Nothing But Each Other (book 2. of Nothing But Trouble)

24) Close

With what had happened today, nobody was eager to just get a good night's rest. Sitting by the campfire, we were all up avoiding it. Aris and I had been left in charge of getting the wood to ensure that it wouldn't die.

Die. That word seems to hold more and more weight the longer I live.

I didn't know him too well, but I had known so many people that didn't make it out. From Flora to Rachel to even Beth. People I had a rocky relationship with, people I had liked, and people I barely tolerated who had left me with things that can't be undone, I was so tired of people constantly dying so young. I mean Winston was our age, and despite what the journal said he seemed like a good person, and he definitely didn't deserve that ending.

"Are you okay?"Aris whispered as I picked up what appeared to be part of a broken fence.

"Yeah. Are you?"

"Yeah,"He nodded, doing the same. From there the conversation stopped until we met the others. Adding the pieces into the growing fire, we sat back in our spots in front of it. With both of us pulling our knees to our chest, we just gazed at the yellow and orange flames that overtook the night.

"I never thought I'd say it,"Frypan started, choking on his words as we turned to look at him, "but I miss the Glade,"He whispered as a single tear fell from his eyes. Turning back to the fire, I heard the quiet tapping on the ground. Not needing to look, I put my hand on his knee. From there, we remained completely still, only glancing up when Thomas left to be alone. Not that it worked as Newt followed him, but that's their business. Not ours. Whether he was comforting him wasn't what we cared to know.

But there wasn't much that we did right now. Not after the sound we would never get out of our head.

The gunshot.

I always seem to be around gunshots.

I really hate gunshots.

ᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗᕙᕗ

With my head on his chest and his arm around my stomach, Aris and I both pretended to be asleep. I knew he wasn't though. His breathing was just barely slow enough for him to be resting. So much so that if you hadn't slept with him before you wouldn't be able to tell.

And he knew that I wasn't, because every now and then he would run his fingers along my arms and hold me just a little closer.

Staring at the stars, I wondered if Winston was somewhere in the constellations now. I wonder which one was best suited for him. I wonder so much yet I'm not sure if I wanted any answers. After all, I had been wondering about things in WCKD, and now we're here.

"This isn't what I thought it would be,"He suddenly whispered.

"No. It's not,"I agreed.

"Y/N?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared. I don't really know why, but I am."

"I know what you mean. It's like there's everything to be afraid of, but none of it makes sense either. There's just been too much in so little time."

"Do you think-do you think that we'll be okay?"

"I don't know what okay is anymore. All we can do is get through this one day at a time,"I whispered.

"Do you think that it would have been better to stay in the Spring?"

"It wasn't safe anymore,"I pointed out.

"If it was?"

"If it was, I think that you would have really, really liked it. I think that you would grow to see some of the beauty in it, the way we had in a way,"I answered.