flower | newt ✓

ONE

chapter one;
the meeting

"THALIA! RUN!" Sonya's voice rang in her ears. A prickle of sweat fell off to her shoulder as she ran. Her feet felt like fire, but that didn't stop her from running. She has got to make it. She can't spend the night in the maze. Yells and cheers of encouragement from her friends was heard through the small gap of the closing door.

"C'mon, Thalia! You can do it!"

The grounds shook. The doors are going to snap shut any minute and she's nowhere near the door. She ran as fast as she could, but she wasn't fast enough. The yells and cheering of her friends stopped as the door closed. Her fingers touched the concrete wall as it closed.

"No!" she yelled, punching the wall. That was probably her worst decision. Blood was gushing down her palm and the so unfamiliar sound of clicking was heard behind her. The grievers must have heard her yelling.

The sound of clicking got louder and louder by the minute, signalling the Grievers were getting closer.

"Thalia!"

Click click.

"Thalia!"

Click click.

"Thalia!"

The girl shot to a seating position, clutching her blanket in her hands. The image of the Grievers played in her mind over and over again. Thalia calmed down after a few minutes and the vision of her friend's concerned face came in the view. The only thing that was heard was her heavy breathing and Aris' soothing voice.

"It's just a bad dream, Thals" he reassured. He squeezed her shoulder and gave her a small smile. Thalia nodded at her friend- her only friend here. She observed the once full- now empty- room that she's in. A couple of bunks were on the other side of the room. Her friends used to sleep there.

Sonya, Harriet, Rachel, Bethany, and the others were taken from them. They were taken to a what they promised; a safe place, leaving Thalia and Aris behind. Thalia turned to a concerned Aris and sighed. "It never stop, does it? The dreams?" he asked. She nodded lightly but flashed him a small smile.

"Yeah. I'm okay, though. Sorry to wake you up" she lied. She's not okay, but she didn't want to concern Aris more. Aris stared at her, clearly not believing her. "Go back to sleep, Aris" she said. He finally nodded and climbed up his bunk.

After a while, the shuffling from the top bunk stop, and Thalia assumed Aris has fallen asleep. Thalia sat up and let her feet dangled to the floor. She couldn't sleep, and she knew that if she fell back asleep, the nightmares will just keep coming back.

She sighed as she pulled her blanket closer to her chest and turned to her right, facing the wall. She stared at the blank wall, thoughts of her friends flowed through her mind. Thalia was sure that something had happened to them. She knew that they're not taken to- what they said- a safe place. She wanted to believe that she was wrong, but a part of her knew that she was right.

Just the thought of her friends being dead gave her chills. She couldn't bare losing any more of her friends. Not after she lost half of them in the maze. She wasn't going to let another soul of her friends being taken just for Wicked's stupid trials. After hours of her being lost in her thoughts, she finally let her eyes flutter into abyss, and for once she had a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

━━━━━

Aris and Thalia walked together to the cafeteria with two guards on their both sides, holding their arm as if they're going to try to escape. It's not like they can. The guards shoved them into the line of kids waiting for their meal. Thalia gave the guards a death glare before getting herself one of they trays and waited in line.

"I'm so sick of their mashed potatoes" Thalia complained. Aris shrugged as he took one of the trays.

"Well, at least we're not eating one of Felice's corn soup" Aris joked. Thalia made a disgusted face at the boy. Nothing is worse than Felice's corn soup. Even these mashed potatoes is better than her corn soup!

Aris bursted out into laughter and Thalia followed. "I miss her, though" she sighed. Aris nodded in agreement. As disgusting Felice's corn soup is, she couldn't help but miss the cook. She was one of Thalia's close friends.

Thalia's thought was interrupted when Aris tapped her on the shoulder. "I heard the last group just got out" he said as the old lady spooned some mashed potatoes into Thalia's plate. She turned to Aris and raised her eyebrows.

"Really? I wonder what took them so long" she commented as she took a seat at one of the tables. Aris sat in front of her and nodded. He put a spoonful of mashed potatoes in and Thalia grimaced.

"What? I'm hungry!" he shrugged. Thalia rolled her eyes and played with her mashed potatoes.

She wasn't really in a mood to eat. Especially to eat disgusting mashed potatoes. But if she didn't eat, she'd starve until lunch, so there wasn't much of an option except to eat her mashed potatoes. As she spooned out a very small amount of mashed potatoes in her mouth, the sound of door opening caught her attention.

She snapped her head towards the door and a group of boys walked in. "They must've been the last group" Aris chimed. Thalia nodded.

The first boy that walked in was a boy with brown hair and brown eyes that matches hers. Then a built Asian with spiky hair walked beside him. A darker skinned boy with acnes followed behind them. A couple of other boys walked behind them, but the last one caught Thalia's eyes.

He was tall and he has sandy blonde hair. His chocolate brown eyes gave a struck of familiarity to Thalia. It's like she has met him before. Their eyes locked for a minute. Aris' comment broke Thalia's gaze.

"Huh? What was that?" she asked.

"They looked like they've been to hell and back" he said. Thalia stared at the group who was now lining up to get food.

"Maybe they did went to hell and back"

A/N
My children's first interaction with each other!! And of course, I have to be the typical wattpad writer and have their eyes locked with each other and let them have their connection. Hope u like this first, awful, chapter!!

-h

EDITED
01/05/2019