Noelle's Pantheon

Home: Noelle's Dream

The clacks of shoes against stone tiles eventually turns to the crunching of gravel. The city of over looming stacked buildings begins to fade away into the smog as the girl walks in silence. The ever moving cogs and gears are now nearly whispers as the tallest tower begins to chime a grand bell.
She couldn't imagine who would live there with such a startling noise during the midnight's hour. Such noise loud enough to stir those in Codfind.

The city of gears is always ever present in the distance. Even heard within the forest, and the town near the plant filled lake.
She could already predict the painful outcome if she came home to an awake mother. "NOELLE!" Would be the first thing she screamed.
It was always the first thing her mother screamed.

Noelle takes a deep breath as she creeped through the empty stands and dark buildings of the town. She takes in her surroundings and listens closely to the noises. Reaching the edge of Codfind where the occasional candlelight no longer illuminates anything at all, and everything is cast in silhouettes.
She passes by a blob of metal within the town's centre. It's clearly a statue of some sort, but its gracious appearance still looks equivalent to a pile of sticks or a rock. Surprisingly less intact than the wooden buildings from the heightened amount of acid rain these couple of years. At least it isn't melting people on the streets yet.

A shadow shuffles near the bottom of the 'statue' around the stagnant fountain. Noelle's eyes immediately draw to the blur as sharp yellow pinprick eyes stare back.
A black cat hisses at her presence before leaping away.
Noelle continues her pace as she makes her way to the outskirts of town where a lonely hill loomed by the nearly leafless trees. A shaggy house of water damaged wood stood thin and with proficient precision she opened the door with a mild creak.

The hallway was dark and soft moonlight highlighted the patchy stained furniture. Every board mentally mapped and with calculated steps she treaded through the minefield of old floorboards. Noelle could hear her own shallow breath disturbing the dust. She slowly creeps up the staircase pressing her feet against all the sturdy places she could remember, skipping steps along the way.

After what felt like an agonizing hour she closes the door to her room gently. A singular window illuminates Noelle's sanctuary. Tattered curtains and a singular mattress with a stained bedsheet. Chipped flowered wallpaper, but it was all she needed.
Noelle sat on her bed and leaned herself to let the moonlight shine against the pages of her book.
A story of long gone tales was the perfect midnight read.