Insanity ☆ II

four.

"it makes my heart sick
when i remember all the
good words and the
broken promises."

☆.·:*¨four¨*:·. ☆

NOAH WAS SURPRISED TO SEE the Cullen table empty the next day. He knew of the seriousness of the accident that occurred the previous night, but he had just assumed that it would only be Jasper who would be missing. Suddenly, Noah realised that it was much more serious than just an accident, causing a shiver to creep up his spine.

The day dragged on painfully slowly, as if a force was weighing down the hands on the clock, making each second tick slower than the last. At lunch he sat with Bella, Mike, Eric, Angela, and Jessica, but he didn't feel at all hungry. He just felt sick, staring at the table in front of him, the conversations around him flying over his head.

When the final bell went, Noah felt free. He didn't want to be there - why, he didn't know. His mind was going to be just as incoherent and unsteady, no matter where he went. But freedom is nothing but an illusion. Everyone is constrained, imprisoned by something. And for Noah, his prison was the trepidation.

And then he was driving. Where he was going, he had no idea.

He took random turns, not caring whether he would be able to find his way back.

He turned left, right, right again, and from then on it was all a blur.

Until he ended up there.

He got out of the car, numb with shock. Maybe he didn't know where he was going, but his mind sure did. And it led him there.

He walked along the path, the same path he had walked a few months prior, then not as alone as he felt now. The leftover rainwater was no longer dripping from the bright green leaves in the trees that towered over his small figure, now bare and judging him.

No, all the leaves were dead.

He walked around slowly, the soft crunching sounds of their corpses beneath his feet, barely recognising the place of what he once considered to be bliss. A part of him hated being alone, a part of him wished for Marilyn to be next to him.

But oh, should you be careful what you wish for.

Within seconds he felt her presence. She was behind him, and he could feel her gaze on the back of his head. For a few seconds, they just stood there. Not moving, not talking, not smiling.

Silence washed over them. Neither wanted to break it, for they both knew it would shatter. And once it was shattered, it would never be the same, no matter how hard they tried to put it back together.

Finally, Noah turned around to face her, the same pressure weighing him down as was weighing down the hands of the clocks. He opened his mouth to speak, but when he was unable to get any words out, Marilyn was the one to break the silence.

"Do you remember?" She softly asked, looking down at the orange leaves piled underneath the bare branches.

"How could I forget?" He whispered, the nerves wracking his stomach from the inside out. Once again, it was silent.

"We're leaving Forks." There was no easier way to put it. Noah knew this was coming, but that didn't make it any easier to hear.

"I - I don't know what to say." He said quietly, averting his gaze from her honeycomb eyes, his own beginning to water ever so slightly.

"Here's the part where I'm expected to give a bullshit, half-assed excuse about Carlisle looking ten years younger than he says he is, but you deserve more than that, Noah. You deserve the truth." Marilyn rarely cussed, but Noah could see the anger and determination in her eyes that fuelled her words. He knew that her anger wasn't directed towards him, and he guessed it was put there by the actions of her family.