The Apparition || Bad Omens || Noah Sebastian

Chapter ten

The hammer echoed in his ears. Noah paused for a moment, resting the tool on the ladder and wiping the sweat from his forehead. The early afternoon sun filtered through the dusty school windows, illuminating the large room they would turn into an art studio for the children. The room they would dedicate to Ruby.

As he had promised Principal Sullivan, the band had made a donation to buy all the supplies for the renovation, and most of the neighborhood had volunteered to work with them. They felt that doing it with their own hands would be an even more symbolic way to thank Ruby for all the times she had helped those people and their children.

Nicholas was with Emma on the other side of the room, drawing lines on the wall, already imagining the large mural he would paint to honor her. It was a good thing. The right thing. But every hammer blow, every splash of paint filling the thick air, deepened the sense of emptiness growing inside Noah. Ruby was there with him, just like she had been since it all started, but he couldn’t touch her, couldn’t talk to her the way he did with the others. He couldn’t really share this with her.

He was about to get back to work when a familiar whisper made his bones vibrate.

“Ironic, isn’t it?” Ruby had appeared beside him, floating just above the ladder. Her dark eyes gleamed with a melancholy that Noah had begun to recognize all too well. “You’re building all this for me, but I’ll never get to use it.”

Noah froze, sighing. “At least the kids will do” he replied, with a faint smile.

Ruby moved closer to Nicholas' drawing, studying it carefully. “It’s going to be beautiful. I never thought anything could be dedicated to me. It feels strange, you know?”

Noah watched her. She seemed more transparent, more distant than usual, and it hit him like a punch in the chest. “Why? Don’t you think you deserve it? You did so much for your students, Ruby,” he whispered, careful not to be overheard by the bassist and the other girl.

She lowered her gaze, and for a moment, the smile she always wore vanished. “Maybe it wasn’t enough.”

That sentence left Noah speechless. He wanted to say something comforting, but didn’t know how. Ruby moved toward the window, letting the sunlight pass through her immaterial body.

“Do you think all this will help me move on?” she asked, changing the subject.

Noah was about to answer when he heard a voice behind him.

“Hey, we’re almost there, huh?” It was Jolly, approaching with a sack of cement on his shoulder. “How’s the demolition going?”

Noah turned, smiling at Jolly, pretending everything was normal. “Good, I guess. Nicholas already has some ideas for the mural.”

As the two chatted, Ruby kept observing the room, but she no longer seemed interested in what was happening inside.

Noah bent down to gather some scattered nails while Jolly, Emma and Nicholas went to help Nick get more supplies, and heard heavy footsteps echoing down the hall. He looked up and saw Katie and John, Ruby's parents, entering the room. Katie was carrying a cooler bag in her hands, with the tired but kind expression of someone who still wanted to help. John, on the other hand, looked tense, his face hard. He seemed older than Noah remembered from the photos he had seen at Ruby's house a few days earlier, as if time had crashed down on him in just a few days.

“I brought sandwiches and some lemonade,” Katie announced, setting the bag on a wooden table next to the tools. Her tone was calm, but there was a subtle, almost imperceptible nervousness. “I thought you could take a break.”

Noah nodded his thanks and stood up, trying to ignore the growing weight in his chest as Ruby's parents approached. Ruby, as always, was there, just a few steps away, by a window, invisible to everyone but him. She watched him, her expression caught between sadness and curiosity.

“Thank you, Katie. The guys will appreciate it,” Noah said with a weak smile.

John didn’t say a word. His eyes, filled with a sharp, deep pain, were fixed on the unfinished mural Nicholas was still sketching. Every now and then, they flicked over to Noah, as if searching him, looking for answers no one wanted to give.

“I didn’t know rockstars could also be construction workers,” John finally said, breaking the silence with a brusque tone.

Noah stiffened, sensing the undertone behind those words. He took a deep breath before replying. “It’s something we all decided to do together. For Ruby, for her students. It was important to her.”

“Right,” John scoffed. “Important to her, or to you?”

Noah held back from answering immediately. John’s words fell like stones on already fragile ground. Ruby silently moved closer to him, gliding toward her father, her face filled with the familiar melancholy Noah knew too well.

“It’s not like that, sir,” Noah said, trying to keep calm. “This isn’t for us. We know it won’t bring Ruby back, but… we think it’s the best way to honor her memory.”

John stared at Noah, his gaze seeming to dig deep into him. “Her memory,” he repeated, almost with contempt. “My daughter isn’t just a memory. She’s dead, boy. And she died while you were out there playing on some stage.”

Ruby moved, as if to intervene, but stopped just inches from her father. “It’s not their fault,” she whispered, her voice a sweet, desperate echo that only Noah could hear. “Dad, please…”

Noah felt his chest tighten. He wanted to speak, to say something that might ease John’s pain, but the words felt useless. “I know, sir,” he finally murmured. “I know it’s hard to accept, but it wasn’t our fault. Ruby…”

John cut him off, waving a hand. “You don’t even know what happened. Maybe some damn manager sold too many tickets, trapping her in that crowd. And until I get the autopsy results, I won’t believe a word of it. Ruby was in perfect health. There’s no reason she should have died like that.”

“I understand” Noah said quietly. “But… we’re here trying to do something good. For Ruby.”

John stared at him for a moment, then shook his head, turning back to the mural. “This mural... this room... it just feels like a way for you all to feel better, not for her. As if this could wipe away your guilty conscience.”

Ruby floated beside Noah, her face full of pain. “Dad...” she whispered. “That’s not fair. That’s not how it is...”

“It’s not to make us feel better,” Noah said in a voice barely holding back his emotion. “It’s for the children. For what Ruby loved. She wanted this.”

Katie, who had been silent until then, approached John, gently placing a hand on his arm. “John, please,” she said softly. “They’re doing this for her, you know that.”

John pulled away from his wife’s touch, his face rigid, his lips tight. “I don’t know, Katie. I don’t know what to think anymore. What I know is that our daughter is dead, and we still don’t have answers. And until we get them, this... this farce is meaningless.”

Ruby looked at Noah, desperate. “I can’t talk to him,” she said, her voice trembling. “I can’t make him understand...”

Noah felt a lump form in his throat. He knew there was nothing he could say to convince John. But he also knew Ruby would never find peace until her father could let her go.

“Sir,” Noah said finally, trying to catch the man’s gaze. “I don’t know what happened that night, but I promise we’ll do everything we can to find out. But in the meantime… we can at least do something Ruby would have wanted. Ruby would have appreciated all this.”

John didn’t respond right away. He just stared at the mural, his jaw clenched. “You don’t know what she would have appreciated. You didn’t even know her,” he muttered at last, before turning and leaving the room, leaving behind a heavy silence.

Katie cast Noah a pained look, then slowly followed her husband, leaving the bag of food forgotten on the table.

Ruby stayed by Noah's side, silently floating. “You tried,” she whispered. “But I don’t know if it’ll ever be enough for him.”