Beechwood Academy

chapter nine

"Are you going to explain that outburst? Sammy?" Wren asked at dinner in the cafeteria that night. Sammy had been quiet during the entire meal, he of course didn't have a plate of food in front of him and this time he actually looked as if he wanted to take something off of their plates. He looked like he was starving. Duncan had offered him the biscuit on his plate multiple times but Sammy just waved him away.

Sammy looked at Rudy, then back at Wren. "That freak showed me one of his drawings, it was from the night Jared disappeared."

"What was the drawing?" Duncan asked, leaning on his crossed arms that lay against the table.

"Something that happened that night that only Jared and I know about. There's no way he could've found out about it, it doesn't even make any bloody sense." Sammy said with his voice just above a whisper, his gaze was glued to the table.

"Why don't we go over to his table and ask?" Susie suggested, gesturing to where the dark haired boy sat alone at the table in the far corner. Duncan turned and caught Noah's eye, causing Noah to look down nervously and begin packing his things to leave. Duncan watched Noah exit the cafeteria before standing to follow him.

"Are you seriously following him? He's probably off to the jacks," Rudy said, fully prepared to follow Duncan out of the cafeteria. Duncan didn't listen, he continued to make his way towards the cafeteria doors and Rudy reluctantly followed. "Come on, he's probably terrified of us, or mortified of what he did."

Duncan said nothing.

* * *

Rudy and Duncan followed Noah to the washrooms. Noah had been scribbling violently into his notebook the whole walk there, Duncan had no idea if he even noticed he was being followed.

"This kid is on drugs, maybe we should just tell the headmistress and be done with it." Rudy whispered as Noah slipped into the washroom. Duncan ignored the ginger and pushed open the door. Noah sat on top of the countertop with his notebook resting on his knees. When he noticed Duncan and Rudy his eyes panicked for a split second but went back calm almost as fast.

"I need you to elaborate on what you said to me. You said I was going to die, how can you be so sure?" Duncan asked, eyeing Noah suspiciously. Noah thought for a moment before flipping to a new page in his notebook and scribbling out words: ɪ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅʀᴇᴡ ᴍʏ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ'ꜱ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴡʜᴇɴ ɪ ᴡᴀꜱ ꜱɪx. ɪ ᴘʀᴇᴅɪᴄᴛᴇᴅ ᴍʏ ꜰᴀᴛʜᴇʀ'ꜱ ᴄᴀɴᴄᴇʀ ᴅɪᴀɢɴᴏꜱɪꜱ ᴡʜᴇɴ ɪ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴛᴇɴ. ɪ ᴋɴᴇᴡ ᴊᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴋɪɴɢ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴅɪꜱᴀᴘᴘᴇᴀʀ ʙᴇꜰᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇ ᴅɪᴅ. ɴᴏᴡ ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴅɪᴇ.

"Why don't you speak?" Rudy asked while Duncan read the boy's words. Noah held up his pointer finger in response and began to dig through his bag until he found an old ratted notebook that looked at least ten years old. He flipped through it as if he knew exactly which page he was looking for and handed it to Rudy once he found it. Rudy examined the drawing, it wasn't near as good as his recent ones. This drawing looked as if it done by a child, stick figures and all. Noah had drawn himself slitting his own throat in a mirror. Rudy felt uneasy just looking at it.

Noah took the notebook back and scribbled out words onto the corner of the page: ɪ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅɴ'ᴛ ʜᴀɴᴅʟᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍꜱ.

Duncan furrowed his brows at the kid and looked over Rudy's shoulder at the childish drawing style before asking the question that had been eating away at him since drama class. "How exactly do I die?"

Noah hesitated. He just sat there, holding Duncan's gaze for what felt like hours before finally motioning towards the notebook that Duncan still held. Noah mimed flipping through it so that's exactly what Duncan did. He caught himself being pulled into the drawings, getting a strange sense of deja vu that he couldn't even begin to explain. As the story unfolded in his hands Duncan could almost feel the pain and emotions coming from the drawings. Most of the drawings were exactly the same but the ones that were different scared him, it was like the ones that were only drawn once were more believable.

Duncan shoved the notebook back into Noah hands and wiped his eyes with the palm of his hand. "Why should I believe this?"

Noah shrugged.

"You shouldn't, he's telling fibs. There's no way I'm going to believe you slit your own throat when you don't even have a scar to prove it." Rudy grabbed Duncan's wrist to try to drag the boy out the washroom but Duncan stood still and held Noah's gaze.

"You said you knew Jared was going to disappear so does that mean you know where he is now?" Duncan asked, taking a step closer. Rudy was suddenly intrigued in Noah's answer.

The dark haired boy slowly nodded.

"Is he alive?" Duncan asked.

Noah didn't know how to respond to that without words so he wrote what he needed to say: ᴅᴇꜰɪɴᴇ 'ᴀʟɪᴠᴇ'.

"Breathing, talking, conscious. . ." Duncan mumbled, not quite understanding. Then, Noah nodded and gave them their answer.

If Noah was telling the truth, if his dreams really did tell the future and/or present then Jared King may not be dead after all. . .