No Body No Crime || Bad Omens || Noah Sebastian

Mirrorball

Since she had returned home from the tour, Lisa had continued to sense an odd feeling lingering around the city, as if something significant were about to happen any moment now.

She recalled how Nicholas's blue eyes had seemed to read her soul that night after the concert. Now she was in her bed, Noah and Nicholas were hundreds of kilometers away.

Her boyfriend had sent her a photo of himself right after getting off stage. Noah was drenched in sweat, his wet hair brushing against his face. Something she wished she could do at that moment was to feel his body pressed on hers. There was no confusion— he was the man she loved. She would have kissed that smile for the rest of her days if she could.

She heard incessant knocking at the front door. Checking the time, she wondered who could be there at such an hour. When she opened the door, she found herself face-to-face with Dylan.

"What are you doing here?" Her tone revealed the annoyance she was feeling. It was her job to deal with Dylan and people like him, but this was too much. He had bombarded her with messages, and she had caught him several times watching her as she got into her car after work. And now he was showing up at her house?

"I'm sorry, doc. I didn't mean to bother you, it's just that... I feel like there's something wrong with me."

Indeed, she wanted to reply. Instead, she had to use her most understanding voice. They talked in front of her door for a while. Her anger toward him dissipated when Dylan told her what he was planning to do that night before he saw her on the street.

"Dylan, why don't you come to my office tomorrow? I have a free hour, and we can talk about whatever you want. But you see, I can't let you into my house."

Dylan nodded, mortified. He realized that. She comforted him for a few more minutes until he understood it was time to leave.

Lisa sighed deeply as she closed the door. As if things weren't already complicated enough, Dylan had managed to invade her personal space with his problems. All that she had built, all those years of study, seemed wasted because of a young man who couldn't understand the limits of her profession. And the worst part was that she couldn't hold a grudge against him. She knew he wasn't doing it on purpose; it was already a significant achievement that he was actively seeking help.

Her phone rang, and she felt like screaming until her lungs tore from the effort. When she saw the name of the person calling her in the middle of the night, her nerves relaxed.

"Nick, is everything alright? Did something happen?"

She could clearly hear that the bassist was crying on the other end of the line. "I'm sorry, I know it's late, but I didn't know who else to call."

"You're scaring me, Nick. What happened?"

"I think I just had a panic attack."

__________________________________________

Jolly had taken Noah out for a coffee at the café where he and Lisa had met, more than a year ago. They had read Lisa's journal from cover to cover and found proof that what Dylan had said was true. Yes, he had gone to her house that night; Lisa mentioned it with distress. She felt as though her personal spaces had been violated. The man on the couch couldn't be Dylan. That guy never left his own house except for therapy and work; he wouldn't have had the nerve to stalk Lisa for all those months and definitely not to kiss her.

Lisa continued talking about the mysterious man. She felt attracted to him, but her words suggested that she didn't truly like him; rather, he was good at making her feel seen. This was something she reproached Noah throughout the pages. She wanted the same attention that man gave her from Noah, and he hadn't been able to provide it.

They had argued frequently in the last few months. Lisa wanted to be noticed, but Noah couldn't understand her. He thought she wanted him to set aside his career, while she only wanted to be a part of his life. He hadn't realized he had treated her that way.

He was proud of his life, his work, and loved to show it off, but he had never made her feel involved. To him, she was like an audience to his achievements. Or at least, that's how Lisa felt.

The sound of the news occupied the space between them, but neither of them was paying any attention. It was just another case of crime in a big city; soon, everyone would forget about it.

Jolly had to face an interrogation from his friend.

"I can't believe you knew about Dylan's whole situation and didn't tell me. You did nothing! Jolly, do you realize she could be anywhere now? She didn't bring anything with her, neither her laptop. That's how much she was terrified" he shouted, not wanting to think about the other possible ending of that story. That maybe she was hurt somewhere, waiting for him to rescue her.

"I didn't do anything because Lisa asked me not to," the young man defended himself. "And watch your mouth. We're in this situation because you're a terrible boyfriend."

"And do you think I don't know that?" Noah shouted. "Do you think I don't know I managed to ruin the best thing that ever happened to me?"

Jolly put a hand on his shoulder. "Man, you can cry; don't think it's pointless."

And Noah did. He cried all the tears he had been holding back until then. All he wanted was to embrace Lisa, tell her know he appreciated her, that he saw her. That she wasn't just a mirror to reflect himself.

It was killing him. To not know where the girl that he loved was. If she was ok, if something bad happened to her.

But Noah guessed that he was the bad thing that happened to her.

"Maybe you need to accept that she's not coming back. She left you, Noah. There's nothing you can do."

Noah nodded, disheartened, his face still wet from tears. Jolly got up from his chair and invited him to do the same. "Let's go home."