Afflicted↠ Newt [1]

Chapter 14

I woke up in my bed, something that I did not expect. My head hurt like crazy, a dull ringing in the back of my skull. Pain. My vision was blurry, my head spinning. My breath coming in short gasps.
The bed creaked beside me, and I turned my head towards the noise. My vision was still blurry, though I could still make out an outline of something. Someone. Newt. His hand gripped mine, his thumb rubbing patterns in my palm. Whether he knew I was awake or not, I didn't know, but when a small groan escaped my lips, his head snapped up. Clearly startled.
"Are you okay?" He breathed the sentence out, almost as if he didn't expect me to be awake. Maybe he didn't. I didn't remember what happened to me. Why I woke up in my bed. The last thing I remember was running, and then collapsing...
Though I nodded, despite all the confusion. Newt didn't really seem to believe me, but he said nothing more.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Minho was training you as a Runner, and you just collapsed. You seemed like you were dying, in agonizing pain," Newt said, his eyes focused on our entwined hands. "It was bloody horrible."
And then it all came rushing back to me, like a tsunami wave. The pain, as if some bug was digging its way into my brain. The voice. His voice. Whoever this man was, that was talking to me, watching me, I knew he wanted me to suffer. And I knew he enjoyed every moment of it. He was nothing more than a sick bastard to me.
And then I remembered the first voice I heard. The familiar, comforting voice. I hadn't heard from him in a while, as if all communication has been cut off completely. Replaced with the voice of the man. Believe it or not, I missed the first boy. Though I didn't know anything about him, I felt as if I knew him. As if we were close, in my past life. I had no idea what he looked like, but I still felt as if we were somehow best friends.
I was snapped out of my daze as Newt waved a hand in front of my face, "Glade to Emily. Anyone home?"
Sudden guilt flooded over me as I stared into his dark brown eyes, though I had no idea why. I shook my head, attempting to clear the jumbled thoughts in my head. Though one thought still remained, in the back of my mind. A man. Thin, with extremely bony cheeks. His gray hair was thin, combed over on his head. His small, beady eyes staring at me, a sick, twisted smile spread across his thin lips. I immediately recognized the man. Not the name, but the voice. It was the man who was doing this to me.
"Sorry," I flashed Newt a quick, forced smile. The image of the man still haunted my mind, though I tried my best to ignore it.
"Why are you sorry?" asked Newt with a slight chuckle.
I sucked in a deep breath before speaking, "There's something wrong with me, isn't there? I'm going insane."
"There's nothing wrong with you, princess." He squeezed my hand, though sounded as if he were reassuring himself just as much as me.
"Don't lie to me," I scoffed. My gaze was focused on our hands, tightly intertwined. I couldn't help but notice how perfectly they fit together, like a puzzle piece. Yet again, I was being cliche'.
"I'm not lying," Newt said with a shrug. "There's nothing wrong with you. At least, nothing that we know. For all we know, it could be the Creators messing with your buggin' head."
Yeah, that's exactly what it is, I thought to myself. Though I didn't dare say it out loud. Newt knew about the one incident, when I almost ran off into the Maze. Though I assumed he thought it all ended after that one time. He asked about it a few times, though it never happened again until recently. Until after he stopped asking.
"You seem like you're half asleep." Once again, his voice brought me out of a daze. Something that seemed to happen a lot.
I shrugged, "I'm tired."
The excuse that everyone uses. He seemed to notice that I was lying, as he leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. I felt a blush crawl its way on to my face, goosebumps rise on my skin as his voice whispered in my ear.
"You don't have to tell me, but know that I'll always be here for you."
He pulled away, stared me in the eyes. It took almost everything I had in me not to get lost in them.
"Promise?" was all I managed to choke out.
"Promise," he said with a smirk. For a moment, it looked as if he were leaning down once more. Then I realized that he was, in fact, leaning closer to me, his gaze glued to my lips- that happened to be only inches from his. I felt my breath hitch in my throat, my stomach feeling as if it were doing somersaults inside me.
And then the door burst open, revealing Minho standing in its place. Newt pulled away from me quickly, scratching the back of his neck, his face a bright shade of pink. I was sure I was blushing, as well. I mean, when was I not blushing these days?
"Woah," Minho dragged out the word, his hands raised in the air, a cheeky grin spread across his lips. "Did I interupt something?"
"Yes, you did, Minho. You always come in at the wrong bloody time," Newt said with a scowl. Then he laughed nervously, obviously trying to hide his embarrassment. Minho only smirked before approaching the bed. He rested his hand on the shoulder.
"I'm glad you're okay, Emily."
"Wow, you actually called me by my real name," I gasped, bringing my hand to my mouth.
"I wanted to be sincere." Minho crossed his arms and scoffed. "And I felt that 'Newbie' didn't have as much emotion as your actual name."
"Finally, you notice." I laughed and slapped his arm playfully. I was thankful that my mind was at least somewhat cleared, though the haunting image of the man still sat in the back of my mind.