centre | newtmas au

20

Thomas
"Okay let's prep boy 5 for being sent up please" Thomas said into the intercom, his voice steady. He didn't want to make them think he was nervous. Teresa normally did this job, it was part of their routine now.
But this time, he felt he owed it to Newt.
In the past 3 months, he had watched Newt struggle in the Maze. He'd watched Newt's many sleepless nights, and the nightmares.
It hurt him, painfully, to see Newt like this, but he had tried to numb himself to it now.

"Boy 5 is ready for you, Thomas" A WCKD doctor said through the doorway.
Thomas spun in his chair, and stood up. His legs shaking slightly.
"His memory has been wiped?" Thomas asked, hesitantly.
"No, not yet. We thought we'd leave that to you."
Thomas stopped dead in his tracks.
"And why did you think that?" He hissed, clenching his fists.
"You know him Thomas, maybe you'd like to say goodbye."
"N-no. Not to him." Thomas said , his voice breaking with a mix of anger and emotion. He couldn't, that boy didn't deserve a goodbye.

"Tom, breathe. I'll do it." Teresa said, with her hand tightly on his shoulder, sensing his stress.
He nodded, but remained silent.
"Okay, what's the boy's name." Teresa asked, taking a step forward.
"Gally. His name is Gally" The doctor said, opening the sliding door into the hospital facility.
Thomas should've turned and ran, but his eyes were drawn to the boy.
Gally made eye contact.
"Oh would you look at that! It's Tommy." Gally exclaimed, with a wink.
Thomas couldn't face him, he couldn't look into his eyes.
"Goodbye, Gally." He whispered.

Newt
The sun was hot on his face as he sat down next to Minho and Alby.
Alby looked up at him and shielded his eyes from the glare before speaking.

"We're getting a new one today man."
Newt nodded.
"You mean Frypan has really been here for a month?" Minho said, with a laugh.
"Yeah, I guess he has."

Newt knew that. He had been counting the days since he got here, scribing tallies in the maze wall.
"Maybe this new guy will have the bloody balls to come into the maze with me."
Minho and Alby swiftly turned their heads to look at him.
"Newt, I said I would, but not in this heat." Minho said, frowning.
"You always have a bloody excuse Minho"
"Damn right I do. We don't know what's out there"
"And that's exactly why we should be bloody out there!" Newt said, exasperated.
"Look, do what you want. I'm not getting myself killed. That's all."
Silence fell over them.
"Who want's breakfast?" Frypan yelled from the kitchen door.
That was enough to distract them for a while.

Newt sat down on the grass next to the box, waiting. Normally, they were sent up when the sun was highest in the sky, and that time was approaching. Fast.
He stared into the pit where the box lay. This months supplies had been sent up a few days prior. He was now accustomed to the creaking and the groaning the box made as it moved.
It was a source of excitement now. He was supposed to fear the strange and unknown, but instead, he was fascinated by it, thrown by it.
That's why he was so eager to go into the maze.
Not knowing what was behind those walls was unsettling, in ways he couldn't describe.
Time and time again, he'd crave some action, some answers. He wanted to clamber up the vines on the walls and stand on the top, allowing himself to confront his curiosity, at last.
But Alby wouldn't let him. And he trusted Alby most.
He had to, they were leaders together. Trust was important.

Newt had become lost in his thoughts, and the intense rattling brought him back to solid ground.
"Let's go boys" Minho said, stretching out a muscular arm to help Newt to his feet.
He watched as the box ground to a halt. He heard the doors screech open, to present their new boy. Their greenie.
He had thick and expressive eyebrows, chopped brown hair and a perpetually angry expression settled into this face.
This boy wasn't scared in the slightest, in fact, Newt felt a little threatened, just by looking at him.

"Gally." Was all that he said.
"Welcome to the Glade, Gally." Alby said, helping him out of the enclosure.
"Huh."
"Not talkative is he" Frypan whispered to Newt, with a chuckle.
Newt smiled and nodded. "I know how that feels."

Thomas
"Gally, I'm Newt. Second in command."

Thomas watched as Newt took a step closer to Gally, with an outstretched hand.
Gally took it, peacefully and easily, like he was a stranger.
Which, of course, he was.
Neither boy was aware of the past, of the pain Gally had caused Newt. But Thomas was aware.

"I hate it" He communicated to Teresa. He felt the connection light up. She was listening.
"I know, Tom. But you have to accept it."
Teresa. Always saying what he didn't want to hear.
"I don't know how."
She paused.
"If you love him like I think you do, you'll learn how."
Thomas didn't know how to reply to that.
He wanted to hurt Gally. He wanted him as far away from Newt that he could be, but, now there was nothing he could do.
Newt wasn't his problem anymore.
Or at least, he wasn't his problem in the way he wanted.
He wanted to protect him, to hold him and to be able to care for him.
But instead, he had to regulate and record and manipulate everything Newt saw as reality.
Thomas had created a twisted world, a twisted and destroyed world, and he had placed Newt bang in the middle of it.
For that, he would always be sorry.

look at me posting less than a month since my last update! character development 😎
i hope u enjoyed this part, and i'll see u in the next one
lots of luv x