A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt) UNDER EDITING/REWRITE

Chapter 13

Edited: 15/02/25

~.~.~

Cally

The red and yellow flames from the fire cast shadows all around the Glade. The sun had gone down, and if it hadn't been for the raging fire lighting up everything I would've been able to see the stars in the clear night sky.
     After my test this morning, everyone went back to their normal jobs. Leaving me with nothing to do. When I got out of the bathroom, I tried to find Newt, hoping he could tell me if I had passed the test. But I couldn't find him nor Minho. I did find Alby, but he just told me to wait. He said they would tell me when Minho and Newt got back from the Maze. I tried to protest, but the leader of the Gladers didn't want to hear it.
     The day had passed by slowly, but when the end of the day got closer, a lot of the Bricknicks were building something on a sandy patch pretty close to the Homestead, but away from everything else; with orders from Alby. I kept an eye on all of it, curious about what they were doing. But of course, no one wanted to answer my questions about it. What I did notice, however, was that all the other Gladers seemed pretty excited about it all. Spirits were a lot higher than I'd ever seen them in the short period I'd been in the Glade.
     It took me way too long to figure out what they were building on the patch of sand. A big campfire. Bigger then I'd ever seen. Not even on the beach parties Felix and his friends used to throw. I'd never liked them, I always showed up for maybe an hour because Fe expected it of me and I didn't want to disappoint my boyfriend. But in here, I had no pre-set expectations to fulfill. So I stayed in my room. From what I could see from my small window, every Glader seemed to be there. A few boys had made improvised drums and were slamming away on them with either stick or their hands, creating a beat on which a bunch of the other guys danced to. The entire placed crawled with Gladers either dancing or eating and drinking or just talking among each other. Definitely a party. I thought, although I couldn't guess why they're throwing a random party tonight.
     While all the guys seem to enjoy themselves, socializing with their friends, I pulled my improvised curtains shut. Sitting down on my bed beside Bark, who, unlike me, did not seem very fazed by all the noise and the mixed smells of fire and sweaty teenage boys. Maybe this wasn't the first time they did this? I really hoped they didn't throw these kind of campfire party's too often, the battery on my mp3 would not hold out very long if they did. In an attempt to drown out the sea of sounds flooding through the thin walls, I pushed the earbuds in my ears and picked one of the louder songs in my playlist.
     My father always said he didn't understand how I could listen to metal music. That it was just a bunch of screaming and that it shouldn't be considered music at all. But he never bothered to listen to the lyrics. Then again he never really bothered to listen in general. Not when it mattered.
     I shook the thought away together with the faint feelings of disappointment and powerlessness his memory still brought with him and focused on the music. The familiar melody and lyrics helping me physically relax as I lay down in my bed. Wondering if I also disappeared from home. Logically if I am here, I couldn't be there, but then again me being here still feels impossible, so wouldn't it also be probable that time didn't pass at home as long as I were here? Just like when the Pevensie children went to Narnia and spend a whole lifetime ruling their Kingdom but when they got back to the normal world no time had passed and they were children again. For my own state of mind I decided it probably worked like that.
Bark moved from her place on the bed, jumping to the ground and curling up inside her sleeping bag, yawning after finally finding the right position.
     Three loud bashes on my door startled me, I shot up and pulled out my earphones, just in time to hear Minho's voice calling from the other side. "Cally! You in there, Shank?"
Quickly, I turned the mp3 off and stuffed it with earphones and all inside my bag while calling back an irritated "Yeah! What do ya want?"
     Without asking for permission Minho waltzed into my room. His hair looking way too good for a guy who not that long ago had come back from running around the Maze the entire day. "Why aren't you by the fire? You're missing out on all the fun."
     "That," I pulled a part of the curtain to the side and gestured to the chaos outside, "is not my idea of fun. It's loud, it's messy, and the mixture of all the smells is disgusting."
Minho scoffed, waving my words away. "Don't be such a killjoy."
     "Oh, but I am a Killjoy." Minho raised an eyebrow at me. Clearly not understanding my reverence. Which I should have seen coming from miles away. But still, I didn't let that stop me from proudly claiming my place as a My Chemical Romance fan.
"Slim it and come with me. It'll be fun."
     I dropped the curtain, blocking out the light of the campfire again. "No... I don't think I-" Minho grabbed my arm and before I knew it I'd been dragged out of my room and down the stairs. "-Okay well, I guess I'm coming with you."
     As we made our way through the Homestead and closer to the fire, all the noise became louder. I couldn't separate the different sources of the sounds, everything mingling into one overwhelming static. Not even to start on all the smells. "Do I really need to be here?" I whined at Minho, who still dragged me along, maneuvering us past groups of Gladers.
     "Yes, you do."
     Finally, Minho stopped walking when we reached a small group of people. Existing of Alby, Newt, Clint, Jeff, Gideon, and one guy I hadn't met before. He was about the same length as Newt, although a bit more muscular and he'd nothing of the leaner built of our Second-in-command. He'd combed back his short light hair with his hands and scratched his chin where a small beginning of a beard was visible. I couldn't really make out more details because of the only source of light near us being the fire, making shadows dance around his features. One thing I could say with certainty about this guy, however, was that he definitely would be my sister's type.
     "Found her!" Minho announced as he pushed me into the middle of the group. Not seeing this coming my foot got stuck behind my own ankle, and for the second time that day I fell in front of a group of boys. But before I could hit the ground, the guy I didn't knew grabbed my arms. I felt myself almost being lifted from the ground when this guy just put me back on my feet as if I weight close to nothing to him.
     "Wow, Minho, you don't treat a lady that way." The guy spoke with a lower voice I'd expected. As soon as I stood on my own two feet again I took a few steps back, seeming to just wanting to join inside the circle of people, but mostly just not wanting to be touched by this random guy.
     "Exactly!" I bit at Minho, punching him in the arm. "You should listen to the Shank, Pretty boy, learn some manners."
     "The name's Ben, by the way." The boy said while sticking out his hand to me, which I shook after a bit of hesitation.
     "Cally, nice to meet you."
     "My pleasure." Ben smiled at me with one corner of his mouth, showing off a flash of perfectly white teeth and winked, drawing my attention to his bright blue eyes. I could swear I saw Newt and Minho roll their eyes out of the corner of my eye.
     "Quit the flirting and let's get to the point." Embarrassment at Alby's comment flushed my face and I quickly crossed my arms over my chest. Resisting the urge to snap at him that I wasn't flirting, knowing that wouldn't do any good.
     Already have moved on entirely, Alby took something out of his pocket and handed it to me.
     "What's this?" I wondered out loud, taking a better look to find the answer already. In my hands I held a black digital watch.
     "It's a watch, Slinthead." Minho pointed out the obvious answer to my question.
     I glared at him with a small smile. "I can see that. But why?"
     "Only Keepers and Runners get one." Alby explained.
     "Yeah, but I'm no-," Realization hit me mid-sentence. I couldn't help the little shriek of excitement that left my throat as I clenched the watch in my hands. "Really? I made it?" I couldn't hide the giant smile on my face nor the happiness in my voice.
     "You did, congratulations, Cally." A hint of a smile played with Alby's lips as he spoke. "Gotta give it to you, Shank, you definitely proved you can run."
     "Not even a little. Heard Shanks say you could give Minho here a run for his money." Ben chimed in.
     "Watch it, Ben." Minho retorted. "Your replacement's already been found."
     Me and the others laughed at Minho's comment, but before Ben could respond Alby cut in again. "Starting tomorrow, you're a Runner."
     Excitement taking over I made a small jump and hugged Alby, who seemed surprised and not really sure what to do with it.
     "Hey! What about me? I made the finale decision." My new Keeper sounded slightly offended at my actions.
     "Of course, Pretty boy." I turned around and hugged him too, and unlike Alby, he did hug back, giving me two little pets on the back.
     "You really are way too happy 'bout bein' able to go into the Maze, Cals."
     I looked at Newt, he had a smile on his face and despite his words, he sounded more amused. Making me chuckle. "Jealous, Newton?"
     His smile faltered for a moment. "What? No, I-" he stopped talking when I hugged him as well. A slightly nervous sounding laugh rumble in his chest before I let go of him almost immediately, hoping I hadn't overstepped.
     "You should put it on, before you lose it." Alby pointed out and realizing he was right, I quickly bound the thing around my free wrist.
     "Starting tomorrow, you'll be mine, Greenie," Minho started, the playful tone from a second ago replaced by the most intense, serious face I'd ever seen on the guy's face. Almost making me feel intimidated. Almost. "So be prepared for a lot of blood, sweat, and tears." I knew he meant those words. I knew I barely had a grasp at how hard Running the Maze would be. But I'd made up my mind. This is what I had to do, no matter how difficult or terrifying.
     "Don't be so hard on the Shank just yet, let's enjoy ourselves tonight, shall we?" Jeff spoke up for the first time, raising a cup of liquid I had never seen before. Clint, who stood leaning against Jeff's side, raised his own glass filled with the same drink to his lips as they drank at the same time.
     Jeff noticed my curiosity and offered me his cup, "you want some?"
I looked at the brownish substance as it swirled around. A strong, not quite unpleasant smell coming off of it. "What is it?"
     "Frypan's special drink." Cliff answered while taking another sip.
I scrunched up my face as I looked a little closer at it. "It looks like it comes from a sewer... what's in it?"
     Minho shrugged his shoulders while Ben answered, "we don't know, but it tastes good and helps Shanks loosen up a bit."
     Again, Jeff offered it to me, "You want to try?"
     I shook my head no, softly pushing his hand with the cup in it back to him. "No thanks, Jeff, I'm not gonna drink something if I don't know what's in it."
     Jeff shrugged his shoulders, "Your loss."
     Conversation within the group continued naturally, Minho, Alby and Newt continued a conversation they clearly had broken off before, while Gideon engaged with Ben, the blonde talked with a lot of hand movements. Drawing my attention to the watch he wore around his writs. Of course, I thought, this is the Ben they'd mentioned before. The guy who got tested to be a Runner before me. If I understood the snippets of conversations I'd overheard between the three friends in front of me.
     I looked around the group one more time, Clint and Jeff seemed entirely consumed with each other, making me smile to myself, wondering if they'd noticed it already. Either way, feeling very much out of place, I started to take some steps back, sneaking away from the circle of people.
Unfortunately, the moment I'd turned around Minho grabbed a hold of my wrist again, although gentler then before. "Where are you going?"
     "My room." I pulled my arm loose from Minho. "Unless there is something else you need me for, which I doubt. Sooo if you'll excuse me." With that I tried to turn around again, only for Clint and Jeff to come stand in my way.
     "You are so not excused." Jeff informed me. "The fun is just about to start!"
     I let out a bit of an awkward laugh, "It's really nice of you guys that you want me here, but like I told Minho before, this is not my definition of fun."
     "Nonsense!" Ben exclaimed while throwing his arm around my shoulders, pressing me against his side, "you are coming with us. This is gonna be fun, trust me." He started walking away, forcing me to go with him, Jeff and Clint. Desperately to get away, I shot a silent plead for help to the four Gladers that stayed behind. Alby and Minho just laughed, Gideon gave me two thumbs up while Newt mouthed something along the lines of 'have fun' to me. Fucking useless boys! Where's Jenny when you need her?
     My heart sunk. The realization that I was separated from everyone that I know and care about hitting me like a truck, and suddenly I found it very hard to breath. But Ben kept pulling me along with him and the two Med-jacks, the three talked enthusiastically among each other, neither of them had noticed my distress yet. Quickly I pushed the thoughts down, taking a deep breath to force the emotions down with them. Thinking about them all would only make it harder. I couldn't afford having a breakdown in here either. So with one more calming breath I forced a smile on my face and let myself be pulled along, maybe the distraction would do me good.