What If | tmr, newt ✓

Chapter 22

"Absolutely not."

Minho groans and I just cross my arms, waiting for Alby to change his mind.

"Minho, give it a few more days. I don't want you overworking yourself before you start running again."

We had approached Alby at dinner, with the intention of him letting Minho go back to his job. He just refused point blank.

Minho is about to protest again when I pull him away from Alby's table. We sit down around where the campfire is normally built up, me resting my head on his shoulder. "You only have to wait a couple days."

"You don't get it, Falcon. I don't want to sit here doing nothing. I want to get us all out of this shucky prison," he says, tense. I move my head away if only not to intrude on his personal space. I can sense the shift in his emotions.

"We're gonna get out of here," I say, and somehow there's conviction behind the words. These people wouldn't keep us here forever... there had to be a purpose. And I know we need to find the way out.

Minho sighs and we sit in silence, which is unusual. Normally we can't stop chatting.

The rest of the evening plays out, relatively uneventfully, and I talk to a few of the Gladers who come and go. Winston - the shorter boy, Keeper of the Slicers - asks me how I am, along with Frypan and Ben. It's nice to know everybody cares. Well, everyone except Gally, who maintains a fair distance from me at all times of the day, every day.

Eventually the Gladers wander off to talk in their own groups, and I am left by myself, illuminated by a solitary lamp and singing a slow, graceful tune as I bury myself in my own thoughts. Alby was talking to Newt and a few other Keepers, leaving me in my own personal bubble for my mind to wander off.

When the song comes to a close, I realise for the first time that it's completely silent. Snapping back to reality, I look up and notice almost every single Glader watching me.

"Shuck, Adalyn, you didn't say you could sing!" Ben calls out.

I pull my knees up to my chest, and play with the laces on my shoes without replying.

"Yeah, she bloody well can," I hear, as Newt gets up from the table where he was talking with Alby and sitting beside me on the grass, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I cuddle into his side, embarrassed and trying to hide somehow. "Sing another one," he whispers into the top of my head.

"But I'm terrible," I mumble.

"Trust me, you're not - hear any one of these shanks and your ears'll start bleeding."

I smile into his shoulder, and start another one, the sound of my own voice relaxing me. All the Gladers just sit and listen quietly, as if I were entrancing them into a calming daze. Half-way through, Gally storms off, but this only boosts my confidence. Newt plays with my hair and I don't need to look up to know he's smiling down at me.

As my voice trailed into the night, I finally understood: 'home' isn't where you go at the end of every day, your most treasured place, or even where you will always return to no matter what. It's who you go to at the end of every day, the people you treasure the most, and who you always return to, no matter what. Who you'll remember until the end of time. Who gives you the fondest memories.

So as long as I was with my friends, I was home.

***

The alarm blares suddenly, knocking me back to my senses and making me physically jump. I look across at Clint and Jeff, but they just start packing up and heading for the door of the Homestead.

"Someone care to explain?"

"It's the Greenie alarm. Once a month, remember?" Jeff says, bored.

My heart leaps in my chest. What if it was another girl? Or what if they've sent someone to take me back? I tidy away before running to catch up to the two Med-jacks, excited yet nervous.

We had to wait half an hour for the Box to arrive. Only thirty minutes? When I was in there, it felt like hours of torture. I'm at once filled with empathy for the poor Greenie trapped in that cage. When it finally does arrive with a loud clanging to signal its arrival, I jump to my feet from where I was sitting and tugging at the grass. On the other side of the lift, I see Newt approaching - having not bothered to wait around - who gives me a worried glance before looking back down.

When the two parts of the roof pull apart, light flooding into the Box, it's hard to see the boy at first. But we all notice when he stands up, still cowering in one corner next to a stack of crates and wincing against the blinding sunlight. Newt jumps down to help him out, and as soon as they are both back in the Glade proper, a few Gladers start unpacking containers and the rest trudge away. They've probably seen this same situation many times before - but me, I'm curious, so I stay even as the Box closes and starts its slow descent.

"...Alby'll give you the tour tomorrow morning," I can hear Newt explaining from my position a few metres behind him and the Greenie. The boy must have been staring at me because Newt eventually realised I was still there, and turned to wave me over. I oblige, taking slow steps on purpose as I survey the newbie. Black hair, green-brown eyes, a couple inches shorter than Newt and hasn't yet tried to kidnap me. "This is Adalyn, yeah, she's the only girl, deal with it, no more questions asked."

The Greenie looks at me one last time - eyes widening as he sees my broken fingers and bandaged ankle - before looking down at his feet. I smile sadly. He's shy, with good reason. "Don't worry, you'll settle in. In the meantime, just... try not to panic. You'll get your name back soon."

He nods, still staring at the ground like it's the most fascinating thing he's ever seen. I sigh, hoping not everyone was like this when they came up, or else Alby's job couldn't have been easy. The boy has yet to say a single word. Feeling like I'm wasting my time, I mutter a solemn goodbye to both of them before treading back over to the Homestead.