Back Home Again

Shadows Between Us

Thomas Pov:

Thomas opened his eyes to a quiet morning. The events of yesterday flashed in his mind, and he smiled. He was back home. With his friends and family. Finally.

Thomas rolled out of his bed and promptly followed his old daily routine. He got ready for school entirely, then headed out of his room. He followed the handrail down his stairs. 

The entire house was silent. Minho wasn't drinking coffee or getting ready in his temporary room. Frypan wasn't in the kitchen cooking. Gally wasn't in sight. His father was missing. No one was in the house. 

Dread filled Thomas as he looked around the empty house.

"Minho?"

"Dad?"

"Fry? Gally? Hello? Anyone?"

When he still got no reply, Thomas ran out of his house. He would just ask Scott if he'd seen them. Or if something bad had happened. Thomas silently prayed that it was the former.

Thomas ran to his baby blue Jeep, Roscoe, and started the engine. He sped to BHHS, trying to keep the dread from filling his head. What if something bad happened? What if W.I.C.K.E.D. got to them? Not again. Not after what happened to Newt... 

Thomas pulled into the school parking lot to see it completely vacant. Not a single person was here. Thomas felt like he was going to throw up. Nonetheless, he ran inside.

"Scott?!"

"Lyds?"

"Anyone?"

"Please please please," Thomas whispered to himself as he frantically checked all of the classrooms.

He heard a quiet, distant shout coming from the gym. There. He had to get in there.

Thomas sprinted faster than he ever had in the Maze. Though he felt like he could still hear the creaks and shifts of the Grievers. Thomas shuddered at the thought and continued on his journey.

Thomas slammed open the doors of the gym and stopped where he stood dead cold. It was like a scene from West Side Story. The Gladers stood on the left side of the gym. They looked like a bloody biker gang from the 80s, especially with their grimy clothes from the Safe Haven, W.I.C.K.E.D., and even the Maze. 

On the right side stood Scott, Isaac, Lydia, Derek, Malia, Liam, Peter, Theo, Jackson, Ethan, his Dad, Mr. Argent, and Mason. They had literally brought everyone from whatever corner they had been stuffed away in. Jackson and Ethan had literally come back for this bloodshow.

When the gym doors slammed shut, causing a loud ruckus, everyone's heads turned to look at Thomas simultaneously. It was creepy. Thomas's mouth dropped open a bit. 

"Guys. What the hell is this? You guys are reenacting a movie from the 60s? Without me?" he tried to joke. 

When everyone's expressions remained as stoic as ever, Thomas cleared his throat nervously.

"Guys. What is the meaning of this?" he tried again. "You guys are all friends, remember? What is going on?  This is utterly ridiculous!" 

"Yeah, well you didn't think to bloody hard about what would happen when you stuffed all of us on a Berg to visit your goddy family, now did you?" a familiar voice replied, ringing out through the giant room. His accent richer than pure gold.

"Newt. I--"

"Stuff it Tommy. You're always making excuses, now aren't you?  Since you showed up in the bloody Maze, since you wanted to rescue your bloody girlfriend instead of helping Minho."

"I don't know what you're talking ab--"

"That's the bloody point, isn't it? You don't give a damn about any of us, do you? You're just using us like you always do. Everyone else be damned as long as you get your way."

The silence that hung afterwards hurt more than Newt's own words. It pierced every single atom between Thomas and the group until it reached him and stabbed him in the heart. Thomas couldn't bear it anymore. He ran out of the gym, everyone else be damned.

But he was no longer in Beacon Hills High School. He was in some weird hall with metal floors, walls, and ceilings. The lights on the ceiling flickered ominously. 

Wait. He recognized these lights. They were the same that lined the place where the Box traveled. No.

This has to be a dream.

This has to be a dream.

This has to be a dream.

Thomas screamed at the top of his lungs. Nothing. Not a sound, not a flicker of light. Not a single shadow. Until--

"Hello Thomas."

That rat bastard. His goddamn nasally voice piercing through the speaker hidden in this corridor.

"Janson! Where the hell am I?"

"Now now, Thomas, no need to be so brisk, now is there?"

Thomas could feel literal blood pooling in his eyes. He had never felt so much rage in his life. Janson had captured him somehow, somewhere. He pressed his hands over his ears so hard he thought his head might pop.

"Thomas, open your eyes."

Teresa's voice.

"Tommy, it's me."

Newt's voice cracked with anguish.

"Stiles, we're brothers, remember?"

Scott was calling for him.

"Stiles."

Thomas stopped. He pulled his hands from his head. It couldn't be.

"Mom," he whispered, anguish tearing through him.

"Stiles, it's me, baby. You need to open your eyes." 

A tear slipped down Thomas's face. "What do you mean, Mom? I'm here. My eyes are wide open. Where are you?"

Thomas tried to open his eyes as hard as he could. 

Nothing.

"Come one, baby, try harder. I believe in you."

Thomas opened his eyes wider than he ever had.

Nothing, not  a single thing, changed.

"Please, try harder."

Thomas let out a scream as the blood filled his brain. He opened his eyes so wide he was worried his eyeballs would fall out.

Then something changed. The environment shifted. A bright light burned Thomas's vision. The air grew cold. Thomas felt something underneath him as he was reclined into a horizontal position. He tried to keep his eyes as open as he could, but all of a sudden he felt exhausted.

Then he saw it.

The smile.

"Hello Thomas," Janson said with a devilish grin.

A/N: Happy New Year everyone! Let's leave this godforsaken year in the past! Hope you are all safe, healthy, happy, and doing well! Love you all so much!

XOXO