Hope for Us (NEWT) [COMPLETED]

Ch 17 - The Mighty & the Mysterious

~Sara~

Sara was waking up, instantly regretting it as the pain spreading all over her body came rushing back to her. She almost panicked until she remembered she didn't sleep in her own hammock the night before.

Faint snoring came from her right, so she slightly turned her head to see Newt lying on his med-bed, snuggled in a blanket, with his back facing her. A small smile made its way onto her lips.

At least he can't be grouchy when he sleeps.

It was the only time she could appreciate the sight of him. The only time when looking at him didn't make her want to punch him in the face. The only way he remained silent, without yelling at her for whatever reason. The only time he looked remotely happy and at peace.

She turned back around and lay on her left side to try to fall back asleep, not wanting to wake him up, and especially to ignore the aching sensation that tormented every fiber of her body. The pain, however, was inevitable. She was still so exhausted that it didn't even take five minutes before she fell back asleep.

~Newt~

Newt woke up to the numbing sensation on his right leg, the usual indication that he needed to find a more comfortable position to sleep.

As he shifted on the bed to make himself more comfortable, he saw Sara on the bed next to his. He'd forgotten she spent the night in the Med-jack hut after such a sequence of terrible days on her job tryouts.

They weren't on the best terms, but it wasn't that he ever wished for this to happen to her. Gally was a slinthead. Everyone knew that—Newt always knew that. But Gally proved that even further with Sara.

As he finally found a decent position on the bed, Newt's eyes wandered around the hut until they came across a folded piece of paper on the floor. It was right next to the entrance of the room. Newt wouldn't normally care to find something like that anywhere in the Glade, but knowing Clint and Jeff, they were crazy about keeping their rooms spotless. They said it was all about hygiene and stuff.

He sat up, then swerved his feet over the edge of the bed. He had an incredible urge to see what it was, since—who knew—it might've been one of the Runners' maps that accidentally got left behind. Newt set his healthy left leg down on the floor while he bent his right knee up to keep his injured ankle elevated. It would only take a couple of steps from his bed to the paper; he'd just have to hop his way there and back.

Those being his very first steps since that day in the Maze, he nearly lost his balance. And he had to grab onto the edge of the bed or the chair the whole time he was trying to move. The position of his foot suspended in the air caused an unbelievable amount of pain to jolt up his leg at every hop. Pain that nearly made him cry out and collapse to the floor. Luckily, he stopped himself before he risked waking the girl up.

He acknowledged his own stubbornness. It wasn't worth putting himself under those levels of pain for an old piece of paper that was probably nothing important—a waste of time. But curiosity got the best of him.

After finally making it back to his bed, he flopped down, keeping his aching foot resting on a pillow to ease the pain.

Newt began unfolding the piece of paper. He could tell it'd been wet and wrinkled quite a bit, so the ink for most of the words had faded or smeared into huge, black blotches.

All he could make out of what was written on the mysterious paper was:

"—wt... remember... everything... you... cl—st... family... kindn— ... a lot... life... past... painful... hope... miss— ... gone... laughed... became... mem—... took... goal... safety... world... home—"