Flooded Waters

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟐

Noah had always been out of trouble. He was a normal twelve year old boy, a little shy although he never had trouble fitting in. He kept his focus on his education and always followed the rules. Like his older sister, he was appreciated by his classmates.

*Reference*

Mabel and him had always had a strong bond but ever since the incident happened, something in their relationship broke. He had trouble expressing his emotions and he became quieter. However, no one really paid attention, after all, it was normal to be a little closed off after such a trauma. His parents had always been overprotective but after what had happened, they were even more careful.

"Noah!"

He turned around and his breath became quicker. She was there, standing in front of him. After all this time, she was there, right in front of him. He deeply inhaled through his nose and exhaled through his mouth loudly. He needed to calm down.

"Who are you? Do I know you?" he finally whispered.

She looked at him in confusion. He felt stupid, of course he knew who she was but saying the truth would only risk both his and her life. He could not do that, they were watching.

"I am Mabel, your sister. You need to trust me, Noah, I'm here to help you. You're back home, Noah. You're safe," she reassured him.

She didn't wait for his response and picked him up. He could feel her breath against his neck, her arms wrapped around his trembling body. He slowly backed away and looked at her. She smiled at him and picked him up. Even though it had been such a long time since he had not taken this path, he knew where they were heading. Home.

Mabel opened the gate and as soon as she opened the front door, their parents sprinted to see them. At first, they blinked as if they could not believe what they were seeing. Noah was also in shock, seeing them was so emotional that he could feel his eyes water.

"My baby!" their mother screamed.

"Noah, my boy!" their father shouted.

For the first time in weeks, he felt safe. He was finally at home.

Mabel had always been an affectionate person, especially when it came to him. She would always spare some time during the day to help him with his homework or to play some games with him, but ever since Cedric entered her life, the amount of shared moments had been reduced considerably. Noah knew he made her happy so he did not tell her anything, even though he felt like his relationship with his sister was slowly falling apart.

His parents had always been there for him and his mother would always bake him his favorite dessert, pancakes, but it seemed like she, just like everyone around him, had suddenly lost interest in him. They used to see him as the boy who had been gone but now that he was twelve, people did not bother to ask him how he was doing. People had simply lost interest in him and his shyness had not helped at all.

Morning. The only time during the day when he actually had hope for his life to go through a sudden change. That night, he had dreamed of a better life, where people cared about him for who he was and not the boy who had been gone. A life where he was confident and never doubted himself. A life where Mabel and their parents loved him and spent their spare time with him.

Nothing of that would ever happen, he knew it but that was why it was a dream, it was not real.

He got out of bed and grabbed his phone. His parents were not too keen about having a cell phone at such a young age but because of what had happened, they could never be too careful.