A bittersweet dream

-1a-

'Please Tommy, please...' The words keep echoing in Thomas' head. He tosses and turns around in his sleep. 'Tommy please, wake up.' He opens his eyes and stares in the dark brown eyes of a familiar face. 'Newt, is that you? Is that really you?' 'Of course mate, you were dreaming again.' 'O Newt, it was so awful, I- I dreamt that they were too late, that the gun fired.' 'But it didn't. They brought the cure in time and now we're at the safe haven.' Thomas gets up and gives Newt a big hug. His head feels heavy, he's confused a lot lately. Not knowing the difference between reality and dreams. But when he looks into the face of his best friend his head stops spinning for a moment and the feeling of safety wraps around him like a warm blanket. 'Shall we go on a walk today, we can collect some berries along the way?' Newt nods and leaves Thomas' tent. Thomas washes himself and puts on some fresh clothes. Images of Newt's death keep flashing before his eyes. He stumbles out of his tent almost having the feeling like he is going blind. Dizziness overcomes him, but the warm hand on his shoulder clams him down. 'You alright mate?' Newt stares confused into the eyes of Thomas. 'Um yeah, I just needed some fresh air.' 'How about we go on that walk you were talking about?' 'That sounds nice.' In silence the pair walks towards the path that leads into the woods. It's sunny today, which is good, Thomas' good days are when it's sunny. He looks at his friend while they're walking. He's grateful that Newt is here. Newt grabs a bag of his shoulder, 'Shall we start picking berries then?' Thomas takes a little bag for the berries and starts collecting them. After a while they take a break. They sit down at a sunny place in the grass. Thomas notices a bundle of light falling down on Newt's face. His eyes begin to twinkle. A snap breaks the peaceful silence and they're both immediately on edge. 'Did you hear that?', Thomas asks concerned. 'It sounded like it came from there.' Newt points deeper into the woods. 'Stay here.' Thomas pulls out a knife and sneaks towards the place where they heard the sound. 'It's a little dear!' whispers Newt excited over the shoulder of Thomas. Thomas jumps aside and says; 'Jeez Newt, you scared the hell out of me. Didn't I say to stay over there?' 'Tommy, you need to stop worrying, you're not going to lose me. And I can handle myself perfectly fine.' 'Is that so?', says Thomas playful. He drops his knife and drags Newt onto the grass where they start to wrestle. They roll through the grass laughing and grinning. But then it starts again, Thomas shifts to this memory of his fight with Newt, his black eyes, his sweet voice 'Shoot me Tommy please.' Tears are rolling down Thomas' face. 'Thomas look at me, Thomas hey, you're fine. You're with me, you're safe.' He feels the embrace of his trusted friend, slowly calming him down. 'I'm so sorry, I don't know why this keeps happening. I guess I'm just afraid to lose you.' 'You don't have to apologize my friend, the things that happened keep hunting me too. It's just something we have to learn to live with. Give it time.' Thomas' body relaxes and he lets himself fall back into the grass. He takes a sniff of fresh air and feels the sun on his face. 'Just give it time', he says to himself.