The First Gladers

Chapter 5: Jealousy

Newt hears a knock on the dorm room door. All the other boys are still in testing, Newt can hear the screams. Newt trudges over to the door and opens it a crack. He peers through and sees Thomas looking worried.

"Thomas?" He asks. "What is it?"

"We have a short window if you want to see Y/n. Everyone is eating dinner." Thomas explains.

Newt bites his lip, then nods. He follows Thomas, closing the door behind him. Thomas leads him to the observation room where Newt sits behind a monitor. Thomas puts in his password and an image appears on the screen. Y/n and Alby are running towards the Maze doors which are closing. Newt's breath catches in his throat, they're not going to try and leave are they? To his relief they stop at the edge and start to talk. Leon keeps inching closer and closer to the doors. Alby grabs his arm, but he gets mad, then he turns and slips into the Maze just before the doors close. Newt's heart sinks. He knows what that means. Leon isn't coming back. Ever.

Newt watches as Chris finds the not-so hidden window in the wall. He turns ghostly pale and Y/n walks cautiously over to him She peers through the window and jumps back with a scream. The view on the monitor changes, showing what's going on inside the Maze. Leon has met one of WICKED'S creations. The Predator. The Predator starts to rip him to shreds right in front of Y/n's eyes. She screams for him, banging on the glass. Then it's over and she runs into the woods. Thomas controls a spy drone to follow her through the woods as she starts to break down. She runs until she is faced with the edge of the wall. There, she crumples to the ground and looses all control. Newt watches as she sobs on the ground so hard she throws up, and he's utterly crushed. Hopelessness takes over as he watches this girl who means the world to him break. He should be there, by her side. All he can do is sit and watch. It's like his whole world is crashing down. He has to do something, he can't just sit and watch as she suffers.

"Thomas, send me down there." Newt demands.

"What?"

"Send me down there, I can't just sit here and watch her suffer!"

"Newt, you know I can't do that. I'm already risking everything so you can be here."

"That's not enough! I have to help her." Newt adds. "Please, Thomas. Please."

Thomas shakes his head,

"I can't."

Newt hangs his head in defeat. A hole opens up inside of him as he watches Y/n cry alone in the forrest, the hole sucks in anything good and it swallows him whole like he'll never be happy again. How could this happen? How could this be his life? Just sitting here watching Y/n suffer, and he's just supposed to be ok with that? Newt swallows his tears, lifting his head to keep watching the live feed. But he soon wishes he hadn't.

Chris slowly walks up behind Y/n, trying not to startle her, although failing. No sound is provided so that Thomas doesn't get in trouble. Y/n jumps to her feet to face Chris, sighing in relief when she recognizes him. They pass a few words back and forth while Y/n tries to hide where she threw up. To Newt's surprise she starts shouting at him. But Chris doesn't retaliate, he says something to her that softens her. Newt watches in awe, Chris has changed.

 Jealousy and anger start to replace the despair Newt felt just moments ago as he watches Chris walk Y/n back to the courtyard, his arm over her shoulder. He should feel happy, relieved even because Chris helped her, but all he knows is his jealousy towards Chris. Disregarding his better judgment, Newt watches on. Y/n talks to Alby for a moment before getting herself cleaned up. For privacy purposes the Spy drones can't go into the bathrooms. Once she's finished, she gathers the rest of the boys and starts to lay out her plan. Newt smiles as he watches her regain her confidence, the boys all listen carefully, soaking up her every word. Her plan really is well put together from all the information she knows. The boys all agree to her plan, and Newt can see a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

She's going to make it, she'll survive. She doesn't give up when things get tough, she just tries harder. WICKED'S scientists loved her for that, she always had good scores and was always able to endure longer than most of the others, just because she was determined to do her best.

But soon that glimmer of hope is replaced with sadness. Alex just spoke, Newt isn't sure what he said, but it turns the room somber. Newt guesses they're talking about Leon, and he can see the grief in Y/n's eyes. She feels responsible, she took charge and she lost someone. That would haunt anyone.

Y/n dismisses the boys off to their rooms and all of them start to trickle out of the room. All except one. Chris of course stayed behind, offering a hand to Y/n. He says something to her, and she responds laughing. Jealousy starts to burn inside of Newt once more. Chris turns serious, saying something with meaning. Gosh, if only he could hear what they're saying. Y/n smiles softly at him, then turns to leave. Good, just stay away from him. But Chris reaches out for her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around. No no no! What is he doing? They both freeze as they meet each other's gaze. There, they stand, frozen in time, unable to look away from each other. Neither of them say a word, they simply study one another. Stop this, stop this right now. Just walk away. Y/n's gaze shifts to the floor, and her cheeks are flushed. But she doesn't smile, she turns and walks away, letting her arm slip from his grasp.

Chris still stands frozen, watching as she finds her room and enters it. His arm is still outstretched as if he's reaching out, straining for her to come back. But she doesn't, the door shuts softly behind her. Slowly, Chris lowers his hand, then runs the opposite hand through his hair. Flustered, he spins around searching for his room. He finally find a vacant room, fumbles with the door knob, then enters for the night.

Newt can't peel his eyes away from the screen. Thomas walks over to him and shakes him by the shoulder. But Newt pays him no mind. He can't believe that just happened. Even in a deadly Maze full of Predators, she still falls for Chris. If only he would've stopped her form going. If he would've turned her in. Sure she would've hated him for a while, but then they would lose their memories together, and he would have his second chance.

Thomas forces Newt out of the chair and leads him back to the dorm room. Newt follows along in a daze, not thinking at all. Thomas opens the dorm door, and seats Newt on the bed. Newt lays down face-first, burying his face in his pillow. Minho and the others stomp into the room moments later and Minho attempts to talk to Newt, but Newt won't respond.