The Edge of Sanity

2.

The shot filled the air, ricocheting and echoing off of everything, so loud that Thomas was glad he couldn't hear the body fall.

Eyes still closed, he dropped the gun and stood there, what he did was already washing over him. He turned away, his back to the body, and opened his eyes.

Suddenly he was shoved against a crumbling brick wall, opposite of where he killed Newt. He screamed and tried to fight back, but it was no use. A Crank must have found him, snuck up on him when his eyes were closed. Surely the Crank had a weapon.

This is it, Thomas thought. The end of the line. At least he would be with Newt in the afterlife, if there was one.

With his face against the wall, he held his hands up to show he was weaponless. He tried to turn his head, catch a glimpse of the person who was about to kill him, but he couldn't turn his head far enough, not in the position he was in.

He waited for a few seconds, but his predator wasn't speaking. Thomas dared to speak.

"What do you want?" he said, his voice catching. But whoever had him didn't answer. It was beginning to become torturous, standing against that brick wall and waiting for death while hearing over and over again the shot of the gun that killed Newt.

Seconds turned into minutes. Thomas was crying now, silent tears for Newt, for his own fate.

"Please," Thomas said softly. "Just put me out of my misery. Shoot me or cut my throat out, whatever. Just do it." He knew it was a pathetic plea on his end, but it was all he had left in him. All his fight was gone along with Newt, neither to ever return. He was ready for the end, ready to die.

"Tommy.."

Thomas's face became wetter as tears rolled down it faster. He knew he was just hearing things, that maybe he'd finally gone over the edge, too. He was so close to death, he was going insane.

"Tommy!"

The voice was louder this time. Thomas realized the grip on him had loosened. Slowly he turned around, blinking at the sight before him.

"Newt?"

Thomas could feel the color from his face drain, he really was insane, wasn't he? But in Thomas's peripheral vision he saw it: the empty spot where a body should be. There was a bullet hole in the wooden building where Newt's head was just moments ago.

Thomas looked back to Newt, whose face was scrunched up and he looked like he was in pain, like he was fighting something.

"Say it again!" Newt said, pleading.

"What..?"

"Say you love me again!"

Newt was slipping again.

"I love you, Newt. I always have," Thomas said softly.

Newt relaxed a bit, his sanity slowly coming back, if only slightly.

"Newt what's happening? Why didn't you let me kill you..." Thomas's sentence trailed off.

Suddenly Newt was stepping closer to Thomas. Forget butterflies, Thomas felt Grievers crawling around in his stomach. Soon Newt was just inches away.

Was this Newt's plan all along? To sneak up on Thomas and kill him painfully?

But Newt leaned in, towards Thomas. Cautiously, Thomas leaned in too, slowly.