Befriending Constellations [tmr] [completed]

3

Alby gestured to a row of Queen-sized beds, each white and soft and inviting. "Obviously, that's where we sleep."

We were standing in a massive green clearing that reminded me an awful lot of the Glade. However, this clearing wasn't filled with ramshackle buildings and farm animals. The beds - nearly forty - were the only furniture in the entire area. A fire pit over here, a tiny treehouse over there, one massive outdoor screen playing a movie. And the boys; of course, the boys. Those who had died in the Glade or on the way out, those who had stayed with Gally and, inevitably, been stuck. Winston was racing around with a group of boys, now joined by Zart and Chuck, playing a game of soccer in the clearing. Clint and Jeff sat in the grass together, talking and laughing, waving excitedly as I passed by. These boys, all I'd known as family and then lost - they were all here. I was really home.

"There's one more thing I want you to see," Alby said once I'd taken everything in, "but I don't want you to freak out."

He led me out of the clearing, further into the woods. Brushing away the leaves on the ground, he revealed a glassy surface.

"This is the Looking Glass," Alby explained.

I kneeled over, brushing away the remaining leaves and dirt. The surface of the glass was moving, revealing a moving picture.

"You'll see someone still living. Your 'soulmate,' if you will," Alby said. "Technically, you can watch them as they progress through life but, Newt-" he put a hand on my shoulder, drawing me away momentarily, "-you must understand. This can suck you in. Obsess you. You need to be careful; don't overdose on the Glass. We can envy the living, but we cannot become them. After all, the grass is always greener." He lifted his hand. "Take care, Newt. I'll see you at sundown."

I heard him leave, footsteps crunching on brush as he retreated to the lives of the dead. However, I was enraptured in something much more alive.

Thomas.

There he was, running through a room I didn't recognize, followed by Teresa, Minho, Brenda - all of the people I'd left behind. I bit my knuckles in anticipation as the ceiling began to cave in.

I didn't know whether I worried for Thomas's death, or if I was yearning for it.

And in a split second, Thomas was ducking and yelling and crying as he continued to run. I looked behind him, in the rubble of the room.

Teresa's body was crumpled under a massive piece of rock.