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Night, Greenie.

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TW: vision

"Where does it hurt the most?" Jeff asks, handing me a damp towel to wipe my head and giving me a mirror so I can see where the blood is. My breath catches as I stare at the small mirror in my hands. I didn't even know we had these... if I did, I definitely would have asked to use one earlier.

I don't know the girl I stare back at, yet she seems to fit the exact description Newt gave me, and though I'm not at all like I imagined I'd be, I find myself not hating what I see staring back at me. I've got a button nose that's a little big at the bottom, freckles dotting the bridge of my nose that run up my flushed cheeks, thick eyebrows and long eyelashes. My skin is a warm honey tone, hiding the natural blush on my cheeks. Though, the most startling thing about me are my eyes. Newt wasn't joking, then, after all. I had two different coloured eyes — one a deep green with a tinge of grey flecks, and the other a dark brown, almost black. I stare at the gash on my head, wincing as a striking pain splits through my head when I dab it gently with the towel.

"Where does it hurt most?" Jeff repeats.

"My head," I reply.

Clint looks over at me while he rearranges the medical supplies. "What did you do to it?"

"Fell," I say blankly. Clint sniggers a little and Jeff sends him an incredulous side glance. "Well, since I was being chased by a griever, I'd say I did pretty well. Better than you would have done, anyway. I'm sure you would have klunked your pants," I snap, shooting daggars at Clint, who's smirk vanishes as easily as it came.

"Okay, Greenie, okay," he says, chucking and raising his hands in mock defence. I give him a little smile as Jeff looks at my leg and continues to interrogate me.

❀

"Are you okay?" Newt asks me when he collects me to take me to the Slammer, his voice low and delicate. He dips his head to meet my gaze, searching my face.

I put on my mask.

"Yes, Frog-face. I'm perfectly fine," I lie smoothly.

"I don't buy it," he says simply, blocking the door when I try to exit the room. "A whole night out there alone and you expect me to just believe that you're okay? No. I'm not stupid, Alethea."

"I know you're not," I say, trying to move him aside, but he doesn't budge. "But, as I said, I'm okay."

"You can lie to everyone else. You can't lie to me. I see straight through ya."

"Well maybe you need glasses," I say with a sardonic smile, opening the door and stepping through, Jeff and Clint not far behind. Newt waits by the door for a minute before following me.

Night is swiftly falling, the reds and purples of the sky fading into darkness, illuminated by small sparkles in the sky, like little sequins sewn to a navy fabric. Jeff and Clint made me have a nap before I had to be put in the Slammer — from the glares Jeff and Clint send Gally as we exit Homestead, I'm guessing they're not too thrilled with the premise of my being in the Slammer for the night. Jeff and Clint nod briskly at me before joining the others.

Newt has a soft grip on my forearm while he walks with me. I roll my eyes at him, slapping him playfully upside the head and he glares at me. "Is the pulling me really necessary, Frog-face?"

"I regret when I let go last time," he says with a small laugh, letting my forearm go, trying to hide the fact that he's hurt by me not talking to him about it. But, he's Newt. He understands me better than everyone else, and understands that when I'm ready to talk about it, I will. "Ya barrelled right into the maze."

"Maybe I'd be free right now if ya let me go."

"Or maybe you'd be dead," he says plainly. "I can think of which one I'd prefer. Trapped or dead."

I laugh at him, "I probably shouldn't tell ya which one I'd prefer, it'd probably put me in the Slammer for another two nights."

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing as you," he says, grinning as he opens the Slammer door and gestures inside. I flip him off with my middle finger before hopping in, disregarding the shooting pain up my leg.

"Care to join me?" I say with a sly smirk.

He grins at me and closes the Slammer door, obscuring him between the crisscrossed sticks. He sighs, "Looks a little too uncomfortable for me."

"How selfless of you," I say, crossing my arms and raising my eyebrows at him.

"It's a personality trait."

Before Newt turns to leave, I speak unenthusiastically, my voice monotone and expression blank, "Boohoo. I'm so upset. I repent my sins. Oh, please let me out. Oh please, I'd do anything."

Newt chuckles, "You'd be a terrible actor."

"It's a personality trait," I repeat back to him. Newt grabs a torch and lights it, the soft orange flames dancing in front of his face. He sets it down carefully, and I walk over to the entrance, placing my hand in between the bars. He doesn't even register that I'm watching him, concentrating on not burning the Slammer down with me inside it. My lips quirk up at the ends as he turns to look at me, his eyes soft.  "Do you have to leave?" I say playfully.

"Night Greenie," he says, shooting me a smug wink before strutting away.

"Screw you, Frog-face!" I call at him, and I can hear his laughter echo around the Glade. "Bastard!"

His giggles fade away the further he gets from me, some kind of frustratingly perfect melody that makes me smile, even as annoying as he is. I step away from the bars, curling up into a ball against the wall and letting my mask drop down. I don't have to pretend I'm okay, and that I'm not terrified of what I've just experienced. As Newt's laughter fades, an emptiness fills it's place that only returns when he's not around.

I let the image of the griever swell in my mind, watching its mangled body hiss and run at me. Tears slide down my face as I huddle closer, begging for the release of sleep — a place where I wouldn't be haunted by my visions. Thick blood trickles down the walls of the Slammer, filling the space around me in blood. I need help. I need help.

I need to get out.

But I'm stuck. I can't move. I hide my head in my legs, wrapping myself tighter and hoping the blood would wash away.

Half an hour passes before my eyes flutter open. I can't be bothered to move until I have to, and drowiness drags my eyelids down, but not before I hear a small shuffle come from just outside the entrance. I lift my head to find Newt's figure curled against the wall next to the entrance, his chest rising and falling peacefully and his breaths steady and soft.

This man has a habit of sleeping near me, I think fondly, tears still streaking down my face. Newt probably thought I was just sleeping. My eyes close fully as Newt's breaths calm me enough to lull me into sleep — a sleep that's not plagued by the visions I have in the day.

❀

"Oi! Shuck-face," Newt's hoarse voice whispers to me, much lower than it usually is. "Get up."

My eyes dart open to find Newt in front of the entrance, his hair tousled and askew, his hands gripping onto the bars.

"Oh, how I adore when you call me that," I drawl, making him smile fondly as he unlocks the Slammer and rips the door open, offering his hand to help me climb out. The image is so familiar — my mind takes me back to the first day we met, almost two weeks ago.

Newt hoists himself out of the box, turning around and offering his hand to me. I wave him off with a scowl. "I don't need your help."

"Fine," he says dryly. "Get up y'self, then."

And again.

Newt rolls his chocolate brown eyes and lets me go, standing up and offering his hand to me. I shake my head and glare at him. I don't even realise how hard I'm shaking. He says impatiently, "Come on, Greenie."

I didn't take his hand because I didn't trust him before. I don't know how long I've been staring at his outstretched hand for, but Newt isn't impatient, and seems to catch onto my thought process. I knew. I first knew when I got trapped in the Maze two nights ago. I knew it.

I trust him now.

So, I take his hand and allow him to help me out of the Slammer. I realise that I should probably pretend that I didn't see him sleeping outside. "Did you just get here?" I ask.

Terrible actor my arse.

"Yeah," he lies. "The hammocks were comfy thank you for asking," he says, a playful grin on his face. He doesn't know I saw him sleeping outside. The thought makes me smile as we walk through the Glade, watching the night sky streak with colour. I didn't even realise I'd associated the sunrise with Newt until now. Every day for two weeks he's been there to wake me up and take me through what's going to happen that day. I associate the warm oranges and pink, the stars only just fading from view... all with him. "There's another Gathering," he says.

I snigger. "Wow, I must be popular."

"You're making it worse for y'self," he says, an amused glint in his eye.

"I don't think it could get much worse. I'm with you right now."

"Slim it," he says, stifling a laugh.

As we approach the large hut in Homestead thats used for the Gatherings. No one's outside, some welcome. Despite my confidence, my hands are shaking as I near the building. I give nervous laugh.

"I was hoping for a more extravagant entrance," I joke.

"I can make a fanfare for ya?" he replies.

"That'd do nicely, thanks, Frog-face."

He rolls his eyes at me, pushing the door open for me but then jumps in front of me, walking inside first with a mischievous grin on his face. I slap him arm as I enter the room, to find all eyes on us — more specifically, me. I'm not looking forward to this meeting at all.

❀

It's been a whole hour, and they still haven't come to a decision which job I should take. I'm more amused than anything else, watching people hint at being a Runner — a job I'm intrigued yet terrified by.

"She can't still be just a Med-jack after all of that?" Winston says. I smile at him in thanks and he shoots me a friendly wink.

"We need more Med-jacks," one of Gally's friends argues.

"She'll be a good Runner," Minho argues. "She survived. She's the first one to do that."

"They need Med-jacks."

"They need a Runner," Newt says. I tilt my head, his words from a week ago ringing in my head.

I'm not putting a word in.

What changed? He told me he didn't want me going in there and now he's okay with it? I stare over at him, and he's leant against the beam with his arms folded, his sandy blond hair still messy from sleeping outside.

"I say we make make her a Runner," Alby says, some turn to gawk at him, while others nod their heads in agreement.

"Really, Alby?" Gally shakes his head in disbelief. "Newt?" he asks. Newt nods, a small smile pulling at his lips when he meets my gaze. Gally scowls at me and I return the motion.

"Who pissed in your water this morning?" I ask.

"How was the Slammer, Greenie?" he replies with a sly smile.

"Great, thanks. I finally could get some sleep without your annoying ass snoring in the background."

Gally doesn't retort like I thought he would, he only smirks in amusement, rolls his eyes and sits back down. I'm not all too such where Gally and I stand. He certainly doesn't like me, but he definitely does not hate me.

"I agree," Minho says. "She'll be better at that than a Med-jack. And besides, it's not like she can't go and help Jeff and Clint when the shanks need an extra hand."

"She is right here, you know," I remind them dryly.

"Oh, and how could we forget," Newt replies, rolling his eyes.

"Would the Greenie's new Keeper stand?" Alby says, giving some sort of strange gesture with his hand, which I'm only assuming is code for which Keeper I'll get. I scan the Keepers in the room, concluding that either Clint or Minho will stand.

To my surprise, they both stand, making me beam at the two of them. Newt did tell me many people have more than one job, after all.

"Congratulations, Greenie," Minho says. "Welcome to the Runners."

"You'll be with us when we really need you," Clint explains as I smile at them.

That's it. I'm a Runner.

I'm yet to know whether that's a good or bad thing.

—
Thank you guys for waiting over the weekend for this! I kinda was screaming again — Newt's so gosh darn cute.

Also, if anyone has any cool shifting stories feel free to share! I've been really close to shifting lately but I know I'll get there soon! I'd love to hear some stories and maybe it will give others who are struggling some motivation.

As always, thank you for reading, voting and commenting! :)

~ sophie xx