Gone Again: World Hoppers {book two}

Gone

Noan made them, hungover and absolutley miserable, run laps around the building. Natalie decided to go A.W.O.L during this. She needed the space anyway. She climbed up on top of the building, watching as the others ran laps before rolling over to face the sky. She hated drinking. She never knew what she did during it because she was never just a light drinker, she went till she dropped or was made to stop. She stayed up there most of the day, her music played in her ears as she carved white lines into whatever the building was made of with a rock. She knew everyone was worried. They cared. She was tired. She didn't.

Cas and Ollie, after their morning run, retired to Ollie's room for a long nap. They'd woken up to Natalie being gone again and a sticky note on the inside of Ollie's door simply reading, I'm fine. Don't worry nerds.

Neither of them questioned it. They were more so hiding from Noan, hyper vigilante about everything any of them did. They eventually found that everyone had gotten a sticky note, all saying around the same thing, I'm fine. Still here. Not taken. When they finally did decide to start looking, around dinner, they turned up with nothing. Natalie had every inch of the building committed to memory for a reason and she had learned to be good at hiding. It was a skill of survival.

She came down once she believed everyone had gone to sleep. She climbed down the ladder and opened up her window. She slid in and then immediately left out the door.

She found herself in Noan's office, really just wondering how she always found herself there, this time it was because he'd found her wandering the halls on his final check of the building. He glared at her from over the desk. She didn't like him being angry at her. Anger didn't suit him.

"Where have you been?" Sarcasm was her weapon of choice, "Out." He scoffed, "Everyone was worried." She rocked the chair back and forth, forging her reply. "I left a note." He withdrew said note, "Notes can be forged." Natalie sighed and rocked further. "I don't want to talk to you Noan." He leaned back in his chair, "What do you want to do?" Die. The thought surprised her, she shook it away, "I wanna go. I wanna see. I look at walls and windows all day. It's so disappointing here."

Noan nodded, "It's unfortunate you feel that way but your here for your own safe-" Natalie let her chair hit the ground, slamming her elbows on the desk. "My own what? Safety? As if I wasn't just in a coma. See Noan, you don't understand-" "Natalie-" "Shut up I'm talking. I don't have a clue how long I've been here, let's say a year. A year ago all I needed was Cas and Ollie. They were my boys. They were my family. You know who ruined that? The Keepers!" Natalie waited for him to say something, he didn't.

"The minute Honic told me about all this my worlds began to fall apart. I was okay with my life. We had our bad days but god now everyday is a bad day. So, I'm here to tell you, I'm leaving." She looked to Noan for objection, it seemed to take a moment for him to process. "No your not." He said finally, Natalie only laughed in response. "I don't think you understand-" she reached for a pen off his desk, he grabbed her wrist hard. "Natalie I don't think you understand, your a valuable part of this team and we need you!" The words were positive but the yelling. The grabbing.

Old habits die hard. She yanked her wrist away and cradled it subtly, "Your a liar and a fool is you think I'll stay here. It might take me weeks but I will be gone from here soon." She slipped her hand into the pocket of her hoodie, withdrawing the slender, glimmering knife, "And if you ever think to put your hands on me again, you won't have them anymore."

She got up to leave, Noan got up too. "Empty threats don't scare me Natalie." He grabbed her arm, twisted it and threw the knife across the room. "Hey you-" He grabbed her arm and crossed them in front of her, forcing her down to the floor. "Think about what your saying. Your declarations are bold, but do you really mean them?" She stared at him for a long time, he looked furious. "You will not just leave like this is a prison-" "Isn't it though?" Noan twitched, "It isn't! Do you know how much work I've put into you kids, how many accommodations you have? Be grateful Natalie-" she turned her head as he leaned closer, he grabbed for her chin, "Michael don't-!" She froze.

Old habits die hard. Noan dropped her, stumbled back into his desk and tried to put as much distance between them as possible. "Natalie I-" Natalie was more surprised than he was, Michael was so far away in her memory, wasn't he? And Noan wasn't like him. No, Noan was good. He'd never hurt her on purpose. She stared at him from the floor, "I'm sorry." Noan sat on his desk, unsure what to do. He was furious with himself. Ollie had let it slip about Michael, he hadn't meant to but he was talking about their old families and it slipped, Noan pried.

"I don't ever want you to think I'm like him." Natalie was shaking, sitting cross cross on the floor with her hands in her lap, "Who told?" Noan didn't answer, "You weren't supposed to know. I wanted to leave them behind." Noan nodded, his next words were a mistake. "You can't leave behind your family." "They aren't my family. They're dirt. Piss off Noan." She bust open the door and stormed back toward her room.

She packed a bag, shoved her clothes inside and zipped it up. She zipped up her bag and pulled out her phone, she moved to Blue's room, removed the password and slid it under the door. She got sticky notes next, she used two, one stuck to her door, one stuck to Noan's.

She went outside. It was raining, why wouldn't it be? She climbed the decorative stone wall around the gate and sat atop it for a moment. Everything in her gut screamed LEAVE, her heart said THIS IS A MISTAKE. The doors bust open, a man ran out. She knew it was Noan. She jumped to the other side and rolled into the mud, taking off running toward the lights in the distance.