𝓹𝓸𝓻𝓬𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓫𝓸𝔂 // 𝓷𝓮𝔀𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓼 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 ✿

Read to Me

His room was sickeningly lovely. It was tinged of memories from the wonderful past, yet also memories of the horrific present. I am able to relax my burying myself in his sheets. I leave the window open, the curtains fluttering in the breeze, and allow myself to fantasize of the nights spent here. The sweet smell of the grass, and muddled chatter of the Gladers eases me to sleep.

I awake slowly, and take the whole morning that way as well. I ate with Minho again, showered, got dressed. My whole routine was based off of Newt. He only said to come see him in the morning, so I do just that. It's almost as if Newt put the whole glade on hold. Running didn't even cross my mind today, and half of the Glade was taking this as a perfect opportunity to skip work too.

Once I was ready to go see Newt, I ventured into the Deadheads to find him a gift. I neatly gathered a handful of daises off the forest floor, and managed to tie them together with an old piece of yarn from the Homestead. It wasn't much, but I knew he'd appreciate it. It seemed so fitting for him anyways. I then embarked over to the medjack shack, where Jeff nodded me inside.

Newt was already up, making friendly conversation with Alby. I waited patiently by the door, but could tell he was growing eager to end the conversation with Alby. Once he left Newt dropped his cheery act with a sigh, and returned to his regular self.

"Hello handsome." He smirked as I walked over.

He managed to prop himself up fairly well, although it made me nervous. He sat against the wall almost as one would a headboard. I meagerly produced the daises and handed them to him. He quickly took them and inhaled their sweet smell, pressing them to his nose.

"Thank you Tommy, they smell like the Deadheads." He says in awe.

He then places them in a glass of water on his bedside table.

"How is your ankle?" I question.

"It's fine, just a minimal throbbing now. Plus, Jeff gave me some painkiller." He bushes it off, I hope he isn't lying.

"May I ask you a question?" I ask.

"Of course, what may that question be?" He responds.

"Were you in pain at the bottom for a long time?" I ask with no hesitation.

I examine the bewildered look on his face. He quickly regains his composure.

"No, Alby was there quickly. I passed out right as he got me, so I didn't feel much pain." He explains, recounting the tale.

"But when I came in." I begin, growing nervous and insecure.

"Tommy, a broken ankle is bound to hurt at some point. But look, I'm okay now. And you can visit me everyday, I'll be out soon, then we can go back to normal." He says sweetly.

I have a sickening hunch that it won't exactly be normal, but I don't bring it up. He grabs my hand and kisses each fingertip softly. An odd gesture to most, but fit perfectly to Newt. It gave me butterflies.

"I miss you." He adds solemnly.

"I'm right here." I say with a giggle.

He just shakes his head and laughs.

"Oh, and thank you for letting me use your room." I thank him.

"Oh be quiet Tommy." He says coolly.

"How long can I stay here?" I say after a moment.

"As long as you please." He answers, gesturing towards and old chair in the corner. 

I bring it up to his bedside and let him play with my fingers. He braids them, then kisses them, and strokes them, quite effectively calming me down. After awhile he just positions my hand over his chest and rests his on top.

"Can you read to me Newt?" I request childishly.

 "Of course, but I suppose you'll have to fetch our book." He says with a grin.

With that I eagerly dash out of the room to go retrieve the book. I fling open the door to his room and find it on the nightstand. I observe the tattered cover, which I hadn't really before. It was faded and worn, and impossible to make out any words or pictures. I grazed my fingertips over the back, feeling the hard cover. I forced myself to stop being curious and jogged back to the shack.

Jeff had dozed off outside, so I just entered upon my own accord. His face lit up on seeing me, which made me blush.

"Hey Newt, what do you think the book was called?" I inquire as I seat myself next to him.

"I've often wondered about that. I've just settled on 'Alice's Tale' in my mind. It's pretty generic, but I like it." He answers.

He read to me until it was time for lunch, when Teresa dropped by to check in and handed us both plates. She left fairly quickly after a few thank you's, leaving me and Newt to our own devices. The silence had become a bit less awkward, but It still was crazy given he'd just tried to take his life yesterday.

"You seem way too happy." I state the obvious.

He puts his glass down and looks at me.

"I know." Is all he says.

"And?" I prompt, hoping for more of an explanation.

"And what. Thomas I just tried to kill myself, you don't think I'm crazy confused too?" His voice rises as he grows irritated.

"I'm only trying to make things better for you!" He shouts now angered.

"Sorry." I offer a weak apology and hurry out of the room, crying in front of the other Gladers once again.