The Apparition || Bad Omens || Noah Sebastian

Chapter nine

The following morning, Noah woke up from a dreamless sleep for the first time since the whole situation with Ruby had begun.

They had gone to rehearse for the concerts they would have in the future. For a few scattered moments throughout the day, he felt like a normal guy, not someone who talked to the dead.

However, he sensed the emptiness around him. Ruby hadn’t appeared, and Noah was starting to worry.

Had she perhaps already found a way to move on? Impossible, she would have said goodbye, he was sure of it.

He had told his friends about the project to commemorate Ruby, and they were all happy to help.

Nicholas, besides being a bassist, was also a tattoo artist and quite good at drawing; he would take care of the mural. Meanwhile, Noah, Jolly, and Nick would handle the labor.

His friends were happy to be useful. Noah might have been going through something worse in his heart, but they had also seen her die that night. They, too, deserved peace.

They also wanted to take a break from the tour. Since what happened with Ruby, it didn't feel right.

This didn’t mean they would stop making music or rehearsing for shows. It simply meant that all the remaining tour dates would be postponed. They just hoped the fans would understand, but there had already been positive feedback online about the band’s decision.

Many of their fans had also witnessed Ruby's death. Videos of the concert had circulated across all social media platforms.

The terrified expressions on the faces of the four boys, the screams of the crowd. Ruby on the ground.

It was a tough day without seeing her and that night Noah felt empty, as if a piece of him had been lost. The absence of Ruby was palpable, like an echo in his heart. He greeted his friends, trying to mask the pain that gripped him. But their piercing gazes seemed to read every emotion he tried to hide.

"Want to step out for a bit?" Nicholas suggested, sensing that Noah needed a distraction.

"Maybe a beer would help," Jolly added with a forced smile.

Noah nodded, but his mind was elsewhere. They all went out together, leaving the silence of the living room, now even more oppressive without Ruby.

As they walked, Noah couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened in just a few days. He had spent whole days alone, talking to a ghost.

He felt like he was going mad. The world around him moved, but he felt trapped in a moment he couldn't forget.

When they reached the bar, the atmosphere was lively. The music thumped, and the smiling faces of the patrons seemed so distant from his reality. But while his friends tried to cheer him up, his head remained stuck in the investigation. And he had no way of confiding in anyone without sounding insane.

A pretty girl smiled at him from across the bar, but he didn't have the strength for another pointless conversation that day.

The only person who could lift his spirits was the very one who was chaining him to her. Ruby.

He looked for her everywhere. He hoped to feel her presence beside him and thought that during their time together, Noah had grown quite attached to that ghost.

He hoped the girl who had smiled at him in the bar was her. He hoped she was still alive.

He took another sip of beer and announced that he was heading home. "You guys carry on, but I really need to get some rest."

"Are you sure? We can all go back if you want," Jolly said, like an overprotective father.

"No, really. I think it’s time I get a good night's sleep."

He left the bar and began walking home. Night had fully settled in, and with it, the cold became even sharper.

On his way home, he had hoped for just one thing, but it didn’t happen.

Ruby hadn’t shown herself to him again.

When he got home, he went straight to the fridge to grab a bottle of beer. The one he’d had at the bar was awful, and he needed something to get rid of that nasty taste. He went to his room and set the bottle on the desk.

He took off his shirt and sat on the bed.

He felt drained.

A cold shiver ran down his spine, and a name escaped his lips: "Ruby?"

The air next to him grew dense, slowly taking the shape of the girl he’d been thinking about all evening.

"Why are you only showing up now?"

"Would you have preferred I stay invisible while you undressed in front of me?" she asked with a smile, making Noah smile back.

"By the way, we need to set some ground rules. You can't just come into my room whenever you feel like it," he said, pointing an ironic finger at her.

"You can't harness the wind, my friend."

They smiled again, but soon their cheerful expressions turned into something else. "Really, why didn’t you show up earlier?"

"You were with your friends," Ruby averted her gaze. "It seemed only fair to give you a break."

"Why do I feel like you're not telling me everything?"

Ruby sighed heavily. "It’s just... it hurts to see you with them. Because I can’t do any of the things you guys do anymore. I can’t hang out with my friends, talk to whoever I want. Drink a beer," as she said those last words, Ruby found herself staring at the bottle Noah had left on the desk.

Noah scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Yeah, but... you’re not really missing out. This brand is terrible."

Ruby looked at him for a moment, then smiled, almost amused. "You’re really a genius at comforting people, you know that?"

Noah shrugged, grabbing the bottle from the desk and sitting back down on the bed next to her. "It’s my job, darling."

Ruby laughed softly, a sound that seemed to come from far away. "Paid to make ghosts feel better? Nice career."

"Someone’s gotta do it," he replied, a hint of irony in his voice.

For a moment, silence settled between them, as if even the sounds of the night had fallen quiet. Noah observed her: Ruby floated there, melancholic and beautiful in her transparency, still clinging to fragments of her past life.

"Ruby," he called, making her turn towards him. "I can’t let you taste this beer, but I can dedicate it to you."
Noah’s expression grew serious as Ruby looked at him, confused. He raised the bottle to his face in an awkward toast and said, "To the lovely Ruby. I’m sure you’ll find your peace soon."

Ruby smiled, unable to tear her eyes away from Noah’s. She wished she could touch him, feel his body warmth, but instead, she had to settle for floating beside him, pretending to sit on his bed.

She wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t died. Would they have ever met? Would they have formed that strange yet comforting bond that united them?

She didn’t know, and there was no point in asking those questions. Nothing would have gone the way it was supposed to.
In her melancholy, though, she felt grateful to have remained connected to Noah even in death, and so only two words left her lips, words that encapsulated everything she was thinking at that moment: "Thank you."