C.R.E.W

Chapter 30 ~ Regrets

It had been two months since I saw my first battle with death, one month since I had glass come flowing out of my locker, three weeks since I admitted this all to Noelle, two weeks since we found out Mrs. Brock's son went missing, one week since Noelle and I broke into the school after hours, five days since we told Mrs. Brock about everything, and barely twenty-four hours since Noelle and I agreed to go find the place under the decoded address.

We ended up getting Mrs. Brock's personal phone number after our meeting that afternoon. Noelle agreed to only use it when we really needed it, that way we wouldn't have to bother her anymore in her personal life. We had both tried to find any evidence of her son leaving and his mysterious disappearance, but we didn't get much closer, just a few descriptions of various boys who didn't seem to be her child. We weren't going to give up on finding him, and I was going to fulfill that promise.

"We ready?" I asked, looking over at Noelle for a bit of comfort.

She was double checking the location on her phone and pushed both her lips inside her mouth. She let out a long deep breath and responded, "yup." Her facial expression looked worried, and I didn't blame her, I was shaking at that moment, too.

We headed towards the door of the warehouse looking place, it had a lavender tint to it and a very high quality, run-down looking fence that ran around the perimeter of the building. I tried to take smaller steps than I would normally, partially because it the farthest my legs seemed to be able to move at the moment, and because I wanted to wait and stall as long as possible before entering, or possibly even meeting my demise. Noelle assured me that nothing would go wrong in here, we would just get in and get out, 'if anything severe was going to happen, it would just be the information we find'. I wanted to believe her as much as I could, but something about what she was saying just didn't comfort me at all. I knew that she wanted what was coming out of her mouth to be true, but in all honesty, we both knew none of us actually believed it. The nerd had made it to the door before I could and seemed to glance down at her phone once again before I saw some sparks fly from the sides and she jolted her hand away.

I looked around me, back and forth, side to side, and still didn't see anyone. In all honesty, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to see anyone. Normally, I would rather be alone, with my mom, or with Noelle. Now, I had an odd feeling, it was as if I wanted a crowd of people to be here with us right now. I felt like I needed a whole mob of people to at least be remotely close to the area I was near in order to feel some kind of real comfort...any at most. When I made my way to Noelle, I looked at her and where she was staring.

"What happened with your phone?" I asked.

"I don't know, it just...sparked?" She answered before stating an observation, "Prixley, if I'm at least remotely sure on one thing at this moment, it's that the power surging through here is supposed to keep technology out...or mainly the ones that aren't already in it."

"Can we just get this over with?" I heard myself speak. I couldn't even think of what I had just said, almost as if it wasn't my own to say.

She looked at me and just gave me a huge hug, squeezing me only a little bit tighter than she would normally. I hugged her back and smiled, knowing the exact reason that she wasn't hugging me so tightly.

'What in the world did I do to deserve the most thoughtful, respectful, and kindhearted best friend ever?' I thought, appreciating every moment I spent in Noelle's embrace.

"Whatever happens when we go in, just remember that I'm here for you through heaven and hell."

I felt a tear run down my face, "I don't need to remember, I already know. You've proven that to me."