The girl from the scorch

9

"Bad dream huh?" I suddenly heard from beside me. Turn to be met with Newt looking down at me, his expression too dark to see.

"Yeah... yeah just old memories I guess" I explain, the images flashing through my head making me shudder at the thought of them. I look around seeing everyone else asleep as my eyes gradually adjust to the darkness in the broken down building. Mollie is still curled up next to me, sleeping peacefully with her hair covering the majority of her face.

I look back at Newt to see him already looking at me. The concern on his face was obvious now that my eyes had adjusted the the darkness and i felt guilty for making him worry.

"Sorry. Did I wake you up?" I ask, worried that I had made such a disturbance that it had woken him up from getting a good nights rest.

"No, no you didn't wake me up" he quickly reassures me as the panic on my face was most likely pretty obvious, "I just woke up and offered to take watch so Jorge could get some sleep"

"Oh. If you want you can go back to sleep and I'll keep watch now." I offer knowing that sleep isn't going to come easy for the rest of the night. "I probably won't get back to sleep anyway."

"No it's fine I'll stay awake with you." He suggested, "I don't think I'm gonna get to sleep again either." He says as he lets out a small laugh, the sadness behind it very clearly heard. "Anyway, what was your dream about, it seemed really bad"

"Oh... nothing important. Don't worry"

"It didn't seem like nothing"

"Well it was nothing"

"Well I don't believe you"

Our quiet bickering went on for a while as I tried to convince Newt that I was fine and he had no reason to worry. Of course he didn't believe me though. I've never been very good at hiding how I feel, my facial expressions always give away how I am truly feeling. Apparently it was even evident in the darkness of the night.

"Just tell me" Newt finishes with. At this point I know I'm not going to get away with not telling him so I figure I may just as well.

I explain the terrible nightmare of a memory to him, leaving out no detail. By the time I finish telling Newt, my eyes were watering at the thought of the horrible past and Newt's facial expression is even more unreadable that it was when before.

"Did- did that really happen?" He asks, his voice laced with concern "is that a memory?"

"Yes"

Before I know it Newt has leaned closer and is hugging me to his chest. His shirt becomes damp with tears that I didn't even know were leaving my eyes. I relax more at the feeling of Newt running his fingers through the ends of my hair as he calms me down. I pull away from his embrace and look up towards his face.

"Sorry- sorry I shouldn't have done that" he apologises

"No-no. It's fine. Thank you"

"For what"

"Calming me down"

I let out a slight laugh as Newt reaches forwards and wipes the tears from underneath my eyes, letting out a small laugh of his own. Soon we're both laughing, trying our best to be quiet to not wake anyone, until Mollie started moving beside me and me and Newt quickly stopped our laughing.

"So are you gonna go back to sleep or stay awake?" He questions me once Mollie has stopped her moving.

"I'll stay awake and keep watch. You can go to sleep if you want"

"No I'll stay up too. I'm not gonna be able to get a good amount of sleep anyway" he answers.

With that we both sit against the wall again looking ahead of us. Gradually my gaze lifts up towards the sky and I notice the stars visible through the hole in the roof.

"Hey look at all the stars" I tell Newt, although his gaze seems to already be looking at them. "They're beautiful"

"Yeah. They really are"he adds.

I look back at Newt who appears to be mesmerised by the small lights in the sky.

"Have you never seen stars before?" I ask, laughing at such a sill idea but Newt only looks back at me with a rather blank expression.

"Not like these. The sky in the glade was always plain and dark, I don't even think it was real so there were never any stars. In the scorch I was too busy trying to get a good nights sleep to pay attention to the sky" he explains. Suddenly I feel a sense of sadness for not only Newt but all the boys and the girl. They've never experienced a real life, at least none that they can remember. They can't even remember seeing something as simple as a star.

Suddenly, I feel a weight on my shoulder and look to see Newt has fallen asleep. Knowing he needs it, I don't move from the position I'm in and let him sleep. I'll keep watch for the rest of the night and wake them up when the sun rises.
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