Newt: A Broken Boy ↠ The Maze Runner

5

Edited 15/05/16

I clutched the armrests of my seat as we got ready for takeoff. My sister stood by the window, almost dancing with joy.

"Come on James," she said to me. "Just come and stand with me."

I shook my head. I had - and still do have - a great fear of heights, and was not leaving my chair until we safely touched down in America.

"Suit yourself. But you're missing out, I tell you."

I had mixed feelings about leaving England. I had never been anywhere outside the British Isles, as we never travelled much before the sun flares. And after they hit, well... travel was unthinkable. The only thing on our minds was surviving until the next sunrise. But now... now I had the chance to create a new life for myself, for my sister.

I picked up a book that someone had left on the table beside me.  It was called Harry Potter. I vaguely remembered seeing it on my parents bookshelf at home, but I had never thought much of it. I decided that now was good time to read it. I settled down into my seat and opened it up.

It was only after struggling through the first few sentences that I realised that this book might've been a little beyond my capabilities. At school, I had learnt a few of the letter sounds, but then the flares hit. My aunt had tried to teach me, but I guess that lessons while on the move weren't the best way to learn.

"What you reading?" Olivia's voice nearly made me jump out of my skin.

"Oh... just a book. It's called Harry Potter."

"I've heard of that! Can I read with you?" Olivia asked.

"Sure."

I was glad for my sister's help. Together, we managed to get through the first few chapters of the book. I was so into it that I didn't even notice when we took off, so when we hit a spot of turbulence I nearly dropped the book in shock.

"Whoa," I said. "I didn't realise we were in the air."

"Well it is a very interesting book," my sister said reasonably, a smile creeping up her face.

Suddenly, I was pulled into a hug, her face by my ear.

"I love you," she murmured. "I love you, no matter what. You're my brother, and I love you more than anything else in this world."

"Well, there isn't much left of this world to bloody love," I said, making a weak attempt at a joke. I received a light punch on my shoulder in return.

"Don't ruin the moment."

I smiled to myself, and pulled Olivia closer to me. I was trying to show her, without words, just how much I loved her.

~

We stayed like that for the rest of the flight, our heads resting on each other's shoulders. At some point, I must've nodded off, because I woke up to my sister shaking my shoulder, telling me to get up.

"We're here."

I glanced outside, but to my surprise we were still in the air.

"Wait... what?" I asked, confused.

"Whole load of... I'm not sure what they are, but there's something down there, and the pilot says that he can't land there safely."

"So what do we do?"

"We jump."

In my opinion, jumping down into a whole load of things wasn't the best idea, especially with my fear of heights, but I decided not to bring that up.

We moved over to the edge of the berg, and my sister slowly opened the safety door. Wind whipped at my face, stinging my eyes and nearly knocking me over. I glanced down at the ground, forty feet below me, and I knew that that image would be branded into my mind forever.

The sight that greeted me was... humans. But these humans looked slightly crazy; I could just catch the manic gleam in their eyes. They had bald patches, as if they had been ripping each other's hair out. Some of their mouths were dripping with a red liquid that looked suspiciously like blood.

Something told me that I would not want to get in close quarters with these humanlike things.

"OK, so when we jump, we come off running," my sister explained, "and then we try and get to that house over there. They shouldn't be able to get in, so we can work out what to do next."

I nodded. The 'house' that Olivia had pointed out was more of a shack than anything else, but it looked like it would be able to hold its ground when we got there. If we got there.

"On my mark." Olivia started counting down. "Three. Two. One. Jump!"

Have you ever tried freefalling from forty feet up? I don't recommend it, especially if you're afraid of heights. On my way down, all I could think was that this would be the way I died - breaking all the bones in my body as I landed onto the cold, hard ground of North America. I just had time to think that this was  a stupid way to die, and then I saw the ground rushing towards me.

I landed on my shoulder, sending waves of pain all over my side. The edges of my sight were darkening, and the world was spinning around me.

Noises bounded around my brain - screaming, the sound of a truck very near me. I dimly registered two big white shapes coming down on me, and somebody screaming.

I could hear my sister yelling my name, but it sounded like an echo, bouncing around in the walls of my brain.

"Olivia," I whispered, though she wouldn't have heard me, "I love you."

And then my world went dark.

~

A/N: Heyy, just wanted to say merry Christmas, cause like, it's Christmas day and everything. So merry Christmas. This chapter is my present to you. Hope you enjoyed. Byeeeee!!