Newt knew what he signed up for. He wrote the letter. He staged the abduction. It was all a plan to get away from his friends.

But it wasn't that simple.

Newt was dying. They all knew it. He had the bloody Flare for christ sake. He was the only one in that damn maze who wasn't immune. What was it-- some cruel joke? Some plot twist that WCKED decided to pull on him the moment he finally believed he'd found an out?

Something along those lines.

So... when they got to Dever and Tommy, Brenda, Minho, and all of the others left to go get their tracking chips taken out-- he left. He walked until he found the ragged, broken down gates of the crank palace and threw himself in a prison all so his friends and... you wouldn't have to watch him slowly lose it.

It wasn't all bad of course. He'd met people. People who're losing it like him. A woman named Keisha. She had a son named Dante. The woman was in her late twenties and ever since she found Newt-- took it upon herself to treat him as her own. Newt was grateful for that.

So... Of course, Newt told her everything he knew about himself. He definitely didn't fail to mention you. As a matter of a fact, he rambled on about you for multiple minutes before finally moving on-- but thats besides the point. One thing led to another and they'd made a plan to break out of the Crank Palace to find Keisha's family who (up until now) she believed to be dead.

Everything was going amazingly until their group showed up to the bowling alley Newt had been lounging in. If you could even call it a bowling alley.

Thomas spoke-- but none of it registered in Newt's mind. His sole focus was trying to find the one person who wasn't there. The one person who was missing from the group. The only one who had a chance of pulling him out of whatever daze he was in.

You.

"Where is she?" Newt asked without a second thought.

"She.. She didn't come. Said she wanted to respect your wishes to not see us," Thomas replied, looking up at the blonde boy. Thomas looked almost confused that that was what he decided to ask about.

"Well she was bloody right. You guys need to leave." Newt snapped.