Ariel gazed down at her shattered phone broken-heartedly. The second Elliot walked into my room after overhearing our conversation, he snatched Ariel's phone from her hands and smashed it into the floor, stepping over it continuously until it had become a mush. He even went to the lengths of taking out her SimCard and breaking it in half.
"Don't you think this is a bit too much?" Ariel groaned, rolling her eyes - which only angered Elliot further. He snapped his head towards her direction, his eyes glazing over.
"No, Ariel. Even with all of this, they could still end up finding you!" He ran a hand through his messy hair, ruffling it up even further. "How could you forget that you gave your number away?! How dumb do you have to be!"
"Alright, woah!" I jumped in, noticing that truly Elliot was getting way over his head. "She forgot, it happens. We'll just watch out for ourselves and hopefully, nothing will go wrong." I suggested, hoping it would put him a little to rest.
But boy was I wrong.
He chuckled humorlessly, "watch out for yourselves? And how exactly will you watch out for yourself when the biggest fucking mob in all the goddamned States is involved?"
"Just the North," Ariel mumbled.
Again, Elliot snapped his head her way. "Oh, yeah. 'Cause you know about the mobs better than I do." He spit sarcastically.
I raised my hands in the air to quieten them down. "This is getting out of hand. Elliot, seriously, I appreciate you and your protectiveness, but you need to calm the Hell down. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
I watched him pace around the room in complete distress, rubbing the small stuble growing on his face.
"Noah is staying with you tonight." He pointed to Ariel. She didn't exactly complain, since she lived for sleepovers and movie nights. Although I think we all knew this sleepover was not going to be like the usual.
Elliot shuffled some more in his place before turning and walking out of my bedroom. I looked at Ariel, gauging her reaction, and that's when I saw her slowly crack. Her eyes welled up. "I'm so sorry I put you through this, Nora. I should've been more careful." Her voice broke, and she covered her mouth with her shaky hand to muffle the sound.
I shook my head violently, stalking towards her and pulling her in for an embrace. "No, Ariel, don't. You didn't realize your mistake and that's alright. Don't worry, we'll fix this." I promised; and I really hoped I wasn't giving the both of us false hope. I really hope we do find a way to fix this.
*
"Who the fuck do you think you are, going behind my back and doing the exact thing I told you not to fucking do?!" His voice roared and echoed against the small walls, sending my heart into an erratic beating that I could hear drumming against my ears. My neck was growing hot in fear as he began approaching me, gradually, like a predator stalking its prey, which in every way was true. His large fist connected with the wall right beside my head, and this time I didn't hold my ground and I allowed the flinch to show. I jumped back into the wall, tearing up. After so long, I finally broke; he finally broke me.
I was tired.
"I-I.." My lips were fighting hard to push the words through my mouth, but my tongue was tied.
His face moved closer until he was mere inches away from mine, his ragged breath hitting my face with every heavy exhale. I looked down at his neck, afraid of glancing into the thunderous look behind his glazed-over eyes. "Don't you ever, not for one second, think that you can open your mouth to anyone about this. I will find you." He seethed. And as much as I hated to admit it, I knew it was a promise he would never break. He would always find me.
I finally gathered enough courage to look up into those ice-cold blue eyes of his, only now they weren't the same. They were grey; a striking, silver color.
I gasped and stepped back further into the wall - if that was even possible - and locked eyes with the stranger, my heart falling to my stomach. Xavier stared back at me with the same rage, before his expression transformed completely and a spine-chilling smirk grazed his features.
"I will always find you."
*
I gasped and jerked awake, taking half of the sheet off with me as I leaped off the bed and onto my feet. My hand flew to my chest and I gripped the soft article of my shirt tightly between my fist, my chest heaving up and down as I struggled to regain my calm.
My bedroom door was suddenly shoved open as Noah burst through the door, his frantic eyes scanning the bedroom for any possible threats.
I opened my mouth to speak but the dryness had my tongue in a twist and I found myself standing in complete silence. When Noah's eyes settled on my distressed state, he rushed over to where I stood, his eyes widening in concern.
"Nora, what's wrong?"
Only a second later, Ariel barged in behind him. She gazed up between us lazily. "What's going on?"
I shook my head, breathing through my nose and exhaling through my mouth, a technique I was taught reduces anxiety and calms your erratic heart beat. "I-I'm alright. It was just a bad dream," I sighed deeply.
The back of my neck was now drenched in sweat. I grabbed a hair tie from off my nightstand and quickly pulled my hair up into a messy bun, allowing the back of my neck to cool off.
Noah's hands went over to my arms, rubbing them in a soothing manner. And although I knew he meant well, feeling the texture of his rough hands on my skin only induced the strong-felt emotions of my nightmare. I stepped back from his touch.
His hands dropped down to his sides as he asked in a low voice, "I thought you stopped having those dreams?"
I shook my head, "I did. It was just tonight. It's nothing." I assured him.
Noah nodded his head but looked unconvinced. I got back in bed and pulled the tangled sheets in with me. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." I mumbled.
Noah shook his head. "You've nothing to be sorry for. I wasn't sleeping anyway."
I smiled appreciatively, before his words registered. Glancing at the clock on my bedside table, I found that it was nearly 2:30AM. "Why are you still up?" I asked.
"Just got caught up watching TV."
His answer didn't seem so sincere, but I let it slip, and nodded reluctantly.
"Would you like me to stay beside you?"
I shook my head, about to decline his offer, but Ariel beat me to it.
"I'll stay. I think this calls for a cuddle session." She grinned as she climbed into bed beside me.
I chuckled but shook my head, pushing her crawling arm off of me. "I'm drenched in sweat. Trust me, you don't want to."
She scrunched up her nose playfully then laughed before her eyes softened a bit. She gazed into my eyes as if begging for honesty before asking, "but are you okay?"
I gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm good, promise."
Noah smiled at our little encounter, then retreated towards the door. "If you need anything, I'll be in the living-room."
When he shut the door behind him, I noticed Ariel was staring at me for a while longer. When I met her eyes with a quizzical gaze, she said, "Elliot will come by tomorrow, again. I'm sure he'll come up with something smart that'll keep us safe."
I frowned in confusion at first, until her words finally registered in my brain. "Oh... No, Ariel." I shook my head, "I wasn't worried about that." I referred back to our earlier conversation about Vincent.
"Then what was your dream about?" She asked me.
I sighed, lying on my back and staring up at my plain white ceiling. "It was just our earlier talk triggering some memories." I whispered.
She nodded her head in understanding. "Only this time we have Elliot and Noah's annoying ass. And occasionally, Seth. They won't let anything go wrong."
I smiled because I knew she was right. Our friends will always have our back. They gave an oath to be our protectors when we first met in college, and they aren't known for breaking their promises.
"I know they won't."