𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘀

𝟎𝟖𝟎

"𝙵𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢"
ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴' 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵
𝕥𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘

     NOAH groans as she sits up from bed.  She wipes the sweat off the back of her neck as the visions from her dream sit in her mind.  Her head pounds with an intense pressure.

The teen cannot seem to let go of the nightmare from a couple weeks ago.  The white chrysanthemums, the little boy, the cold body in the field. For some reason, she cannot shake the fear that exudes from the recurring nightmare.

"Noah?" Emily quietly sings as she knocks on the teen's door, opening it to let herself in, "Oh, you're awake?"

"Uh, yeah, went to bed a little earlier than usual last night." Noah lies and smiles at Emily, who sits next to her on the bed.

"You sure you wanna go to school today?" Emily asks as she rubs the teen's back, "It was a pretty emotionally draining day yesterday."

"Well, I texted Parker and he said he's going." Noah tells her mother.

"What?"

"Yeah," Noah shrugs.

"Alright, well, get dressed, we have to leave in a bit." Emily coos and softly brushes her daughter's bed-head.

Noah slips out of bed and walks to her closet. She sleepily picks out her clothes and takes them to the bathroom. The teen brushes her teeth with her eyes closed and leans against the wall. She gets cleaned up and fixes her hair, wondering how hard she must have slept for it to get so tangly.

The teen changes into her uniform and drags herself downstairs. She pours herself some coffee in their biggest mug and chugs it before Emily comes down so she can have a second cup without any questions.

"You want cereal? Toast? Eggs?" Emily asks as she rushes into the kitchen.

"An Advil," Noah groans as she sits at the breakfast bar with her mug.

"Real food, babe," The mother reminds her daughter.

"A bagel, please," Noah answers and pinches the bridge of her nose.

"You okay?" Emily asks after putting a bagel in the toaster and sitting two Advil pills in front of her daughter.

"Just a headache," Noah says as she pops the pills into her mouth and swallows them with her coffee.

"Are you sure you don't wanna stay here today?"

"I'm good," The teen assures her mother and drinks the rest of her coffee.

—
𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘺

"Did you do your chemistry homework?" Jess asks Noah as they sit against the oak tree in the courtyard for study hall.

"Uh, yeah, finished at like three in the morning, though," Noah says as she yawns.

"How much sleep did you get?" The blonde questions.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Noah groans as she shakes her head, turning back to her phone.

"You need to get good sleep, you're gonna—"

"Fall asleep in class, your skin's gonna break out, your mental health will be in the toilet — yeah, I hear it from my Mom all the time." Noah says, smiling at Jess' worrying.

"You know," Jess beams as she turns to her homework, "I've never heard you call Emily 'Mom' to her face."

"Yeah, I don't," Noah shrugs.