EPIPHANY ✁ newt

25 , thorns

A few minutes later we had been led to some sort of gutter entrance in the floor, and Gally brought out a ladder from god knows where, lowering it down into the hole as the rest of us peered in from the top. "Gally, take care of these two." Frypan said, crouching down next to the hole as Gally, Thomas and Newt prepared to go down it.

I took in a shaky breath, trying to stop my heart from racing at the thought of Newt going down there. It was strange, I hated how much I had grown to care for the boy that even the thought of him being in the most minuet amounts of danger sent me into a panic attack. I watched him as he tightened his shoelaces, frowning as I watched Newt staring at his hands as they shook, before stuffing them into his pockets and standing up. There was something going on with him, and I just wished he trusted me as much as I did him so that he'd tell me.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked gently with a forced smile, walking up to the boy. Newt nodded quickly, searching my eyes for something.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'll be fine - hey, Seph, really." He said, putting his hands on my shoulders when he noticed to look in my eyes. "We'll be back before you know it. Don't worry about it, yeah?" I wanted to scream at him, tell him of course I was worried about them, about him, but all I could do was nod slightly, giving his hand a squeeze before moving away to lean against a wall as I watched some of the only people in the world I cared for, throw themselves into god knows what kinds of danger.

Once the three boys had vanished out of sight, I distanced myself from Frypan, Brenda and Jorge who were talking in a corner of the room huddled around a map. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone at that moment, so I found myself wondering back into the room with all the potted rose plants. Thankfully, Lawrence the crank didn't seem to be anywhere in sight, so I let my mind carry me towards a light lilac coloured bloom, gently bending down to smell the sweet fragrance of it.

I couldn't remember the last time I had smelt something so sweet, so tender. The flowers felt so out of place in this broken down darkly lit area. Some joy struggling to survive in the midst of all this death and blood.

"Rose took my nose... rose took my nose..." I whipped my head around, seeing the man standing not two feet behind me, his head tilted slightly so light fell directly onto his half missing face. "Rose? Is that you?" I could feel my hands shaking as I backed into the benches holding up the rose pots - having no where else to go as the man quickly advanced, his nonchalant expression turning to one of pure seething anger.

I felt one of the thornd branches prick into my finger as I grabbed hold of whatever was behind me, tilting back to try get away from the man who was almost in my face. "YOU DID THIS TO ME! ROSE HOW COULD YOU! I LOVED YOU!" before I could even cry out, two hands had tightened themselves around my neck and I could only gasp, trying to get Lawrence off me as he choked me.

Running from WICKED, waking up in the Maze, the first time seeing a Griever, watching my best friend die, watching Winston slowly fade, I don't think I'd ever been this scared before. Something about being able to see the pure hatred and insanity on his face as he dug his nails into my neck with absolutely no regret and meaning to stop made me want to run and run and never look back. If only I could get out of his grip.

I could feel my vision blurring for what felt like the thirteenth time that day as my hands slipped from the hold behind me, blood running down my fingers from the stunning roses. I couldn't help thinking how smart the plants were, having their own lines of protection ready to stop anyone coming too close to them. I could only wish I was that tough. I could only wish that someday I'd stop needing people to save me.