Hope

Chapter 3

An unpleasant smell reached my nose as the wind whipped my hair into my face. What could it be. I wondered to myself, as I saw Noah bounding down the stairs marching towards me at an incredibly alarming rate. His normally calm blue eyes frantic as if someone was about to jump out and attack us any second. Once he finally reached me, he gripped my arms tighter than I ever thought possible.

"We have to go!" He told me his voice low and gruff, I could feel his eyes peering over my shoulder. Something was wrong. Really wrong. Noah didn't really wait for an answer because he grabbed my hand, pulled me into his house, down all his stairs and into his basement. Even then, he was still... uneased by something. He barred all the windows so only a crack of light could be found. He paced up and down, up and down, like that for 10 minutes until I finally stopped him.

"Noah!" I snapped at him. He stopped pacing and slowly turned towards me.

"What! What is it? Are they here? Have they found me?" His voice sounded on the verge of cracking as he spoke.

"Noah," I said softly, "What happened?"

He turned his back on me, as if he couldn't bear for me to see his face.

"I... I... I..." He stammered, "I killed someone!" He finally choked out.

I stood, transfixed for a moment, shock seeping into my bones as Noah's words settled upon me. Silence stretched out between us, both of us lost in thought, then Noah fell to his knees and started quietly sobbing. I was severely shaken, in all my years of knowing Noah, he wasn't someone that cried, ever. Then it dawned on me that I haven't cried since father died, but I reminded myself that it was different, that I was different.

I slowly made my way towards Noah, kneeled down next to him and pulled him into a hug. We stayed like that for what felt like an eternity until Noah pulled away and looked me square in the eye. To begin with I was slightly startled by the intensity at which Noah was staring at me but I quickly got over it as he began to explain what happened in the built up to what ultimately ended in murder.

Things I, Willow Blakey was Certain of:

1: Noah had been hypnotised.

2: Noah had to go on the run.

3: If Noah got caught he was going to die.

4: And I won't let point 2 happen.

5: I was certain that Noah was going to get Mace, Rose and Bex involved.

I was right. Despite all of my protests Noah rang the girls, who also happen to be my best friends, which was even more of a reason for us not to get them involved but Noah didn't listen. Now we were all huddled up in Noah's basement trying to think of a plan. A good plan that didn't involve hypothetical dimensions like all of Bex's. Mace's ideas weren't any better, hers were all about blowing stuff up. Well then there was Rose, since she is a computer genius all of her ideas were about hacking into the satellite systems and giving us clearance to leave Hope. And I have to say out of all of those ideas that I have heard so far, Rose's is the best and least dangerous. But it wasn't the girls ideas that frightened me, it was the quietness and stillness of Noah. Normally, he would be arguing with Bex or Mace about what to do, but not today, he was huddled in the corner of the room rocking slowly back and forth muttering to himself. I wondered if part of me should be scared or concerned about what I was seeing happen to my best friend, but then I remembered that I was so much worse.