The Safe Haven

Graveyard

It was late, the sky was cloaked in a sea of darkness. The only light was the dying flames of the fire. And I found myself, alone, touching a giant, cold stone with writing on it. Names were carved into the stone, and I took my time reading them. Alby, Chuck, George, Winston..Newt. My heart sank as I rubbed over his name gently, silently thanking that he was still with me. I leaned down and planted a kiss to his name, closing my yes as I pictured him the first night I saw him. Bloody and beaten.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped back a bit, almost losing my footing if it weren't for a hand to stop me. I turned to see Thomas, the young boy that Newt had gone off with the night before. He seemed happier, but still had those tired brown eyes. He loosened his grip as I stood up to straighten myself.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see.. whatever this is." I said, looking down as if I had just got caught doing something wrong. Was it wrong to be here?
Thomas didn't seem to mind, in fact he stepped forward and pointed to a name. Teresa.

"This was a close friend of mine. Teresa, she didn't make it here." There was a long pause before Thomas continued, as if pondering in thought of this Teresa girl. "She deserved to be here."

"What happened to her?" I asked.

"She sacrificed herself so that I could live."

I decided not to ask anymore questions about Teresa. He had a look of distraught, furrowed eyebrows and glossy eyes. I could tell he was trying to hold himself together, not wanting to break apart in front of a total stranger. But the tears fell rapidly from his eyes. It was a silent cry but his lips quivered as he held himself at bay.

"It's okay to cry." Was all I could say.

His voice cracked as he said," How'd you do it? How'd you save Newt?"

His question took me by surprise. How had I saved Newt? That night was a total blur, whether it was from the adrenaline rush or the fact that I stayed up all night to watch over Newt. I sat down, Thomas followed and sat next to me still awaiting an answer.

"I gave him another chance. I don't think I saved him, but.." Thomas sat patiently, his cheeks stained from his tears. "Newt's lucky to have you as a friend Thomas, all of you. I think that's what saved him. I think the last picture he had of this world was of you guys. And he felt as if the world was good again."

He smiled, accepting the compliment. "With all the shit we've been through I'm surprised we still think there's some good left in the world."

"Do you believe good is still in the world?" I asked, wanting to know his true answer.

"There's nothing but death and chaos." He said almost bluntly. "But I think there's good people in the world. Like you, Nora."

Thomas removed a leather necklace from his neck, it held a dark tube. He took away the top of the glass tube and handed it to me.

"Newt wrote me a letter before he..before you saved him. I thought it would be the last thing I ever had of him, and now he's here."

I studied the dark tube for a moment, not wanting to invade the privacy of the letter, I handed the tube back to Thomas. I felt  Thomas's lips connect with my cheek followed by his raspy voice," Thank you for bringing him back to us."

I still sat by the rock, even when Thomas had left and the fire had burned out. I felt restless and didn't want to disturb Newt if he had already fallen asleep.

Dawn was only minutes away, and it felt like hours but when the bright sun had finally slipped above the horizon, drowsiness had taken over me. I laid on my side, taking in the view and then closing my eyes, picturing Newt just as I had fallen asleep. There's still good in the world.