stuck with him - newt tmr

"I made it for you!"

She flipped the carved wooden pendant in her hand, it was a simple circular piece of wood, but its indents took form of a wave, arching at its peak, and painted blue from the flowers laying in the fields around them.

Janine reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace of her own, showcasing a beautiful pink seashell, the one thing she had brought into the glade at her arrival.

"This resembles me. A cute little seashell chilling on the shoreline. Seashells love the waves. Because it brings along other seashells to shore, takes us to a safe place away from the depths of the sea, bringing us all together. You're like a wave. The lion of the seas. But also the protector. I want to be a wave one day, like you, Maria."

Maria strokes her thumb over the lines of the pendant, and flicks her gaze to Janine, her cheeks flushed with a rosy tint as she smiles proudly at her handmade gift. 

"Since when were you so poetic." Maria chuckles. The two sit cross-legged on the bed inside one of the many bungalows, sitting in the centre of the glade.

"To be honest, I made all of that on the spot. That was a load of bull." 

The girls burst into a fit of giggles, but Maria quietened again, staring at the necklace.

"I love it so much." She whispers. 

She reaches over and ruffles the top of Janine's hair, tangling her hair before jumping off the bed and walking over to the other side of the room, stretching her arms wide. She looks up at the wall, its entire surface covered with the map of the entire maze, drawn by Maria and the rest of the runners as a result of mapping the labyrinth themselves - two years worth of work.

"How much do you still have to cover?" Janine asks, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, kicking them aimlessly back and forth. 

Maria bit the inside of her cheek, pensively rubbing the side of her neck.

"It's hard to say. There's another outer part of the maze, but by the time we reach the edge, it's too late in the day to explore further, so we're forced to come back. And since the walls change every night, it's difficult to figure out the fastest route to reach those areas."

Maria was still clutching onto the pendant in her left hand, and gave it a small squeeze, a reminder to stay resilient - for the girls.

"We're so close to finding a way out. I can feel it." Maria didn't know if what she said was reassurance for Janine, to keep her hopeful, or if it was a way to convince herself, that they really could find an escape out of this maze. 

Before Janine could respond to Maria, the door of the hut swung open, and a figure stumbled into the entrance, their hand grabbing onto the doorframe to stabilise their footing, and the other clutching onto their side, the fabric of their clothes soaked in shades of crimson and purple.

"Kie!" Maria rushes to the girl, her face was pale and dazed. She caught her just as the girl lost her strength to hold herself up any longer. Her breaths were ragged and shallow, and her body was dry of any more energy.

"Janine, help me!" Maria demands, picking Kia up from the floor. The two girls carry her to the bed and throw her onto her back. Janine immediately runs to the medicine stash, frantically rummaging through as Maria examines Kia, worry etched across her face. She lifts her tunic by her side to reveal the sting wound, black and purple veins protruding across her stomach. 

"Sophia." Kia wheezes out, her breaths becoming progressively more uneven. Her hair was soaked in sweat and clung to her face, while tears rolled down her cheeks and left stains on the pillow beneath her head.