Little lies - NEWT

{1.14}

EDEN FOUND HERSELF ACTUALLY somewhat decently sleeping for once. She dreamt of a good situation yet her body could tell she was dreaming, due to how joyful the experience she was having actually was. Nothing that good happened in her life in the Glade, nothing so spectacular. It got to the point that the thought of waking up actually caused her pain within her dreamland. But, as the thought arrived, she found herself pulled from the joyful place and into reality.

"Eden!" someone yelled just as she came back into consciousness, body still heavy with sleep and the comforting warmth of her own bed. She did not recognise the voice as her mind was still plagued with unconsciousness and pretty much incapable of thinking.

"What?" she muttered, eyes still closed and mind so full of sleep she could not physically move a limb. Not that she wanted to, other than the sudden surge to throw a pillow at whoever was at her door.

"It's Alby. He's awake," she slowly opened her eyes, still remaining to squint despite the sudden adrenaline that made her limbs work again. "Teresa?"

Teresa, who looked rather annoyed at her exhaustion, sighed in agitation, "Did you hear me?"

Eden, with a brief rapid blinking of her eyes, sat up in bed and nodded to reply. Once the fact that Alby had woken up actually settled in the clouded space that was her mind, she leapt out of bed while flinging the covers in some random direction. She grabbed a thicker shirt and pulled it over her head as she and Teresa ran to the med hut - a run her body was used to by now so her breath didn't even get any heavier. "Has he said anything?" Eden asked Teresa as they both walked into the met hut. Eden frowned at how many people were crowded around Alby's bed, just staring at him.

"No, not a word," Teresa replied in a whisper, looking at Alby discreetly. Eden nodded before going to sit next to Alby, looking at Newt with eyes full of concern.

"Alby?" she whispered trying to hide her concern via a smile that felt out of place. "Alby, you all right?" Eden asked, this time at a louder volume and without a smile. He and the rest of the room remained silent as they all watched the tears in Alby's eyes begin to fall. Eden felt an overwhelming sadness that flooded from her head all the way down to her toes and crashed out of the soles of her feet. She could not help but be reminded of the Alby that came up in the box so long ago. Her first friend and person she had the most dependence on in the Glade. She hated seeing him in such a way and felt tears well in her eyes and an unremovable thickening brewed in her throat.

"Hey Alby," Thomas interrupted, having noticed the look on Eden's face. He thought she would be thankful for the interruption (she was) and felt that it would help to hide whatever she was feeling from the others. He looked over to her preventively and waited for her okay. She nodded, giving him all the permission he needed while she tried to get some sort of a handle on the unexplainable sadness that had seemed to swallow her sanity. "Alby, we might have just found a way out of the maze."

Every person in the room awaited an answer from Alby.

Nothing.

Thomas looked apprehensively to Eden again, wondering whether he should continue or not. He continued, "You hear me? We could be getting out of here."

Alby reacted this time, slowly shaking his head as his lips parted to let out one of the shakiest breaths Eden had ever heard. "We can't," he muttered, voice shaking as tears began to slip down his face. Eden peered at him, eyebrows raised as she tried to figure out what was actually going on without being told. Alby looked to Eden instead of Thomas, his intense gaze softening somewhat upon the realisation that she was still there. "We can't leave."

"What are you talking about?" she whispered, placing a comforting hand on his. He seemed to appreciate the gesture and she could not help but feel a sense of deja vu from the beginnings of the Glade.

"They won't let us."

"Who?"

"I remember," he muttered in reply, staring off into space.

"Everything?" Eden asked softly, trying to figure out what was actually going on as a look of realisation crossed over her face. He nodded slowly, swallowing deeply. "What do you remember?"

Alby slowly turned to Thomas, whispering, "You...You were always their favourite, Thomas. Always."

"Alby?" Eden whispered, not quite sure where this side of him had come from. She had never seen him look such a way, so disparaged and fear-ridden.

He turned to her then, giving her the same pitiful look she had just given Thomas,"Oh and you, Eden. Bless you...Eden... they overused you so much."

Her brow furrowed as a frown pulled at her lips, "What do you mean overused?"

"Your mind... Don't let them take it again, stop the research. Burn it," he enthused, voice still at a shaky whisper despite the look in his eyes.

She shook her head, immediately not wanting to do so. She had worked so hard on all of the research for three years, burning it would be a factor of her worst nightmare. Losing all that progress seemed unimaginable. "Alby..."

"Promise me!" he yelled, making nearly every single person in the room jump due to his sudden tone change. He looked at her in such a way that she couldn't help but succumb to what he wanted, the pure fear in his eyes instilled that same fear within her. Only difference was, she didn't know what she was so scared of.

"I promise, I promise. I'll burn it all," Eden quickly blurted, earning looks from Newt that bored into her back.

The tension within the room broke instantly as various frightened shouts echoed around the Glade. The commotion caught all of their attention and dragged it away from whatever Alby had been talking about previously.

Alby burst into tears, placing his head in his hands as sobs wracked his body. Eden could not focus on this though as she had to worry about the wellbeing of the rest of the gladers and the threat that loomed out of the med hut.