my body.
I jump a little in fear as a hand rests on my upper arm, and a soft voice cooes me. "Hey, Hey. It's ok. It was just me..." The voice says quietly, making my head snap to the person who was beside me in Thomas' usual chair.
Teresa.
I take a deep breath as she gives me a reassuring smile and shrug the blanket off my body. "Why-?" I start, having Teresa answer my question before I barely asked it. "I couldn't sleep either. I went to Thomas' room to sleep beside him but he didn't open the door for me, then I went to yours and you didn't answer either so I came here knowing that's where you'd be. I didn't want to bother Aimee because she had already told me how you woke her up early in the morning because you had had a panic attack in your sleep."
I let out a breath during Teresa's last words, at first thinking Aimee had told Teresa all about what was happening but when she continued and explained that Aimee had told her the partial truth I felt a lot better.
"Oh..." I answer, my sleep still clouding my head a little bit. "And I put the blanket over you because by the time I got here I was too awake to go back to sleep." She finishes, giving me her warming smile. I nod my head and push it down from my shoulders, running my hands through my unbrushed hair as I looked at the monitors again, realising that Thomas could be up.
"Uhh... How long have they been up?" I ask, Teresaa shrugging her shoulders. "Not sure. Not long though. Only half an hour I'd say. There isn't many awake either. Alby, Newt, Minho, Gally surprisingly, Zart and a couple of the other boys too. Not Chuck though, why?" "Oh, no reason. I was just supposed to wake up when they did to watch over Newt. He hasn't been dealing with this well..." I trail off, feeling rather proud of myself for so easily stretching the truth.
"No shit..." She chuckles lightly, "When he came out of your cabin his eyes were red and he had huge bags under his eyes. To be honest, I was surprised that he had even come out of the cabin so soon." She tells me, and I widen my eyes with a nod, as if to say 'Tell me about it'.
"Speaking of loved ones not dealing with things well, is Tom ok?" Teresa asks timidly, making my heart ache. "I-" I start, not knowing what to tell her. "I don't know. He didn't tell me anything last night. Only said he didn't feel well and went to bed during dinner." I lie, hoping she doesn't ask more question because she only has to believe this for a few more hours before we can get our asses out of here.
"Anyway, what's the time?" I ask, changing the topic before she can ask questions. She frowns and looks down to her watch. "Nearly 8." She answers, and I nod my head. "I need to get changed and stuff before breakfast. Fancy coming with me to pick me out an outfit, you know my fashion sense isn't as nearly good as yours." I smirk, holding my hand out for her to take.
In all honesty, she did have good fashion taste and I needed to get her out of this room before Thomas woke up and she found out before she was supposed to. So, if I was going to have to bring her with me, then why not use her expertise to put a little more effort into my look today. Especially if I was going to possibly see Newt.
Despite the fact I nearly despise the dresses we have here.
"Yeah, sure. I need to change too. Would you mind if I borrowed one of your dresses?" She asks, pulling me up alongside her. I nod my head eagerly and hand her the blanket, which she drapes over the back of the chair before following me out of the room.
We walk slowly down the corridors to my actual room that I had only been in once before (which was 2 days ago to put my clothes and makeup back) and once we are inside Teresa goes straight up to my wardrobe and starts flicking through the dresses. Instead of standing beside her, I go over to my mirror and start to brush my hair, then coat my eyelashes in mascara.
After I am finished, Teresa had already put her dress on and had laid out my dress on the bed for me to put on. "I wore that dress when I was 15 T, I'm not sure it'll fit me anymore. Especially because certain parts of my body are now more developed then they were back then." I say to her sheepishly, mostly meaning my chest though part of me was concious that I was pregnant and had a small bump. This would only incentuate it more...
"Oh come on babe. You are still as thin as a stick and I get that your body may be a few sizes bigger now, but think about the loss of cleavage you had when you were 15 and the amount of cleavage you'll have wearing it now." She says, lifting it up and handing it to me. I roll my eyes at her and smile, taking it anyway. "But T, there is no-one here that I want to show it off to. I have no need to-" I start to say, but she places her finger on my lips as if to quieten me. "Hush. Go and put the dress on. You need a confidence boost anyway."
I sigh and step behind her as she places herself in front of my mirror, this time using my makeup to do her own face and my hairbrush to do her hair (which I didn't mind her nor Aimee doing as we always did this with one another. Well used to anyway) while I changed into the dress.
Despite me not wanting to wear the dress, I did feel a new sense of power in it. Like it gave me more confidence. And Teresa was right, the amount of cleavage I had here was perfect. And what surprised me even more was that my stomach didn't look too big in it either.
Teresa barely took any time to do her makeup, and finished a few minutes after I had gotten into the dress. Once she had finished, she clapped her hands in excitement as she looked over my attire. "You look gorgeous Dani. How do you feel in it?" She asks, standing up and coming to my side in the mirror. "I- I feel good..." I give in, letting a nice smile settle on my face.
Teresa squeals and looks at the two of us in the mirror, something catching her eye enough to make her laugh. "And jeez. You're still underweight and yet you still have bigger boobs than me. See, somethings will never change." She laughs, resting her head on top of mine which wasn't that hard hard seeming as she was a good couple of inches taller than me now. Just like Aimee was now a little taller than me. Which made me officially the shortest in our friendship group, dating the tallest boy out of all our relationships.
And unless one of my best friends started dating one of my other best friends (aka, Gally) they wouldn't beat me.
"Alright then. Time for breakfast." Teresa says with a smile on her face. I take a deep breath and nod my head, following her out of the room.
"Hey, did I tell you I've got the day off today?" She says perkily, explaining her overly happy mood. Pretty convinient too if you ask me. Makes getting her out of here so much easier. "You didn't. Maybe you can come and help Aimee and I in the monitor room then, seeing as we barely do anything in there anyway." I say, wiggling my eyebrows.
"Actually, I was hoping to steal Thomas for the day, if you and Aimee can handle the monitors on your own? I was just thinking that he is obviously not ok, so maybe a day off for him too would do him some good." She asks, as we round the corner to the cantine.
Aimee was stood there waiting for us, looking as gorgeous as ever. Clearly, she had dressed up a little in hopes to see Elijah today, just like I had with Newt. She was wearing her signature lipgloss and a gorgeous tube top that was covered by a baggy jacket, which suited her perfectly. It also made me laugh, because all the girls here under the age of 25 were made to wear blue dresses as often as they could. But it doesn't surprise me that Aimee is the only person here to get around the rules somehow.
"Wow, Aims. I haven't seen you wear anything like that since Elijah went into The Maze." Teresa observes, smiling at our youngest friend. Aimee smiles back and does a little sway of her hips, admiring her outfit happily. "Well, I just thought I'd try something on I hadn't worn in a while. I felt a little nostalgic last night seeing him and thought that today I should wear this just for him." Aimee says, winking to me so I knew more of what she meant.
I laugh at her as Teresa walks into the cantine, the two of us following her trail. "Look at the three of us. It feels like we are 15 again." She beams, going straight over to the food to pile her plate high with food.
"Oh, and Dani you never answered my question." She adds, making my heart drop. I put on a fake smile, "Uh, yeah. Sure. But we'll need him to come to the monitors for a few minutes first." I lie, knowing it'll be the only way to get T out of the facility properly.