All I Have Are the Stars

Chapter Nine - Deep Trouble Now

"Allister!" Noah screamed, seeing his friend falling under.

"I'm up! I'm listening..." The sleepy friend replied.

Noah failed to stomp his friend's head inwards, and sighed. Allister only laughed as he sat up, resting his head on the side of the chair Noah resided in.

"I'm just messing, Noey." He punched his friend in the knee. "So let me get this straight, Ashlynn's dead, you took drugs ever since her death to see her which give you horrific night terrors, didn't show your face in this town for years, someone by the name of 'Xander' stole your drugs, you ventured to town to kill him, actually killed him, and now you're here with me because we're both cursed?"

Noah only nodded.

"And now you want to take another adventure to wherever this 'Bjorn' guy is and kill him too?" Allister tried to piece everything together.

Noah's mouth gaped open, then closed, then open again. "Well, maybe we don't have to kill him, but he's the real bad guy here."

Allister dryly laughed, standing up. "Goddamn, you die for a couple months, and now you're soul bound to your best friend and have to get him to quit doing drugs." He instinctively held out a hand to help Noah out of the chair, tucking it in his pocket quickly. Walking over to the closet, he turned back to Noah.

"Can I open this? Thanks." Allister flung the door open, revealing the man who didn't really deserve to die. Noah shot up.

"What the fuck, Al?!" He strides to where Allister was checking the man's pockets. Allister stole the man's wallet, then jumped away from Noah's grasp. He climbed onto one of the beds, standing up.

"I'm just seeing if I know him!" He checks the man's wallet as he kicks Noah off the bed. Jumping to the next bed, he looks for any ID or paperwork or anything that'll give him a reason to justify his friend for killing him. Give him a reason to brush it under the rug. A reason to erase it from his memory.

"Well, you don't, so put it back ya twat!" Noah yelled, throwing a nearby bible at him.

The wallet was knocked out of Allister's hands.

They looked to one another in shock and confusion, before Allister dove for the wallet now on the floor. He shuffled around in it, before finding a club card. He chucked the leather part back at Noah, who was about to throw the same bible at him. Noah caught it with one hand, as Allister's face morphed from curiosity to a horrific realization.

Before either of them could utter a word, there was a knock at the door. And a sweet, kind, unsuspecting voice heard.

"Xander? Are you awake?" The two boys stared at the door, then each other, then the door again, then each other again. The voice paused, then a bag was heard being dropped at the door. "I hope you're settling in alright. Please remember to eat, hun. Stop by the shop later!" Footsteps were heard fading away from the door. Noah sprinted quietly to the window, pulling the curtain slightly.

All his worst fears were confirmed as he saw the tall, dark, elegant figure that was Valerie walking away.

Allister joined his stunned friend by the window, grabbing his shoulder and showing him the card. The one piece of information that he clung onto was lost as he read the man's name.

He was Valerie's son.

Noah walked backwards from the window, running his hands anxiously through his hair. He started pacing and mumbling as Allister said exactly what he was thinking.

"You murdered Valerie's son in cold blood."

Noah's emotions got the best of him as he grabbed everything within reach to attack his only companion. A pillow, a bible, a lamp, a clothes hanger. Anything he could get his hands on he threw at him. Allister ducked and dodged as he tried to calm him down.

"Noey!" He ducked. "We can figure this out." Another book was thrown at him. "Let's just focus on Bjorn for now."

Noah had run out of items to throw, and just fell to the floor. He was too tired to cry, too anxious to sleep, and too hopeless to stand up. Allister cautiously joined him on the floor, staying a good enough distance away. There was a heavy, still silence between them as the two tried to make sense of what happened. Noah reached into his pocket for the only person who would never know of his crimes.

Before he could uncork the vial, Allister's cold, dead hands grabbed onto his wrist. Noah looked to his friend, and smiled.

"Al, I'm not going to drug my problems away." He waited until Allister ungripped his wrist, smiling anxiously alongside him.

"I knew you had it in you, Noah. We can figure this out."

Noah nodded guiltily, turning away and downing the rest of the vial. He needed reassurance, kind words, something to make him believe he's innocent. Someone to make him feel on top of the world instead of about to trek all the way under.

Allister screamed as he was one second too late to stop him. He had never witnessed him go under before, and it was a horrific site. His eyes turned pure black, body going limp, until he stood up slowly. His skin looked as if it was rotting, his legs shaky. Noah tripped on the corner of the bed, unable to get up. Allister could feel himself going under as well, although his skin was...fading. His eyelids grew heavy and his brain was plagued with painfully happy memories of both Noah and Ashlynn. He screamed one last time, before his body disappeared. Disappeared into the dreadful world which is Noah's brain.