Lambent ↠ tst / newt [2]

iii.

chapter iii:

☇aris

Kiara

A GUARD OPENED THE DOOR, letting us into our room. "I got top bunk," Frypan called. Minho jumped up, sitting on the upper bunk. "Too slow," he said to Frypan, smirking at the other boy. Fry rolled his eyes, but got on the bunk below.

Winston plopped himself down onto the lower bed next to Frypan's. He rested his hands on his stomach. "I could get used to this," he said, a smile gracing his face. I climbed up the ladder on Winston's bed and lay down.

"Yeah. It's not bad," Newt added. The guard shut the door, a whistling and locking sound emitting from the doorway. I adjusted my pillow and turned off the light above me. I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep.

After a few hours, all of the guys were asleep, but my eyes were wide open. I tossed and turned, my stomach twisting with anxiety. I didn't feel safe, at all. I sat up, horizontal to my former position, and stared at the opposite wall.

I sat in that spot for a while, listening to the guys heavy breathing. One of their lights suddenly flickered on. I glanced down seeing Thomas stand up. He walked over to the sink, turning the faucet on.

Thomas splashed his face with water for a minute or two, and turned off the water flowing. He stared at himself in the mirror, exhaling deeply. Right before he came back to his bed, I spoke up. "Can't sleep?"

Thomas jumped at my voice, turning up to me. I smiled softly before quietly making my way down. My boots landed against the stone floor as I stood next to him. "I can't either," I said, looking at my feet.

I looked back up at him, his brown eyes searching my face. "Do you wanna talk," I suggested. Thomas shrugged, and sat on his bed, crossing his legs. I followed suit, leaning against one of the bed posts.

"Something's not right," Thomas finally said. I cocked my head to the side. "What do you mean?" He gestured around. "This place seems really off," he said. I nodded. "I agree. I think the others just want to believe all of this. It's like a dream come true for us Gladers."

Thomas grinned. "I'm glad someone agrees with me." I chuckled. Thomas opened his mouth to say something else, when a soft clanging sound could be heard. Metal rubbed against metal below us.

We glanced at each other in confusion. I slid myself on my stomach, looking below the bed. A boy's head appeared from a vent. It was the lonely boy from the mess hall. He was lean and had a thin face. "Wha-?" The boy put a finger to his lips, cutting me off.

Thomas came down as well. "Oh my god," my friend whispered. The lonely boy made a motion with his fingers. "Come on. Follow me." He turned around in the vent. Thomas and I looked at each other, before back at the boy.

I got down on all fours and crawled after the mysterious boy. "Kiara, what are you doing," Thomas hissed. I shrugged. "He came to our room, might as well find out why." I squeezed my body through the vent.

I crawled along the metal ducts, close behind the other boy. I stopped for a moment, waiting for Thomas. The boy must have wanted to do the same, because he halted as well. Thomas came around the corner. "Hurry, this way," the odd kid instructed, and clambered away.

Thomas paused. "Come on," I said, scrambling after the scrawny kid. We crawled quickly making twists and turns. "Wait a second," Thomas whisper-shouted, "What the hell are we doing?" "Come on, we're gonna miss it," the guy said, and began crawling forward again.

"Miss what exactly," I asked, but the mysterious boy didn't respond. "What the hell are we doing," Thomas muttered. "Beats me," I answered. We finally reached a more open area of the vents.

I saw the boy leaning over an opening into the room below us. "What are we doing," Thomas demanded again. "Shhh," the boy said. "Come here." He waved us over. Thomas and I crawled over to him.

"Watch," the boy ordered. Thomas met my eyes, and I nodded, as a way to sort of reassure him. I was just as confused as he was. The three of us observed the hallway underneath. Two female doctors walked in, one I recognized as Dr. Parzen.

Behind the two, a few gurneys that looked to be carrying bodies were rolled up. The doctor I was unfamiliar with swiped a key card in a slot, unlocking a door. I crawled around the opening, trying to get a better look inside the door.

The nurses beside the gurneys began rolling them in. I counted about 3 stretchers. The doctors followed the nurses in, and the door slid shut. "What the hell was that," Thomas asked. We both looked up to the peculiar boy.

"They bring in new ones every night like clockwork," he explained. "Do you know what happens to them," I questioned. The scrawny teen shook his head. "I don't know. This is as far as I've ever gotten. The vents don't even go into that section. But once they go through that door, they don't come back out."

I scratched my chin, thinking. This place was getting weirder and weirder by the minute. "I don't think anybody ever really leaves this place," the strange boy concluded. I swallowed uncomfortably.

"Come on. We've gotta go before somebody notices we're gone." The boy began to move away when Thomas stopped him. "Why did you show us this?" The boy turned back to us. "Because maybe the others will listen to you."

"There's something weird going on here, and I know you guys think so too." The kid spun around and made his way back to the smaller vent. "Hey, wait," Thomas called. "What's your name?" The boy glanced down and back up to us before answering.

"Aris," the boy, Aris, finally said. He crawled back through the vent, leaving me and Thomas alone.

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I wrote that a lot quicker than I expected.

Nothing for me to really say about this chapter.

Anyway, see you in the next chapter. Buh-bye!