A Way Back - The Maze Runner (♡Newt)

Chapter 42

Cally's pov

After the small gathering we had in the Gathering room I went back upstairs to the Med-room. It was after breakfast and normally I would've been the one in there right now.
     When I walked in, I saw Jeff sitting on one of the beds. "Hey Jeff, thank you for taking my turn. If you want you can go, I'll just finish it and then do yours after lunch."
     "No need, I'll finish yours and then you can do mine, like we talked about."
     I smiled at him, thankful I didn't have to do both. Sure, I offered to, but that did't mean I necessarily wanted to. "Thanks, man."
     "No problem." He answered, clearly noticing the relief in my voice. "But if you don't mind me asking, what were you guys talking about?" 
     I froze for a second, we hadn't come up with an excuse or explanation or anything may this question come up. "Umm... stuff." I eventually said, trying to sound nonchalant.
     "Stuff?"
     "Yeah, stuff. Not really that important stuff, just stuff." Jeff looked at me with squinted eyes, he clearly thought I was acting suspicious.
     The Greenie alarm interrupted the conversation. I made a little jump and then turned around. "I'm going to the box, see ya later!" With that I shot out of the room. Saved by the bell... it's just like Bayside High all over again....
     I walked down the stairs and when I left the Homestead I started skipping towards the box. I didn't really had a reason for the skipping, I just wanted to. When I reached the box the alarm had stopped. There were already around twelve other Gladers gathered around the doors in the ground, one of them being Alby himself.
     "You're happy there's gonna be a new Greenie." He said to me.
     I shrugged in response, "not really, I'm just bored. Jeff's got Med duty taken over from me so I've got nothing to do right now."
     "Well, it's still gonna be about 25 minutes until we're opening the box, so better get comfortable."
     After a few minutes of standing beside the doors I sat down on the ground. I played some with Bark, who was way too happy that I was trying to take the stick out of her mouth.
     As time passed, more Gladers started gathering around the Hole. Since I had been one of the first to gather I was standing the closest to the doors. I had seen Newt and Ezra arrive, lost in conversation. I knew Newt was supposed to tour the Greenie around, but I had this really weird motivation burst that I wanted to do it.
     Finally Alby and Newt opened the two big metal doors, letting the light of the sun fall into the metal box. When I looked down I saw a small boy, well, small in length, he was actually pretty big.... the boy had brown curly hair and was younger than the rest of the Gladers. In a weird way he looked familiar to me.... but he mostly looked scared.
     The moment Alby dropped himself into the box the Greenie backed away until he was trapped in the corner of the box.
     Ow... poor kid...
     Alby didn't seem to care a lot about the boys reaction and took a few steps forwards, "Hello Shank, what's your name?"
     The kid didn't react, he just stared at Alby, then he looked up to us and back at Alby.
     "Com'n kid, I'm gonna get ya out of the Box." While he said that Alby took another step towards the boy, who now started to crimp in.
     "Alby, stop it! You're scaring him." I scolded him, earning a nasty look from Alby.
     "Slim it, Cally, or do you want to come down here and do it yourself?"
     I shrugged "my pleasure." without waiting for a reaction I jumped down, landing beside Alby, who rolled his eyes as he climbed back up on a string of ivy. It was clear he didn't really wanted me to try, but I didn't care.
     Unlike Alby I didn't walk closer to the boy, instead I just knelt down. "Hey, Shank." I said with the sweetest voice I could manage, just now realizing I should've thought this through.
     The boy didn't react, his eyes scanning every inch of my face.
     "My name is Callidora, but you can call me Cally if you like, just like all the other Shanks up there do." The boy looked up for a moment, then looked back at me and nodded once.
     I smiled at him, "now you know my name, mind to tell me yours?"
     "C... Chuck. My name is Chuck," the boy's voice was a little high pitched and clearly shaking. My eyes grew wider when I processed his name. Chuck... the last Glader to come up before Thomas in the movie.... this is bad.
     I noticed I was staring at Chuck and quickly shook my thoughts away, "nice to meet you, Chuck. How are you feeling? Are you hungry?"
     The boy shook his head, "I'm a bit nauseous..." he said.
     I nodded slightly, "yeah, I get that. It's not every day that you end up in a big metal elevator, is it, Chucky?"
     Chuck shrugged, "I guess... I can't remember..." Tears filled his round eyes, filling my chest with sympathy.
     "Ow, that's normal. That's what happens when you get send here. We've all been through it."
     "What's taking so long!" Some Glader shouted. I rolled my eyes and sighed, then I turned myself back to Chuck with a smile, "some Shanks really aren't patient."
     "Hurry up down there!" Another one called.
     I ignored him and just kept my attention with Chuck, "should we continue this conversation outside? What do you think?"
     The boy nodded slowly in response. I got up and offered him my hand, which he took. His hand was sweaty, not that weird considering the circumstances, but I had to fight the urge to pull back and wipe my hand clean.
     Now he was standing I could take a better look at him. When I thought he was younger then the others I wasn't wrong. He was around the age of twelve, maybe thirteen. Making me feel even worse for the guy.
    After we got out of the box the group of Gladers were still there and they all looked at Chuck with curiosity, shooting questions at the boy. To say Chuck was overwhelmed was an understatement. I could feel him hiding behind me, hand clenching my shirt, he even started to shake again. I was a good thing Alby was still there to yell at the other guys, or otherwise I would've given them a piece of my mind.
     "Okay, Shanks! Show's over! Go back to work!"
     The group started to thin out until it were just Alby, Newt, Chuck, Bark and me. "Isn't that better, Chuck?" I asked him. "fresh air, sun on your face."
     He shrugged again, "I guess."
     "Okay Chuck, this is Alby, that's Newt and that's Bark." I said as I gestured to my friends. Chuck, came out from behind me, mumbling a hi, before everything went quiet again.
     "Okay!" Alby said while clapping in his hands once, startling Chuck again. "Newt, take the Greenie and let the tour begin. I've got some stuff to take care of."
     After Alby was gone I turned myself to the two, "you guys have fun. I'm gonna-"
     "You're not coming?" Chuck asked me in a small, he looked at me with big brown eyes, fear still visible in them.
     "Well... I mean, I could... it's not that I've got something to do right now..." I looked up at Newt for a little help, he just shrugged.
     "You can come 'long if ya want."

I followed Newt and Chuck around during the tour. Newt did most of the talking, I just listened and would comment on what he said. I knew I was starting to annoy Newt, but I thought it was quite amusing. Just like Chuck, who seemed to get a little more at ease now.
     We were walking past the Pens of the animals, Newt was saying something about what the Slicers do, but I wasn't paying a lot of attention. I tried to remember more details about the movies, but it was like I couldn't really focus on anything. My head was starting to feel blurry.
     "Right, Cals?"
     I looked up to Newt, who was looking at me, just like Chuck. "Sorry? What?"
     Newt and Chuck both laughed now. "What's so funny?" I questioned, trying to understand what was going on, but my head wasn't working with me. Out of nowhere I started to get dizzy and I grabbed Newt by the shoulder to keep myself from falling.
     Newt immediately stopped laughing, now hold my arm. "Are ya okay, Cally?"
     I wanted to answer, but before I could my head started spinning and I fell down. Newt dropped himself beside me and helped me sit straight, "what's wrong?"
     Again I didn't answer, this time because I didn't want to. I was trying to focus, there was something dwelling in the back of my head, a memory, scratching against my skull to get out. But just as soon as it had started the dizziness was gone and so was the memory, making place for a slight headache.
     I pressed my left hand against my head for a moment while I blinked a few times, trying to regain my focus. "I uh.. wow... I got really dizzy there for a sec... but I think it's okay now."
     Newt looked worried at me, just as Chuck. "Com'n guys, it's nothing serious, just a bit light headed. I only need something to eat, but it's almost time for lunch so that's not a problem." 

~.~.~

After lunch I went upstairs to the Med-room. Newt didn't want to leave me alone at first, he was worried that I would get dizzy again and pass out or something. But eventually we got to the agreement that Chuck would stay with me, so when something would happen there was someone with me.
     Chuck was sitting on the ground and petting Bark while I was lying on one of the beds, staring at the ceiling. It had been a few hours since we went into the Med Room and still there hadn't happened anything.
     The scared, shy and silent boy that had come out of the box was starting to fade away. Chuck had been asking me lots of questions, some of which I didn't know the answer to and some I never even had thought about myself.
     "So, you're telling me that dog brains react the same way as our brains when they see someone they love?" Chuck asked me while he was playing with Bark's ears.
     I nodded, then I realized he couldn't see that, so I made an agreeing noise. "Yep, pretty cool right?"
     "Yeah, it is." Chuck reacted. "Do you like your job? As a Med-jack?"
     "I do," I answered honestly. "I mean. It's boring most of the time, but I like helping the other Gladers. Besides I'm good at it, so yeah."
     "Ow, that's nice." He paused. "Do you think I'll be a good Med-jack?"
     "I don't know, do you want to be a Med-jack, Chucky?"
     Chuck shrugged and turned his attention back to Bark's floppy ears, "I don't know..."
     "Well, that's okay. Newton told you that you're going to try all of them, right?"
     Chuck nodded, "wasn't his name Newt?"
     I waved his command away, "yeah, his name's Newt, I just call him Newton sometimes."
     "Ow, okay. Are you really the only girl in here?"
     "Yep," I let the p plop. His questions were slowly getting annoying, but it was better than the silence I normally had to sit through in the M.R..
     "Does it bother you? Being the only girl?"
     I sighed, turning so I could look at the boy. "Sometimes, yes, but it's okay, I've got my friends."
     "Is Newt your boyfriend?"
     I couldn't help but laugh, "no, no he's not."
     "He seems to care about you a lot though."
     "Well, he's my best friend for a reason."
     "Yeah right. You two were flirting so hard during the entire tour."
     The snorting sound that came out of my throat was something even I did not know i could make. "No, we weren't."
     Chuck gave me an 'are you serious' look, before continuing, "I get it, you know, you're rather pretty." Now I didn't know how to react. "Not that I've ever seen another girl," Chuck just continued, ignoring my state. "But you don't seem that bad for a human. I mean Bark is way prettier than you." A slightly amused and offended gasp escaped my lips. Chuck looked over at me, his chubby face lightened up in a smile, making me laugh and soon after Chuck laughed as well. Yeah.... I do like this annoying little shank.

~.~.~

Edited: 25/12/20