Finding Hope - Newt x Reader | Book 1

Chapter 8

I wake up to the sound of birds chirping. My eyes open, exposing themselves to the bright light above me. Checking my watch, I realize it's 8:00am--and I usually wake up way earlier than that to catch the sunrise. My eyes adjust as I notice Minho and Chuck looking into the Pit. I look up at Newt, his soft sleeping face bringing a smile to mine. 

I gently pick my head up so I don't wake the boy up, but that plan immediately fails as his eyes open noticing the loss of warmth. His weary eyes squint, looking at me as a soft smile forms on his face. "Hi," he mumbles in a sleepy voice.

"Good moorningg, lovebirds," Minho mocks us loudly.

I roll my eyes as Newt and his messy hair stands up, reaching a hand out to me and pulling me up to my feet. We walk over to Chuck and Minho, crouching down to look inside the Pit. I lean against Newt, my head resting on his arm as a yawn escapes from my mouth.

"Where's Fry," I ask Minho as I rub my eyes.

"He should be back soon," he explains, "he went to go get some food from us. Or at least attempt to salvage what he can after the Griever attack."

I nod my head as I look inside the Pit--Teresa sat there with Thomas's head in her lap, as she played with his hair. Suddenly, the boy wakes up, looking at Teresa before looking at all of us.

"What were you thinking," Chuck scolds the boy. But the brunette doesn't respond.

"What happened," he finally says, his head moving back and forth between all of us.

"Gally's slinthead took over," I groan, my head hurting just thinking about dealing with the boy.

"He said we had a choice: Either join him, or get banished with you," Newt elaborates.

"Did any of the Gladers agree to that," Thomas asks as he sits up.

"Gally has everyone convinced that all of this is your fault," Teresa explains to him.

The boy nods, pausing before he speaks, "Yeah. Well, he's been right so far."

I pick my head up off of Newt's arm, him and I glancing at each other before looking back at the brunette, confused as to what he means. "What do you mean," Minho asks the question we're all wondering.

The boy goes into explanation about how this whole place isn't at all what we thought it was--not a prison or anything like that, but a test. He explains how it started when we were all kids and they would give us these activities meant to challenge us. Since we were kids? I've been dealing with their klunk since I was a kid? "They were experimenting on us," he states. He tells us about how people started disappearing--one person every month.

"They were sending them up into the maze..," I point out, as my mind continues to put together the puzzle pieces.

"Yeah, but not all of us," Thomas mutters.

Newt looks intently at the boy, "What're you talking about?"

Thomas pauses, then looks up at all of us with a sorrowful face. "Guys, I worked with them--the people who put us here. I watched you guys for years, the entire time. While you guys were trying to survive, I was on the other side watching." I feel like I just got hit in the gut, but the feeling goes away instantly. Regardless of all that, he was a kid too. They were forcing him to do things that he didn't want to do. Despite the past, he's here now working his butt off to save us. He turns to Teresa, looking into her eyes, "So were you. Teresa we did this to them." 

Well that explains the iffy feeling I got from her.

The girl shakes her head, tears falling out of her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. She goes on about how it can't be true, but Thomas shuts her down and faces her with the facts.