Single-Blind - Newt (TMR)

Chapter 47 - Drink to the Memories

Within the hour we had found the keys and all shoved our bodies into a car. Newt sat in the front, pulling his seat all the way forward so Aris could sit on the floor behind him and the rest of the guys piled in the trunk or sitting four to a seat. I had offered to drive, purely as a learning experience but Jorge didn't see it that way. I got the seat behind Jorge, closest to the window. I rolled it down, sticking half my body out of it and screaming into the wind.

I looked over the car, seeing Minho's head pop out the other side. I laughed, seeing his usually too serious face light up with a smile. I heard Jorge's joyful encouragement as he honked several beats. This new hope surged through our veins like sugar.

I sat back down, catching my breath, the boys jumped around in their seats and I realized this was the first time I saw Brenda smile. She wasn't an ugly girl by any means. Her body language was confident to pair with her unwavering voice and her eyes investigated the world around her looking for deeper meaning. If she was nervous to be around practical strangers, she didn't show it.

I glanced over at Newt, he smiled at Minho's reflection in the rearview mirror. His jawline was on full display from his angle. He caught me staring but I didn't shy away, nothing in my gut told me not to. His smile grew cockier, licking his top lip. I felt the pitter-patter in my chest and considered what this blonde hair boy was doing to me.

Thomas excitedly shook his seat, making us break eye contact. This was the only time I felt my adrenaline start fading from the time I was out the window. I saw the flash of the bottle in the back compartment of the seat and reached over to grab it.

"Thomas? What did this do to you anyway?" I examined it.

"That reminds me, wherever we end up..." Frypan decided, "On the first damn day, I'll build you a new distillery myself. Then we can toast to WCKD kissing our asses."

Minho screamed against the wind. "I'll help that effort."

Thomas laughed them off, answering my original question, "Everything was weird for a while?"

"Weird, how?

"Uhh..." Thomas glanced back at Brenda, "I started seeing things."

"Like that?" Teresa leaned forward in the back to ask.

"Memories, I guess, from my time with WCKD. And then it was like a nightmare about the Flare. It was awful."

I sat up straighter, turning over the bottle in my hand.

"Like when you stung yourself?" Newt wondered, twisting his whole body to look at him.

"Kinda..." Thomas recentered the topic on someone else. "What about you, Brenda?"

"First everything was spinning between the present and bits of my childhood, I don't know, then I was overcome with this sick feeling that didn't go away until I threw it back up."

"But you remembered things? Things you might not have thought about?" I asked for confirmation. The bottle felt light in my hands and my mind was already creating a pros and cons list. Might the price be worth it?

"I guess so." She shrugged, "Why?"

"Fi. Don't-" I heard Newt's voice warning but I had already made up my mind and the liquid was pouring down my throat.

Their yells were the first thing to disappear. I felt someone holding my face and the wind kicking my hair around but I lost the feeling of the car moving. Frypan tried to physically keep my eyes open but I welcomed the darkness, hoping it would take me to someplace I had forgotten.

When my eyes blinked back to open my mind settled I felt the grass below me and the sun on my bare skin. It smelt like the only home I have ever known. But as I wiggled my fingers and touched my hair I knew I wasn't the same. I was shorter and had less muscle. My chest was smaller and my hands weren't calloused yet. I looked around and smiled, it was just another day in the glade. Gally was the last one to come back as he lightly jogged through. This meant that everyone had come home for lunch and my worries were over for the day. Gally didn't stop his trot until he got to me, wrapping me up in a sweaty and disgusting embrace. I hung on so tight. I could feel him again. He was here. I gripped his shirt in my hands and felt his heart beating. I closed my eyes on his shoulder, savoring the feeling.