~Newt~

Life in the Glade had never been more enjoyable as the weeks and months passed by.

Newt and Sara continued waking up earlier than everyone else to meet in the deadheads and spend time together.

They passed time talking, laughing—the smallest joys one could have when living in a klunk place, but at least having someone special with which to rant about it. Sometimes, it was less talking and more contemplating the eerie-looking trees around them, simply enjoying the feeling of being close to one another.

The scenery of the deadheads wasn't the prettiest, but that was the least of Newt's worries when he only had a few moments to see his secret girlfriend.

For the last three months after Sara and Newt got together, their relationship had been what one might have called a 'picture-perfect' relationship.

Nothing had gone wrong so far. She was happy—at least Newt hoped she was—and he was as happy as he could be with Sara. He believed nothing could go wrong if happiness was finally a constant for them.

No, he knew he shouldn't fantasize like that. Nothing was perfect about the world today. However, their relationship seemed perfect. Superficially? He didn't know. Was it too perfect? He wasn't sure—probably.

Needless to say, he hadn't been feeling the best today for some odd reason. He didn't want to be that negative person he'd always been, but there was something that didn't seem quite right. It was hard to tell if it was his incredible ability to anticipate bad things, or if it was just a simple gut feeling. Too many good things had been happening consecutively, and that just didn't seem normal.

Nothing was ever that perfect—at least—that's what he'd been obliged to believe. 

Yet he liked her so much... with every part of his soul—every broken part that'd been pieced back together by her. She filled every empty spot of his heart. He couldn't imagine himself without her anymore.

Just stop, Newt, he told himself. You guys like each other, and that's enough to prove that things can stay on the bright side if you try hard enough.

Seeing Sara that morning seemed to blur his pestering thoughts for a moment. And maybe that unsettling feeling was all just a silly thought. He pushed it aside and decided to just wait for the day to go by normally, as any other day, with the only enjoyable part of it being the time he spent with Sara. Nothing ever compared to that time of day.

Today, she was set to work in the kitchen with Frypan. Newt was happy that she got to do two jobs like she wanted, but then he started to miss her being by his side in the gardens.

What was he thinking? That was so selfish. If she was happy, he should be happy as well. She did cook better than Frypan though, so everyone at least got better food.

Newt scoffed at his own thoughts. Who was he kidding? Knowing himself, he'd be happy only eating a raw potato for lunch if that meant he got to spend the entire day with her. He knew it was overdramatic, but such was his desire of spending time with her and he wasn't ashamed of admitting so.

Before the work began, as he was with her in the deadheads, he had the urge to tell her something he'd thought about very carefully. Maybe it was too early for him to say it, and it would be like he was forcing her into a level she wasn't quite ready to reach yet, but Newt really wanted to tell her.

Unfortunately for both of them, as he would come to find out soon, he decided against it. Frypan needed her early in the morning, so she only had time to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

❀❀❀

The afternoon stretched into an interminable current of boring work. The Runners were about to return to the Glade, and the closing of the Maze doors was only a couple of minutes away.

Newt didn't know why he'd had that disturbing feeling all day, that something bad was going to happen. The later it got, however, the more the thought slowly dissipated into thin air. He started to feel foolish for being so paranoid.

Out of the blue, Frypan was making his way toward the gardens, and Newt assumed he'd run out of vegetables in the kitchen or something. That thought immediately changed, and confusion took over Newt as he saw that Frypan was visibly fuming. He took angry strides, and his pace quickened.

"Newt! Tell your—" Frypan interrupted his own shouts, looking around the gardens as if he were looking for someone and couldn't find them.

"Are... are you looking for someone, Fry?" Newt asked him.

"Where is she!?" Frypan shouted at him. Newt froze, bewildered. He'd never seen Frypan that angry before. A sudden fear invaded Newt's chest as he fully processed what Frypan had just asked.

Where is she? Why would he ask where Sara was?

"Wasn't she supposed to be working with you today, shuck-face?" Newt didn't even care how ridiculous his voice sounded, all laced with worry.

Frypan was still quite angry and wouldn't calm down. "Yeah, supposedly. But guess what? That girl ain't in my kitchen right now. Hasn't been for the past two hours, actually!" Newt immediately stepped out of the dirt to come closer to Frypan.

That wasn't normal. Sara would never simply leave her job like that. "What do you mean she's not with you?" he muttered quietly to avoid attracting attention.

Frypan sighed with frustration. "Shank, I literally came here to get 'er, 'cause I thought she might've ditched the kitchen to come work with you."

"Why didn't you come sooner?" Newt asked, getting frantic as unintentional anger took over his body. His breathing got heavier, and he looked at Frypan with a stern glare, hiding the slightest notion of pure panic.

"I thought she'd eventually show up... and when she didn't, I came here." Frypan raised his palms in defense. More than angry, he looked worried once he realized Newt had no idea of her whereabouts.

Newt's first thoughts aimed straight to think something really bad must've happened to her. Maybe it was that peculiar gut feeling all day. All he knew was that his girlfriend wasn't where she was supposed to be, and she hadn't even come looking for him at all.

With no time to waste, he went in search of her, asking every single Glader he found in his way if they'd seen her at all.

Frypan said that the last time he saw her, she was slicing some onions in the kitchen before he left to go to the blood house to speak to Winston. When he came back, she wasn't there anymore.

Newt was going insane. The Glade was an enclosed area—there was no way she could just disappear.

This can't be happening to me right now. Is she even okay?

The Runners soon returned from the Maze, so Minho, Alby, and a few other Keepers and trusted Gladers joined to help in the search for Sara. When asked if they'd seen her in the Maze at all, the Runners denied it.

Chuck joined the search too. The concern in the poor boy's eyes when he heard the news added up to Newt's apprehension, and Alby and Minho tried calming him down. None of it seemed to work. The panic only worsened with each torturous second that ticked by. 

Newt looked at his wristwatch.

5:35 p.m.

The dusking sky stretched into shades of dark purple and orange as nightfall threatened to thrust any hint of daylight out of its way.

It's almost dark. Sara, love, where are you?

Newt's thoughts became a persistent stabbing sensation in his brain. He didn't know what he was going to do with himself if something happened to her.

He was half expecting her to run up to him from behind and tap him on the shoulder, telling him that she was perfectly fine. That it was all a joke, and that she was only playing a silly prank on him. He wanted to believe that; he needed to.

False hope hadn't gotten him anywhere in this world. When the horrible thought finally dawned on him, he felt his eyes sting and the tears threaten to spill out of his eyes.

"Hey, man, pull yourself together," he heard Alby's voice but ignored it. "Newt, remember what we talked about the other day," Alby continued, grabbing Newt's shoulders and making him face him. "We're gonna find her, but ya need to dry those shuck tears. Don't let these shanks see you like this."

Newt gave his fellow leader the coldest stare he could manage. "My bloody girlfriend is missing, and all you care about is what the others will say about my relationship?" he spat the words out harshly.

A slight hint of guilt and regret was noticeable in Alby's eyes, but his stern grimace didn't fade.

Minho stepped in. "Alby, slim it. Let's go, we still have a missing shank to find," he said, this time being the one to pull Newt along with Alby to continue the search.

They even ventured out into the deadheads, across every possible direction in which she could've gone. Some guys who were ahead of them approached one of the most secluded areas of the deadheads. No one ever went in there because of the extreme darkness from the shadows of larger, more eerie-looking trees there. Not even bodies were buried there. No one had ever walked inside, but the situation called for the need to search there too.

There was a sudden commotion in front of them, and Minho, Alby, and Newt didn't stop to ask what was going on. They simply pushed past the other Gladers in front of them, trying to reach the front of the group.

"Newt! Alby! Over here!" they heard Zart scream. As they came closer, Newt received apologetic stares from a few guys as they all began moving out of his way.

Frypan stretched out his arm and placed his hand on Newt's chest, stopping him. "Look man, I'm really sorry."

Newt stared back at him, appalled, and with an entire new load of worry on his shoulders. A cold shiver traveled down his spine as he imagined what these guys had just witnessed. He was afraid to find out on his own. Nevertheless, he pushed the thoughts aside, along with the remaining guys still in his way.

"Newt, I don't think—" he heard Minho behind him, but he got cut off as they both beheld the scene before their eyes.

Newt fell to his knees.

On any other day, time, or occasion, Newt would've been excited to see her.

But this...