FOREVER. newt

seven. goodbye, winston.

5 MONTHS BEFORE THE MAZE

Nini and Newt sat in their secret spot, both of them uncomfortably perched on one of the stairs, water bottle in hand, stolen sandwiches to the side. A late-night decision to sneak out while their other friends were fast asleep. It wasn't an uncommon thing between the two, to go out in the late hours of the night, enjoying each other's company.

This time, it felt different. Because they wouldn't see each other for a while. Nini was the only person who knew that they were gonna start sending kids to the maze and that Newt was one of the first subjects. The girl hasn't even told him yet that it was her job to do the swipe on them.

Nini couldn't help but stare, taking in every single inch of him, his brown eyes, his feathered blonde hair, grasping onto the memory of him, so there was no chance of forgetting.

Nini laughed softly to herself. She was definitely not gonna forget him, but he would forget her. WICKED was gonna make sure of that.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Nothing." Nini smiled, looking down at her bottled water.

It wasn't loving, because love to her was pain. The only people she loved were in the basement as Cranks. Nothing good could come from love. Simple as that.

"I've never noticed it before," Newt started, his eyes burning on hers. "But you have really adorable cheeks."

Those adorable cheeks turned bright red at the compliment. The two of them sat in silence, doing nothing except enjoying each other's presence. Each other's company.

But when the sound of footsteps was heard from the other end of the room, Newt and Nini shot each other a frantic look. They were banned from seeing each other. If they got caught, they would be killed.

As Nini walked back into her room, the girl couldn't help but feel empty. She wanted to be with Newt— she wanted him to talk to her about how Jisung got his head stuck in the stairs, how he thought that Dr. Ava Paige looked kinda funny, maybe how he softly combed her hair whenever he feels like he wanted to.

The worst thing was is that Ava had caught them in another monitor that day— and that was the last time they saw each other before the swipe.

Peeking over the window, Nini couldn't help but frown at the loss of his presence. Her room felt too empty. The white walls were driving her crazy and the fact that she was alone wasn't helping.

She was only 13, but maybe it was love.

—

Placing a hand on Winston's head which was on my lap— I slightly curse at myself. His temperature was growing way worse than it had been two hours ago when I woke up. On top of that, he was wheezing shallowly in his sleep, the color drained from his face.

Looking down at his stomach, I somehow ease a little bit. The bleeding had stopped already, but there was still blood at the exterior of the wrapping.

He stirs in his sleep. Sighing softly, I brush the hair away from his burning forehead. "You'll be okay, Winston." Although I wanted to assure him— it seemed like I was trying to assure myself. I couldn't lose another one. We already lost too much.

The sun had risen already an hour ago and the rest of them were still deep in their sleep. Feeling my throat slightly scratchy, I carefully grab a water bottle and drink just enough for me to be satisfied, trying not to move too much with Winston's head on my lap.

After a few minutes, I start to feel myself slowly drifting over to sleep once again. However, outside of my eyesight, Thomas had let out a yelp. I look back in the opposite direction to see him sit up, his eyes furrowed as he angrily shoos a crow away from our supplies. "Hey! Hey, get out of here!"